By Stuart Kerr III
Wrightwood Series on Gender
The concept of a personal God is expansive beyond our finite capabilities to characterize him. Because of our remoteness from the absolute level of consciousness, his infinite nature cannot be captured by our finite level of comprehension -- human language will always prove incapable of fully discovering the inscrutable mystery of the Godhead. Our human language is utterly inadequate for fulfilling this task. From our experiential, finite perspective, we can only perceive the existential, eternity reality of God as a time-space conditioned relativity. Our circumscribed viewpoint, our inability to grasp the concept of unqualified eternity, must be supplemented by the revealed eternity viewpoint.
There is inherent risk in our attempts to reduce the essential nature of God to our finite level of human comprehension. God is ultimately beyond all attempts to categorize him. If we use our understanding of gendered terms to describe God's personal nature, if we use these terms for ascribing to God the human qualities that we understand as masculine and feminine character traits, we are in danger of metaphorically putting the cart before the horse. Rather, we are better served by realizing that the essential nature of humanity is fundamentally dependent upon God as the true First Source and Center of all realities.
If we truly wish to discover the quintessential nature basis that characterizes the mortal estate, if we wish to discover the underlying purpose and design that gives rise to the male and female derivation of human gender, we must first seek for insights into the expansive nature of God that conceptually transcend the level of the finite material mind. We can aspire to this elevated conceptual grasp because we are assured, by faith, that a fragment of this same personal God actually indwells our minds. God partners with us to spiritually elevate our thoughts and desires -- he incessantly inspires us to rise above the mortal estate, to courageously enter into the spiritual "kingdom of heaven," and he himself is the very scaffolding that enables us to achieve this very goal.
The presenters of the papers contained within The Urantia Book have resisted following a revelatory path that completely divorces itself from the traditional language and symbology as embodied by Judeo-Christian theologic conventions. However, in so doing, they have resourcefully decided to infuse these human concepts with new and transcendent functional meanings. By means of theologic compromise and strategic concessions to established norms of terminology, they have maintained a necessary and vital tie to the past.
By deriving gender relationships from higher functional and cosmic patterns, we may begin to understand how men and women are truly complemental to one another by creative design. We can learn much about this creative design by investigating those instances where the revelators of The Urantia Book break the sexual gender convention as in those examples involving the seraphim, cherubim, and sanobim who are personally gendered as positive and negative (see UB: 420, 422, 938), and the midwayers who are differentiated along lines of maleness and femaleness (see UB: 864).
The main thrust of the following investigation is the pursuit of a more comprehensive and transcendent understanding, from a cosmic perspective, of the basic design that establishes the purposed duality of male and female who are regarded as operating on the mating, complemental, or partnership basis. Rather than concentrate on culturally superficial or qualifiedly historical influences on the sexes as they co-exist on our isolated planet, for these influences may vary dramatically on other planets of mortal habitation, I have chosen to pursue cosmic insights into our planet's sexual duality by examining the potent techniques of functional gender terminology as they are practiced by the various presenters of the papers contained within The Urantia Book.
I have come to realize that those proponents who would indiscriminately
neuter the sexually descriptive terminology as it is structurally applied
throughout The Urantia Book run the risk of obscuring and eliminating
many subtle levels of cosmic understanding and interpretation. For example,
it is understandably awkward for a woman to comprehend the term "sons
of God" as entailing a non-sexual, historically functional definition
that equates this designation to meaning "those children of inheritance"
(e.g., of the kingdom of heaven) -- but there is good theologic precedent
for exactly this interpretation. Jesus' usage of this term is consistently
inclusive of both men and women -- he did not exclude women from any of
his statements when referring to humanity as potential sons of the Father.
He did, however, conform to the patriarchal linguistic norms of contemporary
Judaic society, but with a crucially astute twist -- he focused his conceptual
semantics around the higher idealization of the family: "The
family occupied the very center of Jesus' philosophy of life -- here and
hereafter. He based his teachings about God on the family....He taught
the new and larger brotherhood of man -- the sons of God." [UB: 1581]
The apostle Paul very specifically uses the word son in a spiritually
functional sense: "And because ye are sons, God has sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.
If this term were
to be arbitrarily altered to read the "sons and daughters of God",
we would lose sight of the functional usage of son as implying spiritual
inheritance. This altered phrase could only then be properly understood
in the context of an inclusive gendered connotation, and the notion of
men and women being spiritual heirs of the kingdom would then have to be
indirectly implied.
"Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ." [Ga. 4:6,7]
Many of the following studies are related examinations into the functional
arena of divine and temporal relationships. It is hoped that these will
shed needed light on the wisdom and skill that the revelators of The
Urantia Book have creatively exercised in their efforts to strategically
establish this epochal revelation on the world today. It is hoped that
the reader will seek for the truth of this matter as well as for the historical
facts. We should take heart, for we are told that if we "learn to
water the gardens of our hearts" as well as to "seek for the
dry sands of knowledge," we can expect to "expand our
souls as well as our minds." [UB: 554]
The following study, prepared for the Wrightwood Series Seminars, explores two primary insights:
In its full and essential nature, humankind is dually differentiated according to function, awareness, and behavior response. Practically regarded, men and women are representative of "two distinct varieties of the same species living in close and intimate association." Male and female are perfectly equal in mind endowment and spiritual status, but they remain individually supreme in their own personal domains of activity as these are "determined by biologic differentiation and by mental dissimilarity."
The differences of nature, reaction, viewpoint, and thinking between man and woman provide for partnership associations that greatly "multiply functional versatility." This enhancement of possibilities for personal attainment and accomplishment provides a means for overcoming the many inherent limitations incumbent on the imperfect status of finite being. Throughout our ascendent careers, men and women will beneficially cooperate "in the solution of perplexing universe problems and in the overcoming of manifold cosmic difficulties."
Men and women must be encouraged to develop a loving tolerance and understanding for one another, to experientially learn to feel and respect the deepest concerns and aspirations of the other, and to create a culture that promotes new modes of thinking, new systems of values, and new expressions of spiritual imagery that must be inclusive of both male and female spiritual desires.
Judeo-Christian Patriarchy
On this world of mortal habitation, gender characteristics have shaped the conceptual imagery central to religious language -- this custom directly affects the way in which men and women experience their respective existences. For example, the Judeo-Christian tradition has elevated the concept of an exclusively male, patriarchal representation of God as the sole Creator of the heavens. This tradition has permeated present-day theology, bringing about a corresponding repression of feminine imagery of the divine roles of worship. Judeo-Christian doctrine has shaped the traditional cultural images that have been perceived by women as degrading and suppressing -- this tradition has served to alienate women from mainstream religion. This same tradition has also served to estrange men from cultivating those acquired maternal skills that would help them to foster a more balanced personality.
Western religion tends to designate God with masculine titles far more than it ever uses feminine titles. Using masculine terms like He or Father to refer to God has evolved to its present usage as a natural extension of a religion born of a society where men were the traditional ruling class, educators, and leaders. Today, we are beginning to realize that if you think of God only as Father, you have an inadequate notion of God.
Many women very naturally desire to cultivate and formulate new identities and ideologies in light of emerging new revelations. They seek to engender a more holistic image and an expanded understanding of the meaning of life. They seek full equality and dignity for their concerns in every aspect of life -- in religion, ideology, and identity, as well as in the more practical social and cultural spheres of private and public life. They search for methods by which patriarchal religion might be reshaped to overcome its inherently unjust and often debilitating effects on women. Their task is to find spiritual imagery that transcends gender- specific capacities and awareness.
Historically, certain enlightened individuals within the feminist movement
have come to believe that the Bible itself was not necessarily the primary
source of women's oppression.1 The real problem was more directly attributed
to the bias of male translators and interpreters. Subsequent efforts therefore
concentrated on reinterpreting the Bible. This approach opened up the possibility
of providing a focus on the human element in biblical texts, on questions
of authorship and historical development, and on literary aspects of the
Bible. It was believed that the Bible should be investigated like any other
historical document and then interpreted on the basis of the evidence.
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them." (Ge. 1:27)Woman is, along with man, the direct and intentional creation of God and the crown of his creation; man and woman were made for each other by divine purpose. Together, they constitute humankind, which is, in its full and essential nature, dually gendered:
"Male and female are, practically regarded, two distinct varieties of the same species living in close and intimate association." [UB: 938]Compared to the Old Testament, the New Testament represents a major advancement in theological thinking and presentation. Here we have an example of a critical paradigm shift in the manner in which men and women are regarded respecting their mutual purposes and destinies. The role that women play in this new scheme of things, though far from ideal, represented a major advancement in a culture that was previously immersed in the theology and ethics embodied within the central core of the Old Testament.
Jesus himself was particularly quite positive in his attitudes towards
women. He freely conversed with them, assigned them key roles in his public
ministry, and numbered them among his friends and close followers. Jesus
strove to present women as complete human beings, in all ways spiritually
equal to men. This attitude was truly revolutionary for his time, and it
consequently became a source of much of his ministerial difficulties and
instructional rejection by the leaders of the old vanguard, the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. "Before the teachings of Jesus which culminated
in Pentecost, women had little or no spiritual standing in the tenets of
the older religions. After Pentecost, in the brotherhood of the kingdom
woman stood before God on an equality with man. Among the one hundred and
twenty who received this special visitation of the spirit were many of
the women disciples, and they shared these blessings equally with the men
believers." [UB: 2065]
Even the apostle Paul, who has inherited
an unsavory reputation regarding his attitudes towards women, still possessed
the positive frame of mind to make some remarkably powerful statements
about the spiritual equality of women: "There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Jesus Christ." [Ga. 3:28]
God is beyond
gender; our conception of God is intuited from God's own revelation of
himself. However, we develop an inadequate understanding of the true nature
of our relationship to a personal God because we participate in this relationship
as sexually gendered persons -- we have difficulty in separating our own
finite natures from God's eternal nature. We tend to anthropomorphize God
in our own image.
