Teacher-Brother Dave's initial comments: I am presenting some of my Topical Studies from the fully public domain, 2097 page, Fifth Epochal Revelation of Truth and with my added comments. The Revealed text is free of copyright, so you may freely share individually these supernal quotes with your friends and relatives. But my order of selections, font types for emphasis and my added comments are Copyright 2021 by Dave@PureChristians.org All Rights Reserved. Contact me first about using the whole Study or group of Studies.
[My added comments of explanation below are in these square brackets]
Topical Study number 134
"KNOW and related words !"
Part 3
Compiled March 22, 2021 by Dave@PureChristians.org
The Urantia Book
PAPER 4 GOD'S RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE
1. THE UNIVERSE ATTITUDE OF THE FATHER
[Paper:Section.Paragraph (numbers)]
4:1.2 Can you not advance in your concept of God’s dealing with man to that level where you *recognize that the watchword of the universe is progress? Through long ages the human race has struggled to reach its present position. Throughout all these millenniums Providence has been working out the plan of progressive evolution. The two thoughts are not opposed in practice, only in man’s mistaken concepts. Divine providence is never arrayed in opposition to true human progress, either temporal or spiritual. Providence is always consistent with the unchanging and perfect nature of the supreme Lawmaker.
4:1.4 There is no limitation of the forces and personalities which the Father may use to uphold his purpose and sustain his creatures. “The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “*Behold, he who keeps us shall neither slumber nor sleep.” We *know that all things work together for good to those who love God,” “for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers.”
4:1.7 A being of my order [a Paradise-level Divine Counselor] is able to discover ultimate harmony and to detect far-reaching and profound co-ordination in the routine affairs of universe administration. Much that *seems disjointed and haphazard to the mortal mind appears orderly and constructive to my *understanding. But there is very much going on in the universes that I do not fully comprehend. [!!] I have long been a student of, and am more or less conversant with, the *recognized forces, energies, minds, morontias [soul beings], spirits, and personalities of the local universes and the superuniverses. I have a general *understanding of how these agencies and personalities operate, and I am intimately familiar with the workings of the accredited spirit intelligences of the grand universe. [seven trillion human-inhabited planets at the end of this space-time, long Grand Universe Age] Notwithstanding my *knowledge of the phenomena of the universes, I am constantly confronted with cosmic reactions which I cannot fully fathom. I am continually encountering apparently fortuitous conspiracies of the interassociation of forces, energies, intellects, and spirits, which I cannot satisfactorily explain.
4:1.8 I am entirely competent to trace out and to analyze the working of all phenomena directly resulting from the functioning of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and, to a large extent, the Isle of Paradise. My perplexity is occasioned by encountering what appears to be the performance of their mysterious co-ordinates, the three Absolutes of potentiality. These Absolutes *seem to supersede matter, to transcend mind, and to supervene spirit. I am constantly confused and often perplexed by my inability to comprehend these complex transactions which I attribute to the presences and performances of the Unqualified Absolute, the Deity Absolute, and the Universal Absolute.
3. GOD'S UNCHANGING CHARACTER
4:3.4 God repents of nothing he has ever done, now does, or ever will do. He is all-wise as well as all-powerful. Man’s wisdom grows out of the trials and errors of human *experience; God’s wisdom consists in the unqualified perfection of his infinite universe insight, and this divine fore*knowledge effectively directs the creative free will.
4:3.6 The infinite goodness of the Father is beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of time; hence must there always be afforded a contrast with comparative evil (not sin) for the effective exhibition of all phases of relative goodness. Perfection of divine goodness can be *discerned by mortal imperfection of insight only because it stands in contrastive association with relative imperfection in the relationships of time and matter in the motions of space.
4:3.7 The character of God is infinitely superhuman; therefore must such a nature of divinity be personalized, as in the divine Sons, [Our Sovereign Master Creator Son of God Jesus Christ Michael. "Michael" is a high title which means: HE Who IS Just Like GOD !!] before it can even be faith-*grasped by the finite mind of man.
4. THE REALIZATION OF GOD
4:4.2 Since God is self-existent, he is absolutely independent. The very identity of God is inimical to change. “I, the Lord, change not.” God is immutable; but not until you achieve Paradise status can you even begin to *understand how God can pass from simplicity to complexity, from identity to variation, from quiescence to motion, from infinity to finitude, from the divine to the human, and from unity to duality and triunity. And God can thus modify the manifestations of his absoluteness because divine immutability does not imply immobility; God has will—he is will.
4:4.8 We crave the concept of the Infinite, but we worship the *experience-idea of God, our anywhere and any-time capacity to *grasp the personality and divinity factors of our highest concept of Deity.
5. ERRONEOUS IDEAS OF GOD
4:5.3 The people of Urantia [Earth] continue to suffer from the influence of primitive concepts of God. The gods who go on a rampage in the storm; who shake the earth in their wrath and strike down men in their anger; who inflict their judgments of displeasure in times of famine and flood—these are the gods of primitive religion; [fake anthropomorphic gods !] they are not the Gods who live and rule the universes. Such concepts are a relic of the times when men supposed that the universe was under the guidance and domination of the whims of such imaginary gods. [The first early concept of "Yahweh" was fire shooting out of the local erupting volcano ! Later, "eternal hell-fire and damnation" ! GOD our Universal Father IS eternally just as loving and merciful as our Good Master Jesus Christ IS !] ] But mortal man is beginning to *realize that he lives in a realm of comparative law and order as far as concerns the administrative policies and conduct of the Supreme Creators and the Supreme Controllers.
4:5.7 But the inhabitants of Urantia are to find deliverance from these ancient errors and pagan superstitions respecting the nature of the Universal Father. The revelation of the truth about God is appearing, and the human race is destined to *know the Universal Father in all that beauty of character and loveliness of attributes so magnificently portrayed by the Creator Son who sojourned on Urantia as the Son of Man and the Son of God. [ August 21, 7 B.C. - May 18, A.D. 30, then Jesus Christ is always here with us as He the Father-Son Union Spirit of All Truth !!]
PAPER 5 GOD'S RELATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL
0.INTRODUCTION
5:0.1 If the finite mind of man is unable to comprehend how so great and so majestic a God as the Universal Father can descend from his eternal abode in infinite perfection to fraternize with the individual human creature, then must such a finite intellect rest assurance of divine fellowship upon the truth of the fact that an actual fragment of the living God resides within the intellect of every normal-minded and morally conscious mortal. The indwelling Thought Adjusters are a part of the eternal Deity of the Paradise Father. Man does not have to go farther than his own inner *experience of the soul’s contemplation of this spiritual-reality presence to find God and attempt communion with him. [God is Omnipresent; therefore He must also be all around and fully within you ! He is fully in Jesus; and Jesus is fully within the living souls of all truth-seekers and living Truth finders !]
1. THE APPROACH TO GOD
5:1.1 The inability of the finite creature to approach the infinite Father is inherent, not in the Father’s aloofness, but in the finiteness and material limitations of created beings. The magnitude of the spiritual difference between the highest personality of universe existence and the lower groups of created intelligences is inconceivable. Were it possible for the lower orders of intelligence to be transported instantly into the presence of the Father himself, they would not *know they were there. They would there be just as oblivious of the presence of the Universal Father as where they now are. There is a long, long road ahead of mortal man before he can consistently and within the realms of possibility ask for safe conduct into the Paradise presence of the Universal Father. Spiritually, man must be translated many times before he can attain a plane that will yield the spiritual vision which will enable him to *see even any one of the Seven Master Spirits.
5:1.2 Our Father is not in hiding; he is not in arbitrary seclusion. He has mobilized the resources of divine wisdom in a never-ending effort to reveal himself to the children of his universal domains. There is an infinite grandeur and an inexpressible generosity connected with the majesty of his love which causes him to yearn for the association of every created being who can comprehend, love, or approach him; and it is, therefore, the limitations inherent in you, inseparable from your finite personality and material existence, that determine the time and place and circumstances in which you may achieve the goal of the journey of mortal ascension and stand in the presence of the Father at the center of all things. [In Jesus, fully here in Spirit, He may give you a trial trip to any of the higher Heavens, even to visit Paradise and see God (safely) in Jesus ! All Sacred Visions of God in Jesus and One in Spirit are spiritually transforming !]
5:1.5 However Urantia mortals may differ in their intellectual, social, economic, and even moral opportunities and endowments, *forget not that their spiritual endowment is uniform and unique. They all enjoy the same divine presence of the gift from the Father, and they are all equally privileged to *seek intimate personal communion with this indwelling spirit of divine origin, while they may all equally choose to accept the uniform spiritual leading of these Mystery Monitors.
5:1.7 Man is spiritually indwelt by a surviving Thought Adjuster. If such a human mind is sincerely and spiritually motivated, if such a human soul desires to *know God and become like him, honestly wants to do the Father’s will, there exists no negative influence of mortal deprivation nor positive power of possible interference which can prevent such a divinely motivated soul from securely ascending to the portals of Paradise. [You must sincere desire eternal ascending salvation !]
5:1.9 The fact that vast time is involved in the attainment of God makes the presence and personality of the Infinite none the less real. Your ascension is a part of the circuit of the seven superuniverses, and though you swing around it countless times, you may expect, in spirit and in status, to be ever swinging inward. You can depend upon being translated from sphere to sphere, from the outer circuits ever nearer the inner center, and some day, doubt not, you shall stand in the divine and central presence and *see him, figuratively speaking, face to face. [In His Spirit Luminosity Eternal Presence !] It is a question of the attainment of actual and literal spiritual levels; and these spiritual levels are attainable by any being who has been indwelt by a Mystery Monitor, and who has subsequently eternally fused with that Thought Adjuster.
