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The Urantia Book is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, science, religion, history, philosophy, and destiny. Sometimes it is referred to as "The Urantia Papers", or the "Fifth Epochal Revelation"; the book originated in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. sometime between 1924 and 1955, but its authorship is considered to be a mystery. (See Mysterious origin.)
The authors of The Urantia Book are portrayed as spiritual beings who are organized for the purpose of communicating a revelation to our planet that consists of "enlarged concepts and advanced truth" in an "endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception". Among many other topics, it expands on the origin and meaning of life, describes humankind's place in creation, discusses the relationship between God and people, and presents a detailed biography of Jesus. The book is 2,097 pages long, and consists of a Foreword and 196 papers, divided into four parts.
The Urantia Book introduces the word Urantia as the name of the planet Earth. "Urantian" is a derivation used to denote anyone or anything that originates on Earth. Colloquially, the word "Urantian" is sometimes used to denote an individual who admires and believes in the book, but this meaning is not found in the book itself.
The Urantia Foundation first published The Urantia Book in 1955 in English. Translations into numerous languages are available with several new translations in process. In 2001, Urantia Foundation lost the U.S. copyright to the English version in a court decision and it went into the public domain. Complete, searchable editions of The Urantia Book are available on the Internet, as well as free audio versions.
[edit] Overview (experimental UB version)
Part I of the Urantia Book, entitled The Central and Superuniverses, addresses what are considered the highest levels of creation beginning with the concepts of the eternal and infinite God, the structure of the universe in which He lives, and His relationship to this universe. Part II entitled The Local Universe expands on Part I and presents narratives on the inhabitants of local universes and their work, as it is coordinated with God’s plans in the larger schemes of creation. Part III is entitled The History of Urantia (earth) and presents a story of yet further examination and explanation of the origin, history, purpose and destiny of the Earth and of its inhabitants. Part IV is The Life and Teachings of Jesus and illustrates many of the concepts presented in the first three parts through the story of Jesus' life
The Urantia Book's claim as a revelation to earth is presented as a response to a perceived "state of confusion" by the books authors about God and religion on our planet. Deity is said to be the same as Total Reality, while "God" is distinquished from Deity as being the "personal form" of Deity. Total Deity is classified into 1) deity and nondeity 2) personal and impersonal deity 3) actual and potential deity 4) existential and experiential deity and 5) interassociative deity. Divinity is the unifying, co-ordinating quality of Deity. Divinity is best understood by humans as truth, beauty, and goodness, is combined in personality as love, mercy, and service, and revealed on impersonal levels as justice, power, and sovereignty. Deity generally functions on levels that are designated as Absolute, Ultimate, and Supreme, and there are yet other classifications of Deity and Reality, which are elaborated on throughout the book. The five universe realities relevant to man are designated as 1) personality 2) spirit 3) mind 4) energy-matter and 5) soul.[1]
God is presented in the Urantia Book to occur in seven dimensions: 1) God the Father, the origin of Personality 2) God the Son, the source of spirit in the universe 3) God the Infinite Spirit, the source of mind in the universe 4) God the Supreme, the Evolutionary God developing in time and space 5) God the Sevenfold, which is deity personality functioning in time and space 6) God the Ultimate, which is God the Supreme transcending time and space 7) God the Absolute, where God the Ultimate acquires absolute qualities.[2] The Urantia Book devotes much detail to explaining how these dimensions of God interact in the universe.
[edit] God and revelation
(see main article Dimensions of God); (see main article The Trinity)
God in the narrative of The Urantia Book is the creator and upholder of all reality. God is also a spirit, and the source of spirit in the universe. God is further said to be a person. The idea of God having and imparting personality has come to the planet mainly through revelation. God's Personality is defined as the "totality of his co-ordinated infinite nature", unified in His will and perfectly self-expressed. Thus, God is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite and eternal spirit personality, and the combining of spirit and human personality is a major theme found in the Urantia Book. and in this sense he is said to be the loving Father of the human race.
The nature of revelation There is a vast body of essential spiritual knowledge and truth indespensable to spiritual functioning that cannot be consciously be received: to do so would jeopardize the reception of this knowledge. Faith and revelation are therefore used to allow us to progress rapidly and safely in spiritual development.[3] Spiritual truth is always a revelation: self-revelation when it is presented by the indwelling Spirit of God (Thought Adjuster) in conjunction with human effort; epochal revelation when it is presented by the function of some other celestial agency, group, or personality(s). Human wisdom must evolve on its own through life experience and in conjunction with spiritual influences. [4] Revelation is a technique whereby ages upon ages of time are saved in the necessary work of sorting and sifting the errors of evolution from the truths of spirit acquirement. Science deals with facts; religion is concerned with values. Through enlightened philosophy the mind endeavors to unite the meanings of both facts and values, thereby arriving at an improved concept of reality.[5] Revelation is an aid to developing a proper understanding of reality: that humans are spiritually related to God as a Father.