Paul has been routinely castigated for his avowed subordination of women.
In all fairness to his detractors, Paul did erroneously understand women
as occupying a distinctly subordinate role in society -- but this biased
assessment of his was in harmony with the social norms and the historical
context of his culture. As a result of recent investigations by scholars
of the New Testament, opinions are being formulated that cast Paul in a
relatively more sensitive light.2 His views are being re-evaluated as being
well ahead of his times. He is being recognized for his willingness to
work closely with women and for his habit of regularly extolling their
spiritual virtues within the framework of the embryonic churches that were
emerging throughout the Mediterranean basin.
Taking into account the patriarchal environment affecting the culture and religion of his times, Paul's expressed views on the spiritual equality of women were decidedly radical and progressive. Men and women were enforced to build their relationships on a foundation of mutuality and love. There is put forward an insistent degree of reciprocity between men and women. By virtue of their baptism into the Church, women obtained a new standing of equality. Men and women stood before God in the same relation; both are born into sin, but with the identical opportunity for salvation.
Revelation and Compromise
The revelators of The Urantia Book plainly acknowledge that every
divine revelation of truth strives for an appropriate and adequate symbolism
within which to frame new and expanding ideas, ideals, and loyalties: "We
are fully cognizant of the difficulties of our assignment; we recognize
the impossibility of fully translating the language of the concepts of
divinity and eternity into the symbols of the language of the finite concepts
of the human mind." [UB: 17]
This developing symbolism must
co-evolve with the practiced enhancement of religious living and spiritual
experience that is generated by this potent infusion of revelation. Unfortunately,
the social impact of a major new revelation is often compromised by having
to make costly concessions to the established norms and practices of the
preceding religious and moral establishment. Even such a divine revelation
as is presented in The Urantia Book must necessarily submit "to
the graduated control of evolution." [UB: 984]
The Urantia
Book itself poses a theologic compromise by supporting a continuity
of male-gender-oriented language in its presentation of the elevated concepts
of God's eternal purpose for creation and the perfecting harmony within
this cosmic arena of time and space. Acknowledging this, we can be relatively
assured that this approach was permitted "...for the sake of
the safe transit of moral values from one epoch to another...all the while
seeking to translate from one generation to another the imperishable values
of the old and passing forms into the new and therefore less stabilized
patterns of thought and conduct." [UB: 1255]
Humankind is
involved in an agelong struggle to elevate the planetary status of mortal
dwelling. This effort requires constant struggles, appraisals, and readjustments
that are necessary for a smooth transition from the "sheltered bays
of established tradition" to the "high seas of evolutionary destiny."
A key function of an established religion during these trying times is
to provide a critical degree of traditional stability and religious guidance:
"The paramount mission of religion as a social influence is
to stabilize the ideals of mankind during these dangerous times of transition
from one phase of civilization to another, from one level of culture to
another." [UB: 1086]
In the times of Melchizedek's covenant
with Abraham regarding the promotional concept of one God as universal
Deity "...there was always the tendency for the new doctrine
to become absorbed into the older body of religious teaching and magical
practice. A new revelation is always contaminated by the older evolutionary
techniques." [UB: 1022]
This awareness, though, should not
necessarily motivate us to completely disregard established conventions
and beliefs -- too radical a break with cultural and religious tradition
supplies its own dangers and pitfalls. There always lurks the recognized
threat of subsequent cultural breakdown that accompanies each "...transition
from the established methods of the past to those new and better, but untried,
procedures of the future." [UB: 911]
Other examples are presented
in The Urantia Book to illustrate the process by which a new theology
inevitably yields, in some degree, to an older and more established religion
in order to salvage its higher values of moral thought and spiritual insight.
In the life and teachings of Jesus, we are taught that we are the children
of God, and this acknowledgement thereby establishes the ultimate reality
of the "brotherhood of man." Over time, this revelation became
subtly couched within the concept of "the kingdom of heaven"
as a concession to those listeners of Jesus' message who were immobilized
by their limited understanding of divine purposes and relationships. These
potential followers could more easily understand the idea of God and his
universe in terms of a heavenly kingdom -- many of them lived out their
lives under the auspices of a temporal king. "At the time Jesus
lived on earth and taught in the flesh, the people of Urantia knew mostly
of kings and emperors in the governments of nations, and the Jews had long
contemplated the coming of the kingdom of God. For these and other reasons,
the Master thought best to designate the spiritual brotherhood as the Father
in heaven." [UB: 1855]
Jesus himself could not fully escape
the persistent expectations for the coming Messiah that occupied the thoughts
and aspirations of his followers. The core of Jesus' mission was integrally
influenced by his compromise to acknowledge for himself the titles of the
Son of Man and the Son of God. This theologic concession eventually helped
to bring about the submersion of the religion of Jesus into a religion
about Jesus, a religion that embodies the: "...mystic conception
of the person of Jesus as the Redeemer- Creator and spiritual head of a
socialized religious community. In this way a formal and instiutional church
became the substitute for the individually spirit-led brotherhood of the
kingdom." [UB: 1864]
Even Jesus' apostles found it both necessary
and prudent to offer concessions to the followers of John the Baptist,
under the leadership of Abner, as the price for continued unity. By accepting
the practice of baptism into their mutual ministry to the common people,
the apostles were able to secure the good will and devoted efforts of these
fervent followers of the Baptist. This concession was relatively minor
considering that: "John's followers, in joining Jesus' followers,
gave up just about everything except water baptism." [UB: 1626]
The
real religion of Jesus awaits a new revolutionary rebirth -- it is ready
to resurrect itself from the shell of institutionalized Christianity which,
admittedly, is heavily oriented towards a patriarchal mind-set and language.
If The Urantia Book is to lend support to the resurrection of the
true religion of Jesus, it will need to be mindful of its cautious reminder
to respectfully consider the true potentials that are currently lying dormant
within traditional Christianity: "Christianity contains enough
of Jesus' teachings to immortalize it." [UB: 2086]
We should
try to gain insights into these recorded accounts of theologic compromises
and concessions that have influenced attempts at revealing higher levels
of thought and more progressive ideals for living the perfecting life.
If we are successful, we may be in a position to be more sympathetic to
the final decision of the revelators of the papers within The Urantia
Book to choose our traditional conventions of gender-oriented terminology
in their attempts to explain functional personality relationships -- both
divine and temporal. They purposefully chose to do so to make the complicated
intricacies regarding the portrayal of these relationships more effectively
understandable to a planet of sex creatures.
In addition, they shrewdly provide us with new and transcendent meanings for their chosen "sex gender" designations. For example, although a case could be reasonably presented for naming the personality of the First Source and Center the Universal Father, there is much that can be learned from the functional ramifications engendered by naming the personality of the Second Source and Center as the Original Mother Son (see UB: 76:1, 79:5, 87:3, 88:5). On first reading, this appellation of the Eternal Son appears to be inherently paradoxical; but if one approaches this gender terminology in a functional and transcendent sense, as opposed to a derivative and directly sexual/material sense, great insights abound.
In our attempt to comprehend the revelatory disclosures contained within
The Urantia Book, we are admonished to recognize the conceptual
forest before we attempt to distinguish between the individual and derivative
trees. God's eternal purpose for his creation, which includes men and women
as integral participants, is presented in The Urantia Book by beginning
with the nature of God himself first and foremost. The subsequent papers
proceed from this apex of revealed divinity to progressively more derivative
revealment into the experiential levels of reality that progressively rely
more and more on God as their existential ground. The Urantia Book
is purposely structured to reveal the foundation of God's existential basis,
and then to proceed from this existential foundation to progressively more
derivative and dependent relationships: "In such a far-flung
universe there is always great danger of succumbing to the error of the
circumscribed viewpoint, to the evil inherently in a segmentalized conception
of reality and divinity.
"For example: the human mind would ordinarily crave to approach the
cosmic philosophy portrayed in these revelations by proceeding from the
simple and the finite to the complex and the infinite, from human origins
to divine destinies. But that path does not lead to spiritual wisdom.
