A Study of the Master Universe: Author's Foreword

A Study of the Master Universe:
A Development of Concepts in the Urantia Book

Bill Sadler (William S. Sadler, Jr.)
Copyright © 1968 Second Society Foundation

Author's Foreword

Dedicated to Tabamantia for reasons the author believes to be good and sufficient.

"There is a great and glorious purpose in the march of the universes through space." [32:5.1]

This work develops the author's concepts of the Urantia Book. It is designed to explore the story of the master universe, and this story of the master universe is the story of creation and evolution. In the Prologue to this study, we will explore that which comes before the eras of creation and evolution in the master universe; in the Epilogue we will try to explore that which may sometime develop beyond the outer borders of the master creation.

That which comes before the master universe is mostly precreative; that which is after the master universe is apparently supercreative. The story of the master universe is the story of creation. It is also the story of evolution, and is the story of the growth and development of the Supreme Being and of God the Ultimate.

This study leads to the telling of three stories. There is the first story, the tale of finite growth and development. Then there is the second story, the story of absonite (superfinite) growth. At the very end, we can start but not finish the last story, the narrative of absolute growth.

The narrative has been written as simply as the author could contrive. It has been kept relatively free from references to the text of the Urantia Papers; most of these references will be found in the Appendices which support the narrative. Each Appendix has been written with the intent that it should reasonably stand by itself as a short essay on a given subject. The narrative has been written for the interested reader, but the more detailed Appendices have been prepared for the serious student.

The reader may well ask, "Why was this work written?" It is the place of a Foreword to answer this question.

The Urantia Book is not written like a textbook; it is written more like a symphony. Wonderful themes of concept and movements of unfolding truth appear and reappear as the long story unfolds. Parts of this story are very melodious. The melody develops with such appealing simplicity that the reader is held enthralled. The story of Jesus is like this, a beautiful story of a man among men who grew up to become a living revelation of God among men. We all love this story.

Some of the Papers in the book are not so easy to understand; the movements of the harmonics of truth are more complex; the melody is not so easy to grasp. But the beauty is still there, even though it is less obvious. This Study of the Master Universe has been undertaken in an effort to bring out the beauty of the complex melody movements in the Urantia Papers. Many of the Papers which seem to be complex, obscure, and "far away," are filled with exquisite movements of concept in the portraiture of living truth. And if the truth in the complex beauty of these passages can be grasped, then we might acquire a new horizon-line against which to evaluate the things of this life and this world - and then we could perceive these things with the greater insight of a new perspective, the most far-ranging perspective that our minds can grasp.

We are all a part of God's plans for the future. And these plans are so alive, so adventuresome, so challenging, and so beautiful that it does seem important we learn to appreciate, however dimly, that these plans do affect us. It is the magnitude and the complexity of God's challenge to us that obscures our comprehension of this challenge. It is the vastness of the unfolding adventure that makes it hard to understand. It is the endlessness of the eternal future that staggers our imaginations, And all of this is contained in the symphony of the concept of the master universe in the Urantia Book.

God's plans are partially disclosed in the master universe. And if we can comprehend these plans just a little better, we may be intrigued, challenged, and even inspired by the grandeur of the magnificent adventure that is being offered to us. If, perchance, this Study of the Master Universe can bring God's plans just a little closer to our comprehension - closer to our feeling for the living truth of expanding growth, to the thrilling beauty of high adventure, and closer to the rewarding goodness of intelligent love - it will have served its intended purpose.

That is why this work was written.

William S. Sadler, Jr.

Editor's note from the print edition: After many years of dedicated study and contemplation of the Urantia Papers, William S. Sadler, Jr. wrote "A Study of the Master Universe" in which he develops concepts of The Urantia Book. His untimely death November 22, 1963, prevented him from seeing the fruits of his labor in print, whereby he could share his deep insight with all who might be interested. No major change was made in his original work, only minor editing.