[edit] Previous revelations
(see main article Orders of Spirtual Beings); (see main article Stages of planetary evolution)
The division of God into a Trinity consisting of three deity persons, the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit, accounts for a number of dimensions of Deity, and determines the structure of the rest of the universe and reality.
First revelation (see main article The Planetary Prince) The first revelation leading to the comprehension of the Paradise Trinity was made on this planet by a "Planetary Prince" about 500,000 years ago. The "Planetary Prince" was a spirit being whose mission was to instruct the human race to advance the living status of the primitive human races on earth at the time. He and his staff set up a headquarters and schools in Mesopotamia amidst primitive human beings to teach the tribes improved ways of living in areas as food production, health, trade, tribal and race relations, and religion. The first presentaton of the Trinity concept was lost to the world in the unsettled times following a planetary rebellion.
Second revelation (see main article Adam and Eve)The second presentation of the Trinity was made by Adam and Eve, who are an order of being whose mission is to come to a planet and further develop the human races, and to expand the work of the preceeding Planetary Prince. In the case of Urantia, the Adam and Eve who came had to face the results of a planetary rebellion, and many of their plans to upgrade the planet could not be carried out. It is from the visitation of the Adam and Eve on our planet that the creation legend came from in Genesis of the Bible. [6]
Third revelation (see main article Malchizedek mission)The third presentation of the Trinity was made by Melchizedek (the "King of Salem" in the book of Genesis in the Bible), about 4000 years ago. Melchizedeks are portrayed in the Urantia Book as an order of created being; they fulfill a wide variety of purposes in the universe organization, and Melchizedek of Salem came to re-present spiritual truths that had been previously presented by the Planetary Prince and Adam and Eve. He set up a spiritual school in Palestine, and this is the source of the stories of Abraham and the King of Salem in the Bible.
Fourth revelation (main article Jesus in the Urantia Book)The fourth presentation of the Trinity was during the life of Jesus, when he also presented the concept of God as the Spiritual Father of the human race.
Fifth revelationThe expansion truth through the papers of the Urantia Book is said to be the fifth "epochal" revelation of God to the planet, which includes the Trinity concept as well as other ideas.
[edit] God, the individual, and the soul
UB revision 2 God and the individual section
The divine mission of the evolutionary aspect of Deity is to initiate the growth and development of the souls of humans and develop the Supreme Being through the projective distribution of the deity spirit fragments (Thought Adjusters) and coordination with other spirit beings. God-consciousness consists of three levels of "reality realization": 1) mind consciousness-the idea of God; 2) soul consciousness-the ideal of God; 3) spirit conscisousness-the realization of the spirit reality of God.[7]
The Adjusters bring with them an individualized plan of the ideal life for the particular human they indwell. They attempt to spiritualize our minds and thoughts. The major goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity presence of the indwelling Adjuster, which is attempting to stimulate the growth of the soul. The Urantial Book states that the work of the Adjuster is to prompt the human subject towards spiritual growth in seven levles of cosmic acheivement which have to do with the functioning of the entire personality, and the relationship of the soul to the Supreme Being. [8]
According to The Urantia Book, each normal-minded person receives one such fragment at the time of his or her first independent moral decision, around 6 years of age. The "Adjuster" then serves noncoercively as a divine partner for the rest of life, and to the extent that a person consents with their free will to want to find God. It constantly leads the person toward more mature, spiritualized thinking. Through the practice of learning how to follow the inner leadings of the "Adjuster" — to choose "God's will" — the individual progresses to greater God consciousness and spiritual growth.
To want to know God and become like him is the supreme quest of each person.
[edit] Religion and philosophy
Religion is a unique dimension of human experience,[9]ranges on a spectrum from primitive to sophisticated in human experience, and preceeds the ethics found in progressing and advanced societies. Religion lives and prospers not by sight and feeling, but by faith and insight. It consists of new spiritual meanings in facts already known to mankind. True religion originates in man's moral consciousness as spiritual insight in the personality, as revealed by the Spirit of God.[10]
Religion is first a pursuit of values, then a system of beliefs and is validated by one's faith. It is the "realization" of spiritual values. The individual nature of religion means there are as many religions as there are religious humans. Religion unifies one's personality to respond morally in the varied situations in our lives. Religion is designed to find those values that are more universal than those that are described as more relative and mind related. Religion is said by the Urantia Book to provide a more unified human consciousness, to give more reality to one's moral values, to "provide the experience of divine companionship", and to nurture truth, beauty, and goodness.