Such a procedure is the easiest path to a certain form of genetic knowledge,
but at best it can only reveal man's origin; it reveals little or nothing
about his divine destiny." [UB: 215]
"When you have once become truly God-conscious, after you
really discover the majestic Creator and begin to experience the realization
of the indwelling presence of the divine controller, then, in accordance
with the manner and method by which the divine Sons reveal God, you will
find a name for the Universal Father which will be adequately expressive
of your concept of the First Source and Center." [UB: 22]
The
Urantia Book very clearly states that the First Source and Center has
never revealed himself by name. However, considering that we are a planet
of sex creatures and that we have good reason to believe that we are children
of this personal Creator, the chosen term Father is a very expressive and
appropriate name for God: "But this is the name of our own
choosing, and it grows out of the recognition of our personal relationship
with the First Source and Center." [UB: 22]
The personalization
of God as Father has an immediate appeal to the parental instincts of humanity;
that phase of the infinite God that we have come to know as Father is experientially
real and personally meaningful to us in our life experiences as members
within the human family -- both as children and as parents: "First
and last -- eternally -- the infinite God is a Father. Of all the possible
titles by which he might appropriately be known, I [a Divine Counselor
of Uversa] have been instructed to portray the God of all creation as the
Universal Father." [UB: 59]
God as Father is that aspect of
infinite Deity that is experientially real to mortal beings as a personal
reality. Still, we should strive to understand the term Father in its largest
possible sense -- we should strive to transcend the human concept of the
divine Father as he becomes known during the course of mortal existence
in order to reach a higher level of comprehension of that same God who
is expansive beyond the Father concept. We are told that the word God itself
cannot adequately be conveyed to finite creatures in its full capacity
to represent the infinite concept of existential Deity. Beyond the designation
of Father, the best that can be achieved for giving us a flavor of the
essential nature of infinite Deity is theorized in the hypothetical concept
of the I AM: "The I AM ever remains as our hypothesis of all
that we feel is knowable of the First Source and Center. And even that
hypothesis probably falls short of the unfathomed infinity of original
reality." [UB: 1153]
As revealed by The Urantia Book,
in conceptual wording suitable for time-space conditioned beings, the Father
I AM breaks free from his eternity confinement by the exercise of his absolute
free will, thus achieving Deity liberation from the fetters of unqualified
infinity. This primal act repercusses in an infinity that is now dynamic,
and this produces a coordinated divinity-tension in conjunction with the
static infinity of the original unqualified absolute. The I AM, as the
stasis or self-relationship of infinity, as the eternal fact and universal
truth of infinite reality, as the unity of unqualified infinity, upholds
this divinity-tension by his eternity act of free will. Through this relationship
of the original I AM to his free will act of eternity, the I AM becomes
discernible as free-willed personality; he reveals himself as the divine
creator of all personality. Through this primal free will act, the original
I AM creates room within all-encompassing infinity for finite creatures
to coexist.
The Urantia Book proceeds to elucidate many revealing reality functions that ultimately rely on this expanded concept of the Father-I AM as the essential and primal source and center of functional unity (UB: 1147). These cosmic aspects of the Universal Father encompass both personal/spiritual and nonpersonal/material Deity functions:
At the level of Deity, personality implies identity, self- consciousness,
self-will, and possibility for self-revelation. It is by virtue of these
characteristics that the Universal Father is revealed, that the possibility
for fellowship with other and equal personalities is enacted. Even though
the perfect unity of the Father is characterized by an all-pervading unity
of Being, the indivisibility of his personality does not interfere with
his capacity to be a Father to other self-willed personalities, divine
or human: "In the worshipful experience of the personal contact
of every worshipping personality throughout the master universe, God is
one; and that unified and personal Deity is our Paradise parent, God the
Father, the bestower, conservator, and Father of all personalities from
mortal man on the inhabited worlds to the Eternal Son on the central Isle
of Light." [UB: 640]
Regarding other inhabited worlds, we
are given a glimpse as to alternative designations for God which are also
expressive of personal concepts of the First Source and Center. These representative
examples are presented to us in variations of the Lord's Prayer as it has
become known on other worlds within our local universe. Notice that there
is practiced subtle variations on the Father theme that are family oriented
and, in one example, gender-inclusive:
Echoing this last designation for God, even the Judaic tradition, into
which the child Jesus was born and raised, speaks of the God of Israel
as possessing both paternal and maternal qualities: "The Most
High is like a loving father and mother; he really loves us, his children
on earth." [UB: 1443]
Considering that the progressive epochal
revelations to this planet have primarily worked with a developing concept
of God as designated by the term Father, we might reasonably conjecture
that this evolutionary tradition has had an inceptional basis from our
historical past; our evolved choice to call God Father may have been quite
naturally derived from our planetary experiences with this personal aspect
of the First Source and Center, especially as this relationship has been
intrinsically peculiar to our own planet and circumstances. If this is
so, it reveals much about what constitutes the foundational characteristics
of present day culture and civilization on Urantia.
In our efforts to understand the nature of God as Father, it might be instructive to learn that we will eventually and progressively learn to recognize seven fathers along our ascension pilgrimage to find the Paradise Father (UB: 587):
As we begin our lives as mortal children on an inhabited material world, we acquire our first impression of the universe from the maternal care of our earthly mother. We eventually derive our first conception of the Universal Father from the qualities possessed by our earthly father. These profound and personal insights into God's Fatherhood allow us to better understand what human fatherhood truly is because we will have learned that this divine truth precedes and grounds the human truth.
If we truly wish to discover the personal nature of the Universal Father,
who better to turn to for enlightenment than his bestowed Son to this world.
Jesus' primary mission for living out his life on this world as a human
mortal was to reveal this selfsame Father to mankind. He carried out this
exquisite achievement by actually living his life as the personal manifestation
of the perfect love of the Father. It was the very life of Jesus, and not
necessarily his teachings, that best revealed the Father's divine character
and loving personality: "His teaching regarding the Father
all centered in the declaration that he and the Father are one; that he
who has seen the Son has seen the Father; that the Father, like the Son,
knows all things, that only the Son really knows the Father, and he to
whom the Son shall reveal him; that he who knows the Son knows also the
Father; and that the Father sent him into the world to reveal their combined
natures and to show forth their conjoint work." [UB:1855]
When
speaking to his followers, Jesus would always refer to the concept of Deity
as either God or Father. For the purposes of describing the transcendent
and abstract nature of infinite Deity, Jesus would apply the word God.
If he made any reference to Deity that touched upon the personal nature
of God, he would choose the term Father -- this was the appropriate term
for Jesus that best described his own personal experience with the First
Source and Center. Jesus expanded the traditional concept of God as Father
by exalting and elevating this tradition to include the sublime experience
that God personally reveals himself to every mortal willing to become a
child of this Father of love: "The God of universes rules the
far-flung creation, but it is the Father in heaven who sends forth his
spirit to dwell within your minds." [UB: 1857]
Jesus exhorted
his apostles to listen to his teachings regarding the Father with a spiritual
ear. God the Father is a spiritual being -- the fatherhead of the spiritual
kingdom is an infinite and eternal spirit and they, the apostles, are spiritual
children in the spirit family of heaven: "Will you not allow
me to use the earth family as an illustration of divine relationships without
so literally applying my teachings to material affairs?" [UB: 1605]
The kingdom of heaven is a divine family with the Universal Father
as the "universally recognized and unreservedly worshiped center
and head of this far-flung brotherhood of intelligent beings." [UB:
1676]
This spiritual kingdom begins with and centers in "the
dual concept of the truth of the fatherhood of God and the correlated fact
of the brotherhood of man." [UB: 1859]
Between man and God
there exists a truly intimate and living relationship that is based on
real Father-child affection. This Creator-creature relationship is a uniquely
real experience in cosmic sociology. Even the child Jesus knew this as
an experiential fact -- he affirmed this truth to his earthly father Joseph
when he gave testimony that "the heavenly Father cannot love
his children less than you love me." [UB: 1378]
As a human
father loves his children with the truest and most real affection, the
Universal Father can do no less. We are incapable of comprehending his
infinite love and sympathy for his spiritually immature and erring children,
but we can discover with the certainty of experience that "the
Universal Father loves and forever seeks the welfare of his created sons
and daughters." [UB: 40]
This love is assured by the supernal
fact that this same Father actually sends a fragment of himself to live
in the minds of his children: "A part of every father lives
in the child. The father enjoys priority and superiority of understanding
in all matters connected with the child-parent relationship...with the
earthly child and the heavenly Father, the divine parent possesses infinity
and divinity of sympathy and capacity for loving understanding." [UB:
1898]
Special importance should be attributed to the fact that
the very last sentence contained within The Urantia Book makes special
reference to the fatherly nature of God -- the very last thought continued
within this, the fifth and most recent epochal revelation to mankind, makes
it clearly understood that: "When all is said and done, the
Father idea is still the highest concept of God." [UB: 2097]
"As love is comprehended on a sex planet, the love of God
is more comparable to the love of a father while the love of the Eternal
Son is more like the affection of a mother. Crude, indeed, are such illustrations,
but I [a Divine Counselor] employ them in the hope of conveying to the
human mind the thought that there is a difference, not in divine content
but in quality and technique of expression, between the love of the Father
and the love of the Son." [UB: 76:1]
Being personal, God reveals
himself to his self-willed creation as the divine Father of all personality;
the absolute truth of this revelation of God as Father rests in the absolute
person of the Eternal Son. This primal relationship of Father and Son provides
the necessary foundation for finite creatures such as ourselves to co-exist
and to equally partake of the Fatherhood of God: "The Son is
naturally endowed with the life of the Father. Having been endowed with
the living spirit of the Father, you are therefore sons of God. You survive
your life in the material world of the flesh because you are identified
with the Father's living spirit, the gift of eternal life." [UB: 1642]
The truth that the I AM is Father to the Eternal Son brings into
being the personality relationships of all actualized beings: "The
absolute personality of the Son makes absolute the fact of God's fatherhood
and establishes the potential sonship of all personalities. This relationship
establishes the personality of the Infinite and consummates its spiritual
revelation in the personality of the Original Son." [UB: 1154]
At
the same time, the Father-I AM is one with the Eternal Son because the
divine nature that each possesses is eternal. The Son is uncreated, eternal,
equally God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God." [Jn. 1:1]
The Son shares
with the Father his divine character of Deity, for they are forever and
inseparably one personal unity of universe presence; and it is by virtue
of this mutual omnipresence that all creation rests upon the everywhere
active presence of the divine spirit of the Eternal Son. The spirit of
the Father is eternally resident in the spirit of his Son, but the Son
alone perfectly personalizes the Father's love and mercy. To the universes
of creation, the Son is the living revelation of his loving Father: "As
God is love, so the Son is mercy. The Son cannot love more than the Father,
but he can show mercy to creatures in one additional way, for he is not
only a creator like the Father, but he is also the Eternal Son of that
same Father thereby sharing in the sonship experience of all other sons
of the Universal Father." [UB: 75]
Along with this revelation
of the Eternal Son, The Urantia Book introduces for the first time
a divine derivation of a feminine- gendered basis of Deity function. The
divine concept of the Original Mother Son as presented within The Urantia
Book represents a clear break from the patriarchy of the Judeo-Christian
tradition. Here we have presented a reality of personal Deity that is definitely
flavored by maternal divinity and colored by the warmth of loving mercy:
"Concerning identity, nature, and other attributes of personality,
the Eternal Son is the full equal, the perfect complement, and the eternal
counterpart of the Universal Father. In the same sense that God is the
Universal Father, the Son is the Universal Mother. And all of us, high
and low, constitute their universal family." [UB: 79]
The
Universal Father controls and regulates his creation through the downstepping
administration of his descending Sons. This unbroken chain of authority
extends downward from Paradise throughout all the levels of his superuniverse
domains, starting with the Paradise Sons and ending with the Planetary
Princes who carry the responsibility for directing the destinies of the
evolutionary spheres. Even though the Paradise Sons are scattered throughout
the grand universe, they always maintain a direct and exclusive channel
of communication with the Original Mother Son: "All Sons of
God who take origin in the persons of the Paradise Deities are in direct
and constant communication with the Eternal Mother Son." [UB: 88]
"The Father in heaven treats the Spirit Mother of the children
of the universe as one equal to himself...the Father in heaven honors and
exalts the Infinite Spirit, the mother of all the spirit children of a
vast universe." [UB: 1471]
As the I AM is one with the Eternal
Mother Son, this fortuitous union consummates in the appearance of the
third person of Deity, the Infinite Mother Spirit. The first act of the
Mother Spirit is the inspection and recognition of her divine parents,
the Father- Father and the Mother-Son.