5:1.11 Mortal man may draw near God and may repeatedly forsake the divine will so long as the power of choice remains. Man’s final doom is not sealed until he has lost the power to choose the Father’s will. There is never a closure of the Father’s heart to the need and the petition of his children. Only do his offspring close their hearts forever to the Father’s drawing power when they finally and forever lose the desire to do his divine will—to *know him and to be like him. Likewise is man’s eternal destiny assured when Adjuster fusion proclaims to the universe that such an ascender has made the final and irrevocable choice to live the Father’s will.
2. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
5:2.4 It is because of this God fragment that indwells you that you can hope, as you progress in harmonizing with the Adjuster’s spiritual leadings, more fully to *discern the presence and transforming power of those other spiritual influences that surround you and impinge upon you but do not function as an integral part of you. The fact that you are not intellectually conscious of close and intimate contact with the indwelling Adjuster does not in the least disprove such an exalted *experience. The proof of fraternity with the divine Adjuster consists wholly in the nature and extent of the fruits of the spirit which are yielded in the life *experience of the individual believer. “By their fruits you shall *know them.”
3. TRUE WORSHIP
5:3.2 Supplications of all kinds belong to the realm of the Eternal Son and the Son’s spiritual organization. Prayers, all formal communications, everything except adoration and worship of the Universal Father, are matters that concern a local universe; they do not ordinarily proceed out of the realm of the jurisdiction of a Creator Son. But worship is undoubtedly encircuited and dispatched to the person of the Creator by the function of the Father’s personality circuit. We further believe that such registry of the homage of an Adjuster-indwelt creature is facilitated by the Father’s spirit presence. There exists a tremendous amount of evidence to substantiate such a belief, and I *know that all orders of Father fragments are empowered to register the bona fide adoration of their subjects acceptably in the presence of the Universal Father. The Adjusters undoubtedly also utilize direct prepersonal channels of communication with God, and they are likewise able to utilize the spirit-gravity circuits of the Eternal Son.
5:3.3 Worship is for its own sake; prayer embodies a self- or creature-interest element; that is the great difference between worship and prayer. There is absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true worship; we simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be. Worship asks nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper. We do not worship the Father because of anything we may derive from such veneration; we render such devotion and engage in such worship as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father’s matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes.
5:3.8 The worship *experience consists in the sublime attempt of the betrothed Adjuster to communicate to the divine Father the inexpressible longings and the unutterable aspirations of the human soul—the conjoint creation of the God-*seeking mortal mind and the God-revealing immortal Adjuster. Worship is, therefore, the act of the material mind’s assenting to the attempt of its spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul. True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an *experience *realized on four cosmic levels: the intellectual, the morontial, the spiritual, and the personal—the consciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and their unification in personality.
4. GOD IN RELIGION
5:4.2 The great and immediate service of true religion is the establishment of an enduring unity in human *experience, a lasting peace and a profound assurance. With primitive man, even polytheism is a relative unification of the evolving concept of Deity; polytheism is monotheism in the making. Sooner or later, God is destined to be comprehended as the reality of values, the substance of meanings, and the life of truth.
5:4.7 The Zoroastrians had a religion of morals; the Hindus a religion of metaphysics; the Confucianists a religion of ethics. Jesus lived a religion of service. All these religions are of value in that they are valid approaches to the religion of Jesus. Religion is destined to become the reality of the spiritual unification of all that is good, beautiful, and true in human *experience.
5:4.8 The Greek religion had a watchword “*know yourself”; the Hebrews centered their teaching on “*know your God”; the Christians preach a gospel aimed at a “*knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ”; Jesus proclaimed the good news of “*knowing God, and yourself as a son of God.” These differing concepts of the purpose of religion determine the individual’s attitude in various life situations and foreshadow the depth of worship and the nature of his personal habits of prayer. The spiritual status of any religion may be determined by the nature of its prayers.
5. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD
5:5.1 Morality has its origin in the reason of self-consciousness; it is superanimal but wholly evolutionary. Human evolution embraces in its unfolding all endowments antecedent to the bestowal of the Adjusters and to the pouring out of the Spirit of Truth. But the attainment of levels of morality does not deliver man from the real struggles of mortal living. Man’s physical environment entails the battle for existence; the social surroundings necessitate ethical adjustments; the moral situations require the making of choices in the highest realms of reason; the spiritual *experience (having *realized God) demands that man find him and sincerely strive to be like him. [Yes !]
5:5.6 Religious *experience, being essentially spiritual, can never be fully understood by the material mind; hence the function of theology, the psychology of religion. The essential doctrine of the human realization of God creates a paradox in finite comprehension. It is well-nigh impossible for human logic and finite reason to harmonize the concept of divine immanence, God within and a part of every individual, with the idea of God’s transcendence, the divine domination of the universe of universes. These two essential concepts of Deity must be unified in the faith-*grasp of the concept of the transcendence of a personal God and in the realization of the indwelling presence of a fragment of that God in order to justify intelligent worship and validate the hope of personality survival. The difficulties and paradoxes of religion are inherent in the fact that the realities of religion are utterly beyond the mortal capacity for intellectual comprehension.
5:5.12 The *experience of God-consciousness remains the same from generation to generation, but with each advancing epoch in human *knowledge the philosophic concept and the theologic definitions of God must change. God-*knowingness, religious consciousness, is a universe reality, but no matter how valid (real) religious *experience is, it must be willing to subject itself to intelligent criticism and reasonable philosophic interpretation; it must not *seek to be a thing apart in the totality of human *experience.
5:5.14 The ability of mortal parents to procreate is not predicated on their educational, cultural, social, or economic status. The union of the parental factors under natural conditions is quite sufficient to initiate offspring. A human mind *discerning right and wrong and possessing the capacity to worship God, in union with a divine Adjuster, is all that is required in that mortal to initiate and foster the production of his immortal soul of survival qualities if such a spirit-endowed individual *seeks God and sincerely desires to become like him, honestly elects to do the will of the Father in heaven.
6. THE GOD OF PERSONALITY
5:6.2 Personality is one of the unsolved mysteries of the universes. We are able to form adequate concepts of the factors entering into the make-up of various orders and levels of personality, but we do not fully comprehend the real nature of the personality itself. We clearly *perceive the numerous factors which, when put together, constitute the vehicle for human personality, but we do not fully comprehend the nature and significance of such a finite personality. [Much on personality is found in Paper 112, Introduction, section 1 and section 2.]
PAPER 6 THE ETERNAL SON
0. INTRODUCTION
6:0.4 In an effort to enable the finite mind of time to form some sequential concept of the relationships of the eternal and infinite beings of the Paradise Trinity, we utilize such license of conception as to refer to the “Father’s first personal, universal, and infinite concept.” It is impossible for me to convey to the human mind any adequate idea of the eternal relations of the Deities; therefore do I employ such terms as will afford the finite mind something of an idea of the relationship of these eternal beings in the subsequent eras of time. We believe the Son sprang from the Father; we are taught that both are unqualifiedly eternal. It is apparent, therefore, that no time creature can ever fully comprehend this mystery of a Son who is derived from the Father, and yet who is coordinately eternal with the Father himself.
3. MINISTRY OF THE FATHER'S LOVE
6:3.3 To comprehend the love of the Eternal Son, you must first *perceive its divine source, the Father, who is love, and then *behold the unfolding of this infinite affection in the far-flung ministry of the Infinite Spirit and his almost limitless host of ministering personalities. [There are very many types of angels and higher ministering spirits. Your guardian angel here is actually a pair of seraphim angels who work together as one.]
6:3.4 The ministry of the Eternal Son is devoted to the revelation of the God of love to the universe of universes. This divine Son is not engaged in the ignoble task of trying to persuade his gracious Father to love his lowly creatures and to show mercy to the wrongdoers of time. How wrong to envisage the Eternal Son as appealing to the Universal Father to show mercy to his lowly creatures on the material worlds of space! Such [primitive atonement theory] concepts of God are crude and grotesque. Rather should you *realize that all the merciful ministrations of the Sons of God are a direct revelation of the Father’s heart of universal love and infinite compassion. The Father’s love is the real and eternal source of the Son’s mercy.
4. ATTRIBUTES OF THE ETERNAL SON
6:4.7 The Original Son is universally and spiritually self-conscious. In wisdom the Son is the full equal of the Father. In the realms of *knowledge, omniscience, we cannot distinguish between the First and Second Sources; like the Father, the Son *knows all; he is never surprised by any universe event; he comprehends the end from the beginning.
6:4.8 The Father and the Son really *know the number and whereabouts of all the spirits and spiritualized beings in the universe of universes. Not only does the Son *know all things by virtue of his own omnipresent spirit, but the Son, equally with the Father and the Conjoint Actor, is fully cognizant of the vast reflectivity intelligence of the Supreme Being, which intelligence is at all times aware of all things that transpire on all the worlds of the seven superuniverses. And there are other ways in which the Paradise Son is omniscient. [all-knowing]
6:4.10 It is needless further to expatiate on the attributes of the Eternal Son. With the exceptions noted, it is only necessary to study the spiritual attributes of God the Father to *understand and correctly evaluate the attributes of God the Son.