Through religious faith the soul of man reveals itself by inducing a human's personality to react to stressful situations by progessive moral responses, trust in God's goodness, having courage in the face of adversity, having composure in the face of injustice, and developing God consciousness inspite of evil and inhumanity. [11] Religion becomes a spiritual reality by the exercise of one's faith and is said to be the "crowning endowment of human nature".[12]
The maturity of a religion is determined by the concept of God having personality: this idea has come to our planet through revelation.
Types of religion
Natural or evolutionary religion
revelatory religion
practical religion
philosophic and doctrinal religion
Cosmic mind The "cosmic mind" is defined as the intellectual potential of the inhabited universe. There are inherent capacities of the cosmic mind that interact with three universe realities: the scienctific domain, the philosophic and moral domain, and the religious and spiritual domain. These potential capacities are in all living beings that have personality, mind, and will. These dimensions of experience are known intuitively and are said to give reality to personal experience with things, meanings, and values. Aiding one's recognition of these three areas of experinece as being real is suggested as a purpose of the Urantia Book, and these three dimensions of life may become unified in one's personality.[13]
An individual's personal contact with the "cosmic mind" occurs intuitively, by the development of the capacity for spiritual insight brought about by the activity of the spirit of the Universe Father (Thought Adjuster). Spiritual reason is given through the Holy Spirit. Spiritual wisdom is given through the activity of the Spirit of Truth. [14] Through these spiritual forces an individual may develop knowledge into ideas that are the basis for decisions, which are further developed into ideals. The coordination of spiritually influenced ideas, decisions, ideals, and truths form the basis for developing a virtuous character and is part of the planned evolutionary path of the human soul and universe destiny.[15]
Philosophy
[edit] Cosmology and science
Universe structure in the Urantia Book The Urantia Book presents a unique cosmological perspective on the universe and humankind's relation to it. It teaches that the universe is vastly older than current scientific theories state, and that the universe is the product of intelligent and purposeful organization, rather than originating in the Big Bang.
Organization of the cosmos The term "universe" is used to denote a number of different scales of organization. (The book was written at a time when galaxies outside of the Milky Way were still called "island universes".) A superuniverse is roughly the size of a galaxy or group of galaxies. A local universe is described as approximately 0.00001 the size of a superuniverse. The modern dictionary definition of universe — all existing matter and space taken as a whole — is referred to as the "master universe". When the term "universe" is used alone, the type of universe usually can be inferred from the context.
From pages 1-2 in the "Foreword":
Your world, Urantia, is one of many similar inhabited planets which comprise the local universe of Nebadon. This universe, together with similar creations, makes up the superuniverse of Orvonton, from whose capital, Uversa, our commission hails. Orvonton is one of the seven evolutionary superuniverses of time and space which circle the never-beginning, never-ending creation of divine perfection — the central universe of Havona. At the heart of this eternal and central universe is the stationary Isle of Paradise, the geographic center of infinity and the dwelling place of the eternal God.
The seven evolving superuniverses in association with the central and divine universe, we commonly refer to as the grand universe; these are the now organized and inhabited creations. They are all a part of the master universe, which also embraces the uninhabited but mobilizing universes of outer space.