This presented sequence of eternity events sets the stage for the Creator
prerogatives of the Father, who, in liaison with the Son and Spirit, initiates
the evolutionary momentum of time and space: "Therefore is
divine creativity unfailingly characterized by unity, and this unity is
the outward reflection of the absolute oneness of the duality of the Father-Son
and of the Trinity of the Father- Son-Spirit." [UB: 1154]
The
Father-I Am and the Eternal Mother Son love one another with an eternally
boundless love, a love that is personal and living as are the Father and
the Son. This personal love proceeding from the Father and the Son is fully
embodied in the eternal persona of the Infinite Mother Spirit. She is the
third person of the Trinity; she is not created; she is a person co-equal
and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. The Infinite Mother Spirit,
acting as the Conjoint Creator with the Father-Son union, is the universal
and divine minister of the Son's mercy and the Father's love to all created
personalities. She is sincerely "...devoted to the task of
fostering the ascension of the material creatures to higher and higher
levels of spiritual attainment." [UB: 94]
The Infinite
Mother Spirit is also the co-operative universal coordinator of creation;
she is the coordinator of all actual reality; she is the unifier of the
manifold energies and diverse creations which have appeared in consequence
of the divine plan and eternal purpose of the Universal Father. As intuitive
Being, the Spirit Mother maintains, strengthens, and, where needed, restores
the deified Being of the Trinity with non-deified creation, a unity which
is constantly threatened. The unity which the Spirit Mother imparts is
of a higher unity than would have been possible had the I AM never moved
out of primordial Being, for the unity which the Spirit builds is a unity
of freedom, a unity comprehending a diversity of free and responsible beings.
The Spirit Mother maintains the unity of creation.
"God the Father loves men; God the Son serves men; God the Spirit
inspires the children of the universe to the ever-ascending adventure of
finding God the Father by the ways ordained by God the Sons through the
ministry of the grace of God the Spirit." [UB: 53]
As the living revelation of God, the Infinite Mother Spirit is responsive to all things, meanings, and values; she is coordinative of all energies, minds, and spirits. She operates not only on the deified spirit realities centered in the Son, but she also manipulates the undeified non-spirit forces and energies of the created universes, thus bringing into existence the universal and absolute mind.
Mind is the functional endowment of the Infinite Mother Spirit, and it is by the technique of mind that the spiritual and material universe manifestations of the original Creator personality, the I AM, are inevitably unified. The primal free will act of the Father- I Am eternalizes the dual expression of his Deity equal, the Eternal Mother Son, and of the antipodal non-spiritual material realities of creation. The Infinite Mother Spirit, by virtue of mind, is the indispensable coordinator of both these spiritual and material realities.
The Paradise liaison of the Universal Father and the Eternal Mother
Son brought about the perfect creation of Havona, the first and central
universe. As coordinate Paradise personalities, the Eternal Mother Son
and the Infinite Mother Spirit (functioning as Conjoint Actor) work together
in divine partnership for the creation of all post-Havona universes: "The
Spirit sustains the same personal relation to the Son in all subsequent
creation that the Son sustains to the Father in the first and central creation."
[UB: 93]
The Infinite Mother Spirit, along with the supreme spirit
groups, is partaker in the creation of "...the vast creature
family of the Third Source and Center. All orders of the ministering spirits
spring from this association." [UB: 205]
The Spirit is the
original and eternal mother of all her ministering angelic daughters: "Nevertheless,
in dealing with sex creatures it is our custom to speak of those beings
of more direct descent from the Father and the Son as the sons of God,
while referring to the children of the Spirit as the daughters of God.
Angels are, therefore, commonly designated by feminine pronouns on the
sex planets." [UB: 419]
"At the head of all personality in Nebadon stands the Creator
and Master Son, Michael, the universe father and sovereign. Coordinate
in divinity and complemental in creative attributes is the local universe
Mother Spirit, the Divine Minister of Salvington. And these creators are
in a very literal sense the Father-Son and the Spirit-Mother of all the
native creatures of Nebadon." [UB: 406]
All local universe
creations are supervised by the dual administrative presence of a Creator
Son, who takes origin in the Father-Son union of Paradise Deity, and a
Creative Mother Spirit, representing the local universe presence of the
Paradise Mother Spirit. In our local universe of Nebadon, our Creator Son
Michael and his Spirit companion, the Creative Mother Spirit, have been
conjointly responsible for the creation of this material universe in which
we live and breathe. The Paradise Father faithfully upholds this locally
coordinated act of creative prerogative by fully supporting their divine
right to "...foster and sustain their work as well as to minister
to the creatures of their own making." [UB: 93]
Michael functions
in Nebadon as father of the inhabited worlds and as sovereign of the local
universe -- he is the personal residential manifestation of the Universal
Father to the local universe materialization. While some Creator Sons appear
to be more like their co-parent, God the Father, we are informed that our
Michael Son is more like God the Son: "The trend of administration
in the universe of Nebadon suggests that its Creator and ruling Son is
one whose nature and character more resembles that of the Eternal Mother
Son." [UB: 235]
The Creative Mother Spirit is ever present
to assist the Son -- she is indispensable to effecting universe administration.
This creative collaboration represents the beginning of the father- mother
concept to the local universe creations. She sustains the Son in all of
his efforts to enact a stable government and to establish a firm center
of authority within their joint creation. A Creator Son cannot effectively
function in his local universe creation without the full co-operation of
the Divine Minister and her vast assemblage of spirit helpers, the daughters
of God: "In all his work of love and life bestowal the Creator
Son is always and ever perfectly sustained and ably assisted by the all-
wise and ever-faithful Universe Spirit and by all of her diversified retinue
of angelic personalities. Such a Divine Minister is in reality the mother
of spirits and spirit personalities, the ever-present and all-wise advisor
of the Creator Son, a faithful and true manifestation of the Paradise Infinite
Spirit." [UB: 368]
When approval has been granted for initiating
the creative materialization of a local universe, a Creator Son arrives
from Paradise accompanied by a Creative Daughter of the Infinite Spirit.
The first act of the Son is to take possession of the space site of his
chosen creation. He then pays recognition to his divine complement, the
Daughter of the Infinite Spirit, and initiates the formation of an effective
and co-operative working union with her: "In no creative act
does the one do aught without the counsel and approval of the other."
[UB: 369]
Together, they enact the physical materialization of
their local universe domain by jointly resolving the logistics for equilibrating
the available universe energies: "In physical creation the
Universe Son provides the pattern while the Universe Spirit initiates the
materialization of physical realities. The Son operates in power designs,
but the Spirit transforms these energy creations into physical substances."
[UB: 374]
When this initial stage has reached completion, when
the material creation of the local universe is well under way, the Creative
Spirit begins her process of progressively taking on "...the
personal qualities of the Mother Spirit of a local universe." [UB:
236]
At the completion of the materialization of their local universe,
the Creator Son and Creative Mother Spirit initiate that stage of creative
liaison which is designed to give origin to the innumerable hosts of their
local universe children. This creative liaison of Creator Son and Mother
Spirit now presides over the local universe creation and ministers to their
family of sons and daughters.
