H.P. Blavatsy's Cosmology - planes within planes

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by Alan Kazlev

Madame Blavatsky's cosmology is nothing if not elaborate.  As with her cycles and subcycles of cosmic evolution, she has planes and subplanes of being, a fractal ontological spectrum of innumerable divisions, comparable to the elaborate theosophies of Gnosticism and Kabbalah, but actually deriving from the "Cosmic philosophy" and classifications of Max Theon.

This involves

• Seven Kosmic planes, the lowest of which is called the Prakritic
• Seven Prakritic planes, the lowest of which is called the Terrestrial
• Seven Terrestrial planes, the lowest of which is called the Objective
• Seven Objective planes, the lowest of which is the gross sensuous (ordinary matter)

The most complete diagrammatic representation of this cosmology occurs not in The Secret Doctrine or any of her other important works, but in a collection of notes on some of her lectures [see "Notes on Some Oral Teachings", appended to the back of vol. 5 of the 1971 Adyar Edition of The Secret Doctrine; pp.524ff ( Amazon link here; i'm not sure if the pagination is the same).  As unfortunately seems to be the case with a number of occult and spiritual teachers (and perhaps philosophers in general), in their short accounts of things they are extremely clear, but once they start writing things in book form the whole thing becomes lost in a tangle of words.

The Kosmic Planes

The seven "Kosmic Planes" and states of Kosmic consciousness H. P. Blavatsky's original diagram are represented as follows:
The first three planes of ineffable Absolute, the Alaya (unmanifest), and (for the 5th Kosmic Plane) Mahat (Logos) and Mulaprakriti (Root-Substance), are not labelled here, for as she explains:

 "Believing in seven planes of Kosmic being and states of Consciousness, with regard to the Universe or the Macrocosm we stop at the fourth plane, finding it impossible to go with any degree of certainty beyond..."

[The Key to Theosophy p.90]
Hence the following account of the first three planes and higher principles is speculative, and purely by analogy with the corresponding processes on the lower planes.  Interestingly the Neoplatonist Proclus used a similar approach when describing his "unknown Gods" (henads).
Either as the seventh Kosmic Plane, or perhaps beyond all of the primary planes is the level of the Parabrahm or Parabrahman, there is "the One Reality, the Absolute, the field of Absolute Consciousness" [The Concise Secret Doctrine p.11].  In other words, the unmanifest Absolute Reality.  This manifests first as the impersonal and unmanifest Logos [Ibid, p.12], the Alaya (the universal "store-consciousness" of Yogachara), the "soul of the world" or "the Over-Soul" (Emerson) which "though eternal and changeless in its inner essence...alters during the active life-period with respect to the lower planes, ours included" [Ibid. p.26].  This would seem to be the 6th Kosmic [using here Blavatsky's preferred spelling] Plane, the Unconscious Godhead.
"Once we pass...from this (to us) Absolute Negation, duality supervenes in the contrast of Spirit (or consciousness) and Matter, Subject and Object."  Spirit and Matter are not independent realities, but "the two facets or aspects of the Absolute," which are the basis of conditioned subjective and objective being [Ibid p.11].
From "this metaphysical triad as the Root" of "all manifestation, the great Breath assumes the character of (Cosmic or) pre-cosmic Ideation", the "Divine Thought", Mahat, the origin and "root of all individual consciousness", and "the guiding intelligence in the vast scheme of cosmic Evolution."  This is the 5th Kosmic Plane.  The other aspect of the Absolute becomes the Cosmic or Pre-cosmic Root-substance or Mulaprakriti, "the substratum of matter in the various grades of its differentiation", and a term taken from Indian Samkya.
These two are dependent on each other, in that "apart from Cosmic Substance, Cosmic Ideation could not manifest as individual consciousness" a physical basis or vehicle (upadhi) being necessary for self-consciousness.  And "apart from Cosmic Ideation, Cosmic Substance would remain an empty abstraction." [Ibid pp.11-12].  This is of course pure Tantra (the polarity of Shiva and Shakti).
Blavatsky however suggests a third principle which in this context, to my knowledge is not part of the Tantric or Indian tradition (despite her and subsequent theosophists claim to the contrary), linking these two elements together.  This is Fohat, the "dynamic energy of Cosmic Ideation," "the "bridge" by which Ideas existing in the "Divine Thought" are impressed on Cosmic Substance as the "laws of nature"."  Although this would seem to be at least partially equivalent to the general Tantric term of Shakti, the power of manifestation, a better equivalent would be the Holy Spirit of esoteric Christians like Jacob Boehme.
In Blavatsky's schema, Fohat is located on the 4th Kosmic Plane.  Through the medium of Fohat, the "Divine Thought" is "transmitted and made manifest through the Dhyan Chohans, the Architects of the visible World." [Ibid p.12].  The Fourth Kosmic Plane is the highest of which any certain knowledge is possible, the upper three (as stated previously) being ineffable [The Key to Theosophy p.90], "the Divine and Formless World of Spirit" [An Abridgement of the Secret Doctrine, p.94]
Kosmic Plane number three is defined as Kosmic Life or Jiva-Fohat; this would presumably be the level at which the first spiritual essences or individualities, the Jivas or Manads, appear, and a scaled down version of the Fourth or Fohat Plane.
The following, Second Kosmic Plane, called the "Kosmic Astral", is a transitional stage between the higher cosmic-divine planes, and the lowest or "Prakritic" plane.

Planes within Planes

Madame Blavatsky presents a diagram showing the representation of the planes and subplanes as follows:
Again, the ineffable higher planes are not shown here. It also has to be pointed out that each of the Kosmic planes should properly be drawn as the same size. The lowest or prakritic (first kosmic) plane is only shown larger in order to represent the subplanes within it.
This diagram, like much of Blavatsky's cosmology, is actually based on Theon's representation of planes and subplanes, and many of the terms are directly equivalent. the difference is that Theon taught in French, and used a jargon in that language (albeit, as Mirra reported, a "barbarous" French), whereas Blavatsky drew from Sanskrit, a language much more amenable to metaphysical cosmology. Nevertheless H. P. Blavatsky's application of Vedantic terms is used for states of consciousness quite unrelated to those of original Vedanta, Samkhya, and Mahayana Buddhism (popular opinions to the contrary notwithstanding).
This can be shown in the following table:

Max Theon	H. P. Blavatsky
The Cause without Cause	Parabrahman
1st World - Occultisms (beyond attainment of humanity at present)	7th Kosmic Plane 6th Kosmic Plane - Alaya - or Oversoul (unmanifest) 5th Kosmic Plane - "Divine Thought" or Mahat
2nd World - Pathotisms	4th Kosmic Plane - Fohat and Kosmic Kama-Manas 3rd Kosmic Plane - Kosmic Life or Pranic Kama 2nd Kosmic Plane - Kosmic Astral
3rd World - Etherisms
4th Veil	7th Prakritic Plane (auric envelope)
4th World - Materialisms consisting of 7 or 8 subplanes	1st Kosmic Plane - Prakriti - Kosmic Body consisting of 6 Prakritic planes plus auric envelope

As H. B. Blavatsky's writings and ideas were progressively adapted and modified by her successors like the Adyar Theosophists, Rudolph Steiner, Alice Bailey, and others, the original meaning became progressively modified and simplified.

The Seven Prakritic Planes

As with all the planes, the First or lowest Kosmic Plane, the Terrestrial or Prakritic - "Prakriti" being the Indian term for psycho-physical substance - which includes the various physical, psychic, and spiritual levels, is in turn divided into seven planes; the highest being unknowable and hence unspecified. Theon's term for these planes was "Materialisms", but "Prakriti" is more appropriate, since prakriti can include all phenomenal reality, including mind and intellect, and not just matter.
For Blavatsky, the above seven Prakritic planes (sub-divisions of the First Kosmic or Prakritic Plane) are the sphere of evolution of all the solar systems [ SD, vol V p.529]. Sri Aurobindo used the term "terrestrial evolution", and this is partially equivalent (but not completely, as for Auroibindo and Mirra it only encompassed the Earth)

   7th,
  ----------------
  6th, or Alayic-Prakritic
     ------------------
  5th, or Mahatic
    --------------------
  4th, or Fohatic
   ----------------------
  3rd, or Jaivic
    --------------------
  2nd, or Astral
     ------------------
  1st, or Objective  (Terrestrial)
      --------------

The same pattern of Kosmic planes is repeated on a lower scale. Hence we have here what Gurdjieff termed "octaves": each plane is divided into a similar series of subplanes, and so on. This is a common theme throughout much of Western esoteric thought, beginning with Kabbalah but especially being popularised by Theosophy.
The higher six of the prakritic planes are not described, although, in keeping with the law of correspondences that is central to Blavatsky's cosmology, the upper three would be planes of formless Spirit, and the lower four more material in nature.  The lowest of these, the Objective or Terrestrial or First Prakritic plane (counting from below), includes the phenomena with which we are the most familiar, including the seven principles of man.

