The Source of Evolutionary Growth
The Urantia Book; Paper 117, Section 2
P1280:1, 117:2.1 The Supreme is God- in-time; his is the secret of creature growth in time; his also is the conquest of the incomplete present and the consummation of the perfecting future. And the final fruits of all finite growth are: power controlled through mind by spirit by virtue of the unifying and creative presence of personality. The culminating consequence of all this growth is the Supreme Being.
P1280:2, 117:2.2 To mortal man, existence is equivalent to growth. And so indeed it would seem to be, even in the larger universe sense, for spirit-led existence does seem to result in experiential growth -- augmentation of status. We have long held, however, that the present growth which characterizes creature existence in the present universe age is a function of the Supreme. We equally hold that this kind of growth is peculiar to the age of the growth of the Supreme, and that it will terminate with the completion of the growth of the Supreme.
P1280:3, 117:2.3 Consider the status of the creature-trinitized sons: They are born and live in the present universe age; they have personalities, together with mind and spirit endowments. They have experiences and the memory thereof, but they do not grow as do ascenders. It is our belief and understanding that these creature-trinitized sons, while they are in the present universe age, are really of the next universe age -- the age which will follow the completion of the growth of the Supreme. Hence they are not in the Supreme as of his present status of incompleteness and consequent growth. Thus they are nonparticipating in the experiential growth of the present universe age, being held in reserve for the next universe age.
P1280:4, 117:2.4 My own order, the Mighty Messengers, being Trinity embraced, are nonparticipating in the growth of the present universe age. In a sense we are in status as of the preceding universe age as in fact are the Stationary Sons of the Trinity. One thing is certain: Our status is fixed by the Trinity embrace, and experience no longer eventuates in growth.
P1280:5, 117:2.5 This is not true of the finaliters nor of any other of the evolutionary and experiential orders which are participants in the growth process of the Supreme. You mortals now living on Urantia who may aspire to Paradise attainment and finaliter status should understand that such a destiny is only realizable because you are in and of the Supreme, hence are participants in the cycle of the growth of the Supreme.
P1280:6, 117:2.6 There will come an end sometime to the growth of the Supreme; his status will achieve completion (in the energy-spirit sense). This termination of the evolution of the Supreme will also witness the ending of creature evolution as a part of Supremacy. What kind of growth may characterize the universes of outer space, we do not know. But we are very sure that it will be something very different from anything that has been seen in the present age of the evolution of the seven superuniverses. It will undoubtedly be the function of the evolutionary citizens of the grand universe to compensate the outer-spacers for this deprivation of the growth of Supremacy.
P1280:7, 117:2.7 As existent upon the consummation of the present universe age, the Supreme Being will function as an experiential sovereign in the grand universe. Outer-spacers -- citizens of the next universe age -- will have a postsuperuniverse growth potential, a capacity for evolutionary attainment presupposing the sovereignty of the Almighty Supreme, hence excluding creature participation in the power-personality synthesis of the present universe age.
P1281:1, 117:2.8 Thus may the incompleteness of the Supreme be regarded as a virtue since it makes possible the evolutionary growth of the creature-creation of the present universes. Emptiness does have its virtue, for it may become experientially filled.
P1281:2, 117:2.9 One of the most intriguing questions in finite philosophy is this: Does the Supreme Being actualize in response to the evolution of the grand universe, or does this finite cosmos progressively evolve in response to the gradual actualization of the Supreme? Or is it possible that they are mutually interdependent for their development? that they are evolutionary reciprocals, each initiating the growth of the other? Of this we are certain: Creatures and universes, high and low, are evolving within the Supreme, and as they evolve, there is appearing the unified summation of the entire finite activity of this universe age. And this is the appearance of the Supreme Being, to all personalities the evolution of the almighty power of God the Supreme.
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