The Son initiates the creation of certain of his universe children on
his own initiative, and some he creates as joint offspring in varied association
with the complemental Universe Mother Spirit, while the Spirit is solely
responsible for bringing into existence the numerous orders of spirit personalities
such as her diversified retinue of angelic personalities who minister and
serve under her direction and guidance. "Following the completion
of this united effort, the Son engages in the creation of the Material
Sons, the first of the sex creatures, while the Universe Mother Spirit
concurrently engages in her initial solitary effort at spirit reproduction.
Thus begins the creation of the seraphic hosts of a local universe."
[UB: 418]
Each Michael Son vows not to assume full sovereignty
of his local universe creation until seven bestowal experiences living
the lives of his created universe children shall have been successfully
completed and certified by the Ancients of Days of the superuniverse of
jurisdiction. The inherent endowments of justice and righteousness possessed
by a Michael Son will not suffice for universe sovereignty by the Ancients
of Days until "...he has really acquired the viewpoint of his
own creatures by actual experience in the environment of their existence
and as these very creatures themselves." [UB: 1309]
The following
personality traits are inherently present in all Creator Sons, but these
qualities must be transformed into a new insightful reality as a direct
result of required experience in creature understanding. And this experience
is acquired during the bestowal career of a Michael Son:
Michael has freely chosen to live such identical lives as he imposes upon the intelligent beings of his own creation. He has, by experience, become a fellow creature. And in so carrying out this progressive acquirement of the creature's viewpoint in his universe administration, he has earned the love and adoration of his creatures. Michael began his bestowal experience as the personalities of three orders of his created universe Sons: the Melchizedeks, the Lanonandeks, and the Material Sons. Next, he personalized in the likeness of angelic life as a supreme seraphim. Lastly, he experienced the various phases of the ascending careers of his lowest form of will creatures, the evolutionary mortals of time. It was his bestowal on our planet of Urantia as a mortal of the realm that we have come to know him as Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God.
The choice of Michael to bestow himself in the personality of one of
the angelic daughters of the Universe Mother Spirit was a sublime act of
reciprocal subordination to his creative liaison partner, the Mother Spirit
of his local universe creation: "No Son could hope for final
success without the incessant co- operation of the Divine Minister and
her vast assemblage of spirit helpers, the daughters of God, who so faithfully
and valiantly struggle for the welfare of mortal men and the glory of their
divine parents." [UB: 368]
In this act of bestowing himself
as a seraphic daughter of his co- creative and complementary Universe Mother
Spirit, Michael very directly enhances his experiential understanding of
dual deity functioning in the local universe realm. He has not only subordinated
himself to the local universe Mother Spirit, but he also lived the life
bestowal as one of her daughter spirits. And since the Mother Spirit takes
origin in the Paradise Mother Spirit, and since Michael takes origin in
the dual Paradise personalities of the Father and Son, Michael gains triune
insight into the functional unity of the Paradise Trinity.
Michael of Nebadon nobly acknowledges his eternal dependence on his
Spirit companion. At the completion of his seven bestowals and his entitlement
of Sovereign of Nebadon, the Universe Mother Spirit "...makes
public and universal acknowledgment of subordination to the Son, pledging
fidelity and obedience." [UB: 368]
He, in turn, constitutes
her co-ruler of his universe realm and requires all of their creature offspring
"...to pledge themselves in loyalty to the Spirit as they had
to the Son; and there issued and went forth the final Proclamation of Equality."
[UB: 369]
Upon the Creator Son becoming a Master Son, the Mother
Spirit completes her full personalization -- she becomes contactable as
a person; and, together, with the Master Son, they pour out their combined
gift, The Spirit of Truth, which is focalized in her presence.
"When a creative liaison between the Creator Son and the
universe representative of the Infinite Spirit, the Universe Mother Spirit,
has completed its cycle, when no more offspring of the combined nature
are forthcoming, then does the Creator Son personalize in dual form his
last concept of being, thus finally confirming his own and original dual
origin. In and of himself he then creates the beautiful and superb Sons
and Daughters of the material order of universe sonship. This is the origin
of the original Adam and Eve of each local system of Nebadon. They are
a reproducing order of sonship, being created male and female." [UB:
415]
The material order of sonship, the sex Sons and Daughters,
are the final manifestation of the sole creative urge of the Creator Son.
These paired personalities are the first order of local universe beings
capable of sex procreation in the same manner by which mortal men and women
are capable of reproducing themselves. This procreative collaboration is
derivative of "...the pattern for the long list of reproductions
of the dual order in the evolutionary universes, extending from the creation
of a Bright and Morning Star by a Creator Son-Creative Spirit liaison down
to sex procreation on worlds like Urantia." [UB: 273]
In the
local universes, the Material Sons are classified as descending Sons. In
their roles as Planetary Adams, they come down to the inhabited worlds
from the spheres of their origin, the capitals of the local systems. Their
planetary mission is to serve as biologic uplifters for that planet's multiracial
population, and they are given the additional task of performing administrative
duties for the settling of this world in the advanced stages of light and
life: "These Sons, for there are two of them -- the Material
Son and Daughter -- are usually known on a planet as Adam and Eve."
[UB: 580]
Now, for the first time, we come across
an order of created beings who are representative of our own mortal natures.
These Material Sons and Daughters are very real to our sensibilities --
they are physical, they are created truly male and female, and they are
sexually reproductive. They are created equal but complementary, and you
will rarely find one without the other -- they need one another's company
both by choice and by design. These created Sons of planetary service represent
vital connecting links between the spiritual and physical worlds. They
are physically tangible and visibly contactable by material creatures such
as ourselves -- this certainly helps them in their efforts to carry out
their descending missions to the evolutionary planets of time and space.
The Material Sons and Daughters work together in close union, among the
mortal creatures of the flesh, for the joint fulfillment of their planetary
mission:
"These Material Sons (the Adams) and Material Daughters (the Eves)
are equal to each other, differing only in reproductive nature and in certain
chemical endowments. They are equal but differential, male and female --
hence complemental -- and are designed to serve on almost all assignments
in pairs." [UB: 581] "It is the essence of their service at all times and
in all places never to be separated. They are designed to work in pairs;
seldom do they function alone." [UB: 828]
Material Son and
Daughter pairs are commissioned from on high for assignment to those inhabited
planets whose mortal populations are ready for undergoing the evolutionary
benefits of racial amalgamation. The mission of the Planetary Adams entails
the cultivation of a critical population of their own progeny via sexual
reproduction. This progeny is then unleashed to interbreed with the world's
differential racial segments for the purpose of infusing them with those
Adamic heredity factors that will enable the genetic and cultural upgrading
of the world's mortal population.
Upon completion of their mission, a faithful Material Son and Daughter are accredited as perfected Material Sons in the records of the local universe. This recognition liberates them for their next endeavor as ascending Sons of God in their long journey to Havona and Paradise, in their search to find the Paradise Father.
"The angelic hosts are a separate order of created beings;
they are entirely different from the material order of mortal creatures,
and they function as a distinct group of universe intelligences. Angels
are not of that group of creatures called `the Sons of Gods' in the Scriptures;
neither are they the glorified spirits of mortal men who have gone on to
progress through the mansions on high. Angels are a direct creation, and
they do not reproduce themselves. The angelic hosts have only a spiritual
kinship with the human race." [UB: 1841]
In the previous section,
we learned that the material or sex Sons and Daughters are the offspring
of the Creator Son -- they are the result of a solitary creative effort
on his part. The Universe Mother Spirit does not participate in the creation
of any of these beings whose sexual gender differentiation is derivative
of the Creator Son's dual origin nature. The Universe Mother Spirit exercises
her own solitary creative prerogative by producing a diversified retinue
of angelic personalities for directed service and ministry within the confines
of the local universe.
The seraphic order of ministering daughters of the local universe Mother
Spirit are also created in pairs, in like manner as are the Material Sons
and Daughters. They are not, however, created male and female -- rather,
they are designated as negative and positive within these pairs. This may
be best understood as functional gender differentiation in contradistinction
to the complemental sexuality of the Material Sons and the mortal races:
"Such associations are primarily necessitated by function;
they are not characterized by sex emotion, though they are exceedingly
personal and truly affectionate." [UB: 420]
Seraphim are intentionally
paired for their functional activities, because, for the majority of their
assignments, it requires two angels to accomplish the task at hand. The
combination of these two angelic natures, both positive and negative, provides
for exquisitely effective functioning because these seraphim are so complemental
in all their universe functions.
All seraphic assignments for the status of guardian angels to the mortal creatures of time and space are chosen from a group of volunteering seraphim. This guardian pair provides for excellent complementary co-operation in their roles as the recording angels of the evolutionary worlds. While the primary (positive) guardian discharges her duties, the other seraphim, the complement of being, takes on the individual responsibility as the sponsoring recorder of the undertaking. The records are subsequently kept by a pair of cherubim (a cherubim and a sanobim, respectively) who are always associated with the seraphic guardians.