The Seven Terrestrial Planes

The lowest of the Seven Prakritic planes, the Objective or Terrestrial or First Prakritic plane (counting from below), includes the phenomena with which we are the most familiar, including the seven principles of man.  The seven planes here are as follows [p.525]:

..............................
7. Para-Ego or Atmic
..............................
6. Inner-Egoic or Buddhic
..............................
5. Ego-Manas
..............................
4. Kama-Manas or Lower Manas
..............................
3. Pranic Kama or Psychic (instinct)
..............................
2.Astral   (things are reversed)
..............................
1. Objective  (plane of the senses)
..............................
Each of these is of course sub-divided into seven.  Only with three of the planes are the subdivisions specified.
1. Objective
2. Astral
4. Kama-Manas

The Objective Plane

In H. P. Blavatsky's formulation he objective or sensuous plane these are as follows [ SD, vol V p.525]:
THE OBJECTIVE PLANE:
7. x
6. Spiritual-emotional
5. Mental-emotional
4. Passional-emotional
3. Physiological-emotional
2. Instinctual
1. Sensuous
These terms pretty much speak for themselves.  The first three represent consciousness tied up with the body, and can be compared with divisions of somatic consciousness in Gurdjeff and Aurobindo.  The following represent lower emotional body subdivisions.  Strangely there is no mental body represented here (only the mental emotional). So:

Blavatsky	Gurdjieff/  Ouspensky	Sri Aurobindo
7. x	?	?
6. Spiritual -emotional	?	?
5. Mental -emotional	Mental part of Emotional Centre	Mental-Vital
4. Passional -emotional	Emotional part of Emotional Centre	Central Vital
3.Physiological- emotional	Moving part of Emotional Centre	Physical Vital
2. Instinctual	Instinctual Centre	Physical
1. Sensuous	Moving	Physical

The Astral plane

With regard to the second, or Astral plane, regarding which, as is indicated previously, phenomena are reversed or inverted [p.526], the seven divisions are listed as follows:
The description regarding these subdivisions is the most detailed of all the planes mentioned here, and can be quoted in full:

  "With regard to the first division of the second [Astral] plane...all seen on it must be reversed in translating it, e.g. with numbers which appeared backwards.  [It] corresponds in everything to the Terrestrial Objective.
The second division corresponds to the second of the (Terrestrial)... plane, but the objects are of extreme tenuity, an astralised Astral.  This plane is the limit of the ordinary medium...A non-mediumistic person to reach it must be asleep or in a trance, or under the influence of laughing gas; or in ordinary delirium...
The third, the Pranic, is of an intensely vivid nature.  Extreme delirium carries the patient to this plane.  In delirium tremens the sufferer passes to this and to the one above it.  Lunatics are often conscious on this plane, where they see terrible visions.  It runs to the fourth division, the worst of the astral planes, Kamic and terrible.  Here come the images that tempt; images of drunkards in Kama Loka impelling others to drink; images of all vices inoculating men with the desire to commit crimes.  The weak imitate these images in a kind of monkeyish fashion, so falling under their influence.  This is also the cause of epidemics of vices, and cycles of disaster, of accidents of all kinds coming in groups...
The fifth division is that of premonition in dreams, of reflections from the lower mentality, glimpses into past and future, the plane of things mental and not spiritual.  The mesmerized clairvoyant can reach this place...
The sixth is the plane from which come all beautiful inspirations of art, poetry, and music; high types of dreams, flashes of genius.  Here we have glimpses of past lives, without being able to locate or analyse them.
We are on the seventh plane in the moment of death or in exceptional visions.  The drowning man is here when he remembers his past life.  The memory of events on this plane must be centred in the heart, "the seat of Buddha"...."

[ SD, vol V pp.526-527]
Here then we see a progression from quasi-physical to terrifying to increasingly spiritual.  This was a theme retained by Leadbeater in his detailed and possibly Spiritualistically based descriptions of post-mortem existence and the ascent through the planes.
The nature of the third and fourth astral planes is also interesting.  Most subsequent occult, theosophical, and New Age writers and teachers seem to refer to a "lower astral plane" which is the source of negative psychic phenomena, much like the sort of things Madame Blavatsky describes.  Yet there is no reason to attribute the belief in the existence of this negative psychic zone solely to Blavatsky's teachings, as practically all pre-scientistic societies professed a belief in the existence of "evil spirits" and negative psychic forces (a surviving southern European example, denagrated as "superstition", is the belief in the "evil eye").  A study of folklore would uncover many examples of spells, charms, etc for the purpose of warding off such evil influences.  But whereas materialism dismisses such things as "superstition", true occultism acknowledges all planes of existence as valid, negative as well as positive, each with its place in the overall scheme of things.

Kama-Manas

After the detail of the Astral plane, it is disappointing that (at least in the surviving notes) Blavatsky neglects to describe the other five "Terrestrial" planes.  However, reference is made to "consciousness proper" which begins between Kama (Fourth plane) and Manas (5th plane) [p.530].  This is divided into six categories (again, the first principle, presumably representing the Absolute, is left unmentioned): Objective, Astral, Kama-Pranic, Kama-Manasic, Manasic, and Buddhic Consciousness [ The Secret Doctrine, Adyar Edition, vol V pp.530-532].  The Kama-Manasic Consciousness is divided into seven degrees, presumably representing the seven sub-planes of the Kama-Manasic plane:

 "The instinctual consciousness of animals and idiots in its lower degrees, the planes of sensation; in man these are rationalised....The highest degree...is the psychic.  Thus there are seven degrees from the instinctual animal to the rationalised instinctual and psychic" [Ibid, p.531].

Pervading through the various planes is what Blavatsky elsewhere terms (following Eliphas Levi) the Astral Light.

Summing Up

The cosmic vision of Planes beyond Planes presented here emphasises the tremendous vastness of manifested reality.  It recalls the Hellenistic Gnostic theme of innumerable orders of Aeons (Worlds and Deities) between the unmanifest Source and the Created Cosmos (Blavatsky's 1st (lowest) Prakritic plane).  Yet there is a danger here because the planes are listed, but all the details and sub-divisions are poorly related, if at all.  So the whole thing is not very workable.  It is all very well to talk about planes and Kosmic Planes, but unless these levels can be related with something specific - particular states of consciousness, or hierarchies of spiritual beings, for example - they become meaningless.  This seems to be the problem with the six higher prakritic planes for example.
Yet in spite of these limitations, Blavatsky's cosmological sequence of planes is still quite comprehensive, and represents a valid parallel of the Tradition received and formulated by the Theons. Especially in conjunction with the Qabalistic order of sefirot, can be used to help identify various levels of reality at the Prakritic level.

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Cosmology from "Dark Energy"...

What on Earth is wrong with cosmology?

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Book Reference Source
Dark Energy by Alex J Morrey BSc at Amazon.com
Overview




Twenty-first century science has some big cosmological questions that are difficult or even impossible to answer satisfactorily in the context of an objective universe. How did the universe come to be, and what is it made of and how did life get into inanimate matter before evolution could begin anywhere? Whatever is suggested, we can always ask the question: how did ‘that’ come to be or what is ‘that’ made of, etc., and what is the so-called ‘Dark Energy’ that fills the universe?

It is too easy to assume that we are living in a universe/cosmos that came to be sometime in the past by one means or another; a so-called objective universe/cosmos. We have not been taught this, it’s just been taken for granted because it seems so obvious; just as it seemed so obvious that the Sun went round the Earth, as it was thought to do, a few hundred years ago. In order to provide satisfactory answers to the big cosmological questions a new and very radical approach is required and this may at first cause shock waves in conventional circles.

In this paper, the universe/cosmos, the world in which we are living, is not taken for granted nor assumed to be a matter of objective fact. It is instead considered to be a matter of collective unconscious belief: a structure within the collective unconscious mind of humanity. In its current state, it is a conflicting logical structure full of awesome dangers due to the lack of logical integrity of human minds in their current state. This unconscious belief is created and continually upgraded mainly by a subliminal mind-to-mind interaction between all individual human minds, a belief that I shall refer to as the ‘Universal Belief’ (UB). This means that the universe is within us, as opposed to our being in the universe, and that everything is insubstantial mind stuff since it is all part of the UB. Please see the diagrams below.

The minds involved are like self-programming computers that move insubstantial mind 'stuff objects’ around within the UB according to certain ‘rules’ that the minds themselves invent as the upgrading progresses. Some of these rules are called the laws of motion; another is called the law of gravity. The computer-like minds know nothing about what we call reason and logic; they actually create reason and logic as they continually upgrade the UB.

The apparent ‘solid reality’ of the UB, perceived as mass, inertia and the like, is established by means of a subliminal perceptual consensus created within the UB through a coercive interaction between all the unconscious minds and imaginations of humanity. Meaning that we all agree unconsciously what we create as real within the UB.

It is this interaction that creates mind ‘objects’ and moves those ‘objects’ around within the UB as if they possess mass and inertia, according to the‘rules’ established by the consensus that has previously been ‘created' by unconscious minds and then later ‘discovered’ by conscious minds as real physical objects and physical laws. A unique instance of the UB is within each individual unconscious mind.

This so-called perceptual consensus in the unconscious domain is much the same as the perceptual consensus within the conscious domain. If an individual conscious mind hallucinates an object within the UB, the reality of the hallucinated object is overruled by the perceptual consensus of the more integrated perception of the majority.

This means that we are not discovering more and more of an objective universe but rather discovering more and more of what has already been created within the UB by ‘creating’ the evidence that is being used as ‘factual’ proof of the reality of further new ‘discoveries’; in short, science is a kind of faith. We could say that science has unconscious faith in its own conscious belief because the UB is perceived to be the real world. Even so-called fossil records in rocks that can be dated have been created within the UB from the here and now together with the radioactive minerals that are used for the dating process, have also been created by human subliminal imagination in the same way. The so-called 'theory' of evolution by means of natural selection is a scenario created within the UB from the here and now by human imaginations.

It’s not only new ideas from the the unconscious imagination but also from the conscious imagination that ‘create’ reality, via the so-called coercive interaction. If a conscious imagination comes up with a new idea or theory that is able to reduce the level of conflict within the UB the new idea will automatically be enhanced or installed into the UB without anyone realising that such a thing had taken place. In due course the new idea will be ‘discovered’ as a new aspect of the universe and taken as ‘factual proof’ of the authenticity of the new theory. The new theory then becomes an extension of the current scientific consensus.

This in no way diminishes the achievements of science; it just gives them a different significance. Instead of discovering an objective universe, science is discovering the universe into which it has come to unconsciously believe. As yet, we are only looking at part of the picture; there is a whole lot more even within space/time. There is more to human nature than meets the eye; the vast ‘visual' universe that we have come to perceive so far is intoxicating to the point of distraction.The only facts are in the reality of the here and now.

We each perceive our instance of the UB within our own heads, by the consciousness and will emanating from what I call the ‘ERS’: the essence of the real self, in a similar way that dreams are perceived as sleeping dream worlds; everything is real and solid by subliminal perceptual consensus, as mentioned above. It is the ERS that gives us life, life being consciousness and will. Individual instances are not exactly identical but they integrate together closely enough to give each individual the impression that he or she is living in the same universe as everyone else. Within the UB, we each perceive our bodily self as the ‘real self’, a dualistic entity as separate from but within the world of the UB.

In order to understand fully how the coercive interaction between all the unconscious minds of humanity creates and continually upgrades the reality that is being called the UB—the world in which we are living—it is necessary to introduce a new concept I define as ‘Reality’.The UB in its current state is a conflicting 'logical' structure and it is the conflicting nature of the UB that is responsible for all the woes of humanity; it is like this because it has been created by unconscious minds that are conflicting 'logical' structures within themselves (red stars in Diagram A). When each individual human unconscious mind is in its potentially fully integrated state, ‘reality’ becomes ‘Reality’. This means that Reality is potentially the sum total of all fully integrated human unconscious minds and, in turn, this means that each totally potentially integrated human unconscious mind is an integral part of Reality, being called the ‘Real self’ (elongated red circles in Diagram A), as opposed to the ‘real self’ (combined red and blue stars in Diagram A) within the UB.

