Our Place in the Universe
Your world, Urantia, is one of many similar inhabited planets which comprise the local universe of Nebadon. This universe, together with similar creations, makes up the superuniverse of Orvonton, from whose capital, Uversa, our commission hails. Orvonton is one of the seven evolutionary superuniverses of time and space which circle the never-beginning, never-ending creation of divine perfection—the central universe of Havona. At the heart of this eternal and central universe is the stationary Isle of Paradise, the geographic center of infinity and the dwelling place of the eternal God. ~ The Urantia Book, (0:0.5)
Urantia is situated in a local universe and a superuniverse not fully organized, and your local universe is in immediate proximity to numerous partially completed physical creations. You belong to one of the relatively recent universes. But you are not, today, plunging on wildly into uncharted space nor swinging out blindly into unknown regions. You are following the orderly and predetermined path of the superuniverse space level. You are now passing through the very same space that your planetary system, or its predecessors, traversed ages ago; and some day in the remote future your system, or its successors, will again traverse the identical space through which you are now so swiftly plunging. ~ The Urantia Book, (15:1.3)
Urantia belongs to a system which is well out towards the borderland of your local universe; and your local universe is at present traversing the periphery of Orvonton. ~ The Urantia Book, (15:1.6)
The Universe and Divine Mind
To assume that the universe can be known, that it is intelligible, is to assume that the universe is mind made and personality managed. Man's mind can only perceive the mind phenomena of other minds, be they human or superhuman. If man's personality can experience the universe, there is a divine mind and an actual personality somewhere concealed in that universe. ~ The Urantia Book, (1:6.7)
God and the Universe
"God is love"; therefore his only personal attitude towards the affairs of the universe is always a reaction of divine affection. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:5.1)
Of all the divine attributes, his omnipotence, especially as it prevails in the material universe, is the best understood. Viewed as an unspiritual phenomenon, energy This declaration of physical fact is predicated on the incomprehensible truth that the First Source and Center is the primal cause of the universal physical phenomena of all space. ~ The Urantia Book, (3:2.3)
The sovereignty of God is unlimited; it is the fundamental fact of all creation. The universe was not inevitable. The universe is not an accident, neither is it self-existent. The universe is a work of creation and is therefore wholly subject to the will of the Creator. The will of God is divine truth, living love; therefore are the perfecting creations of the evolutionary universes characterized by goodness— nearness to divinity; by potential evil—remoteness from divinity. ~ The Urantia Book, (3:6.2)
The Universal Father has not withdrawn from the management of the universes; he is not an inactive Deity. If God should retire as the present upholder of all creation, there would immediately occur a universal collapse. Except for God, there would be no such thing as reality. At this very moment, as during the remote ages of the past and in the eternal future, God continues to uphold. The divine reach extends around the circle of eternity. The universe is not wound up like a clock to run just so long and then cease to function; all things are constantly being renewed. The Father unceasingly pours forth energy, light, and life. The work of God is literal as well as spiritual. "He stretches out the north over the empty space and hangs the earth upon nothing." ~ The Urantia Book, (4:1.6)
One thing is certain: The universe is nonstatic; only God is changeless. ~ The Urantia Book, (19:6.5)
God is the one and only self-caused fact in the universe. He is the secret of the order, plan, and purpose of the whole creation of things and beings. The everywhere-changing universe is regulated and stabilized by absolutely unchanging laws, the habits of an unchanging God. The fact of God, the divine law, is changeless; the truth of God, his relation to the universe, is a relative revelation which is ever adaptable to the constantly evolving universe. ~ The Urantia Book, (102:7.1)
Every mortal really craves to be a complete person, to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, and such attainment is possible because in the last analysis the "universe is truly fatherly." ~ The Urantia Book, (140:4.11)
The Quest for Unification
The eternal quest is for unification, for divine coherence. The far-flung physical universe coheres in the Isle of Paradise; the intellectual universe coheres in the God of mind, the Conjoint Actor(3rd person of Deity - Infinite Spirit); the spiritual universe is coherent in the personality of the Eternal Son (2nd Person of Deity). ~ The Urantia Book, (2:7.7)
The Universe is Circular
The universe of universes is not an infinite plane, a boundless cube, nor a limitless circle; it certainly has dimensions. The laws of physical organization and administration prove conclusively that the whole vast aggregation of force-energy and matter-power functions ultimately as a space unit, as an organized and co-ordinated whole. The observable behavior of the material creation constitutes evidence of a physical universe of definite limits. The final proof of both a circular and delimited universe is afforded by the, to us, well-known fact that all forms of basic energy ever swing around the curved path of the space levels of the master universe in obedience to the incessant and absolute pull of Paradise gravity. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:1.1)
The Master Universe
Proceeding outward from Paradise through the horizontal extension of pervaded space, the master universe is existent in six concentric ellipses, the space levels encircling the central Isle:
- The Central Universe—Havona.