Seraphim are experiential creatures "...and by experience
and through additional education they can augment their functional skill
in one or more of the seraphic services." [UB: 426]
By application
and devoted service, seraphim can, one by one, achieve seven progressively
higher levels of seraphic service. The higher the inherent level function,
the more persistently do these angelic ministers seek assignment to the
lower orders of universe service. "Seraphim must acquire knowledge
and gain experience much as do human beings. They are not far from you
in certain personality attributes, and they crave to start at the bottom,
on the lowest possible level of ministry; thus they may hope to achieve
the highest possible level of experiential destiny." [UB: 427]
Next
in the descending order of local universe daughters of the Mother Spirit
are the cherubim and sanobim. This pair of ministering angels is quite
similar to the seraphim regarding their dual functional design: "Cherubim
and sanobim are inherently associated, functionally united. One is an energy
positive personality; the other, energy negative. The right hand deflector,
or positively charged angel, is the cherubim -- the senior or controlling
personality. The left hand deflector, or negatively charged angel, is the
sanobim -- the complement of being. Each type of angel is very limited
in solitary function; hence they usually serve in pairs." [UB: 422]
Another ministering order of local universe angelic hosts are the
Morontia Companions who are closely associated with the ascending mortals
on the mansion and morontia worlds. They too are the direct offspring of
the local universe Mother Spirit: "There are two distinct types
of Morontia Companions; one type is aggressive, the other retiring, but
otherwise they are equal in status. They are not sex creatures, but they
manifest a touchingly beautiful affection for one another." [UB: 545]
"But midwayers do not sleep, neither do they possess powers
of procreation. In a certain sense the secondary group are differentiated
along the lines of maleness and femaleness, often being spoken of as `he'
or `she.' They often work together in pairs.
The midway creatures are so
called because they are positioned within the ranks of local universe citizenry
as being midway between the Material Sons and the evolutionary mortal creatures.
These unique beings are peculiarly difficult to classify as to origin:
"Midwayers are not men, neither are they angels, but secondary midwayers
are, in nature, nearer man than angel; they are, in a way, of your races
and are, therefore, very understanding and sympathetic in their contact
with human beings." [UB: 864] "Primary midwayers resemble angels more than mortals; the secondary
orders are much more like human beings." [UB: 424]
The order
of beings designated the primary midwayers result from the nonsexual, supermaterial
creative liaisons of pairs of rematerialized male and female descendent
planetary ministers: "Primary midwayers are energized intellectually
and spiritually by the angelic technique and are uniform in intellectual
status." [UB: 424]
These re-corporealized parents of the primary
midwayers are composed of voluntary ascendent morontia citizens who were
once of supermaterial creature status -- hence, without reproductive prerogative.
In their rematerialized bodies, they once again become functional material
sex creatures, fully capable of procreating material offspring. Their parental
function for producing the primary midwayers via supermaterial, nonsexual
liaison is not fully understood.
The order of beings designated the secondary midwayers originates by
a combined technique of sexual and nonsexual liaison: "There
are no less than twenty-four diverse techniques involved in the production
of these secondary midway creatures on the evolutionary worlds of space."
[UB: 424]
These electrically energized offspring are of a more
material nature than are the primary group, and the method of their creation
by the Planetary Adams and Eves, or from their immediate progeny, is even
more unusual and extraordinary than is the procreative origin of the primary
group. As living electrical patterns whose form is inherited from the human
bioelectronic pattern of the nervous system, these beings are decidedly
of a material affiliation. If you were to take away from a human being
all physical organic mass, but you were to leave intact that person's bioelectronic
field pattern, you would end up with a residual archetype whose compositional
form would best represent that of the secondary midwayer. Their existence
is just outside the range of mortal vision and they "...possess
sufficient latitude of adaptation to make, at will, physical contact with
what humans call `material things.'" [UB: 865]
Being that
they are void of all mammalian factors, they are endowed with mind that
functions on only the top two of the seven complementary adjutants. "Secondary
midwayers are physically energized by the Adamic technique, spiritually
encircuited by the seraphic, and intellectually endowed with the morontia
transition type of mind." [UB: 424]
The midway creatures remain
permanent citizens of the evolutionary worlds on which they originated.
These midway creatures work in intimate and effective association with
the angelic hosts on the inhabited worlds for the purpose of ministering
to mortal beings: "On Urantia the midway ministers are in reality
the actual custodians of the planet; they are, practically speaking, the
citizens of Urantia. Mortals are indeed the physical and material inhabitants
of an evolutionary world, but you are all so short- lived; you tarry on
your nativity planet such a short time. You are born, live, die, and pass
on to other worlds of evolutionary progression." [UB: 415]
"Sex equality prevails on all advanced worlds; male and
female are equal in mind endowment and spiritual status. We do not regard
a planet as having emerged from barbarism so long as one sex seeks to tyrannize
over the other. This feature of creature experience is always greatly improved
after the arrival of a Material Son and Daughter." [UB: 564]
The
complex mammalian life systems of Urantia reproduce by the physical interaction
of two individuals differing from one another with respect to sexual gender.
This patterned dimorphism of sexual phenotype is characteristic of the
dual gender patterns that are manifest throughout the local universe realm
-- most local universe creatures are dually differentiated according to
function, recognition, and behavior response. We are informed that such
divinely purposed dual personality associations are intended to greatly
multiply functional versatility, providing these orders of universe creatures
with a means for overcoming their many inherent limitations incumbent on
their imperfect status of finite being.
Most men and women have very confused notions regarding gender and its effects on the ways we view ourselves, each other, and our roles in society.
Are we able to understand how these acquired perceptions affect how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how this shapes our identity? Do males and females have different complements of intellectual abilities? Are there inherent differences in cognition and perception between men and women? We may find that these questions may best be addressed if we first seek to discover the underlying purpose and design that gives rise to the male and female derivation of human gender.
Biogenetics tells us that the male and female are physically different from one another because women are endowed with two X chromosomes whereas men have one X and one Y chromosome. Chromosomes are DNA-containing aggregates within the cell nuclei of plants and animals -- they are directly responsible for the determination and transmission of heredity characteristics. While the X chromosome contains genes that direct a broad range of functions, such as blood clotting and some aspects of color perception, the Y chromosome primarily bears those genes responsible for male sexual characteristics.
The science of neurology is beginning to determine that men and women use their brains in fundamentally different ways.3,4 Doreen Kimura, professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario, is a leading proponent in this area of scientific endeavor. She is finding that, in concert with our differential complement of hormones, men's and women's brains process information differently -- this accounts for our mutual differences in perceptions, priorities, and behaviors. Primarily, she is finding that speech is processed in different regions in women's and men's brains. Also, she is discovering how hormonal levels can affect people's performance on certain verbal and spatial tests.
The revelators of The Urantia Book have very little to say about scientific revealments involving physiological, neurological, or psychological bases of differences between men and women. They have been mandated not to anticipate any information that our world is ready to discover for itself -- and I believe that we are now on the verge of understanding at least the rudimentary differences that contribute to the various ways we differentially act, think, and experience in our lives.
Where The Urantia Book does provide enlightenment regarding this issue is in its portrayal of the mindal and spiritual make-up of men and women. For example, the book makes it a point to indicate that there is a qualitative, but not a quantitative, difference in the mind endowment of men and women. Both male and female are given a fully equal quantity of adjutant mind; there is no quantitative inequality of mind bestowal. Men and women share equal capacity for intelligence quotient. However, there are qualitatively subtle differences in the mind that the Universe Mother Spirit bequeaths to her universe children as this mind is used in conjunction with the brain.
The adjutant mind that is utilized by a man is qualitatively different
from the complement of adjutant mind that is bestowed to a woman. We often
attribute these perceptual and reactionary differences to the level of
animal instinct, and we usually assign strictly physical causes to these
differences. But The Urantia Book would lead us to consider that
mind itself may be dually bestowed by design and according to gender: "All
mammalian mother love is the inherent endowment of the adjutant mind-spirits
of the local universe and is in strength and devotion always directly proportional
to the length of the helpless infancy of the species." [UB: 932]
It
may be that the different hormonal constitutions and levels between men
and women require that a different quality of mind endowment be administered
by the local universe Mother Spirit; it may be that these hormones very
directly affect the physical functioning of the brain and that this requires
different complemental bestowals of human mind. Even so, we are also informed
that this qualitative differentiation has absolutely no spiritual impact
on the subsequent interaction of the mortal mind and God in the co-creation
of soul: "In the assignment and service of Adjusters the sex
of the creature is of no consideration." [UB: 1186]
The Universal
Father treats all of his universe children with equal consideration regarding
their perfecting of the spirit.
This complemental allocation of mind, in conjunction with key differences
in the psychological functioning of the brain, may help us understand why
the sexes have such supreme difficulty in attaining a full comprehension
of one another. Ever will we be challenged in our efforts to achieve effective
and co-operative union with one another: "Their viewpoints
and entire life reactions are essentially different; they are wholly incapable
of full and real comprehension of each other. Complete understanding between
the sexes is not attainable." [UB: 938]
On the other side
of the coin, we are strongly encouraged to take heart in the fact that
we are divinely designed to be effectively complementary. A working union
between man and woman is capable of incredible synergy: "The
differences of nature, reaction, viewpoint, and thinking between men and
women, far from occasioning concern, should be regarded as highly beneficial
to mankind, both individually and collectively." [UB: 938]
Apart
from our shared capability for maintaining and reproducing the society
in which we co-exist, co-operative unions of men and women "...are
vastly superior in most ways to either two men or two women." [UB:
932]
This partnership technique dramatically enhances our combined
attainment and accomplishment possibilities for our intellectual, social,
and spiritual growth.
The behavioral gap that separates men and women can never be bridged.