5. LIMITATIONS OF THE ETERNAL SON
6:5.6 Ever *remember, the Eternal Son is the personal portrayal of the spirit Father to all creation. The Son is personal and nothing but personal in the Deity sense; such a divine and absolute personality cannot be disintegrated or fragmentized. God the Father and God the Spirit are truly personal, but they are also everything else in addition to being such Deity personalities.
6. THE SPIRIT MIND
6:6.1 The Eternal Son is spirit and has mind, but not a mind or a spirit which mortal mind can comprehend. Mortal man *perceives mind on the finite, cosmic, material, and personal levels. Man also observes mind phenomena in living organisms functioning on the subpersonal (animal) level, but it is difficult for him to *grasp the nature of mind when associated with supermaterial beings and as a part of exclusive spirit personalities. Mind must, however, be differently defined when it refers to the spirit level of existence, and when it is used to denote spirit functions of intelligence. That kind of mind which is directly allied with spirit is comparable neither to that mind which co-ordinates spirit and matter nor to that mind which is allied only with matter.
6:6.2 Spirit is ever conscious, minded, and possessed of varied phases of identity. Without mind in some phase there would be no spiritual consciousness in the fraternity of spirit beings. The equivalent of mind, the ability to *know and be *known, is indigenous to Deity. Deity may be personal, prepersonal, superpersonal, or impersonal, but Deity is never mindless, that is, never without the ability at least to communicate with similar entities, beings, or personalities.
6:6.3 The mind of the Eternal Son is like that of the Father but unlike any other mind in the universe, and with the mind of the Father it is ancestor to the diverse and far-flung minds of the Conjoint Creator. [God the Infinite Spirit acting for both God the Father and God the son and ford the Father-Son and for Himself or Herself [The Paradise Trinity is far above sex discrimination that we use.] The mind of the Father and the Son, that intellect which is ancestral to the absolute mind of the Third Source and Center, is perhaps best illustrated in the premind of a Thought Adjuster, for, though these Father fragments [God's will indwelling you and guiding you to become ever more Godlike - as Jesus IS] are entirely outside of the mind circuits of the Conjoint Actor, they have some form of premind; they *know as they are *known; they enjoy the equivalent of human thinking. [Your Divine Eternal Thought Adjuster and you are now fully in a probationary Union !!!]
7. PERSONALITY OF THE ETERNAL SON
6:7.3 The Eternal Son is truly a merciful minister, a divine spirit, a spiritual power, and a real personality. The Son is the spiritual and personal nature of God made manifest to the universes—the sum and substance of the First Source and Center, divested of all that which is nonpersonal, extradivine, nonspiritual, and pure potential. But it is impossible to convey to the human mind a word picture of the beauty and grandeur of the supernal personality of the Eternal Son. Everything that tends to obscure the Universal Father operates with almost equal influence to prevent the conceptual recognition of the Eternal Son. You must await your [Spirit-perfected] attainment of Paradise, [in roughly one trillion more years after progressive ascension up through just over one billion increasingly more real and more glorious Heavens !!] ] and then you will *understand why I was unable to portray the character of this absolute personality to the *understanding of the finite mind.
8. REALIZATION OF THE ETERNAL SON
6:8.8 The Eternal Son is a grand and glorious personality. Although it is beyond the powers of the mortal and material mind to *grasp the actuality of the personality of such an infinite being, doubt not, he is a person. I [a Paradise-level Divine Counselor] *know whereof I speak. Times almost without number I have stood in the divine presence of this Eternal Son and then journeyed forth in the universe to execute his gracious bidding.
PAPER 7 RELATION OF THE ETERNAL SON TO THE UNIVERSE
0. INTRODUCTION
7:0.1 The Original Son is ever concerned with the execution of the spiritual aspects of the Father’s eternal purpose as it progressively unfolds in the phenomena of the evolving universes with their manifold groups of living beings. We do not fully comprehend this eternal plan, but the Paradise Son undoubtedly does.
1. THE SPIRIT-GRAVITY CIRCUIT
7:1.9 But alongside this very dependable and predictable function of the spiritual presence of the Eternal Son, there are encountered phenomena which are not so predictable in their reactions. Such phenomena probably indicate the co-ordinate action of the Deity Absolute in the realms of emerging spiritual potentials. We *know that the spirit presence of the Eternal Son is the influence of a majestic and infinite personality, but we hardly regard the reactions associated with the conjectured performances of the Deity Absolute as personal. [Very complex. See here:]
FOREWORD
III. The First Source and Center
0:3.1 Total, infinite reality is existential in seven phases and as seven co-ordinate Absolutes:
0:3.2 #1. The First Source and Center. [God the Universal Father]
0:3.3 #2. The Second Source and Center. [God the Eternal Son]
0:3.4 #3. The Third Source and Center. [God the Infinite Spirit]
0:3.5 #4. The Isle of Paradise. [The Absolute Source of all Force-Energy-Power and Patterns]
0:3.6 #5. The Deity Absolute. [See 0:11.1 - 16]
0:3.7 #6. The Universal Absolute. [See 0:11.1 - 16]
0:3.8 #7. The Unqualified Absolute. [See 0:11.1 - 16 All three Absolutes are as One on Paradise, Unqualified and Omnipresent !]
2. THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ETERNAL SON
7:2.3 In the superuniverses the Son is not personally present or resident; in these creations he maintains only a superpersonal representation. These spirit manifestations of the Son are not personal; they are not in the personality circuit of the Universal Father. We *know of no better term to use than to designate them superpersonalities; and they are finite beings; they are neither absonite [transcendental, ultimate] nor absolute. [superpersonality must be infinite and a part of God the Father-Infinite I AM]
5. THE SPIRIT OF BESTOWAL
7:5.3 The purely personal nature of the Eternal Son is incapable of fragmentation. The Eternal Son ministers as a spiritual influence or as a person, never otherwise. The Son finds it impossible to become a part of creature *experience in the sense that the Father-Adjuster participates therein, but the Eternal Son compensates this limitation by the technique of bestowal. What the *experience of fragmented entities means to the Universal Father, the incarnation *experiences of the [700,000] Paradise [Creator] Sons mean to the Eternal Son.
7:5.7 The bestowals of the Eternal Son in Havona are not within the scope of human imagination; they were transcendental. He added to the *experience of all Havona then and subsequently, but we do not *know whether he added to the supposed experiential capacity of his existential nature. That would fall within the bestowal mystery of the Paradise Sons. We do, however, believe that whatever the Eternal Son acquired on these bestowal missions, he has ever since retained; but we do not *know what it is.
7:5.8 Whatever our difficulty in comprehending the bestowals of the Second Person of Deity, we do comprehend the Havona bestowal of a Son of the Eternal Son, who literally passed through the circuits of the central universe and actually shared those *experiences which constitute an ascender’s preparation for Deity attainment. This was the original Michael, the first-born Creator Son, and he passed through the life *experiences of the ascending pilgrims from circuit to circuit, [seven circuits of one billion high spheres (Heavens) in Havona] personally journeying a stage of each circle with them in the days of Grandfanda, the first of all mortals to attain Havona.
7:5.9 Whatever else this original Michael revealed, he made the transcendent bestowal of the Original [Eternal] Mother Son real to the creatures of Havona. So real, that forevermore each pilgrim of time who labors in the adventure of making the Havona circuits is cheered and strengthened by the certain *knowledge that the Eternal Son of God seven times abdicated the power and glory of Paradise to participate in the *experiences of the time-space pilgrims on the seven circuits of progressive Havona attainment.
6. THE PARADISE SONS OF GOD
7:6.1 The lack of a *knowledge of the multiple Sons of God is a source of great confusion on Urantia. And this ignorance persists in the face of such statements as the record of a conclave of these divine personalities: “When the Sons of God proclaimed joy, and all of the Morning Stars sang together.” Every millennium of sector standard time the various orders of the divine Sons forgather for their periodic conclaves.
7:6.8 The Eternal Son not only has at all times perfect *knowledge concerning the status, thoughts, and manifold activities of all orders of Paradise sonship, but he also has perfection of *knowledge at all times regarding everything of spiritual value which exists in the hearts of all creatures in the primary central creation of eternity and in the secondary time creations of the co-ordinate Creator Sons.
7. THE SUPREME REVELATION OF THE FATHER
7:7.1 The Eternal Son is a complete, exclusive, universal, and final revelation of the spirit and the personality of the Universal Father. All *knowledge of, and information concerning, the Father must come from the Eternal Son and his Paradise Sons. The Eternal Son is from eternity and is wholly and without spiritual qualification one with the Father. In divine personality they are co-ordinate; in spiritual nature they are equal; in divinity they are identical. [Our Creator Son of God Jesus Christ Michael has completed His Seven Bestowals; and since May 18, A.D. 30 - on, He has been elevated to being a Master Son, eternally One with God the Universal Father and AS God the Universal Father, and God the Eternal Son, and God the Father-Son to all humans in His/our large local Universe of Nebadon !]
7:7.3 The primal Son and his Sons are engaged in making a universal revelation of the spiritual and personal nature of the Father to all creation. In the central universe, the superuniverses, the local universes, or on the inhabited planets, it is a Paradise Son who reveals the Universal Father to men and angels. The Eternal Son and his Sons reveal the avenue of creature approach to the Universal Father. And even we of high [Paradise] origin *understand the Father much more fully as we study the revelation of his character and personality in the Eternal Son and in the Sons of the Eternal Son.