- The Seven Superuniverses.
- The First Outer Space Level.
- The Second Outer Space Level.
- The Third Outer Space Level.
- The Fourth and Outermost Space Level
Havona, the Central Universe
Havona, the central universe, is not a time creation; it is an eternal existence. This never-beginning, never-ending universe consists of one billion spheres of sublime perfection and is surrounded by the enormous dark gravity bodies. At the center of Havona is the stationary and absolutely stabilized Isle of Paradise, surrounded by its twenty-one satellites. Owing to the enormous encircling masses of the dark gravity bodies about the fringe of the central universe, the mass content of this central creation is far in excess of the total known mass of all seven sectors of the grand universe. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:1.3)
"God is spirit," but Paradise is not. The material universe is always the arena wherein take place all spiritual activities; spirit beings and spirit ascenders live and work on physical spheres of material reality. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:8.1)
The physical realities of Havona represent an order of energy organization radically different from any prevailing in the evolutionary universes of space. Havona energies are threefold; superuniverse units of energy-matter contain a twofold energy charge, although one form of energy exists in negative and positive phases. 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. ~ The Urantia Book, (14:2.2)
The planetary construction of the Havona spheres is entirely unlike that of the evolutionary worlds and systems of space. Nowhere else in all the grand universe is it convenient to utilize such enormous spheres as inhabited worlds. ~ The Urantia Book, (14:3.6)
Life on the divine worlds of the central universe is so rich and full, so complete and replete, that it wholly transcends the human concept of anything a created being could possibly experience. ~ The Urantia Book, (14:5.2)
The central universe is not only man's established destiny, but it is also the starting place of the eternal career of the finaliters as they shall sometime be started out on the undisclosed and universal adventure in the experience of exploring the infinity of the Universal Father. ~ The Urantia Book, (14:6.37)
The Seven Superuniverses
The Seven Superuniverses are not primary physical organizations; nowhere do their boundaries divide a nebular family, neither do they cross a local universe, a prime creative unit. Each superuniverse is simply a geographic space clustering of approximately one seventh of the organized and partially inhabited post-Havona creation, and each is about equal in the number of local universes embraced and in the space encompassed. Nebadon, your local universe, is one of the newer creations in Orvonton, the seventh superuniverse.
The Grand Universe is the present organized and inhabited creation. It consists of the seven superuniverses, with an aggregate evolutionary potential of around seven trillion inhabited planets, not to mention the eternal spheres of the central creation. But this tentative estimate takes no account of architectural administrative spheres, neither does it include the outlying groups of unorganized universes. The present ragged edge of the grand universe, its uneven and unfinished periphery, together with the tremendously unsettled condition of the whole astronomical plot, suggests to our star students that even the seven superuniverses are, as yet, uncompleted. As we move from within, from the divine center outward in any one direction, we do, eventually, come to the outer limits of the organized and inhabited creation; we come to the outer limits of the grand universe. And it is near this outer border, in a far-off corner of such a magnificent creation, that your local universe has its eventful existence. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:1.6)
The central universe is the creation of eternity; the seven superuniverses are the creations of time; the four outer space levels are undoubtedly destined to eventuate-evolve the ultimacy of creation. And there are those who maintain that the Infinite can never attain full expression short of infinity; and therefore do they postulate an additional and unrevealed creation beyond the fourth and outermost space level, a possible ever-expanding, never-ending universe of infinity. In theory we do not know how to limit either the infinity of the Creator or the potential infinity of creation, but as it exists and is administered, we regard the master universe as having limitations, as being definitely delimited and bounded on its outer margins by open space. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:1.10)
Beyond the Present Creation
The Uversa star students observe that the grand universe is surrounded by the ancestors of a series of starry and planetary clusters which completely encircle the present inhabited creation as concentric rings of outer universes upon universes. The physicists of Uversa calculate that the energy and matter of these outer and uncharted regions already equal many times the total material mass and energy charge embraced in all seven superuniverses. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:2.4)
The Universe is Predictable but Personality is Not
The universe is highly predictable only in the quantitative or gravity-measurement sense; even the primal physical forces are not responsive to linear gravity, nor are the higher mind meanings and true spirit values of ultimate universe realities. Qualitatively, the universe is not highly predictable as regards new associations of forces, either physical, mindal, or spiritual, although many such combinations of energies or forces become partially predictable when subjected to critical observation. When matter, mind, and spirit are unified by creature personality, we are unable fully to predict the decisions of such a freewill being. ~ The Urantia Book, (12:6.5)
The Local Universe