Diagram A

Some individual unconscious minds are naturally living a little closer to Reality than the minds around them; consequently, such minds possess what is called ‘charisma’ and are able to ‘enhance’ the UB into a slightly lower state of conflict in some particular way that upgrades the UB closer to Reality. This shows itself as scientific innovation or 'healings' within the UB. The upgrading interaction is continually enhancing the UB closer and closer to
Reality, although some individuals are able to get ahead of the majority and get into Reality through the practice of meditation or prayer.

In order for an individual to achieve the fully integrated state, it is necessary to get rid of the ego completely, together with its partially integrated conscious mind with its knowledge.

Getting rid of the ego is not that easy and can take a lifetime of meditation or prayer – if it is possible at all using this method; the purpose of meditation or prayer is an attempt to live in the ‘here and now’, which is all it takes to ‘upgrade’ into Reality. However, there is a quick way and this is not just enlightenment but also evolution.

Diagram B

We need to understand that the human mind is, or has become, fragmented into two minds, called a split mind (red and blue stars) in all three diagrams: the conscious and the unconscious. This state of affairs, although currently considered wholesome, needs to be ‘healed’ back to a fully integrated mind. This can be achieved by the extreme charisma emanating from the second mind of a ‘second-minded’individual: a human individual with his or her mind within his or her brain together with a second simpler mind within the same brain. This is the case with so-called Old Testament Prophets or certain Zen masters, for example. Please see the paragraph on ‘Second-Mindedness’ at the end of this article for further discussion.

According to this way of thinking, it was John the Baptist, a man with considerable second-minded charisma (see Diagram C;) small elongated red circle within a red star), who was instrumental in enhancing the mind of Jesus of Nazareth into Reality. In this circumstance, both John and Jesus were ready since it was written in scripture and they identified themselves with it. This means that both John and Jesus were ready and willing to participate in the upgrading event; otherwise it would negate free will and the upgrading event could not have taken place. Today people do not identify themselves with such an event so they’re not ready or willing and it therefore never happens since free will cannot be negated. Living in the Holy Spirit is consequentially a very watered down condition, but it shouldn’t be. About one person in twenty has this ancestral second-minded gift, but more about this later.

In Christian theological terms, Reality is the Mind of God where God is (the Holy Spirit). In this work, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of Reality). An individual ‘Real self’ is what an individual 'real self' becomes when it is living in Reality as an integral part of Reality, which is termed the ‘Son of Man’ in Christian terms and the Buddha in Buddhist terms(Diagram B). It is The Son of Man that is uniquely designed for each and every one of us; all we have to do is allow It to take control of our lives.

Reality and reality are able to coexist because a Real self does not increase the level of conflict within the UB. On the contrary, the level of conflict is dramatically decreased, producing dramatic healings. Reality is, in effect, the furtive controlling Mind in the mind-to-mind interaction that is called the coercive interaction, and it is this coercive interaction that comprises the so-called mysterious Dark Energy that fills the universe.

Diagram C

It is Reality that is the controlling Mind in the mind-to-mind interaction which creates a stable reality by assuring that the level of conflict within the UB is not 'normally' increased during upgrading or enhancing interactions, but rather decreased. Living in reality identifies our being with the 'real self', a dualistic state because we perceive the real self as separate from reality. However, living in Reality identifies our being with the ‘essence of the real self’ (ERS), a non-dualistic state because there is no separate Real self in this state because we identify our being as the ERS here and now, with no perception of ‘I’ and the ‘world’ as separate entities. This oneness is love because we really do become part of each other. The ERS is the so-called Buddha-Nature in Buddhist theology.

The ERS is a bit like the soul in some theologies, but more specific. It doesn’t emanate from the source, it is the source from which consciousness and will emanate, and it also carries our status in Reality, which determines what happens when the real self can no longer support the ERS. This is perceived by real selves within the UB as someone dying. The ERS migrates into another reality in what I call the VLA (Very large Array of ‘dream-like’ realities), depending on its status; more about this in later paragraphs.

It is possible for one mind (red circle in diagram C) to live in Reality and reality simultaneously because this doesn’t increase the conflict within the UB – quite the opposite.

I'm not suggesting that science should become in any way religious. What I am suggesting is that science should study and understand all events that that take place in space and time, whether these be natural or what some people still call ‘supernatural’.It will be able to achieve this by using the new cosmological/spiritual language that is being put forward in this work: a new language based on the concept of Reality and the Universal Belief.

When any mind is in or becomes closer to Reality then the other minds around it are able to enhance the UB into a less conflicting state in some detailed way. The controlling Mind ensures that reality can only be enhanced into a lower conflicting state by individual minds, which will be perceived as some kind of healing interaction. Jesus of Nazareth, for example, was living in Reality (see Diagram B above) as a small but integral part of the whole of Reality and so was able to enhance the UB in dramatic 'miraculous' healings and other miraculous events, such as walking on water. This is why we can refer to Jesus as a so-called Son of God and not just a ‘second-minded’ Prophet or Messenger (see other paragraphs below on second-mindedness) and he seems to be the only one, although we all have this potential right here and now.

This kind of terminology does not go down very well in so-called scientific circles. Science needs to upgrade its thinking in order to embrace all phenomena that take place in space/time, including the content of the Bible and other scriptures, and it can do just that by deploying the new cosmological language that is being put forward in this work. All the achievements of science are still relevant and undimmed but have a different significance.

Reality interacts with all unconscious human minds within space-time, ensuring that the UB can only be enhanced into a lower conflicting state by individual minds. Actually, Reality doesn't exist as such; it should be thought of as the complete potential integrity of the sum total of all human minds. It is a kind of safety-net for humanity. It is Reality, as mentioned above, that is a furtive controlling Mind in all mind-to-mind interactions.

The unconscious imagination is a pattern-seeking device, just as the conscious imagination is, and when it comes up with a new pattern or ‘idea’ (below awareness level) that decreases the level of conflict within the reality of the UB, the new ‘idea’ will be automatically installed or enhanced into theUB. In due course, conscious minds will become aware of the new pattern or ‘idea’ within the UB that is now perceived to be real; an additional component part of reality that has just been ‘discovered.’ The unconscious imagination doesn’t need to know anything about what we call logic and reason; it actually in effect creates logic and reason.

For example, we think of light photons as being created in the so-called beginning, but in this new way of thinking the light photon had first to be enhanced into the past UB by unconscious imaginations before it could be ‘discovered’ as a real component of reality. This could have taken place within the UB at about the time of Sir Isaac Newton, later to be ‘discovered’ within the UB by Albert Einstein, and of course we are totally unaware that such subliminal processes are taking place.

This way of thinking means that science is a belief system that has unconscious faith in its own understanding. There cannot be such a thing as conscious ‘intellectual’ truth since there is no objective universe to support it.

In the case of technological innovation, both subliminal enhancement and conscious ‘discovery’ take place almost simultaneously. Most of us have the ability to enhance the UB in some small detailed way on account of living a little closer to Reality than other minds around us in some detailed respect, such as the light photon mentioned above. The ability to do this is what is referred to as ‘charisma’ and we all have charisma, at least to some small extent.

This process is currently taking place but is not yet complete in the realm of UFO and extra-terrestrial life form phenomena. However, as yet, no subliminal imagination as been able to invent the technology to bring it to fruition, so this phenomenon, although sometimes real, is vague in technical content.To be specific, human imagination will need to come up with a way that space vehicles will be able to exceed the speed of light regardless of the so-called ‘laws’ of relativity.

This phenomenon is the result of so-called second-minded charisma, in conjunction with deep trance hypnotic profiles that can produce hallucinations that are made real by the charisma of the second mind, although lacking in technical content. In any case, such enhancement must reduce the level of conflict with the UB before these things will become as real and technically credible as the rest of reality. Crop circles are another area of spectacular enhancement by certain artistic subliminal imaginations, although in this case it is the electrostatic field involved that is enhanced.

However, a large collective mind can bend the UB into a more conflicting state for a while by means of what amounts to un-Realistic aspiration and motivation resulting in adverse ‘logical’ consequences being realized in due course. This is the motivation that causes the demise of all civilizations that are driven by conscious thought, as they usually are. When all the individuals within a collective become motivated by greed, for example, the greed is not recognized as such; it seems alright because everyone is motivated in the same way. However, when it is considered from the point of view of Reality, it amounts to un-Realistic motivation and will lead to demise in one form or another, sooner or later.

The word ‘un-Realistic’ translates to ‘sinful’ in theological terms, a word that cannot be used in science. The actual means of demise look like natural disasters, such as: climate change, seismic activity, super volcanoes, asteroid strikes, epidemics, plagues of insects, solar flares, gamma ray bursts and wars; even social unrest, and so on, all created by human subliminal imagination. This is what is meant by reality being a conflicting ‘logical’structure; we are surrounded by awesome forces that threaten our very existence. These are the means by which demise takes place, not the cause. The cause is always un-Realistic motivation and aspiration, and the only safe place is to ‘evolve’ into Reality here and now. It’s not just evolution, it is also enlightenment of the being into the here and now and not just enlightenment of the intellect and understanding.

If the reader can understand the content of this text, s/he should realize that it presents a new cosmological/spiritual language that, in conjunction with an upgraded science, is able to explain any event in space/time from a new perspective, whether it is natural or what used to be called supernatural.

Second-Mindedness

The human brain is in two halves, left and right, connected by a bundle of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum. The centre point of a personality will be in one side of the brain or the other, but not in both. In the embryonic brain the centre point of the new personality will start in, say, the right side of the brain and in due course will take over the entire brain. Sometimes, however, a second centre point of a personality will also start in the other side as well and if this second mind reaches the point where it acquires the instinct of self-preservation, it will persist alongside what we may call the host mind.

The second mind (small elongated red circle diagram C), due to its simplicity (it doesn’t have to earn a living or bring up a family etc.), will be a life form in its own right living much closer to Reality then its host or any other member of humanity and so will be able to dramatically enhance the UB into a lower state in some particular way, sometimes healing but sometimes hurtful due to its instinct of self preservation. There are dramatic examples of this in the so-called Old Testament and the like.