The visualization of the cosmos presented from the center outward is:
The Isle of Paradise — "the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe." The Sacred Spheres of Paradise — 21 enormous worlds, 3 circuits of 7 worlds each — the Worlds of the Father, the Worlds of the Son, and the Worlds of the Spirit orbiting in three processions on the inner margin of space. Havona — one billion (1,000,000,000) perfect worlds across seven circuits, with "upwards of thirty-five million worlds" in the first or inner circuit, "over two hundred and forty-five million worlds" in the seventh or "outermost" circuit, and "proportional numbers" of worlds in the intervening circuits. Surrounding these are "dark gravity bodies" that "completely encircle and enshroud Havona" and whose "multitudinous bodies" are "divided into two equal elliptical circuits by a unique space intrusion". The Isle of Paradise, the 21 Sacred Spheres, the 1 billion worlds of Havona, and the orbiting dark gravity bodies taken as a whole are interchangeably referred to as the "central universe", the "divine universe", and the "Paradise-Havona system". The central universe is surrounded by a "relatively quiet midspace zone" of lessened motion and undisclosed diameter. Beyond the midspace zone, seven superuniverses swing around the central universe and have an approximate diameter of 400,000 - 500,000 light-years. These contain the evolutionary worlds of time and space. The seven superuniverses are then immediately surrounded by another midspace zone "which varies in width but averages 400,000 light-years". One of the stated purposes of the cosmos is to provide worlds where intelligent life may be created or evolved from primitive life. Each of the seven superuniverses, when fully developed, would have approximately one trillion inhabited worlds. Each divisional level has "architectural worlds", including a headquarters sphere, which are worlds made to order and are independently lighted and heated for the celestial and other life of those spheres. They are created to be administrative and educational worlds and are said to be at the approximate, and sometimes exact, gravity center of their regions of inhabited worlds and physical systems. A detailed organization of superuniverses is provided. Briefly, levels of organization are: Individual inhabited worlds such as Urantia Local systems — 1,000 inhabited worlds Constellations — 100 local systems Local universes — 100 constellations Minor sectors — 100 local universes Major sectors — 100 minor sectors Superuniverses — 10 major sectors Beyond are enormous uninhabited "outer space levels". The first outer space level is estimated to be 50 million light-years in diameter and surrounded by a midspace zone of approximately the same diameter. The second, third, and fourth outer space levels surround each previous level with greater and greater magnitude and each is separated by a midspace zone of about the same magnitude as the previous space level. From Appendix 3, Section 3 in "Sadler, William S., Jr., Appendices to A Study of The Master Universe", the authors of The Urantia Book "postulate an additional and unrevealed creation" beyond this, "a possible never-beginning, never-ending universe of infinity."
Comparison to science The book describes alternative explanations to current hypotheses in science regarding the universe's origin, and suggests sources of error in current astronomical observations.
Many influences interpose to make it appear that the recessional velocity of the external universes increases at the rate of more than one hundred miles a second for every million light-years increase in distance. By this method of reckoning, subsequent to the perfection of more powerful telescopes, it will appear that these far-distant systems are in flight from this part of the universe at the unbelievable rate of more than thirty thousand miles a second. But this apparent speed of recession is not real; it results from numerous factors of error embracing angles of observation and other time-space distortions.
The concept of "space respiration" — that all of space itself undergoes "two-billion-year expansion-contraction cycles"—is claimed to be part of the explanation for astronomic redshift. The Urantia Book says we are currently almost half way through an expansion cycle.
The Urantia Book states that the cosmology in the papers will be in need of revision as new discoveries emerge in science, and that its presentations are not meant to be a substitute for science.
Science in the Urantia Book
Criticism of science in the Urantia Book
[edit] Destiny
The Urantia Book teaches not only biological evolution, but that human society and spiritual understandings evolve by slow progression, subject both to periods of rapid improvement and the possibility of retrogression. Progress is said to follow a divine plan that includes periodic gifts of revelation and ministry by heavenly teachers, which eventually will lead to an ideal world status of "life and light" in the far distant future.
From the inception of life on an evolutionary planet to the time of its final flowering in the era of light and life, there appear upon the stage of world action at least seven epochs of human life. These successive ages are determined by the planetary missions of the divine Sons, and on an average inhabited world these epochs appear in a planned sequential order.
Though there is the ideal and divine plan, it is fostered and administered by various orders of celestial beings who are less than perfect. Through mistakes or deliberate rebellion, the plan can be wrecked, requiring long spans of time to recoup lost progress. Urantia is taught to be a markedly "dark and confused" planet that is "greatly retarded in all phases of intellectual progress and spiritual attainment" compared to more typical inhabited worlds, due to an unusually severe history of rebellion and default by its spiritual supervisors.
Gods will and cosmic relationships It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. (Discuss) Urantia is considered one inhabited sphere among many others in the universe. The book's extensive teachings about the history of Urantia include its physical development billions of years ago from cataclysmic meteor captures, the gradual changes in conditions that allowed life to develop, and the long ages of organic evolution that started with microscopic marine life and led to plant and animal life in the oceans, later on land. The emergence of humans is taught to have occured from a branch of primates about a million years ago.
The Urantia Book says "this story is graphically told within the fossil pages of the vast 'stone book' of world record ... the pages of this gigantic biogeologic record unfailingly tell the truth if you but acquire skill in their interpretation". Unlike current scientific views, evolution is said to be orderly and controlled. Primordial life is taught to have been intelligently planned and implanted by "Life Carriers", instead of arising spontaneously. The book stresses that "mortal man is not an evolutionary accident", and that the purpose of evolution on a planet such as Urantia is to produce creatures of "will dignity" that can develop spiritual natures and survive material existence, going on to have eternal spiritual careers.
