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The
Story of Everything
An
abridged edition of The Urantia Book
Paper
105: Deity and Reality
Infinity is only partially comprehensible, even to high orders of universe intelligence. To the finite mind, it seems there must be a beginning, but there never was a beginning to reality. There is much about Deity which cannot be grasped by universe creatures. Mortals can know God as a Father, but the Father aspect of God is only one phase of the I AM. The enormous magnitude of the visible universes is only a partial revelation of the Infinite.
By internal metamorphoses, the I AM establishes a sevenfold self-relationship. The seven-phase nature of I AM includes: the Universal Father, the Universal Controller, the Universal Creator, the Infinite Upholder, the Infinite Potential, the Infinite Capacity, and the Universal One of Infinity-I AM as I AM. These seven realities are coordinately eternal, even though in time-space they are described as though they originated sequentially. Explanations of the relationships of absolutes in eternity involve paradoxes when they are presented in the language of time and the patterns of space.
Through these seven phases, the I AM encompasses all personal relationships, all impersonal relationships, the creative cycle, all actual and potential reality, and absolute coherence of energy and spirit. The primacy of the First Source and Center covers everything in the universe, which is how it can truly be said of all creatures, from the lowest mortals to the citizens of Paradise, that "in him we all live and move and have our being."
The seven phases of the infinite I AM eternalize as the Seven Absolutes of Infinity. The seven Absolutes had no beginning. They are eternal and constitute the beginning of reality. The Seven Absolutes are:
1. The First Source and Center-God
2. The Second Source and Center-the Eternal Son
3. The Paradise Source and Center-the foundation of universe gravity
4. The Third Source and Center-the Conjoint Actor
5. The Deity Absolute-the total of potential Deity reality
6. The Unqualified Absolute-the total of potential non-deified reality
7. The Universal Absolute-the unifier of the deified and non-deified
Duality becomes existent by the association of the Seven Absolutes of Infinity with the seven phases of the I AM. The I AM is unity. Unity begets duality, duality begets triunity, and triunity is the eternal ancestor of all things. The dualities eternalize reality foundations; the triunities eventuate universal function.
The diversification of the I AM is attributed to his inherent volition. Only the infinity of the Father's will could qualify absolute existence so as to create finite realities. With the appearance of qualified reality, there came into being the growth cycle that marks the beginning of universe history and the existence of time.
Many repercussions occurred when the infinite created the finite. The deity response to the creation of the finite eventuated in the evolution of supremacy. The superuniverse reaction concerned the architectural plans of space. The creature repercussions resulted in the appearance of perfect beings in Havona, and of evolutionary ascenders in the seven superuniverses. The divinity response produced the time lag of evolution that makes creature participation in divine creation possible.
To finite creatures, the beginning of the finite seems to be the beginning of reality.
There are two phases of finite creation: the Havona type, which is created in perfection, and the superuniverse type, which is created to become perfect. Mortals can attain perfection because they evolve; they grow. Humans measure growth in time, and because of this growth, they appear to be incomplete in time. Mortal incompleteness seems to differentiate evolving beings from those finite beings of Havona who are created in perfection, but differences between the two types of creatures are nonexistent in eternity.
That mortals attain perfection implies something other than perfection as a point of departure. At this point imperfection arises and the potential for evil seeps into the universe. Disharmony and conflict are inherent where evolutionary growth is allowed.
Transcendental realities are both sub-infinite and super-finite. From various viewpoints they seem to be a consequence of the finite, an anticipation of the finite, or even a "pre-echo" of the finite. As the Supreme is associated with finites, so the Ultimate is identified with transcendentals; the Ultimate is an eventuation of new Deity realities. The universes of time and space exist on finite, transcendental, and absolute levels.