The second mind will be considered by the host as a supernatural being outside itself, an invisible God out there in the universe; it must be awesome for those with this gift! A person possessing this gift can bring about spectacular healings due to the proximity of his second mind with Reality. Such a person can heal a fragmented human mind back to being a fully integrated mind (this is what in effect happened between John the so-called Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth) that will operate below awareness level after the ‘upgrade’: a fully integrated unconscious mind that in some theologies is referred to as the Son of Man and in others as the Buddha.

The second-minded profile is an ancestral trait and, in conjunction with so-called deep trance hypnotic profiles, is responsible for all religions, UFO & extra terrestrial life form sightings, and the like. It's not just the reality of UFOs that is in question but the reality of the entire universe. About one in twenty individuals has these family traits, but if it goes unstable it becomes schizophrenia. We need to be respectful towards the second minds because they are life forms living closer to Reality than normal human kind, even if we don’t worship them or follow them; it’s a matter of being objective and looking at things as they Really are.

Alex J Morrey
6th October 2012

The Urantia Book

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Urantia Book
Cover of 2008 edition of The Urantia Book, published by the Urantia Foundation
Author(s)	unknown
Publisher	Urantia Foundation, Uversa Press, others
Publication date	October 1955
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-911560-02-5 (Urantia Foundation), ISBN 0-9651972-3-9(Uversa Press)
OCLCNumber	49687706

Uversa Press Indexed Edition
Author(s)	unknown

The Urantia Book (sometimes called the Urantia Papers or The Fifth Epochal Revelation) is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, Jesus, science,cosmology, religion, history and destiny.^[1] It originated in Chicago sometime between 1924 and 1955. The authorship remains unverified.^[2]

The authors introduce the word "Urantia" as the name of the planet Earth and state that their intent is to "present enlarged concepts and advanced truth" in an "endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception."^{[UB 1]} Among other topics, the book expounds on the origin and meaning of life, humankind's place in the universe, the relationship between God and people, and the life of Jesus.

The Urantia Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit group, first published The Urantia Book in 1955 in English and has since translated it into 14 other languages.^[3] In 2001, a jury found that the English book's copyright was no longer valid after 1983.^[4][5] The English text is apublic domain work in the United States,^[2] and in 2006, the international copyright on the English text expired.^[6]

Contents   [hide]  1 Overview 2 Authorship 3 Copyright status 4 Teachings 4.1 Nature of God 4.2 God and the individual 4.3 Cosmology 4.4 Science 4.5 History and future of the world 4.6 Life and teachings of Jesus 5 Consideration as literature 6 Critical views 6.1 Criticisms of claims as a revelation 6.2 Criticism of its science 6.3 The Urantia Book and the use of published material 7 Adherents 8 Teaching Mission 9 Symbols 10 Popular culture 11 References to online text of The Urantia Book 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit]Overview

The Urantia Book is 2,097 pages long and consists of an introductory foreword followed by 196 "papers" divided into four parts:

• The Foreword is presented as a guide to the terminology developed in greater detail in Part I, and provides an explanation for words and phrases that are "in designation of Deity and certain associated concepts of the things, meanings, and values of universal reality."
• Part I consists of 31 papers that address what are considered the highest levels of creation, beginning with the eternal and infinite"Universal Father," his Trinity associates and the "Isle of Paradise."
• Part II is composed of 25 papers pertaining to the origin, administration and personalities of "local universes," in particular the local universe of "Nebadon" that is said to contain Urantia. It presents narratives on the inhabitants of local universes and their work as it is coordinated with a scheme of spiritual ascension and progression of different orders of beings, including humans.
• Part III includes 48 papers that compile a broad history of the Earth, presenting a purported explanation of the origin, purpose, evolution and destiny of our world and its inhabitants, introducing Andon and Fonta as the first man and first woman living about 993,000 years ago, while Adam and Eve's visitation (portrayed as a mission of genetic improvement) occurring about 37,000 years ago. An additional 15 papers cover various topics such as "Religion in Human Experience", the concept of the Thought Adjuster, "Personality Survival," and "The Bestowals of Christ Michael."
• Part IV is presented in 77 papers and narrates "The Life and Teachings of Jesus." Included are papers about his childhood, teenage years, family life, public ministry, and the events that led to his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. It continues with papers about appearances after he rose, Pentecost, and finally, "The Faith of Jesus." Part IV illustrates many of the concepts presented in the first three parts through the story of Jesus's life.

[edit]Authorship

William S. Sadler

Lena K. Sadler

The exact circumstances of the origin of The Urantia Book are unknown. The book and its publishers do not name a human author. Instead, it is written as if directly presented by numerous celestial beings appointed to the task of providing an "epochal" religious revelation. For each paper, either a named celestial being, an order of being, or a group of beings is credited as its author.^[7][8][9]

As early as 1911, William S. Sadler and his wife Lena Sadler, physicians in Chicago and well known in the community, are said to have been approached by a neighbor who was concerned because she would occasionally find her husband in a deep sleep and breathing abnormally.^[2][7] She reported that she was unable to wake him at these times. The Sadlers came to observe the episodes, and over time, the individual produced verbal communications that claimed to be from "student visitor" spiritual beings.^[2] This changed in early 1925 with a "voluminous handwritten document," which from then on became the regular method of purported communication.^[2] The Sadlers were both respected physicians, and William Sadler was a debunker of paranormal claims, who is portrayed as not believing in the supernatural. In 1929, he published a book called The Mind at Mischief, in which he explained the fraudulent methods of mediums and how self-deception leads to psychic claims. He wrote in an appendix that there were two cases that he had not explained to his satisfaction.^[10]

The other exception has to do with a rather peculiar case of psychic phenomena, one which I find myself unable to classify.... I was brought in contact with it, in the summer of 1911, and I have had it under my observation more or less ever since, having been present at probably 250 of the night sessions, many of which have been attended by a stenographer who made voluminous notes. A thorough study of this case has convinced me that it is not one of ordinary trance...In no way are these night visitations like the séances associated with spiritualism. At no time during the period of eighteen years' observation has there been a communication from any source that claimed to be the spirit of a deceased human being.... Eighteen years of study and careful investigation have failed to reveal the psychic origin of these messages... Psychoanalysis, hypnotism, intensive comparison, fail to show that the written or spoken messages of this individual have origin in his own mind... Its philosophic content is quite new, and we are unable to find where very much of it has ever found human expression... Its philosophy is consistent. It is essentially Christian and is, on the whole, entirely harmonious with the known scientific facts and truths of this age.^[10]

In 1924, a group of Sadler's friends, former patients, and colleagues began meeting for Sunday intellectual discussions, but became interested in the strange communications when Sadler mentioned the case and read samples at their request. Shortly afterwards, a communication reportedly was received that this group would be allowed to devise questions and that answers would be given by celestial beings through the "contact personality."

Sadler presented this development to the group, and they generated hundreds of questions without full seriousness, but their claim is that it resulted in the appearance of answers in the form of fully written papers. They became more impressed with the quality of the answers and continued to ask questions, until all papers now collected together as The Urantia Book were obtained. The group was known as the Forum. A smaller group of five individuals called the Contact Commission, including the Sadlers, was responsible for gathering the questions from the Forum, acting as the custodians of the handwritten manuscripts that were presented as answers, and arranging for proofreading and typing of the material.^[7]

The Sadlers and others involved, now all deceased, claimed that the papers of the book were physically materialized from 1925 until 1935 in a way that was not understood even by them, with the first three parts being completed in 1934 and the fourth in 1935. The last Forum gathering was in 1942.^[7]

After the last of Part IV was obtained in 1935, an additional period of time supposedly took place where requests for clarifications resulted in revisions. Sadler and his son William (Bill) Sadler, Jr. at one point wrote a draft introduction and were told that they could not add their introduction. The Foreword was then "received." Bill Sadler is noted to have composed the table of contents that is published with the book.^[11]

The communications purportedly continued for another two decades while members of the Forum studied the book in depth, and according to Sadler and others, permission to publish it was given to them in 1955. The Urantia Foundation was formed in 1950 as a tax-exempt educational society in Illinois,^[12] and through privately raised funds, the book was published under international copyright on October 12, 1955.

Only the members of the Contact Commission witnessed the activities of the sleeping subject, and only they knew his identity.^[2] The individual is claimed to have been kept anonymous in order to prevent undesirable future veneration or reverence for him. Martin Gardner states that an explanation concerning the origin of the book more plausible than celestial beings is that the Contact Commission, particularly William Sadler, was responsible. Gardner's conclusion is that a man named Wilfred Kellogg was the sleeping subject and authored the work from his subconscious mind, with William Sadler subsequently editing and authoring parts.^[7] A statistical analysis using the Mosteller and Wallace methods of stylometry indicates at least nine authors were involved, and by comparatively analyzing the book against Sadler's The Mind at Mischief, does not indicate authorship or extensive editing by Sadler, without ruling out the possibility of limited edits.^[2]

[edit]Copyright status

In 1999, Harry McMullan III and the Michael Foundation published a book, Jesus–A New Revelation, which included verbatim 76 of the 196 papers included in The Urantia Book. McMullan and the Michael Foundation subsequently sought a legal declaration that the Urantia Foundation's copyright in The Urantia Book was either invalid or, alternatively, that the copyright had not been infringed upon. Urantia Foundation's copyright was held to have expired in 1983 because the book was deemed to have been neither a composite work nor a commissioned work for hire. These two arguments having been rejected, a U.S. court held that, since the Conduit had deceased prior to 1983, only the Conduit's heirs would have been eligible to renew the copyright in 1983 and, since they had not done so, the Urantia Foundation's copyright in the book had expired and the book had therefore passed into the public domain. This decision was upheld on appeal.^[4][5] The international copyright on the English text expired in 2006.^[6]

[edit]Teachings

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject. Please add citations from reliable and independent sources. (August 2012)

[edit]Nature of God

According to The Urantia Book, God is the creator and upholder of all reality—an omniscient,^{[UB 2]} omnipresent,^{[UB 3]} omnipotent,^{[UB 4]}infinite,^{[UB 5]} and eternal^{[UB 6]} spirit personality. The most fundamental teaching about God in the book is that he is a Father. "The face which the Infinite turns toward all universe personalities is the face of a Father, the Universal Father of love."^{[UB 7]} Even during the development of numerous other themes in The Urantia Book, God as a loving Father is emphasized as the central, unifying attitude of God toward the universe.