7:7.5 In all these widespread activities of the far-flung spiritual administration of the Eternal Son, do not *forget that the Son is a person just as truly and actually as the Father is a person. Indeed, to beings of the onetime human order the Eternal Son will be more easy to approach than the Universal Father. In the progress of the pilgrims of time through the circuits of Havona, you will be competent to attain the Son long before you are prepared to *discern the Father. ["Like Father, like Son(s)"]
7:7.6 More of the character and merciful nature of the Eternal Son of mercy you should comprehend as you meditate on the revelation of these divine attributes which was made in loving service by your own Creator Son, [Jesus Christ Michael] onetime Son of Man on earth, now the exalted sovereign of your local universe—the Son of Man and the Son of God.
Topical Study number 134
"KNOW and related words !"
Part 4
Compiled March 24, 2021 by Dave@PureChristians.org
The Urantia Book
PAPER 8 THE INFINITE SPIRIT
1. THE GOD OF ACTION
[Paper:Section.Paragraph (numbers)]
8:1.2 [Note: These are simultaneous Eternity Events of all-eternal timeless Beings ! First, next and last sequences are to help human comprehension.] The first act of the Infinite Spirit is the inspection and recognition of his divine parents, the Father-Father and the Mother-Son. He, the Spirit, unqualifiedly identifies both of them. He is fully cognizant of their separate personalities and infinite attributes as well as of their combined nature and united function. Next, voluntarily, with transcendent willingness and inspiring spontaneity, the Third Person of Deity, notwithstanding his equality with the First and Second Persons, pledges eternal loyalty to God the Father and acknowledges everlasting dependence upon God the Son.
8:1.4 The God of Action functions and the dead vaults of space are astir. One billion perfect [Eternal Havona] spheres flash into existence. Prior to this hypothetical eternity moment the space-energies inherent in Paradise are existent and potentially operative, but they have no actuality of being; neither can physical gravity be measured except by the reaction of material realities to its incessant pull. There is no material universe at this (assumed) eternally distant moment, but the very instant that one billion worlds materialize, there is in evidence gravity sufficient and adequate to hold them in the everlasting *grasp of Paradise.
8:1.5 There now flashes through the creation of the Gods the second form of energy, and this outflowing spirit is instantly *grasped by the spiritual gravity of the Eternal Son. Thus the twofold gravity-embraced universe is touched with the energy of infinity and immersed in the spirit of divinity. In this way is the soil of life prepared for the consciousness of mind made manifest in the associated intelligence circuits of the Infinite Spirit.
8:1.11 It is enough of a reach of the material mind of the children of time to conceive of the Father in eternity. We *know that any child can best relate himself to reality by first mastering the relationships of the child-parent situation and then by enlarging this concept to embrace the family as a whole. Subsequently the growing mind of the child will be able to adjust to the concept of family relations, to relationships of the community, the race, and the world, and then to those of the universe, the superuniverse, even the universe of universes. [Enlarging our cosmic consciousness without end !]
2. NATURE OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
8:2.3 It is altogether proper to denominate the Third Person of Deity the Infinite Spirit, for God is spirit. But material creatures who tend towards the error of viewing matter as basic reality and mind, together with spirit, as postulates rooted in matter, would better comprehend the Third Source and Center if he were called the Infinite Reality, the Universal Organizer, or the Personality Co-ordinator. [Also the Divine Activator is one I like to use]
8:2.7 It is not possible that the Spirit could have more of goodness than the Father since all goodness takes origin in the Father, but in the acts of the Spirit we can the better comprehend such goodness. The Father’s faithfulness and the Son’s constancy are made very real to the spirit beings and the material creatures of the spheres by the loving ministry and ceaseless service of the personalities of the Infinite Spirit. [Possibly an infinite number of Ministering Spirits, Heavenly Hosts, Super-Angels, and other types of lower angels such as our Seraphim guardian angels.]
3. RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER AND THE SON
8:3.6 The Infinite Spirit is a complete, exclusive, and universal revelation of the Universal Father and his Eternal Son. All *knowledge of the Father-Son partnership must be had through the Infinite Spirit, the conjoint representative of the divine thought-word union.
8:3.8 At the center of all things the Infinite Spirit is the first of the Paradise Deities to be attained by the ascending pilgrims. The Third Person enshrouds the Second and the First Persons and therefore must always be first *recognized by all who are candidates for presentation to the Son and his Father.
4. THE SPIRIT OF DIVINE MINISTRY
8:4.3 On Urantia [Earth] the Infinite Spirit is *known as an omnipresent influence, a universal presence, but in Havona you shall *know him as a personal presence of actual ministry. Here the ministry of the Paradise Spirit is the exemplary and inspiring pattern for each of his co-ordinate Spirits and subordinate personalities ministering to the created beings on the worlds of time and space. In this divine universe the Infinite Spirit fully participated in the seven transcendental appearances of the Eternal Son; likewise did he participate with the original Michael Son in the seven bestowals upon the circuits of Havona, thereby becoming the sympathetic and *understanding spirit minister to every pilgrim of time traversing these perfect circles on high.
8:4.7 The Conjoint Creator is truly and forever the great ministering personality, the universal mercy minister. To comprehend the ministry of the Spirit, ponder the truth that he is the combined portrayal of the Father’s unending love and of the Son’s eternal mercy. The Spirit’s ministry is not, however, restricted solely to the representation of the Eternal Son and the Universal Father. The Infinite Spirit also possesses the power to minister to the creatures of the realm in his own name and right; the Third Person is of divine dignity and also bestows the universal ministry of mercy in his own behalf.
8:4.8 As man *learns more of the loving and tireless ministry of the lower orders of the creature family of this Infinite Spirit, he will all the more admire and adore the transcendent nature and matchless character of this combined Action of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. Indeed is this Spirit “the eyes of the Lord which are ever over the righteous” and “the divine ears which are ever open to their prayers. ”[The Paradise Infinite Spirit is fully manifest in our Nebadon local universe as our Creative Mother (Holy) Spirit Divine Minister who is the co-equal Spirit Partner of our Sovereign Universe Creator Son of God Jesus Christ Michael who is God the Universal Father and God the Eternal Son to us. Three Paradise Deities in Two Nebadon Deities and all as One in Spirit !]
5. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
8:5.2 The Father is infinite and is therefore limited only by volition. In the bestowal of Adjusters [God's pure Spirit Essence indwelling all normal, slightly moral or better, humans] and in the encircuitment of personality, the Father acts alone, but in the contact of spirit forces with intelligent beings, he utilizes the spirits and personalities of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit. He is at will spiritually present equally with the Son or with the Conjoint Actor; he is present with the Son and in the Spirit. The Father is most certainly everywhere present, [fully Omnipresent !] and we *discern his presence by and through any and all of these diverse but associated forces, influences, and presences.
8:5.5 Ever *remember that the Infinite Spirit is the Conjoint Actor; both the Father and the Son are functioning in and through him; he is present not only as himself but also as the Father and as the Son and as the Father-Son. [Four in One and as One]. In recognition of this and for many additional reasons the spirit presence of the Infinite Spirit is often referred to as “the spirit of God.”
6. PERSONALITY OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
8:6.5 Even though we *behold the phenomenon of the ministry of the Infinite Spirit to the remote worlds of the universe of universes, even though we envisage this same co-ordinating Deity acting in and through the untold legions of the manifold beings who take origin in the Third Source and Center, even though we *recognize the omnipresence of the Spirit, nonetheless, we still affirm that this same Third Source and Center is a person, the Conjoint Creator of all things and all beings and all universes.[The four Presence (Spirit Gravity) Circuits of God the Universal Father I AM are: Personality, Spirit, Mind, and Force-Energy.]
PAPER 9 RELATION OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT TO THE UNIVERSE
0. INTRODUCTION
9:0.3 The Infinite Spirit, the Conjoint Creator, is a universal and divine minister. The Spirit unceasingly ministers the Son’s mercy and the Father’s love, even in harmony with the stable, unvarying, and righteous justice of the Paradise Trinity. His influence and personalities are ever near you; they really *know and truly *understand you.
1. ATTRIBUTES OF THE THIRD SOURCE AND CENTER
9:1.5 The Third Source and Center perfectly and without qualification shares the omnipresence of the First Source and Center, sometimes being called the Omnipresent Spirit. In a peculiar and very personal manner the God of mind shares the omniscience [All-Knowing] of the Universal Father and his Eternal Son; the *knowledge of the Spirit is profound and complete. The Conjoint Creator manifests certain phases of the omnipotence of the Universal Father but is actually omnipotent only in the domain of mind. The Third Person of Deity is the intellectual center and the universal administrator of the mind realms; herein is he absolute—his sovereignty is unqualified.
9:1.6 The Conjoint Actor *seems to be motivated by the Father-Son partnership, but all his actions appear to *recognize the Father-Paradise [Force-Energy and Patterns are from Paradise] relationship. At times and in certain functions he *seems to compensate for the incompleteness of the development of the experiential Deities—God the Supreme and God the Ultimate. [Complex. See Papers 115 through 118]
2. THE OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT
9:2.1 God is spirit in a threefold sense: He himself is spirit; in his Son he appears as spirit without qualification; in the Conjoint Actor, as spirit allied with mind. And in addition to these spiritual realities, we think we *discern levels of experiential spirit phenomena—the spirits of the Supreme Being, Ultimate Deity, and Deity Absolute. [They are all parts of the Universal Eternal Father-Infinite I AM]
9:2.5 The presence of the universal spirit of the Eternal Son we *know—we can unmistakably *recognize it. The presence of the Infinite Spirit, the Third Person of Deity, even mortal man may *know, for material creatures can actually experience the beneficence of this divine influence which functions as the Holy Spirit of local universe bestowal upon the races of mankind. Human beings can also in some degree become conscious of the Adjuster, the impersonal presence of the Universal Father. These divine spirits which work for man’s uplifting and spiritualization all act in unison and in perfect co-operation. They are as one in the spiritual operation of the plans of mortal ascension and perfection attainment.