From Paper 52, "Planetary Mortal Epochs":
From the inception of life on an evolutionary planet to the time of its final flowering in the era of light and life, there appear upon the stage of world action at least seven epochs of human life. These successive ages are determined by the planetary missions of the divine Sons, and on an average inhabited world these epochs appear in the following order:
1. Pre-Planetary Prince Man. 2. Post-Planetary Prince Man. 3. Post-Adamic Man. 4. Post-Magisterial Son Man. 5. Postbestowal Son Man. 6. Post-Teacher Son Man. 7. The Era of Light and Life.
Though there is the ideal and divine plan, it is fostered and administered by various orders of celestial beings who are less than perfect. Through mistakes or deliberate rebellion, the plan can be wrecked, requiring long spans of time to recoup lost progress. Urantia is taught to be a markedly "dark and confused" planet that is "greatly retarded in all phases of intellectual progress and spiritual attainment" compared to more typical inhabited worlds, due to an unusually severe history of rebellion and default by its spiritual supervisors.
Early human development According to The Urantia Book, the first primitive humans were Andon and Fonta, not Adam and Eve. Andon and Fonta were a brother and sister living approximately a million years ago who were the first evolutionary primates to have the mental capacity for free will and spiritual receptivity. Their decision to separate from their less advanced relatives constituted the first instance when human will operated. They mated to produce offspring who went on to evolve into various races of primitive humans, and ultimately, modern humans.
On a typical planet, a certain amount of time transpires between the appearance of free will and the arrival of the first spiritual ruler of a planet to assist with the growth of society, the Planetary Prince. The length of the epoch varies from 150,000 to 1,000,000 years on an ordinary planet. Hallmarks of a typical "Pre-Planetary Prince Man" epoch include that primitive man chiefly engages in survival pursuits as hunter-gatherers, is bellicose toward strangers, and has only rudimentary fear-based superstitions as a religious reaction to life.
The "Pre-Planetary Prince" stage of evolution is said to be the "dark and bloody" era of a planet's history, and on Urantia it was prolonged and extraordinarily brutal. But "notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of the early ages of human emergence, the performances of primitive man represent a splendid, even a heroic, chapter in the annals of an evolutionary world of time and space."
When the population of an inhabited world has progressed to the point that the different races have blended and are biologically fit, the "brotherhood of man" is flourishing, and the nations of the earth are learning to live together in peace and tranquility the age of the "Magisterial Son" approaches readiness. While the Planetary Prince and the Material Sons (Adam and Eve) are of local universe origin, the Magisterial Son (also known as an Avonal Son) is of Paradise origin. The average time for this age is 25,000 to 50,000 years.
Here, again, Urantia deviates: There has never been a magisterial mission on your world, neither was your bestowal Son of the Avonal order; your planet enjoyed the signal honor of becoming the mortal home planet of the Sovereign Son, Michael of Nebadon.
When the Paradise Avonal Sons come to a planet on a magisterial mission, they are always incarnated, but they do not experience birth or death. They yield up their planetary life forms at the end of their mission and return to their Paradise status. Their visit on a planet extends the horizon of revealed religion and revealed truth, to portray the functioning of the local system and its tributaries.
With the visit of the Magisterial (Avonal) Son, economic liberation of the planet often will occur: the daily work that is required to sustain each individual's independence is said to require just 2 1/2 hours of work a day. People of this age use much of their time in self-improvement and in advancement of the planet. Political government and social administration have advanced to a high level of efficiency.
During the closing phases of the Magisterial age, society begins to return to more simplified, natural ways of living. There is a flowering of art, music, and higher learning. Towards the end of this age, a religious awakening is said to occur, bringing in an age of world-wide spiritual enlightenment. This is the beginning of the fifth stage of evolution, the age of the "Bestowal Son".
On normal worlds [the bestowal Son] does not appear in the flesh until the races have ascended to the highest levels of intellectual development and ethical attainment. But on Urantia the bestowal Son, even your own Creator Son, appeared at the close of the Adamic dispensation, but that is not the usual order of events on the worlds of space.
The sixth stage of social evolution is known as the age of "Post-Teacher Sons". These beings have origination with the Trinity of Paradise. This mission is the Trinity's addition to the preceeding efforts of all the divine personalities who have contributed to the development of an inhabited world. The revelation of truth in now extended to the central universe and to Paradise. An entirely new order of society has arrived, which is very spiritual. It is noted that the physical administration of a world during this age requires about 1 hour a day on the part of every adult individual. Natural death becomes less frequent, as there are more who bypass death through spirit fusion. The end of this stage leads into the first "age of light and life".
It is the evolutionary destiny of humankind to reach this far off stage of life, "the final epoch". Urantia, as a whole, must traverse several more evolutionary stages before it reaches even the first stage of "light and life".
[edit] Critical views
plagarism