God is inherently kind, naturally compassionate, and everlastingly merciful. And never is it necessary that any influence be brought to bear upon the Father to call forth his loving-kindness. The creature's need is wholly sufficient to insure the full flow of the Father's tender mercies and his saving grace. Since God knows all about his children, it is easy for him to forgive. The better man understands his neighbor, the easier it will be to forgive him, even to love him.^{[UB 8]}

God is said to be a mystery though because of the infinite scope of his perfection and his attributes.

God is not hiding from any of his creatures. He is unapproachable to so many orders of beings only because he "dwells in a light which no material creature can approach." The immensity and grandeur of the divine personality is beyond the grasp of the unperfected mind of evolutionary mortals.^{[UB 9]}

God, according to the book, is one Deity who functions on a range of different levels of reality, both personal and impersonal. God is taught to exist in a Trinity of three perfectly individualized persons^{[UB 10]} who are co-equal: God the Father, God the Son,^{[UB 11]} and God the Spirit.^{[UB 12]} These persons are referred to by additional titles in the book, primarily as the "Universal Father," "Eternal Son," and "Infinite Spirit." While stating that the concept of one God in three persons is difficult to fully understand, the book says that the idea "in no manner violates the truth of the divine unity. The three personalities of Paradise Deity are, in all universe reality reactions and in all creature relations, as one."^{[UB 13]}

The Father, Son, and Spirit are considered "existential" persons of Deity, those in existence from the eternal past to the eternal future. In addition, three persons of Deity are described who are "experiential," or incomplete and in the process of actualizing: God the Supreme,^{[UB 14]} God the Ultimate,^{[UB 15]} and God the Absolute.^{[UB 16]} Of these three, God the Supreme, or "the Supreme Being," is given the most explanation, as the person of Deity evolving in time and space to unify finite reality and the infinite. The persons of God the Ultimate and God the Absolute are considered to be remote from the possibility of comprehension and are covered on a limited basis.

Many types of celestial beings are enumerated in the book, and one of particular note is a joint "offspring" of the Universal Father and Eternal Son called a "Creator Son."^{[UB 17]} A divine Creator Son is considered the full representation of the Universal Father and Eternal Son that is possible to people. Jesus of Nazareth is identified as a Creator Son who incarnated on Earth^{[UB 18]} and whose life and teachings are portrayed^{[UB 19]} as the fullest revelation of the personality and attitude of God ever given to humanity.

The final paper states:^{[UB 20]}

To "follow Jesus" means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.

[edit]God and the individual

God is described as the Father of each individual, and through the direct gift of a fragment of his eternal spirit, called a Thought Adjuster,^{[UB 21]} is said to be able to guide the individual toward an increased understanding of him. The Thought Adjuster is also called a "Mystery Monitor," "inner voice," "divine spark," and "pilot light." The concept is in ways comparable to the Hindu atman, the ancientEgyptian ka,^{[UB 22]} and the Quaker inner light. In relation to biblical traditions, the Thought Adjuster is described by the book as the meaning behind the phrases "being made in God's image" and the "kingdom of God is within you":

The Adjuster is the mark of divinity, the presence of God. The "image of God" does not refer to physical likeness nor to the circumscribed limitations of material creature endowment but rather to the gift of the spirit presence of the Universal Father in the supernal bestowal of the Thought Adjusters upon the humble creatures of the universes.^{[UB 23]}

Each person is said to receive one such fragment at the time of his or her first independent moral decision, on average around the age of five years and ten months.^{[UB 24]} The Adjuster then serves noncoercively as a divine partner in the mind of the individual for the rest of life, and to the extent that a person consents with their free will to want to find God, it leads the person toward more mature, spiritualized thinking. Through the practice of learning how to follow the inner leadings of the Adjuster—choose "God's will"—the individual progresses to greater God consciousness and spiritual growth.

A person's Thought Adjuster is described as distinct from either the soul or the conscience. In The Urantia Book's teachings, the degree to which a human mind chooses to accept its Adjuster's guidance becomes the degree to which a person's soul "grows" and becomes a reality that can then survive death. The soul is in essence an embryonic spiritual development, one parental factor being the divine Adjuster and the other being the human will.

The book many times links the biblical New Testament teachings of becoming like a little child^{[UB 25]} in attitude of trust and sincerity as being the stance each person should have toward God. It says the attitude of open-minded teachability facilitates spiritual growth in liaison with the work of the Thought Adjuster and invariably leads a person to love and serve other people. It also says, "But you yourself are mostly unconscious of this inner ministry. You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster."^{[UB 26]}

Persistently embracing sin is considered the same as rejecting the leadings of the Adjuster, rejecting the will of God. Constant selfishness and sinful choosing lead eventually to iniquity and full identification with unrighteousness, and since unrighteousness is unreal, it results in the eventual annihilation of the individual's identity. Personalities like this become "as if they never were." The book says that "in the last analysis, such sin-identified individuals have destroyed themselves by becoming wholly unreal through their embrace of iniquity."^{[UB 27]} The concepts of Hell and reincarnation^{[UB 28]} are not taught.

From Paper 5, "God's Relation to the Individual":^{[UB 29]}

The great God makes direct contact with mortal man and gives a part of his infinite and eternal and incomprehensible self to live and dwell within him. God has embarked upon the eternal adventure with man. If you yield to the leadings of the spiritual forces in you and around you, you cannot fail to attain the high destiny established by a loving God as the universe goal of his ascendant creatures from the evolutionary worlds of space.

The book says that a person ultimately is destined to fuse with his or her divine fragment and become one inseparable entity with it, if the person chooses to accept the Adjuster's leadings and become self-identified with it. The act of fusion is the moment when a human personality has successfully and unalterably won eternal life, described as typically taking place in the afterlife, but also a possibility during earthly life.^{[UB 30]} The result during human life is a "fusion flash," with the material body consumed in a fiery light and the soul "translated" to the afterlife. The Hebrew prophet Elijah being taken to heaven without death^{[UB 31]} in "chariots of fire"^{[UB 30]} is said to be a rare example in recorded history of a person who attained fusion.

Once fused with his or her fragment of God, a person continues as an ascending citizen in the universe and travels through numerous worlds on a long, adventurous pilgrimage of growth and learning that eventually leads to God and residence on Paradise. Mortals who reach this stage are called "finaliters." The book goes on to discuss the potential destinies of these "glorified mortals."^{[UB 32]}

The Urantia Book places much emphasis on the idea that all individuals have the same opportunity to know God, and it says nothing can hinder a human being's spiritual progression if he or she is motivated to be spirit led.^{[UB 33]} The book regards human life on earth as a "short and intense test,"^{[UB 34]} and "is not so much a probation as an education"^{[UB 35]} and the afterlife as a continuation of training that begins in material life. The "religion of Jesus" is considered to be practiced by way of loving God the Father with a person's whole being, thereby learning to love each person the way Jesus loves people; that is, recognizing others as brothers and sisters and being of unselfish service to them.

[edit]Cosmology

The book teaches that the universe is vastly older^{[UB 36]} than current scientific theories state, and that the universe is the product of intelligent and purposeful organization.^[7][13] Information about cosmology and astronomy is provided in parts I, II, and III of the book. The book discusses space and time,^{[UB 37]} describes the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars, and planets.^{[UB 38]} The authors claim that the universe is teeming with intelligent life located mainly on the planets of extrasolar planetary systems.^{[UB 39]}

The book describes that at the center of the cosmos is the stationary Isle of Paradise^{[UB 40]} — the dwelling place of God — with Paradise being surrounded by "Havona,"^{[UB 41]} a created universe containing a billion perfect worlds, around which seven evolutionary "superuniverses" circle.^{[UB 42]} All the groupings of galaxies of inhabited and uninhabited universes circle around the Isle of Paradise,^{[UB 43]} the gravitational center of the universe, which some Urantia Book readers believe is located in Great Attractor.^[14]

The term "universe" in the book is used to denote a number of different scales of organization. A "superuniverse" is roughly the size of agalaxy or group of galaxies, and the seven superuniverses along with Paradise-Havona are together designated as the "grand universe." A "local universe" is a portion of a superuniverse, with 100,000 local universes being in each superuniverse. Beyond the seven superuniverses, enormous uninhabited "outer space levels" are described.^{[UB 44]} The term "master universe" refers to what in modern usage would be the total universe — all existing matter and space taken as a whole.

The physical size of a local universe is not directly stated, but each is said to have up to 10 million inhabited worlds. Urantia is said to be located in a remote local universe named "Nebadon," which itself is part of superuniverse number seven, "Orvonton."^{[UB 45]}

The book discusses alternative explanations for the universe's origin and offers explanations for some observed astronomical phenomena. For example, the book claims that astronomic redshift arises from "numerous factors of error" and is "wholly unreliable" beyond nearby galaxies, the greatest distortion being caused by the seven superuniverses revolving around Paradise in the direction opposite from the galaxies in the "outer space levels."^{[UB 46]}

[edit]Science

The book attempts to synchronize religion, science and philosophy and many statements about science appear in the text. "The ideal human estate is that in which philosophy, religion, and science are welded into a meaningful unity.."^{[UB 47]} "Science teaches man to speak the new language of mathematics and trains his thoughts along lines of exacting precision. And science also stabilizes philosophy through the elimination of error, while it purifies religion by the destruction of superstition."^{[UB 48]} The book holds science in high regard, however it opposes the purely materialistic science. About conflict between science and religion the book states: "In reality, true religion cannot become involved in any controversy with science; it is in no way concerned with material things."^{[UB 49]} The Urantia Book debunks astrology as "pseudo science of Babylon" and also states: "But the frank, honest, and fearless search for true causes gave birth to modern science: It turned astrology into astronomy, alchemy into chemistry, and magic into medicine."^{[UB 50]}

In Paper 101, "The Real Nature of Religion,"^{[UB 51]} the authors write:

We full well know that, while the historic facts and religious truths of this series of revelatory presentations will stand on the records of the ages to come, within a few short years many of our statements regarding the physical sciences will stand in need of revision in consequence of additional scientific developments and new discoveries. These new developments we even now foresee, but we are forbidden to include such humanly undiscovered facts in the revelatory records. Let it be made clear that revelations are not necessarily inspired. The cosmology of these revelations is not inspired.^{[UB 52]}

The only apparent anticipation of science the book has made, in Gardner's opinion, is that it says the magnetic sense that homing pigeons possess is "not wholly wanting as a conscious possession by mankind."^{[UB 53]} In 1980, a British zoologist, Robin Baker, published evidence that humans have a limited magnetic sense.