4. THE ABSOLUTE MIND
9:4.1 There is an intellectual nature of the Third Source and Center that is distinct from his physical and spiritual attributes. Such a nature is hardly contactable, but it is associable—intellectually though not personally. It is distinguishable from the physical attributes and the spiritual character of the Third Person on mind levels of function, but to the *discernment of personalities this nature never functions independently of physical or spiritual manifestations.
5. THE MINISTRY OF MIND
9:5.7 Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness; you subject them to animal fear and distort them by useless anxiety. Therefore, though the source of mind is divine, mind as you *know it on your world of ascension can hardly become the object of great admiration, much less of adoration or worship. The contemplation of the immature and inactive human intellect should lead only to reactions of humility. [Human mind often forgets much past experiences and facts. When we physically die and are resurrected by Jesus into the next soul-reality Heavens, we will be given a much higher soul body and a higher soul mind that never forgets ! I believe because of all the complex new languages and knowledge we must learn. Wonderful !]
6. THE MIND-GRAVITY CIRCUIT
9:6.1 The Third Source and Center, the universal intelligence, is personally conscious of every mind, every intellect, in all creation, and he maintains a personal and perfect contact with all these physical, morontial, [soul,] and spiritual creatures of mind endowment in the far-flung universes. All these activities of mind are *grasped in the absolute mind-gravity circuit which focalizes in the Third Source and Center and is a part of the personal consciousness of the Infinite Spirit.
9:6.6 Cosmic mind, when not associated with either energy or spirit, is subject to the gravity demands of neither material nor spiritual circuits. Pure mind is subject only to the universal [mind] gravity *grasp of the Conjoint Actor. Pure mind is close of kin to infinite mind, and infinite mind (the theoretical co-ordinate of the absolutes of spirit and energy) is apparently a law in itself.
9:6.8 The mind-gravity circuit is dependable; it emanates from the Third Person of Deity on Paradise, but not all the observable function of mind is predictable. Throughout all *known creation there parallels this circuit of mind some little-understood presence whose function is not predictable. We believe that this unpredictability is partly attributable to the function of the Universal Absolute. What this function is, we do not *know; what actuates it, we can only conjecture; concerning its relation to creatures, we can only speculate. [Evedn High Paradise Beings, other than the Existential Paradise Trinity, are not All-Knowing. They enjoy research and speculation on many Infinite and Absolute Mysteries of God, Whom I believe is the One Super-Infinite I AM GOD. Our mathematician Georg Cantor proved that there is an infinite hierarchy of Infinities !]
7. UNIVERSE REFLECTIVITY
9:7.1 The Conjoint Actor is able to co-ordinate all levels of universe actuality in such manner as to make possible the simultaneous recognition of the mental, the material, and the spiritual. This is the phenomenon of universe reflectivity, that unique and inexplicable power to *see, hear, sense, and *know all things as they transpire throughout a superuniverse, and to focalize, by reflectivity, all this information and *knowledge at any desired point. [!!!] The action of reflectivity is shown in perfection on each of the headquarters worlds of the seven superuniverses. [In this first, Supreme Age, each superuniverse will have one trillion human-inhabited planets and a huge number of progressive ascension Heavens -- spiritual Spheres !] It is also operative throughout all sectors of the superuniverses and within the boundaries of the local universes. Reflectivity finally focalizes on Paradise.[!!!]
9:7.2 The phenomenon of reflectivity, as it is disclosed on the superuniverse headquarters worlds in the amazing performances of the reflective personalities there stationed, represents the most complex interassociation of all phases of existence to be found in all creation. Lines of spirit can be traced back to the Son, physical energy to Paradise, and mind to the Third Source; but in the extraordinary phenomenon of universe reflectivity there is a unique and exceptional unification of all three, so associated as to enable the universe rulers to *know about remote conditions instantaneously, simultaneously with their occurrence.
9:7.3 Much of the technique of reflectivity we comprehend, but there are many phases which truly baffle us. We *know that the Conjoint Actor is the universe center of the mind circuit, that he is the ancestor of the cosmic mind, and that cosmic mind operates under the dominance of the absolute mind gravity of the Third Source and Center. We *know further that the circuits of the cosmic mind influence the intellectual levels of all *known existence; they contain the universal space reports, and just as certainly they focus in the Seven Master Spirits and converge in the Third Source and Center.
8. PERSONALITIES OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
9:8.10 The Father bestows personality by his personal free will. Why he does so we can only conjecture; how he does so we do not *know. Neither do we *know why the Third Source bestows non-Father personality, but this the Infinite Spirit does in his own behalf, in creative conjunction with the Eternal Son and in numerous ways un*known to you. The Infinite Spirit can also act for the Father in the bestowal of First Source personality.
9:8.13 Even you will be able to *see your spiritual associates of the lower orders as soon as you are delivered from the limited vision of your present material eyes and have been endowed with a morontia [soul reality] form with its enlarged sensitivity to the reality of spiritual things.
PAPER 10. THE PARADISE TRINITY
1. SELF-DISTRIBUTION OF THE FIRST SOURCE AND CENTER
10:1.4 For *knowledge concerning the Father’s personality and divine attributes we will always be dependent on the revelations of the Eternal Son, for when the conjoint act of creation was effected, when the Third Person of Deity sprang into personality existence and executed the combined concepts of his divine parents, the Father ceased to exist as the unqualified personality. With the coming into being of the Conjoint Actor and the materialization of the central core of creation, certain eternal changes took place. God gave himself as an absolute personality to his Eternal Son. Thus does the Father bestow the “personality of infinity” upon his only-begotten Son, while they both bestow the “conjoint personality” of their eternal union upon the Infinite Spirit. [Very complex !]
10:1.5 For these and other reasons beyond the concept of the finite mind, it is exceedingly difficult for the human creature to comprehend God’s infinite father-personality except as it is universally revealed in the Eternal Son and, with the Son, is universally active in the Infinite Spirit. [If God were small enough for our finite human understanding, He/She/They would not be big enough for our real and eternal human needs !]
10:1.6 Since the Paradise Sons of God visit the evolutionary worlds and sometimes even there dwell in the likeness of mortal flesh, and since these bestowals make it possible for mortal man actually to *know something of the nature and character of divine personality, therefore must the creatures of the planetary spheres look to the bestowals of these Paradise Sons for reliable and trustworthy information regarding the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
2. DEITY PERSONALIZATION
10:2.8 [A Paradise Universal Censor states:] I am of origin in the Paradise Trinity. I *know the Trinity as unified Deity; I also *know that the Father, Son, and Spirit exist and act in their definite personal capacities. I positively *know that they not only act personally and collectively, but that they also co-ordinate their performances in various groupings, so that in the end they function in seven different singular and plural capacities. And since these seven associations exhaust the possibilities for such divinity combination, it is inevitable that the realities of the universe shall appear in seven variations of values, meanings, and personality. [The seven total possible wills and will unions of the Trinity are: 1. Father 2. Son 3. Spirit 4. Father-Son 5. Father-Spirit 6. Son-Spirit 7. Father-Son-Spirit (not the same as the Trinity Union)]
3. THE THREE PERSONS OF DEITY
10:3.6 We observe that the Father has divested himself of all direct manifestations of absoluteness except absolute fatherhood and absolute volition. [will.] We do not *know whether volition is an inalienable attribute of the Father; we can only observe that he did not divest himself of volition. Such infinity of will must have been eternally inherent in the First Source and Center.
10:3.8 God is the Father-Absolute of all personalities in the universe of universes. The Father is personally absolute in liberty of action, but in the universes of time and space, made, in the making, and yet to be made, the Father is not *discernibly absolute as total Deity except in the Paradise Trinity.
4. THE TRINITY UNION OF DEITY
10:4.1 Of all absolute associations, the Paradise Trinity (the first triunity) is unique as an exclusive association of personal Deity. God functions as God only in relation to God and to those who can *know God, but as absolute Deity only in the Paradise Trinity and in relation to universe totality.
10:4.5 Ever *remember that what the Infinite Spirit does is the function of the Conjoint Actor. Both the Father and the Son are functioning in and through and as him. But it would be futile to attempt to elucidate the Trinity mystery: three as one and in one, and one as two and acting for two.
10:4.7 As a mortal in the flesh you should view the Trinity in accordance with your individual enlightenment and in harmony with the reactions of your mind and soul. You can *know very little of the absoluteness of the Trinity, but as you ascend Paradiseward, you will many times experience astonishment at successive revelations and unexpected discoveries of Trinity supremacy and ultimacy, if not of absoluteness. [Review:]
0:12.9 The philosophers of the universes postulate a Trinity of Trinities, an existential-experiential Trinity Infinite, but they are not able to envisage its personalization; possibly it would equivalate to the person of the Universal Father on the conceptual level of the I AM. But irrespective of all this, the original Paradise Trinity is potentially infinite since the Universal Father actually is infinite.