The Local Universe. One hundred constellations (about 10,000,000 inhabitable planets) constitute a local universe. Each local universe has a magnificent architectural headquarters world and is ruled by one of the co-ordinate Creator Sons of God of the order of Michael. (Jesus) ~ The Urantia Book, (15:2.5)
Your local universe is not even reckoned as belonging to the settled physical order of the superuniverse, much less as holding membership in the recognized spiritual family of the supergovernment. ~ The Urantia Book, (15:9.18)
A local universe is the handiwork of a Creator Son of the Paradise order of Michael. It comprises one hundred constellations, each embracing one hundred systems of inhabited worlds. Each system will eventually contain approximately one thousand inhabited spheres. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:0.1)
The energy charge of a local universe is approximately one one-hundred-thousandth of the force endowment of its superuniverse. In the case of Nebadon, your local universe, the mass materialization is a trifle less. Physically speaking, Nebadon possesses all of the physical endowment of energy and matter that may be found in any of the Orvonton (superuniverse) local creations. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:1.4)
But the evolution of a local universe is a long narrative. Papers dealing with the superuniverse introduce this subject, those of this section, treating of the local creations, continue it, while those to follow, touching upon the history and destiny of Urantia, complete the story. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:2.13)
With the exception of the deity presence of the Father, every local universe is, in a certain sense, a duplication of the administrative organization of the central or pattern creation. Although the Universal Father is personally present in the residential universe, he does not indwell the minds of the beings originating in that universe as he does literally dwell with the souls of the mortals of time and space. There seems to be an all-wise compensation in the adjustment and regulation of the spiritual affairs of the far-flung creation. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:3.4)
The administration of the local universe is concerned with creation, evolution, maintenance, and ministry. The universe tribunals are, therefore, denied the right to pass upon those cases involving the question of eternal life and death. ~ The Urantia Book, (33:7.4)
The local universe is the starting place for those personalities who are farthest from God, and who can therefore experience the greatest degree of spiritual ascent in the universe, can achieve the maximum of experiential participation in the cocreation of themselves. These same local universes likewise provide the greatest possible depth of experience for the descending personalities, who thereby achieve something which is to them just as meaningful as the Paradise ascent is to an evolving creature. ~ The Urantia Book, (116:4.11)
The organization of planetary abodes is still progressing in Nebadon, for this universe is, indeed, a young cluster in the starry and planetary realms of Orvonton. At the last registry there were 3,840,101 inhabited planets in Nebadon, and Satania, the local system of your world, is fairly typical of other systems. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:2.9)
The local universe is the starting place for those personalities who are farthest from God, and who can therefore experience the greatest degree of spiritual ascent in the universe, can achieve the maximum of experiential participation in the cocreation of themselves. These same local universes likewise provide the greatest possible depth of experience for the descending personalities, who thereby achieve something which is to them just as meaningful as the Paradise ascent is to an evolving creature. ~ The Urantia Book, (116:4.11)
Universe Organization
Excluding the Paradise-Havona spheres, the plan of universe organization provides for the following units:
- Superuniverses.......... 7
- Major sectors........... 70
- Minor sectors........... 7,000
- Local universes......... 700,000
- Constellations.......... 70,000,000
- Local systems........... 7,000,000,000
- Inhabitable planets..... 7,000,000,000,000
Each of the seven superuniverses is constituted, approximately, as follows:
- One system embraces, approximately.......... 1,000 worlds
- One constellation (100 systems)............. 100,000 worlds
- One universe (100 constellations)........... 10,000,000 worlds
- One minor sector (100 universes)............ 1,000,000,000 worlds
- One major sector(100 minor sectors)......... 100,000,000,000 worlds
- One superuniverse(10 major sectors)......... 1,000,000,000,000 worlds
All such estimates are approximations at best, for new systems are constantly evolving while other organizations are temporarily passing out of material existence. ~ The Urantia Book, (15:2.10)
Salvington, our Universe Capital
Salvington, the capital of Nebadon, your local universe, is surrounded by ten university clusters of forty-nine spheres each. Hereon is man spiritualized following his constellation socialization. ~ The Urantia Book, (15:7.7)
Salvington, the headquarters of Nebadon, is situated at the exact energy-mass center of the local universe. But your local universe is not a single astronomic system, though a large system does exist at its physical center. ~ The Urantia Book, (32:2.4)
The Universe Mother Spirit
This personalized presence of the Infinite Spirit, the Creative Mother Spirit of the local universe, is known in Satania as the Divine Minister. To all practical intents and spiritual purposes this manifestation of Deity is a divine individual, a spirit person. And she is so recognized and regarded by the Creator Son. It is through this localization and personalization of the Third Source and Center in our local universe that the Spirit could subsequently become so fully subject to the Creator Son that of this Son it was truly said, "All power in heaven and on earth has been intrusted to him." ~ The Urantia Book, (34:1.4)