Kary Mullis a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist indicates on his personal website^{[better source needed][15]} a striking coincidences between a story of Adam and Eve^{[UB 54]} in The Urantia Book and the finding published in "Science": 309 (2005) that a variant of a gene that regulates brain size arose roughly 37,000 years ago with a 95% confidence interval of 14,000 to 60,000 years.^[16] According to The Urantia Book: "Adam and Eve arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D. 1934, 37,848 years ago".^{[UB 54]}

Mark McMenamin, a professor of geology, quotes a section of the book describing a billion-year-old supercontinent that subsequently split apart, forming ocean basins where early marine life developed. He says, "This amazing passage, written in the 1930s, anticipates scientific results that did not actually appear in the scientific literature until many decades later." McMenamin also states, "Of course I am being selective here in my choice of quotations, and there are reams of scientifically untenable material in The Urantia Book."^[17]

In his book Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet Ted Nield comments on McMenamin's statement, saying "These quotations are selective, of course, which is always the key to making the prophecies of mystics look 'uncanny' If you look at other parts of the same passage from which those quotations come, you can find a rich and colourful mixture of half-correct ideas and plain nonsense... But the trick of a successful prophet is to say enough things, and to phrase them sufficiently elliptically, so that the occasional correct hits within the general rambling leap out at the prepared mind - just like cloud patterns, or the face of the Man in the Moon." In this case, he says, both scientists and mystics "apparently independently 'discovered'" this supercontinent, "and it was the mystics who sleepwalked there first."^[18]

Adherents believe that there are some examples of scientific foreknowledge in The Urantia Book.^[19][20]

[edit]History and future of the world

The book's extensive teachings about the history of the Earth include its physical development about 4.5 billion years ago,^{[UB 55]} the gradual changes in conditions that allowed life to develop, and long ages of organic evolution that started with microscopic marine life and led to plant and animal life in the oceans, later on land. The emergence of humans is presented as having occurred about a million years ago from a branch of superior primates originating from a lemur ancestor.^{[UB 56]}

The Urantia Book says "this story is graphically told within the fossil pages of the vast 'stone book' of world record ... the pages of this gigantic biogeologic record unfailingly tell the truth if you but acquire skill in their interpretation."^{[UB 57]} Unlike current scientific views, evolution is said to be orderly and controlled. Primordial life is taught to have been intelligently planned, implanted, and monitored by "Life Carriers," instead of arising spontaneously.^{[UB 58]} The book says that "mortal man is not an evolutionary accident,"^{[UB 59]} and that the purpose of evolution on a planet such as Urantia is to produce creatures of "will dignity" that can develop spiritual natures and survive material existence, going on to have eternal spiritual careers.

The Urantia Book teaches not only biological evolution, but that human society and spiritual understandings evolve by slow progression, subject both to periods of rapid improvement and the possibility of retrogression. Progress is said to follow a divine plan that includes periodic gifts of revelation and ministry by heavenly teachers, which eventually will lead to an ideal world status of "light and life" in the far distant future.

Though there is the ideal and divine plan, it is said to be fostered and administered by various orders of celestial beings who are not always perfect. Through mistakes or deliberate rebellion, the plan can be wrecked, requiring long spans of time to recoup lost progress. Urantia is said to be a markedly "dark and confused" planet that is "greatly retarded in all phases of intellectual progress and spiritual attainment"^{[UB 60]} compared to more typical inhabited worlds, due to an unusually severe history of rebellion and default by its spiritual supervisors.

The Urantia Book describes the successive eras of biologic, intellectual, and spiritual uplifting as "epochal revelations" of God and his ministering agents to man. According to The Urantia Book the Lucifer Rebellion^{[UB 61]} was a disruption of God's divine plan in the history of Urantia. In the book, Lucifer is classified as a "Primary Lanonandek Son" and head administrator of his attending system. He proposed the concepts of personal liberty, self-autonomy, and self-assertion. These concepts were adopted on Urantia first by the head of its human affairs, Caligastia. By joining Lucifer, Caligastia caused the eventual collapse of the same fragile civilization he had come to guide as "Planetary Prince" of the realm.^[21] The Urantia Book emphasizes that despite its dark history, Urantia has been the beneficiary of much good. The life of Jesus, designated in The Urantia Book as the "fourth epochal revelation,"^{[UB 62]} is said to have redeemed the planet of the blunders of rebellion. "And when Jesus came down from his sojourn on Mount Hermon, the Lucifer rebellion in Satania and the Caligastia secession on Urantia were virtually settled."^{[UB 63][22]}

[edit]Life and teachings of Jesus

More than one third of the content of the book (Part IV) is devoted to a narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus. From his birth in Bethlehem and infancy in Alexandria, the story extends through his years of school in Nazareth and his work as a young carpenter after the death of his father Joseph,^{[UB 64]} in order to sustain his widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters. Topics include a girl Rebecca who fell in love with him, and Jesus's rejection of her proposal for marriage.^{[UB 65]} Jesus is said to have traveled around the Mediterranean Basin (Alexandria, Rome, Athens etc. ) and regions of the Middle East (Mesopotamia and Caspian Sea region) in his late 20s,^{[UB 66]} and after these trips, the narrative begins to parallel what is depicted in the New Testament, but with numerous extra details. John the Baptist and the twelve Apostles are people of flesh and blood with their virtues and flaws. Jesus's teachings, as presented to his apostles and followers, is exhaustive, enlarged and presented in contemporary language. The work of the Women's Evangelistic Corps appointed by Jesus is also narrated.^{[UB 67]}

As Jesus's mission on Earth, the book describes the seventh bestowal of a Creator Son.^{[UB 68]} Each Creator Son can rule his part of the universe – (termed the "local universe") – after completing seven bestowals, the final of them is in the likeness of mortal flesh. This is the one of reasons why the Creator Son came to Earth – Urantia. The other purpose of his mission is stated in the book: "A Creator Son did not incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and bestow himself upon the humanity of Urantia to reconcile an angry God but rather to win all mankind to the recognition of the Father's love and to the realization of their sonship with God."^{[UB 69]} The core of Jesus's teaching is that men are children of God and their fellows are their brethren in one big family; when Jesus is their elder brother. The idea of the kingdom of God as presented by Jesus is the spiritual rule of Heavenly Father in the hearts of men, but many of his followers misinterpret this idea as a purely earthly kingdom. The book states that today Christianity is rather a religion about Jesus instead religion of Jesus – his original teaching – which the book reinstates.^{[UB 70]}

[edit]Consideration as literature

The Urantia Book has been enjoyed by some as a form of science fiction, historical fiction or fantasy. The Urantia Book is noted for its high level of internal consistency and an advanced writing style. Skeptic Martin Gardner, in a book otherwise highly critical of The Urantia Book, writes that it is "highly imaginative" and that the "cosmology outrivals in fantasy the cosmology of any science-fiction work known to me."^[7]

Parts I, II, and III are chiefly written in expository language. The papers are informational, matter-of-fact, and instructional. Part IV of the book is written as a biography of Jesus's life, and some feel it is a rich narrative with well-developed characters, high attention to detail, woven sub-plots, and realistic dialogue. Considered as literature, Part IV is favorably compared to other retellings of Jesus's life, such asThe Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago and Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock. Martin Gardner considers Part IV to be an especially "well-written, impressive work," and says, "Either it is accurate in its history, coming directly from higher beings in position to know, or it is a work of fertile imagination by someone who knew the New Testament by heart and who was also steeped in knowledge of the times when Jesus lived." He assesses that in his view the narrative is consistent with human authorship.^[7]

[edit]Critical views

[edit]Criticisms of claims as a revelation

In Paper 92, "The Later Evolution of Religion," the authors refer to the papers as the fifth revelation of "epochal significance" to humankind, the fourth epochal revelation having been the life of Jesus.^{[UB 71]}

The claim of revelation in The Urantia Book has been criticized for various reasons. Skeptics such as Martin Gardner say it is a product of human efforts rather than a revelation because some of its science is flawed. Because the book does not support certain tenets of Christianity, such as the atonement doctrine, while at the same time presenting an account of parts of Jesus's life absent in the Bible, others with a Christian viewpoint have argued it cannot be genuine.^[23][24]

Other critics have felt that at over 2,000 pages, nearly twice the length of the King James Bible, it is too long, complex, and bureaucratic.^[12][13]

[edit]Criticism of its science

Skeptics like Martin Gardner see the science in The Urantia Book as clear reflections of the views that prevailed at the time the book is said to have originated. The claim by the authors that no unknown scientific discoveries could be imparted is seen as a ruse to allow mistakes to be dismissed later. That presentation of post-1955 scientific knowledge is avoided is taken to be evidence it was written by humans and not by celestial beings with superior knowledge.

Examples of criticisms regarding the science in The Urantia Book include:^[7]

• The described formation of the solar system^{[UB 72]} is consistent with the Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis. Though popular in the early part of the 20th century, by the early 1940s it was discarded by Henry Russell's argument that it was incompatible with the angular momentum of planets such as Jupiter. The currently accepted scientific explanation for the origin of the solar system is based on the nebular hypothesis.
• According to the book's descriptions, the universe is hundreds of billions of years old and periodically expands and contracts — "respires" — at 2-billion-year intervals. Current observations, however, suggest that the true age of the universe is approximately 13.7 billion years, and there are no cycles of expansion and contraction. The big bang theory is not supported.
• A fundamental particle called an "ultimaton" is proposed, with an electron being composed of 100 ultimatons.^{[UB 73]} The particle seems to be invented as it is not found in other literature prior to The Urantia Book´s publication and though the concept is not known to be supported by modern particle physics there is speculation among readers that it is the Higgs boson.^[25]
• In 1965, radio astronomers discovered that Mercury rotates fast enough for all sides to see exposure to the sun so the book seems to repeat the scientific misunderstanding at the time of its publication that one side of the planet Mercury always is turned to the sun due to tidal locking.