5. FUNCTIONS OF THE TRINITY
10:5.7 The Trinity Infinite involves the co-ordinate action of all [15] triunity relationships of the First Source and Center—undeified as well as deified—and hence is very difficult for personalities to *grasp. In the contemplation of the Trinity as infinite, do not ignore the seven triunities; [plus 8 not yet revealed -- too complex for us !] thereby certain difficulties of *understanding may be avoided, and certain paradoxes may be partially resolved. [It is good for humans to use their God-given intellect, acquired wisdom, and creative imagination to attempt to understand and grasp more of God and total unified Reality-Realities. God is both Infinite Unity and Infinite Diversity, and much more ...]
6. THE STATIONARY SONS OF THE TRINITY
10:6.18 Justice is the collective thought of righteousness; mercy is its personal expression. Mercy is the attitude of love; precision characterizes the operation of law; divine judgment is the soul of fairness, ever conforming to the justice of the Trinity, ever fulfilling the divine love of God. When fully *perceived and completely understood, the righteous justice of the Trinity and the merciful love of the Universal Father are coincident. But man has no such full *understanding of divine justice. Thus in the Trinity, as man would view it, the personalities of Father, Son, and Spirit are adjusted to co-ordinate ministry of love and law in the experiential universes of time. [Back in the years 1940 or earlier, the term "Lord it over him !" meant to be very mean and judgmental to someone. Today, more progressive-perfecting humans knowing our God, as Revealed continuously by Jesus, would believe and know that "Lord it over him !" means to be GOD-like -- as JESUS IS -- and thus judge all humans always in divine love, lavish mercy, full truth, fairness, kindness, tolerance, patience, etc. As we forgive others, we then personally Realize God's lavish loving forgiveness of our own errors, evils and sins !]
7. THE OVERCONTROL OF SUPREMACY
10:7.3 The Supreme Being is something less and something other than the Trinity functioning in the finite universes; but within certain limits and during the present era of incomplete power-personalization, this evolutionary Deity does appear to reflect the attitude of the Trinity of Supremacy. The Father, Son, and Spirit do not personally function with the Supreme Being, but during the present universe age they collaborate with him as the Trinity. We *understand that they sustain a similar relationship to the Ultimate. We often conjecture as to what will be the personal relationship between the Paradise Deities and God the Supreme when he has finally evolved, but we do not really *know.
10:7.5 The mortal mind can immediately think of a thousand and one things—catastrophic physical events, appalling accidents, horrific disasters, painful illnesses, and world-wide scourges—and ask whether such visitations are correlated in the un*known maneuvering of this probable functioning of the Supreme Being. [See Papers 115 thru 118 very deep !] Frankly, we do not *know; we are not really sure. But we do observe that, as time passes, all these difficult and more or less mysterious situations always work out for the welfare and progress of the universes. It may be that the circumstances of existence and the inexplicable vicissitudes of living are all interwoven into a meaningful pattern of high value by the function of the Supreme and the overcontrol of the Trinity.
10:7.6 As a son of God you can *discern the personal attitude of love in all the acts of God the Father. But you will not always be able to *understand how many of the universe acts of the Paradise Trinity redound to the good of the individual mortal on the evolutionary worlds of space. In the progress of eternity the acts of the Trinity will be revealed as altogether meaningful and considerate, but they do not always so appear to the creatures of time. [Most, if not all, troubles, problems, and failures help the souls of humans to grow faster and to enhance wisdom in each human mind.]
8. THE TRINITY BEYOND THE FINITE
10:8.5 We *know the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit as persons, but I do not personally *know the Deity Absolute. I love and worship God the Father; I respect and honor the Deity Absolute.
10:8.7 The [Paradise] Corps of the Finality embrace, among others, those mortals of time and space who have attained perfection in all that pertains to the will of God. As creatures and within the limits of creature capacity they fully and truly *know God. Having thus found God as the Father of all creatures, these finaliters must sometime begin the quest for the superfinite Father. But this quest involves a *grasp of the absonite [transcendental, ultimate] nature of the ultimate attributes and character of the Paradise Father. Eternity will disclose whether such an attainment is possible, but we are convinced, even if the finaliters do *grasp this ultimate of divinity, they will probably be unable to attain the superultimate levels of absolute Deity. [and the higher super-absolute Infinity of Infinities of God the Father-Infinite I AM ...]
10:8.8 It may be possible that the finaliters will partially attain the Deity Absolute, but even if they should, still in the eternity of eternities [WOW !] the problem of the Universal Absolute will continue to intrigue, mystify, baffle, and challenge the ascending and progressing finaliters, for we *perceive that the unfathomability of the cosmic relationships of the Universal Absolute will tend to grow in proportions as the material universes and their spiritual administration continue to expand.
Topical Study number 134
"KNOW and related words !"
Part 5
Compiled March 26, 2021 by Dave@PureChristians.org
The Urantia Book
PAPER 11. THE ETERNAL ISLE OF PARADISE
0. INTRODUCTION
[Paper:Section.Paragraph (numbers)]
11:0.1 PARADISE is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe. Paradise is a material sphere as well as a spiritual abode. All of the intelligent creation of the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes; hence must the absolute controlling center also be material, literal. And again it should be reiterated that spirit things and spiritual beings are real. [But all the material things are higher energies fully invisible to all human eyes. They are also 1-3 -7 dimensional high Realities that are not as in our limited three-dimensional space-time universes.]
11:0.2 The material beauty of Paradise consists in the magnificence of its physical perfection; the grandeur of the Isle of God is exhibited in the superb intellectual accomplishments and mind development of its inhabitants; the glory of the central Isle is shown forth in the infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—the light of life. But the depths of the spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent ensemble are utterly beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of material creatures. The glory and spiritual splendor of the divine abode are impossible of mortal comprehension. And Paradise is from eternity; there are neither records nor traditions respecting the origin of this nuclear Isle of Light and Life.
1. THE DIVINE RESIDENCE
11:1.1 Paradise serves many purposes in the administration of the universal realms, but to creature beings it exists primarily as the dwelling place of Deity. The personal presence of the Universal Father is resident at the very center of the upper surface of this well-nigh circular, [a 7 by 6 ratio ellipsoid] but not spherical, abode of the Deities. This Paradise presence of the Universal Father is immediately surrounded by the personal presence of the Eternal Son, while they are both invested by the unspeakable glory of the Infinite Spirit.
11:1.2 God dwells, has dwelt, and everlastingly will dwell in this same central and eternal abode. We [Paradise Perfectors of Wisdom] have always found him there and always will. The Universal Father is cosmically focalized, spiritually personalized, and geographically resident at this center of the universe of universes. [The Father-Infinite I AM is eternally Omnipresent, having no outside and no beyond, no past and no future; thus He fully transcends all of our space limitations, and all of our time limitations. He has no past and no future limitations; all time is in his all-Knowing Eternal Now ! But, fear not ! We do always have full freewill; God just knows now what all your decisions and actions will be: IS NOW to Him !]
11:1.3 [This interesting paragraph I think is made to challenge us more.] We all *know the direct course to pursue to find the Universal Father. You are not able to comprehend much about the divine residence because of its remoteness from you and the immensity of the intervening space, but those who are able to comprehend the meaning of these enormous distances *know God’s location and residence just as certainly and literally as you *know the location of New York, London, Rome, or Singapore, cities definitely and geographically located on Urantia. [Earth] If you were an intelligent navigator, equipped with ship, maps, and compass, you could readily find these cities. Likewise, if you had the time and means of passage, were spiritually qualified, [!] and had the necessary guidance, [in and by Jesus here !!] you could be piloted through universe upon universe and from circuit to circuit, ever journeying inward through the starry realms, until at last you would stand before the central shining of the spiritual glory of the Universal Father. [Instant trial trips into our Paradise Father God in Jesus are now possible !!!] Provided with all the necessities for the journey, it is just as possible to find the personal presence of God at the center of all things as to find distant cities on your own planet. That you have not visited these places in no way disproves their reality or actual existence. That so few of the [present time-space] universe creatures have found God on Paradise in no way disproves either the reality of his existence or the actuality of his spiritual person at the center of all things.
2. NATURE OF THE ETERNAL ISLE
11:2.1 Since you are beginning to glimpse the enormousness of the material universe *discernible even from your astronomical location, your space position in the starry systems, it should become evident to you that such a tremendous material universe [potentially or actually infinite !] must have an adequate and worthy capital, a headquarters commensurate with the dignity and infinitude [!] of the universal Ruler of all this vast and far-flung creation of material realms and living beings.
11:2.11 Roughly: space *seemingly originates just below nether [lower] Paradise; time just above upper Paradise. Time, as you *understand it, is not a feature of Paradise existence, though the citizens of the central Isle are fully conscious of nontime sequence of events. [and also non-space simultaneity!] Motion is not inherent on Paradise; it is volitional. But the concept of distance, even absolute distance, has very much meaning as it may be applied to relative locations on Paradise. Paradise is nonspatial; hence its areas are absolute and therefore serviceable in many ways beyond the concept of mortal mind. [Paradise Residents fully transcend all time and space limitations !]