Societal customs and sexual mores will always be subject to evolutionary
and revolutionary pressures, but the instincts that characterize the complemental
natures of the sexes will not allow for civilization ever to reconcile
these differential behaviors. We are created equal in spirit and aspiration;
but always will we be separated by biology and mind: "Forever
each sex will remain supreme in its own domain, domains determined by biologic
differentiation and by mental dissimilarity." [UB: 938]
Each
sex experiences a life that is characterized by distinctively different
spheres of existence; this remains ever so, even if these specialized spheres
will often interface and even overlap. The Urantia Book not only
acknowledges this truth, it proceeds to pronounce that these domains, as
differentiated by gender, carry with them inalienable and noninclusive
rights. A refusal to recognize this truth can only lead to social discord
and cultural disaster: "Woman is man's equal partner in race
production, hence just as important in the unfolding of racial evolution;
therefore has evolution increasingly worked toward the realization of women's
rights.
As much as man and woman require one another in the fulfillment
of their mortal careers here on Urantia, they will continue to need one
another as they progress onward in their ascents through the morontial
and spiritual spheres of existence. We will always recognize and be glad
for our persistent differences in viewpoint, and this recognition and appreciation
will endure through every stage of our superuniverse ascent; it will remain
with us in our efforts to assist one another in our ascent through Havona
and onward towards Paradise. Even when we have achieved perfection of self
as members of the Corps of the Finality, we will maintain our ability to
recognize those personality trends that once characterized us as male and
female:
But women's rights are by no means men's rights. Woman cannot thrive on
man's rights anymore than man can prosper on woman's rights." [UB:
931] "Always will these two basic variations of human-kind
continue to intrigue, stimulate, encourage, and assist each other; always
will they be mutually dependent on co-operation in the solution of perplexing
universe problems and in the overcoming of manifold cosmic difficulties."
[UB: 939]
We are purposed to interact with one another, to take
full advantage of the benefits that are attainable through the efforts
of our interaction. In fact, if we do not take advantage of this opportunity
while we live our lives here in the flesh, we are prevailed upon to take
advantage of those opportunities available to us later, compensating these
very personal deprivations. Sex experience in a physical sense provides
for very great exercise of personal discipline -- it provides for a full
measure of social, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth and maturation.
If we miss this opportunity here on this world, then those of us who have
been "deprived of the benefits of advantageous sex association
on the evolutionary worlds"
are "...afforded full
opportunity to acquire these essential mortal experiences in the close
and loving association with the supernal Adamic sex creatures of permanent
residence on the system capitals." [UB: 516]
We are enabled
to take advantage of the close association with the Material Sons and Daughters,
both individually and as members of their families for just this very purpose.
One of the strongest human impulses that incessantly drive men and women
into association with one another is the mating instinct. Next to food,
there is no stronger drive of human incentive than the sex urge. We are
literally designed so that this is so. It is a "...simple and
innate biologic fact that men and women positively will not live without
each other." [UB: 922]
This innate propensity is one of the
dominant physical driving forces that ensure the propagation of the species:
"Notwithstanding the personality gulf between men and women,
the sex urge is sufficient to insure their coming together for the reproduction
of the species." [UB: 913]
When social evolution has sufficiently
progressed to that stage where the sexual interaction of the species has
acquired formal cultural customs and mores, the institution of marriage
will emerge as an accepted and enduring aspect of that society: "Marriage
is enduring; it is not inherent in biologic evolution, but it is the basis
of all social evolution and is therefore certain of continued existence
in some form." [UB: 913]
Contrary to much accepted belief,
marriage is not a sacred and divine institution -- it is a derivative and
material function of the mortals of the evolutionary worlds. For all intents
and purposes, it is not ordained that the pairing of any man and woman
in matrimony should initiate an obligation that is carried over beyond
this material life. Marriage is strictly the "...evolving social
partnership of a man and a woman existing and functioning under the current
mores, restricted by the taboos, and enforced by the laws and regulations
of society." [UB: 930]
Along with marriage, the resulting
human family is also a distinctly human institution. Because the relation
between a mother and her children is so strong, natural, and instinctive,
the resulting nuclear center of the family is both natural and biologic:
"Woman, because of physical and emotional attachment to her
offspring, is dependent on co-operation with the male, and this urges her
into the sheltering protection of marriage." [UB: 931]
Although
the actual human institution of the marriage-home relationship is not directly
consummated by divine authority, it is divinely supported that such unions
of men and women in the bonds of a marriage contract exist for the purpose
of procreating and rearing offspring -- it remains the very highest of
human ideals: "It is the divine will that men and women should
find their highest service and consequent joy in the establishment of homes
for the reception and training of children, in the creation of whom these
parents become co-partners with the Makers of heaven and earth." [UB:
1839]
A true family generates profound insights in all of its members
regarding the real and loving attitude that the Universal Father has for
his children. In like manner, the mother and father within such a family
portray to their children a loving parental portrait of the same Father.
For such children, this is only the beginning of a "...long
series of ascending disclosures of the Paradise parent of all universe
children." [UB: 942]
Along with the injunction to take advantage
of the personal growth potentials available in co-operative relationships
with the individuals of the opposite gender, men and women must also experience
the personal joys and disciplines involved in the raising of children.
Children need both the father and mother for a healthy universe outlook
and expectation. These children do not necessarily need to have been of
direct issue of either parent -- it is not the actual birth experience
that qualifies for this discipline. It is the acceptance of the personal
responsibilities to which each and every individual must acquiesce.
We cannot forever remain wards of the universe -- we must sometime undergo
that reversal of insight that accompanies these child-to- parent transitions.
And this essential experience is not limited to the task of mothers; fathers
need the experience of being a full- time parent just as much as do mothers.
In fact, it is also necessary for many non-mortal candidates to the Corps
of the Finality to undergo this same parental experience; "No
surviving mortal, midwayer, or seraphim may ascend to Paradise, attain
the Father, and be mustered into the Corps of the Finality without having
passed through that sublime experience of achieving parental relationship
to an evolving child of the worlds or some other experience analogous and
equivalent thereto. The relationship of child and parent is fundamental
to the essential concept of the Universal Father and his universe children.
Therefore does such an experience become indispensable to the experiential
training of all ascenders." [UB: 516]
"The morontia soul of an evolving mortal is really the son
of the Adjuster action of the Universal Father and the child of the cosmic
reaction of the Supreme Being, the Universal Mother. The mother influence
dominates the human personality throughout the local universe childhood
of the growing soul." [UB: 1288]
The soul of the mortal being
is that spiritual reality of the higher self that is a co-creation of the
cooperative interaction of the human will with a fragment of the Universal
Father, the Thought Adjuster, that indwells the mortal mind. As we choose
to do the will of the Father, as we accept the supreme challenge of Paradise
perfection, this choice-action repercusses in the evolving growth of the
soul. It is by virtue of this soul-vehicle that mortal beings are capable
of resurrection as morontia beings on the mansion words. In reality, this
soul is our higher and advancing self, our better morontial and future
spiritual self. As we are the human parent of our resurrected selves, the
Universal Father, by virtue of his Adjuster presence, is the divine parent
of this future ascending son. "The soul of man is an experiential
acquirement. As a mortal creature chooses to `do the will of the Father
in heaven,' so the indwelling spirit becomes the father of a new reality
in human experience. The mortal and material mind is the mother of this
same emerging reality." [UB: 8]
The Universal Father sets
the cosmic stage for our spiritual ascension as a finite reality; it is
conditioned by time and space, it has a beginning and it has a fore-ordained
destiny. This creation is experiential -- events occur in time-conditioned
sequences, and they are constrained within limiting spatial boundaries.
The reality of the finite cosmos originates within the eternal purposes
of the Universal Father. These purposes are brought to fruition in time
and space, and the total and evolved finite is culminated in the Deity
of the Supreme. The Supreme is the great avenue through which the love
of the Father flows outward to all creation, and the Supreme is the great
avenue through which finite creatures pass inward in their quest of the
Father, who is love.
The actualizing Supreme Being of time and space expands with the evolutionary
universes and identifies with all creature growth. She grows as we grow
and we grow as an integral part of her growth. In our ascending careers
as universe creatures, we are faithfully nurtured by our divine Mother,
the Supreme: "All soul-evolving humans are literally the evolutionary
sons of God the Father and God the Mother, the Supreme Being." [UB:
1289]
As the Supreme Being evolves within the grand universe, all
finite reality within the grand universe grows with her. When this process
reaches full completion in the far-distant future, when all growth within
the Supreme is forever exhausted, the Supreme will have actualized as a
contactable person of Deity that we all perceive and know. Finite experience
as such will end.
Prior to soul-fusion with the indwelling Adjuster, a mortal ascender
is highly influenced by the maternal qualities of the Mother Supreme --
our very life is derived from the mother- potentials of the Supreme in
whom "we actually live, move, and have our being." [UB:
1283]
After Adjuster fusion, and as we proceed with our progressive
and experiential universe careers, the influence of the Universal Father
begins to become increasingly manifest -- his influence increasingly beckons
to us as we traverse the central universe of eternity towards Paradise.
Upon admission to the Corps of the Finality, a mortal ascender attains
perfected status as "...the eternal finaliter son of the Paradise
Father as well as the eternal universe child of the Mother Supreme."