  "The planets nearest the sun were the first to have their revolutions slowed down by tidal friction. Such gravitational influences also contribute to the stabilization of planetary orbits while acting as a brake on the rate of planetary-axial revolution, causing a planet to revolve ever slower until axial revolution ceases, leaving one hemisphere of the planet always turned toward the sun or larger body, as is illustrated by the planet Mercury and by the moon, which always turns the same face toward Urantia."^{[UB 74]}

  Whereas some avid readers have cited a nonchalant definition of the axial-revolution concept as the source for this technical inconsistency, claiming that the book actually did "a good job of avoiding erroneous science at the time of publication"^[26], another analysis of this possible misinterpretation lends credence to the speculation that Mercury and the moon are only given as illustrations of axial revolution that is braking, i.e. slowing down, whereas the moon alone is given as an example of a space body that has ceased to rotate on its axis. The "causing a planet to..." phrase and "leaving one..." sub-phrase are therefore provided to qualify the end result of the braking process, since Mercury and the moon are not both referred to in the last phrase, "which always turns..." because if they were then the verb would need to be plural and thus "turn" rather than "turns".
• Some species are said to have evolved suddenly from single mutations without transitional species.^{[UB 75]} The theory originated withDutch botanist Hugo De Vries but despite the landmark paper published in 1972 by paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould much debate continues to persist in this research, now known as punctuated equilibrium.
• The original, 1955 edition of the book and editions still in print by The Urantia Book Fellowship say that a solar eclipse was predicted in 1808 by the Native American prophet Tenskwatawa.^{[UB 76]} The eclipse was actually predicted in late April 1806 and occurred on June 16, 1806. Some subsequent publications now show in later editions the correct 1806 date per the standardization of text efforts led by the Urantia Foundation, having attributed this "obvious mistake" to a single digit keystroke error.^[27]
• Controversial statements about human races can be found in the book.^{[UB 77]} Supporters state that criticism has arisen mainly due to reading passages out of context. Gardner believes that William S. Sadler, who wrote some eugenicist works, had a hand in editing or writing the book, and that this is how the ideas were included.

While some adherents of the book believe that all of the information in The Urantia Book including its science is literally true, others accept the book's caveats and do not believe that the science is fully accurate.^{[UB 78]}

Meredith Sprunger, a liberal believer in The Urantia Book and retired minister in the United Church of Christ, writes, "research has revealed that virtually all of the scientific material found in The Urantia Book was the accepted scientific knowledge of the period in which the book was written, was held by some scientists of that time, or was about to be discovered or recognized." He argues against its literal infallibility and that fundamentalism over the book is "just as untenable as Biblical fundamentalism."^[7]

Other believers maintain that the book has prophetically anticipated scientific advances already. They believe more of its science — if not all of it — will be proven correct in the future. Gardner evaluated many of these claims as of 1995 and found them unconvincing. Some arise because the book is said to have been indited by the revelators by 1935, but then was not published until 1955. Discoveries from science during the two intervening decades can be perceived as prophetic by believers, while skeptics think such facts were added prior to publication. For instance, the catalytic role that carbon plays in the sun's nuclear reactions is described in the book,^{[UB 79]}though Hans Bethe's announcement of the discovery was not made until 1938.

Most criticism of The Urantia Book is based on Martin Gardner's book, Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery. However this book has also been severely criticized. Sandra Collins, SLIS, Univ. of Pittsburg, wrote in Library Journal: "Given the lack of scholarly distance from the subject, the patronizing tone and the gross editorializing, it would be difficult to recommend this book to any library."^[28] Sarah Lewis, of the Univ. of Wales, stated: "Martin Gardner is one of the few people outside the Urantia Foundation who has undertaken research into the movement. His research is worth noting, although his position as a great skeptic does not allow his conclusions much academic credibility."^[2]

[edit]The Urantia Book and the use of published material

The Urantia Book states in its Foreword that more than one thousand "human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings"^{[UB 80]} were selected in preparing the papers. The authors say that they were required to "give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented" and would "resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind." One of the authors wrote in Part IV: "I well know that those concepts which have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other human minds."^{[UB 81]}

In recent years, students of the papers have found that the free use of other sources appears to be true.^[7][13] None of the material allegedly used from other sources is directly cited or referenced within the book.

In 1992, a reader of The Urantia Book, Matthew Block, self-published a paper that showed nineteen possible examples of The Urantia Book utilizing material published earlier. All of the source authors identified in Block's paper were published in English between 1905 and 1943 by U.S. publishers and are typically scholarly or academic works that contain concepts and wording similar to what is found in The Urantia Book. Block has since claimed to have discovered over 125 source books and articles, written by over 90 authors, which were incorporated into the papers.^[7]

The use of outside source materials was studied separately by Gardner and Gooch, and they concluded that the book did plagiarize many of the sources noted by Block.

For instance, Gardner and Block note that Paper 85 appears to have been taken from the first eight chapters of Origin and Evolution of Religion by Edward Washburn Hopkins, published by Yale University Press in 1923. Each section of the paper corresponds to a chapter in the book, with several passages possibly used as direct material, and further material used in Papers 86-90 and 92. (In addition to the book's "heavy indebtedness to Hopkins," Gardner discovered that Hopkins was a major reference in an earlier book authored by Sadler, adding to Gardner's view that it is more likely Sadler had a hand in writing or editing The Urantia Book than that celestial beings wrote it.) Likewise, much of The Urantia Book material relating to the evolution of mankind appears to have been directly taken from Henry Fairfield Osborn, Man Rises to Parnassus: Critical Epochs in the Prehistory of Man published by Princeton University Press in 1928.

In one example cited by Block and confirmed by Gardner, the original author discusses the periodicity of the chemical elements and concludes that the harmony in the construction of the atom suggests some unspecified plan of organization. The authors of The Urantia Book assert that this harmony is evidence of the intelligent design of the universe. W. F. G. Swann writes on page 64 of The Architecture of the Universe (italics indicate edits as compared to The Urantia Book, bolding indicates deletions):

Starting from any one of them [i.e., chemical elements], and noting some property such as the melting point, for example, the property would change as we went along the row, but as we continued it would gradually come back to the condition very similar to that which we started ... The eighth element was in many respects like the first, the ninth like the second, the tenth like the third, and so on. Such a slate of affairs point[s] not only to a varied internal structure, but also to a certain harmony in that variation suggestive of some organized plan in building the atom.

Contrast with The Urantia Book's version:

Starting from any one element, after noting some one property, such a quality will exchange for six consecutive elements,but on reaching the eighth, it tends to reappear, that is, the eighth chemically active element resembles the first, the ninth the second, and so on. Such a fact of the physical world unmistakably points to the sevenfold constitution of ancestral energy and is indicative of the fundamental reality of the sevenfold diversity of the creations of time and space.^{[UB 82]}

Block and other believers do not see the use of the source materials as plagiarism, but express a view instead that the quality of the way the material was borrowed is consistent with authorship by celestial beings. Meredith Sprunger, a believer and defender of The Urantia Book, stated in a letter to Gardner that if humans wrote the book, the plagiarisms would indeed be disturbing, but not if it was written by supermortals.^[7]

Also Meredith Sprunger wrote:^[29]

As we mentioned earlier, the authors of The Urantia Book clearly state that they have used human sources and why they are using them. The use of these human sources is often handled in such a way as to arrive at a position differing from that of the human author. To accuse the superhuman authors of plagiarism is a bit far fetched, as they are not concealing the use of human sources and they deliberately avoided reference to specific human personalities....

[edit]Adherents

There is no way to gauge how many adherents there may be as there is no central organization to census. Informal study groups "tend to sprout, ripen, then vanish or splinter" and have not been counted reliably.^[13] Readers sometimes join study groups after reading on their own for years or decades, others join them soon after developing an interest in the book, while "for most, worship remains as individual as the act of reading."^[13] Disagreements over the legal ownership of the book, its interpretation, and the reception of new revelations have led to some splintering, though these disagreements appear to have been settled to the satisfaction of most adherents.^[30] The movement generally incorporates a nonsectarian view, contending that individuals with different religious backgrounds can receive the book's teachings as an enrichment rather than as a contradiction of their faiths.^[31]

The small movement inspired by The Urantia Book has not developed clergy or institutions such as churches, reading rooms, or temples.^[13][30] As of 2006, the Urantia Foundation had one office in Chicago and five people on staff.^[6]

Sarah Lewis notes that, "The Urantia Revelation is not securing legitimacy through historically known and accepted means to any great degree, nor is it even using common language that would increase the likelihood of understanding and therefore acceptance. It introduces new concepts and a new language, and this does not make acceptance any easier." She assesses that the movement is uncontroversial compared to other ones, "lacking the zealous proselytizing found within many other groups," and that it is therefore likely to remain small and unaffected by opposing views.^[2]

Urantia Foundation advocated a "slow growth" policy in the past and had not significantly marketed the book. Sales by Urantia Foundation went from 7,000 in 1990 to 24,700 in 1997, and steadily increased to nearly 38,000 in 2000, an "upturn that seems to represent a genuine trend rather than just some spike on a sales chart,"^[13] however in 2011 the Foundation reported worldwide annual sales of 16,000 copies and over 60,000 downloads from various sites. More than half of the books printed by Urantia Foundation are in languages other than English, particularly Spanish and Portuguese.^[32] Since the book was determined to be in the public domain in 2001, other organizations, such as The Urantia Book Fellowship under the publishing name Uversa Press, have also published the book. Copies of The Urantia Book are on the Internet in various formats and it has been adapted to more recent platforms such as theKindle and the iOS App Store. Several audio books of the text are also on the Internet.

The International Urantia Association had twenty-six reader associations worldwide as of 2002, and the Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly the Urantia Brotherhood, founded in 1955 with Urantia Foundation as the original social fraternal organization of believers) claimed roughly twelve hundred official members, with the highest concentrations in the West of the United States and the Sun Belt, especially California, Colorado, Florida, and Texas.^[13] It appears an increasing number of people are forming study groups, participating in Internet discussion groups, and hosting or visiting websites about it.^[13]

[edit]Teaching Mission

The Teaching Mission is a group of Urantia channellers. According to Richard Landes, "The foundation considers them self-deluded, but they have created a schism that continues to disrupt the movement."^[33]

[edit]Symbols

One symbol described in The Urantia Book consists of three concentric azure circles on a white background.^{[UB 83]} The circles are said to have symbolized several trinity associations in the history of humankind. The authors of The Urantia Book indicate its revealed meaning as being "the infinity, eternity, and universality of the Paradise Trinity of divine maintenance and direction."^{[UB 84]}

Urantia Foundation, the original publisher, placed the concentric circles on the cover of The Urantia Bookand has a United States trademark. The circles are used to indicate other organizations affiliated with the foundation.

The Urantia Association International, one of the main readership organizations in the movement, has been licensed by Urantia Foundation to use the three azure concentric circles on a white background.