4. PERIPHERAL PARADISE
11:4.1 The central Isle ends abruptly at the periphery, but its size is so enormous that this terminal angle is relatively in*discernible within any circumscribed area. The peripheral surface of Paradise is occupied, in part, by the landing and dispatching fields for various groups of spirit personalities. [a finite segment of an infinite ellipse or circle appears as a perfectly straight line.] Since the nonpervaded-space zones nearly impinge upon the periphery, all personality transports destined to Paradise land in these regions. Neither upper nor nether Paradise is approachable by transport supernaphim or other types of space traversers.
5. NETHER PARADISE
11:5.1 Concerning nether Paradise, we *know only that which is revealed; personalities do not sojourn there. It has nothing whatever to do with the affairs of spirit intelligences, nor does the Deity Absolute there function. We are informed that all physical-energy and cosmic-force circuits have their origin on nether Paradise, and that it is constituted as follows:
11:5.2 #1. Directly underneath the location of the Trinity, in the central portion of nether Paradise, is the unknown and unrevealed Zone of Infinity. [Wow ! The term: "Isle" of Paradise, qualifies PARADISE Unqualified, as mentioned in the Foreword of this Revelation. God is Omnipresent and eternally in Paradise; thus Paradise, unqualified must also be Omnipresent and Infinite. Right?]
11:5.3 #2. This Zone is immediately surrounded by an unnamed area. [Deep Mystery to all but God and the Paradise Trinity]
6. SPACE RESPIRATION
11:6.1 We do not *know the actual mechanism of space respiration; we merely observe that all space alternately contracts and expands. This respiration affects both the horizontal extension of pervaded space and the vertical extensions of unpervaded space which exist in the vast space reservoirs above and below Paradise. In attempting to imagine the volume outlines of these space reservoirs, you might think of an hourglass.
11:6.2 As the universes of the horizontal extension of pervaded space expand, the reservoirs of the vertical extension of unpervaded space contract and vice versa. There is a confluence of pervaded and unpervaded space just underneath nether Paradise. Both types of space there flow through the transmuting regulation channels, where changes are wrought making pervadable space nonpervadable and vice versa in the contraction and expansion cycles of the cosmos. [Cosmos is much more than just the physical galaxies in the whole Universe of Universes; Cosmos also has Mind and Spirit and Personality Gravity Presences !]
11:6.3 “Unpervaded” space means: unpervaded by those forces, energies, powers, and presences *known to exist in pervaded space. We do not *know whether vertical (reservoir) space is destined always to function as the equipoise of horizontal (universe) space; we do not *know whether there is a creative intent concerning unpervaded space; we really *know very little about the space reservoirs, merely that they exist, and that they *seem to counterbalance the space-expansion-contraction cycles of the universe of universes.
11:6.4 The cycles of space respiration extend in each phase for a little more than one billion Urantia years. During one phase the universes expand; during the next they contract. Pervaded space is now approaching the mid-point of the expanding phase, while unpervaded space nears the mid-point of the contracting phase, and we are informed that the outermost limits of both space extensions are, theoretically, now approximately equidistant from Paradise. The unpervaded-space reservoirs now extend vertically above upper Paradise and below nether Paradise just as far as the pervaded space of the universe extends horizontally outward from peripheral Paradise to and even beyond the fourth outer space level. [in the present Ultimate Reality of the larger Master Universe of the Trinity Ultimate. Our Good Master Jesus Christ Michael is NOW a Member !!!]
11:6.5 For a billion years of Urantia time the space reservoirs contract while the master universe and the force activities of all horizontal space expand. It thus requires a little over two billion Urantia years to complete the entire expansion-contraction cycle. [Possibly the Cosmos may be conceived as a Living Organism ...]
7. SPACE FUNCTIONS OF PARADISE
11:7.1 Space does not exist on any of the surfaces of Paradise. If one “looked” directly up from the upper surface of Paradise, one would “*see” [perceive] nothing but unpervaded space going out or coming in, just now coming in. Space does not touch Paradise; only the quiescent midspace zones come in contact with the central Isle.
11:7.2 Paradise is the actually motionless nucleus of the relatively quiescent zones existing between pervaded and unpervaded space. Geographically these zones appear to be a relative extension of Paradise, but there probably is some motion in them. We *know very little about them, but we observe that these zones of lessened space motion separate pervaded and unpervaded space. Similar zones once existed between the levels of pervaded space, but these are now less quiescent.
11:7.4 Space is neither a subabsolute condition within, nor the presence of, the Unqualified Absolute, neither is it a function of the Ultimate. It is a bestowal of Paradise, [the Absolute of space is Paradise; the Absolute of time is Eternity. Paradise-Eternity is Absolutely Unified,] and the space of the grand universe and that of all outer regions is believed to be actually pervaded by the ancestral space potency of the Unqualified Absolute. From near approach to peripheral Paradise, this pervaded space extends horizontally outward through the fourth space level and beyond the periphery of the master universe, but how far beyond we do not *know. [maybe an Infinite amount ?]
8. PARADISE GRAVITY
11:8.1 The inescapable pull of gravity effectively grips all the worlds of all the universes of all space. Gravity is the all-powerful *grasp of the physical presence of Paradise. Gravity is the omnipotent strand on which are strung the gleaming stars, blazing suns, and whirling spheres which constitute the universal physical adornment of the eternal God, who is all things, fills all things, and in whom all things consist.
11:8.9 Paradise is the absolute source and the eternal focal point of all energy-matter in the universe of universes. The Unqualified Absolute is the revealer, regulator, and repository of that which has Paradise as its source and origin. The universal presence of the Unqualified Absolute seems to be equivalent to the concept of a potential infinity of gravity extension, an elastic tension of Paradise essence. This concept aids us in *grasping the fact that everything is drawn inward towards Paradise. The illustration is crude but nonetheless helpful. It also explains why gravity always acts preferentially in the plane perpendicular to the mass, a phenomenon indicative of the differential dimensions of [maybe 1-3-7 dimensional] Paradise and the surrounding creations.[of three physical dimensions. (time is NOT a dimension !)]
9. THE UNIQUENESS OF PARADISE
11:9.4 When reality is differentiated into the personal and the nonpersonal (Eternal Son and Paradise), it is hardly proper to call that which is nonpersonal “Deity” unless somehow qualified. The energy and material repercussions of the acts of Deity could hardly be called Deity. Deity may cause much that is not Deity, and Paradise is not Deity; neither is it conscious as mortal man could ever possibly *understand such a term. [Paradise is one of the seven absolutes of Infinity]
PAPER 12. THE UNIVERSE OF UNIVERSES
0. INTRODUCTION
12:0.1 The immensity of the far-flung creation of the Universal Father is utterly beyond the *grasp of finite imagination; the enormousness of the [only ultimate, which is sub-Absolute and sub-sub-Infinity] master universe staggers the concept of even my order of being. But the mortal mind can be taught much about the plan and arrangement of the universes; you can *know something of their physical organization and marvelous administration; you may *learn much about the various groups of intelligent beings who inhabit the seven superuniverses of time and the central universe of eternity.
12:0.2 In principle, that is, in eternal potential, we conceive of material creation as being infinite because the Universal Father is actually infinite, but as we study and observe the total material creation, we *know that at any given moment in time it is limited, although to your finite minds it is comparatively limitless, virtually boundless.
1. SPACE LEVELS OF THE MASTER UNIVERSE
12:1.16 The central universe is the creation of eternity; the seven superuniverses are the creations of time; the four outer space levels [of only the Master Universe] are undoubtedly destined to eventuate-evolve the ultimacy of creation. And there are those who maintain that the Infinite can never attain full expression short of infinity; and therefore do they postulate an additional and unrevealed creation beyond the fourth and outermost space level, a possible ever-expanding, never-ending universe of infinity. [Yes ! Our astronomers have recently discovered over two trillion galaxies ! The seven superuniverses and the four outer space levels are only about 28,000 galaxies !] In theory we do not *know how to limit either the infinity of the Creator or the potential infinity of creation, but as it exists and is administered, we regard the master universe as having limitations, as being definitely delimited and bounded on its outer margins by open space.
2. THE DOMAINS OF THE UNQUALIFIED ABSOLUTE
12:2.1 When Urantia astronomers peer through their increasingly powerful telescopes into the mysterious stretches of outer space and there *behold the amazing evolution of almost countless physical universes, they should *realize that they are gazing upon the mighty outworking of the unsearchable plans of the Architects of the Master Universe. True, we do possess evidences which are suggestive of the presence of certain Paradise personality influences here and there throughout the vast energy manifestations now characteristic of these outer regions, but from the larger viewpoint the space regions extending beyond the outer borders of the seven superuniverses are generally *recognized as constituting the domains of the Unqualified Absolute.
12:2.2 Although the unaided human eye can *see only two or three nebulae [a year 1934 term here that is "galaxy"] outside the borders of the superuniverse of Orvonton, your telescopes literally reveal millions upon millions of these physical universes in process of formation. Most of the starry realms visually exposed to the search of your present-day telescopes are in Orvonton, [our Superuniverse #7 of seven] but with photographic technique the larger telescopes penetrate far beyond the borders of the grand universe into the domains of outer space, where untold universes are in process of organization. And there are yet other millions of universes beyond the range of your present instruments. [Now, trillions of galaxies found, maybe an infinite number if God the only (as I now believe) "SuperInfinite" I AM Universal Father so wills ...]