[UB: 1287]
Upon our realization of perfected self will as "sixth-stage
-- finaliters on Paradise, we will resume our universe careers in the assistance
of the actualizing Supreme Being towards the perfecting of the evolving
superuniverse of time and space into unified light and life. It is here
where we will begin to fully realize within our perfected natures both
our debt to the mother inheritance of the Supreme as well as our indebtedness
to the maternal qualities of the Eternal Mother Son and the Infinite Mother
Spirit:
"In and through the experience of finaliter attainment the experiential
mother qualities of the ascending self become tremendously affected by
contact and infusion with the spirit presence of the Eternal Son and the
mind presence of the Infinite Spirit. Then, throughout the realms of finaliter
activity in the grand universe, there appears a new awakening of the latent
mother potential of the Supreme, a new realization of experiential meanings,
and a new synthesis of experiential values of the entire ascension career.
It appears that this realization of self will continue in the universe
careers of the sixth-stage finaliters until the mother inheritance of the
Supreme attains to finite synchrony with the Adjuster inheritance of the
Father." [UB: 1288]
The revelation contained within The Urantia Book offers this world new modes of thinking, new systems of values, and new expressions of spiritual imagery. We are challenged with new insights into the functional arena of divine and temporal relationships as these are based on new and transcendent meanings - - these expressions are given unique and cosmic understanding and interpretation.
The Urantia Book makes a strong break from many of the cultural and theological traditions of Judeo-Christian patriarchy, especially as these regard the conceptual imagery central to religious language. The descriptive language in The Urantia Book is filled with personal expressions of God and Deity that are bursting with the images of maternal divinity and femininity. The ultimate power of femininity and maternity forever course through the very fabric of the universe of universes; the creative heart of God is beautifully characterized by the image of the Universal Mother.
Today, we are in possession of a revealed theology that is capable of fulfilling both male and female desires. We are exposed to spiritual imagery that transcends gender-specific capacities and awareness. These new and transcendent functional concepts are derived from higher cosmic patterns -- these allow us to better understand the underlying purpose and design that gives rise to the male and female derivation of human gender. We learn of the basic design that establishes the purposed duality of man and woman; we realize that we are truly complemental to one another by creative design. This revelation is a powerful resource for promoting a supreme ideal of self-affirmation for men and women in their search for a natural ground in the cosmic scheme of things.
Men and women are created truly male and female. We are gendered as such to provide us with the functional capability for sexual reproduction. But this species differentiation does not end at this distinction -- although we are essentially created equal as regards our spiritual make-up and mindal allotment, we are complemental in our mutual natures by design. We are biologically different and qualitatively complemental in mind. There are very definite differences in nature, reaction, viewpoint, and thinking between men and women; these differences affect the various ways we act, think and experience in our lives. It is by virtue of this complementary design that we are supremely dependent on shared co- operation with one another. The benefits from these personal relationships and commitments are that both parties, both men and women, will forever continue to intrigue, stimulate, encourage, and assist each other ever on towards higher achievements of social, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth.
My primary goal has been to uncover some degree of truth regarding the many issues involving human gender terminology and its applied use in theologic presentation. A redirection of this investigation from the higher study of functional gender designation as it is structurally applied throughout The Urantia Book into a more derivative focus that serves only to establish an insurmountable chasm between men and women can not supply any lasting insight or value for the benefit of our better mutual understanding.
If men and women can more clearly understand how we have come to today's established customs and norms, then we will have created a more solid foundation on which to build a more transcendent symbology and terminology for sharing our mutual spiritual aspirations and destinies.
Each sex has the ability to transcend itself, to experientially learn
to feel and to represent the deepest concerns of the other. Through the
acquirement of these skills, men can partake of the natural qualities of
motherliness and women can similarly partake of the natural qualities of
masculinity. We can accomplish this without ever losing sight of our more
basic and instinctive natures. We should strive to create a culture that
allows and encourages women to become masculinely feminine and men to become
femininely masculine. Many individuals will choose to actualize both masculine
and feminine aspects of their natures if they are only encouraged or allowed
to do so by their culture. Men and women need to attune themselves to the
values and qualities of the opposite gender so that they may become more
perfectly whole.
"The seven superuniverses are seemingly dual; the central
universe, triune; but Paradise is a single constitution." [UB: 637]
The evolving
creatures of time and space are patterned on dual- energy systems. The
divinely conceived central universe is based on a threefold system of perfection
and symmetry -- its energy systems are triune in design. The divinely perfect
organization of the unified Paradise-Havona system provides for a central
universe wherein all cosmic realities and all spiritual forces are perfectly
balanced. This status of perfection and balance does not directly apply
to the evolving superuniverse and local universe realms of finite time
and space -- in these creations, where patterns of duality appear to be
manifest, evolving Deity in the aspect of the Supreme Being is foremost
in expression and appearance. Reality in these domains has not yet reached
a state of triune balance and perfection. There exists the ever-urgent
drive within this finite realm of the Supreme for someday achieving the
evolved unification of the wide divergence of the dual universe manifestations
of spirit and matter via mind.
"The entire central universe is organized in accordance within the
threefold system of perfect and symmetrical control. Throughout the whole
Paradise-Havona system there is maintained a perfect balance between all
cosmic realities and spiritual forces." [UB: 154]
"The basic organization of a threefold creation is wholly unlike that
of the twofold constitution of the created universes of time and space."
[UB: 154]
"The creation of the central universe is threefold (Trinity); the
creation of a local universe (directly) is twofold, by a Creator Son and
a Creative Spirit." [UB: 154]
"The administration of Trinity-origin personalities ends with the
government of the superuniverses. The local universes are characterized
by dual supervision, the beginning of the father- mother concept. The universe
father is the Creator Son; the universe mother is the Divine Minister,
the local universe Creative Spirit." [UB: 370]
Havona energies are threefold; superuniverse energy is built upon an organization of energy-matter that contains a twofold energy charge. The physical systems of the central universe of Havona are based on threefold organizations known as triata. These systems provide the superpower patterns for the gravita physical systems of the superuniverses which are dual in constitution.
The superuniverses of time and space are characterized by the infinite
energy of Paradise and the divine spirit of the Eternal Son -- this represents
a twofold gravity embraced creation of spirit and matter: "The
Universal Father is one, but to time-space he is revealed in the dual phenomena
of pure energy and pure spirit." [UB: 639]
These two time-space
revelations of the Universal Father are perfectly unified in the mind consciousness
of the Infinite Spirit; the material superuniverses are a creation of mind
and a mechanism of law: "But while in practical application
the laws of nature operated in what seems to be dual realms of the physical
and the spiritual, in reality they are one. The First Source and Center
is the primal cause of all materialization and at the same time the first
and final Father of all spirits." [UB: 481]
The triune personalization
of undivided Deity is achieved by the eternity technique of trinitization.
This divine partnership of the Father, Son, and Spirit within the eternal
Paradise Trinity is an existential relationship of sublime effectiveness:
"God is spirit in a threefold sense: He himself is spirit;
in his Son he appears as spirit without qualification; in the Conjoint
Actor, as spirit allied with mind." [UB: 100]
Mind is the
inevitable technique by the Infinite Spirit for coordinating and unifying
the dual spirit/material universe creations of the First Source and Center.
We have learned that the local universe creations are conjointly supervised
by the dual administrative presence of a Creator Son, the universe father
and sovereign, and a Creative Mother Spirit, Spirit-Mother of all the native
personalities within her local universe domain. In our own local universe
of Nebadon, our Creator Son Michael and his Creative Mother Spirit companion
represent the beginning of the father-mother pattern for the local universe
creations. Their creative collaboration provides the subsequent pattern
for those many orders of universe creatures who are created in dual phases
of personality manifestation -- mortal creatures, Material Sons and Daughters,
midway creatures, midsoniters, seraphim, cherubim, and Morontia Companions:
"Such dual associations greatly multiply versatility and overcome
inherent limitations, even as do triune associations in the Paradise-Havona
system." [UB: 938]
We are also reminded that in every mortal
being "...there exists a dual nature: the inheritance of animal
tendencies and the high urge of spirit endowment." [UB: 381]
The
human brain itself is dually hemisphered: "...one [hemisphere]
for intellectual functions and the other for the spiritual- counterparting
activities of the Thought Adjuster." [UB: 566]
Mankind is
ever urged onward to the goal of mastering the mortal flesh by the incessant
leading of this indwelling spirit. We are born into the physical world
of nature, our very being is qualifiedly finite. But we are indwelt by
a spark of infinity, the very presence of the Universal Father, and this
provides for us the potential for transcending nature. Our twofold relation
to the cosmos is undergoing a perfecting unification that is enacted by
the aligning of the will of the mortal creature with the will of the infinite
Creator.
At the same time, this partnership of God and man contributes to the
evolving Deity of the Supreme Being. "To the extent that this
identity is realized, you are mentally approaching the morontia order of
existence. Morontia mind is a term signifying the substance and sum total
of the co-operating minds of diversely material and spiritual natures.
Morontia intellect, therefore, connotes a dual mind in the local universe
dominated by one will. And with mortals this is a will, human in origin,
which is becoming divine through man's identification with the human mind
with the mindedness of God." [UB: 1205]
Dual mind partakes
of the threefold spirit endowment of the evolutionary realms. This threefold
endowment comprises the spirit of the Father, the Thought Adjuster, the
spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit. The ongoing perfection of creature existence will eventually
lead to fusion of the self-conscious morontia mind with a fragment of God,
the Thought Adjuster: "And when these mortal intellects in
the unrevealed future assignments of the Corps of the Finality attain the
seventh stage of spirit existence, such dual minds will become triune.
These two attuned minds, the human and the divine, will become glorified
in union with the experiential mind of the then actualized Supreme Being."
[UB: 1286]
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The Urantia Book Fellowship