Some other groups use the symbol in various altered forms. The Urantia Book Fellowship, an independent reader organization established in 1955, uses a similar symbol.

[edit]Popular culture

• Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–1990), American blues-rock guitarist: "Stevie often brought along the book of Urantia and read Lindi passages from the strange publication."^[34]
• Jaco Pastorius wrote a song that appears on Weather Report's 'Heavy Weather' named 'Havona'
• In the book Six Feet Under: Better Living through Death, an in-universe companion piece to the television series Six Feet Under, The Urantia Book is highlighted in a past correspondence held by one of the main characters.
• In the 1983 book Angels by Denis Johnson, one character carries around The Urantia Book and proselytizes to drug addicts.
• Karlheinz Stockhausen based his seven-opera cycle Licht on the cosmology of The Urantia Book.^[35]

[edit]References to online text of The Urantia Book

1. ^ "Foreword". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
2. ^ "Paper 3, "The Attributes of God", omniscience". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
3. ^ "Paper 3, "The Attributes of God", omnipresence". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
4. ^ "Paper 3, "The Attributes of God", omnipotence". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
5. ^ "Paper 2, "The Nature of God", infinity". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
6. ^ "Paper 2, "The Nature of God", eternal". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
7. ^ "Paper 105, "Deity and Reality"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
8. ^ "Paper 2, "The Nature of God"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
9. ^ "Paper 1, "The Universal Father"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
10. ^ "Paper 10, "The Paradise Trinity"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
11. ^ "Paper 6, "The Eternal Son"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
12. ^ "Paper 8, "The Infinite Spirit"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
13. ^ "Paper 1, "The Universal Father"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
14. ^ "Paper 117, "God the Supreme"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
15. ^ "Foreword, "God the Ultimate"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
16. ^ "Foreword, "God the Absolute"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
17. ^ "The Paradise Creator Sons". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
18. ^ "Paper 32, "The Evolution of Local Universes"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
19. ^ "The Life and Teachings of Jesus". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
20. ^ "Paper 196, "The Faith of Jesus"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
21. ^ "Paper 107, Origin and Nature of Thought Adjusters". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
22. ^ "Paper 111, The Adjuster and the Soul, atman and ka". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
23. ^ "Paper 108, Mission and Ministry of Thought Adjusters, Thought Adjusters as image of God". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
24. ^ "Paper 108, Mission and Ministry of Thought Adjusters, average age of Thought Adjusters arrival". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
25. ^ "Paper 140, The Ordination of the Twelve, man as little child". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
26. ^ "Paper 110, Relation of Adjusters to Individual Mortals, unconscious of Adjusters ministry". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
27. ^ "Paper 2, The Nature of God, sin destroys individuals | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
28. ^ "Paper 94 - The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient, reincarnation | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
29. ^ "Paper 5 - God's Relation to the Individual | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
30. ^ ^a b "Paper 45 - Relation of Adjusters to Individual Mortals, fusion on earth | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
31. ^ "Paper 45 - The Local System Administration, Elijah fusion | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
32. ^ "Paper 112 - The Corps of the Finality | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
33. ^ "Paper 112 - Personality Survival, accidents of time | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
34. ^ "Paper 14 - The Central and Divine Universe, life on earth as short and intense test | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
35. ^ "Paper 111 - The Adjuster and the Soul, life on earth as education | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
36. ^ "Paper 57, "The Origin of Urantia"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
37. ^ "Paper 12, "The Universe of Universes"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
38. ^ "Paper 15, "The Seven Superuniverses","The Origin of Space Bodies"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
39. ^ "Paper 14, "The Central and Divine Universe"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
40. ^ "Paper 11, "The Eternal Isle of Paradise"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
41. ^ "Paper 14, "The Central and Divine Universe"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
42. ^ "Paper 15, "The Seven Superuniverses"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
43. ^ "Paper 12, "Space Levels of the Master Universe"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
44. ^ "Paper 12, "The Outer Space Levels"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
45. ^ "Paper 15, Urantia location". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
46. ^ "Paper 12, redshift velocity errors". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
47. ^ "Paper 98, "The Melchizedek Teachings in the Occident"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
48. ^ "Paper 81, "Development of Modern Civilization"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
49. ^ "Paper 195, "After Pentecost"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
50. ^ "Paper 81, astrology". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
51. ^ "Paper 101 - The Real Nature of Religion | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
52. ^ "Paper 101, cosmology is not inspired". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
53. ^ "Paper 34, magnetic sense". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
54. ^ ^a b "Paper 74, "Adam and Eve "". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
55. ^ Paper 57, 57:5.4. Wikisource.
56. ^ Paper 62, The First Human Beings. Wikisource.
57. ^ Paper 58, 58:7.12. Wikisource.
58. ^ Paper 65, Life Carrier Functions. Wikisource.
59. ^ Paper 49, 49:1.6. Wikisource.
60. ^ Paper 50, 50:6.2. Wikisource.
61. ^ "Paper 53 - The Lucifer Rebellion | Urantia Book | Urantia Foundation". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
62. ^ Paper 92, 92:4.8. Wikisource.
63. ^ Paper 134, The Sojourn on Mount Hermon. Wikisource.
64. ^ Paper 126, The Death of Joseph. Wikisource.
65. ^ Paper 127, Rebecca, the Daughter of Ezra. Wikisource.
66. ^ Paper 130, On the Way to Rome. Wikisource.
67. ^ Paper 150, The Women's Evangelistic Corps. Wikisource.
68. ^ Paper 119, The Bestowals of Christ Michael. Wikisource.
69. ^ "Paper 98, "The Melchizedek Teachings in the Occident"". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
70. ^ Paper 195, 195:4.4. Wikisource.
71. ^ "Paper 92, 92:4.5". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
72. ^ "Paper 57, Origin of Monmatia — The Urantia Solar System". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
73. ^ "Paper 42, 42:6.5". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
74. ^ "Paper 57, 57:6.2". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
75. ^ "Paper 58, 58:6.4". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
76. ^ Paper 90, 90:2.9. Wikisource.
77. ^ "Paper 52, 52:2.11". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
78. ^ "Paper 101, 101:4.2". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
79. ^ "Paper 41, Solar-Energy Reactions". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
80. ^ "Foreword 0:12.10". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
81. ^ "Paper 121, 121:8.12". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
82. ^ "Paper 42, 42:9.3". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
83. ^ "Paper 53, 53:5.4". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
84. ^ "Paper 93, 93:3.3". Urantia.org. Retrieved 2012-09-24.

[edit]See also

Wikisource has original text related to: The Urantia Book

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Urantia Book

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Urantia Book

[edit]References

1. ^ Urantia Foundation (1955). The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation. ISBN 0-911560-02-5
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Lewis, James R. and Hammer, Olav (2007). The Invention of Sacred Tradition. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-86479-8
3. ^ "From Urantia Foundation News Online". December 2010.
4. ^ ^a b Thomas F. Cotter (March 2003). "Gutenberg's Legacy: Copyright, Censorship, and Religious Pluralism". California Law Review 91 (2): 323–392. JSTOR 3481334.
5. ^ ^a b Michael Foundation, Inc. v. Urantia Foundation v. Harry McMullan, III US Court of Appeals affirms the jury decision that Urantia Foundation does not hold the copyright to The Urantia Book
6. ^ ^a b c "2006 Urantia Foundation annual report". urantia.org.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Gardner, Martin (1995). Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-955-0
8. ^ "Notes For A History of The Urantia Movement". Urantiabook.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
9. ^ "How The Urantia Book Came Into Existence" by William S. Sadler, Jr., February 18, 1962.
10. ^ ^a b "Sadler, William (1929). The Mind at Mischief. Funk and Wagnalls. ASIN B0013WP860".
11. ^ Ernest P. Moyer (February 16, 2000). "22". The Birth of a Divine Revelation : The Origin of the Urantia Papers. Moyer Pub. p. 312.ISBN 978-0-9678264-0-0.
12. ^ ^a b Mather, George A. and Nichols, Larry A. (1993). Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult. Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-53100-4
13. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Gooch, Brad (2002). Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44709-1
14. ^ "TruthBook.com - Dr. Stefan H. Tallqvist - Great Attractor".
15. ^ "Kary Mullis website".
16. ^ "Science 9 September". 2005.
17. ^ McMenamin, Mark A. S. The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the Earliest Complex Life Columbia. University Press. New Ed edition (October 15, 2000) ISBN 0-231-10559-2
18. ^ Neild, Ted (2009). Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674032453.
19. ^ "Science in The Urantia Book url=http://urantiabook.org/index_science.htm".
20. ^ "History, Science and Evolution url=http://www.truthbook.com/index.cfm?linkID=6".
21. ^ Kelly Elstrott (1998). The Fifth Revelation: A collection of key passages from The Urantia Book. Mighty Messenger Press Pub. p. 55. ISBN 0-9654301-7-0.
22. ^ God's Bible: An Epochal Revelation Sponsored by God's Angels, Part IV, Papers 120-196: The Life and Teachings of Jesus. Pathways, Inc. p. 90.
23. ^ House, Dr. H. Wayne (2000). Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements. Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-38551-2
24. ^ Larson, Bob (2004). Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-8423-6417-X
25. ^ "God's Particle Discovery : What Caused Our Scientists To Be So Jubilant?".
26. ^ "Mercury’s Rotation Report".
27. ^ "Standardized Reference Committee Text Alterations to First Printing".
28. ^ "Gardner Book Review" in the Library Journal, April 15, 1995 Book Reviews
29. ^ "Response to Martin Gardner's Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery". Urantiabook.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
30. ^ ^a b Partridge, Christopher (2004). New Religions: A Guide (2nd Edition). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-522042-0
31. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. 1990. New Age Encyclopedia (First Edition).Gale Research Inc.
32. ^ "From Urantia Foundation News Online". March 2012.
33. ^ Landes, Richard (2000). Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements. Routledge. p. 747. ISBN 978-0415922463.
34. ^ Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire ISBN 978-0-316-16069-8
35. ^ Robin, William (May 6, 2011). "An Operatic Conundrum Untangled". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2011.

[edit]External links

• Urantia Foundation the original publisher but now one of several
• The Urantia Association International (UAI)
• The Urantia Book Historical Society
• The Urantia Book Fellowship
• Urantia Book Related Websites

[hide] v   t   e The Urantia Book William S. Sadler   Lena Sadler   Urantia Foundation   Melchizedek in the Urantia Book