12:2.4 The Uversa star students observe that the grand universe is surrounded by the ancestors of a series of starry and planetary clusters which completely encircle the present inhabited creation as concentric rings of outer universes upon universes. The physicists of Uversa calculate that the energy and matter of these outer and uncharted regions already equal many times the total material mass and energy charge embraced in all seven superuniverses. We are informed that the metamorphosis of cosmic force in these outer space levels is a function of the Paradise force organizers. We also *know that these forces are ancestral to those physical energies which at present activate the grand universe. The Orvonton power directors, however, have nothing to do with these far-distant realms, neither are the energy movements therein *discernibly connected with the power circuits of the organized and inhabited creations.
12:2.5 We *know very little of the significance of these tremendous phenomena of outer space. A greater creation of the future is in process of formation. We can observe its immensity, we can *discern its extent and sense its majestic dimensions, but otherwise we *know little more about these realms than do the astronomers of Urantia. As far as we *know, no material beings on the order of humans, no angels or other spirit creatures, exist in this outer ring of nebulae, suns, and planets. This distant domain is beyond the jurisdiction and administration of the superuniverse governments. [in our Supreme level Grand Universe Age]
3. UNIVERSAL GRAVITY
12:3.1 All forms of force-energy—material, mindal, or spiritual—are alike subject to those *grasps, those universal presences, which we call gravity. Personality also is responsive to gravity—to the Father’s exclusive circuit; [I am of I AM; and so are You !] but though this circuit is exclusive to the Father, he is not excluded from the other circuits; the Universal Father is infinite and acts over all four absolute-gravity circuits in the master universe:
12:3.12 Personality Gravity is noncomputable. We *recognize the circuit, but we cannot measure either qualitative or quantitative realities responsive thereto.
4. SPACE AND MOTION
12:4.2 The Unqualified Absolute is functionally limited to space, but we are not so sure about the relation of this Absolute to motion. Is motion inherent therein? We do not *know. We *know that motion is not inherent in space; even the motions of space are not innate. But we are not so sure about the relation of the Unqualified to motion. Who, or what, is really responsible for the gigantic activities of force-energy transmutations now in progress out beyond the borders of the present seven superuniverses? Concerning the origin of motion we have the following opinions:
12:4.12 The present relationship of your sun and its associated planets, while disclosing many relative and absolute motions in space, tends to convey the impression to astronomic observers that you are comparatively stationary in space, and that the surrounding starry clusters and streams are engaged in outward flight at ever-increasing velocities as your calculations proceed outward in space. But such is not the case. You fail to *recognize the present outward and uniform expansion of the physical creations of all pervaded space. Your own local creation (Nebadon) participates in this movement of universal outward expansion. The entire seven superuniverses participate in the two-billion-year cycles of space respiration along with the outer regions of the master universe. [No "big bang" theory now: Recently rejected. Also the "entropy" theory is false: We are in a steadily perfecting Cosmos!]
5. SPACE AND TIME
12:5.1 Like space, time is a bestowal of Paradise, but not in the same sense, only indirectly. Time comes by virtue of motion and because mind is inherently aware of sequentiality. From a practical viewpoint, motion is essential to time, but there is no universal time unit based on motion except in so far as the Paradise-Havona standard day is arbitrarily so *recognized. The totality of space respiration destroys its local value as a time source.
12:5.2 Space is not infinite, even though it takes origin from Paradise; not absolute, for it is pervaded by the Unqualified Absolute. We do not *know the absolute limits of space, but we do *know that the absolute of time is eternity.
12:5.7 #1. Mind-*perceived time—consciousness of sequence, motion, and a sense of duration.
12:5.8 #2. Spirit-*perceived time—insight into motion Godward and the awareness of the motion of ascent to levels of increasing divinity.
12:5.10 Unspiritual animals *know only the past and live in the present. Spirit-indwelt man has powers of *prevision (*insight); he may visualize the future. Only forward-looking and progressive attitudes are personally real. Static ethics and traditional morality are just slightly superanimal. Nor is stoicism a high order of self-realization. Ethics and morals become truly human when they are dynamic and progressive, alive with universe reality.
6. UNIVERSAL OVERCONTROL
12:6.3 The Third Source and Center [God the Infinite Spirit of the Paradise Trinity] assists in the maintenance of the equilibrium and co-ordination of the combined physical and spiritual energies and organizations by the absoluteness of his *grasp of the cosmic mind and by the exercise of his inherent and universal physical- and spiritual-gravity complements. Whenever and wherever there occurs a liaison between the material and the spiritual, such a mind phenomenon is an act of the Infinite Spirit. [The Divine Activator !] Mind alone can interassociate the physical forces and energies of the material level with the spiritual powers and beings of the spirit level.
12:6.7 We do not really *know, but we surmise that such amazing versatility and such profound co-ordination signify the presence and performance of the [three] Absolutes, and that such diversity of response in the face of apparently uniform causation discloses the reaction of the Absolutes, not only to the immediate and situational causation, but also to all other related causations throughout the entire master universe. [!]
12:6.13 The Unqualified Absolute pervades all space. We are not altogether clear as to the exact status of the Deity and Universal Absolutes, but we *know the latter functions wherever the Deity and Unqualified Absolutes function. The Deity Absolute may be universally present but hardly space present. The Ultimate is, or sometime will be, space present to the outer margins of the fourth space level. We doubt that the Ultimate will ever have a space presence beyond the periphery of the master universe, but within this limit the Ultimate is progressively integrating the creative organization of the potentials of the three Absolutes.
7. THE PART AND THE WHOLE
12:7.2 In all his dealings with all his beings it is true that the laws of God are not inherently arbitrary. To you, with your limited vision and finite viewpoint, the acts of God must often appear to be dictatorial and arbitrary. The laws of God are merely the habits of God, his way of repeatedly doing things; and he ever does all things well. You observe that God does the same thing in the same way, repeatedly, simply because that is the best way to do that particular thing in a given circumstance; and the best way is the right way, and therefore does infinite wisdom always order it done in that precise and perfect manner. You should also *remember that nature is not the exclusive act of Deity; other influences are present in those phenomena which man calls nature.
12:7.7 The will of God does not uniformly prevail in the heart of the God-*seeking material mortal, but if the time frame is enlarged beyond the moment to embrace the whole of the first life, then does God’s will become increasingly *discernible in the spirit fruits which are borne in the lives of the spirit-led children of God. And then, if human life is further enlarged to include the morontia [soul reality of the next 570 morontia spheres in Nebadon] experience, the divine will is observed to shine brighter and brighter in the spiritualizing acts of those creatures of time who have begun to taste the divine delights of experiencing the relationship of the personality of man with the personality of the Universal Father. [in ever-increasing Spiritual Union !]
12:7.13 Even though the Paradise Father functions through his divine creators and his creature children, he also enjoys the most intimate inner contact with you, so sublime, so highly personal, that it is even beyond my comprehension—that mysterious communion of the Father fragment with the human soul and with the mortal mind of its actual indwelling. *knowing what you do of these gifts of God, you therefore *know that the Father is in intimate touch, not only with his divine associates, but also with his evolutionary mortal children of time. The Father indeed abides on Paradise, but his divine presence [your Thought Adjuster - Divine Mystery Monitor - God's pure Eternal Will !] also dwells in the minds of men.
12:7.14 Even though the spirit of a Son [Jesus Christ Michael here as He the Father-Son Union Spirit of All Truth !!] be poured out upon all flesh, even though a Son once dwelt with you in the likeness of mortal flesh, even though the seraphim personally guard and guide you, how can any of these divine beings of the Second and Third Centers ever hope to come as near to you or to *understand you as fully as the Father, who has given a part of himself to be in you, to be your real and divine, even your eternal, self? [Jesus teaches us that God has become as you are, so that you may choose to become AS HE IS -- Eternally all Spirit-Perfected ! ... Tremendous Revelation !]
8. MATTER, MIND, AND SPIRIT
12:8.4 The *bestowal of spirit and the spiritualization of personalities, the domain of spiritual gravity, is the realm of the Eternal Son. And this spirit gravity of the Son, ever drawing all spiritual realities to himself, is just as real and absolute as is the all-powerful material *grasp of the Isle of Paradise. But material-minded man is naturally more familiar with the material manifestations of a physical nature than with the equally real and mighty operations of a spiritual nature which are *discerned only by the spiritual insight of the soul.
9. PERSONAL REALITIES
12:9.2 [True Divine Spiritual] Love is the secret of beneficial association between personalities. You cannot really *know a person as the result of a single contact. You cannot appreciatingly *know music through mathematical deduction, even though music is a form of mathematical rhythm. The number assigned to a telephone subscriber does not in any manner identify the personality of that subscriber or signify anything concerning his character.
12:9.3 Mathematics, material science, is indispensable to the intelligent discussion of the material aspects of the universe, but such *knowledge is not necessarily a part of the higher realization of truth or of the personal appreciation of spiritual realities. Not only in the realms of life but even in the world of physical energy, the sum of two or more things is very often something more than, or something different from, the predictable additive consequences of such unions. The entire science of mathematics, the whole domain of philosophy, the highest physics or chemistry, could not predict or *know that the union of two gaseous hydrogen atoms with one gaseous oxygen atom would result in a new and qualitatively superadditive substance—liquid water. The *understanding *knowledge of this one physiochemical phenomenon should have prevented the development of materialistic philosophy and mechanistic cosmology. The Whole is sometimes much greater than the mere sum of it's parts. [The very complex living human body is far more complex and valuable than just the basic main chemical elements in that body: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus. 150 pounds total of CHONSP mixed together is not a human; but it could explode under the right conditions; and you could "go out with a bang !" Ha Ha]