Archangel Gabriel, Our Chief Executive
Of the first order of Universe Aids, the Bright and Morning Stars, there is just one in each local universe, and he is the first-born of all creatures native to a local universe. The Bright and Morning Star of our universe is known as Gabriel of Salvington. He is the chief executive of all Nebadon, functioning as the personal representative of the Sovereign Son and as spokesman for his creative consort. ~ The Urantia Book, (37:1.2)
The Universe is One Vast School
This training of mind and education of spirit is carried on from the worlds of human origin up through the system mansion worlds and the other spheres of progress associated with Jerusem, on the seventy socializing realms attached to Edentia, and on the four hundred and ninety spheres of spirit progress encircling Salvington. On the universe headquarters itself are numerous Melchizedek schools, the colleges of the Universe Sons, the seraphic universities, and the schools of the Teacher Sons and the Union of Days. Every possible provision is made to qualify the various personalities of the universe for advancing service and improving function. The entire universe is one vast school. ~ The Urantia Book, (37:6.2)
Enough of the life and administration of this universe is being herewith portrayed to afford the mortal mind a grasp of the reality and grandeur of the survival existence. ~ The Urantia Book, (37:10.6)
Understanding Light
The action of certain secondary and other undiscovered energies present in the space regions of your local universe is such that solar-light emanations appear to execute certain wavy phenomena as well as to be chopped up into infinitesimal portions of definite length and weight. And, practically considered, that is exactly what happens. You can hardly hope to arrive at a better understanding of the behavior of light until such a time as you acquire a clearer concept of the interaction and interrelationship of the various space-forces and solar energies operating in the space regions of Nebadon. ~ The Urantia Book, (41:5.8)
The Infinite Upholding
The foundation of the universe is material in the sense that energy is the basis of all existence, and pure energy is controlled by the Universal Father. Force, energy, is the one thing which stands as an everlasting monument demonstrating and proving the existence and presence of the Universal Absolute. This vast stream of energy proceeding from the Paradise Presences has never lapsed, never failed; there has never been a break in the infinite upholding. ~ The Urantia Book, (42:0.1)
The Universe, Life and Spirit
The foundation of the universe is material, but the essence of life is spirit. The Father of spirits is also the ancestor of universes; the eternal Father of the Original Son is also the eternity-source of the original pattern, the Isle of Paradise. ~ The Urantia Book, (42:0.3)
A Creation of Mind
In the evaluation and recognition of mind it should be remembered that the universe is neither mechanical nor magical; it is a creation of mind and a mechanism of law. But while in practical application the laws of nature operate in what seems to be the dual realms of the physical and the spiritual, in reality they are one. The First Source and Center (God) is the primal cause of all materialization and at the same time the first and final Father of all spirits. ~ The Urantia Book, (42:11.1)
Since mind co-ordinates the universe, fixity of mechanisms is nonexistent. The phenomenon of progressive evolution associated with cosmic self-maintenance is universal. The evolutionary capacity of the universe is inexhaustible in the infinity of spontaneity. ~ The Urantia Book, (42:11.7)
All Ascenders are Equal
The universe is unfailing in the application of these equalizing techniques designed to insure that no ascender shall be deprived of aught which is essential to his ascension experience. ~ The Urantia Book, (55:2.12)
The Universe is a Whole
Every impulse of every electron, thought, or spirit is an acting unit in the whole universe. Only sin is isolated and evil gravity resisting on the mental and spiritual levels. The universe is a whole; no thing or being exists or lives in isolation. Self-realization is potentially evil if it is antisocial. It is literally true: "No man lives by himself." Cosmic socialization constitutes the highest form of personality unification. Said Jesus: "He who would be greatest among you, let him become server of all." ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.14)
Universe Administration
The only sacred feature of any human government is the division of statehood into the three domains of executive, legislative, and judicial functions. The universe is administered in accordance with such a plan of segregation of functions and authority. ~ The Urantia Book, (71:8.1)
The Changing, Growing Universe
The Universal Father, being self-existent, is also self-explanatory; he actually lives in every rational mortal. But you cannot be sure about God unless you know him; sonship is the only experience which makes fatherhood certain. The universe is everywhere undergoing change. A changing universe is a dependent universe; such a creation cannot be either final or absolute. A finite universe is wholly dependent on the Ultimate and the Absolute. The universe and God are not identical; one is cause, the other effect. The cause is absolute, infinite, eternal, and changeless; the effect, time-space and transcendental but ever changing, always growing.
From a circumscribed view there are, indeed, many ends, many terminations of activities, but from a larger viewpoint on a higher universe level, there are no endings, merely transitions from one phase of development to another. The major chronicity of the master universe is concerned with the several universe ages, the Havona, the superuniverse, and the outer universe ages. But even these basic divisions of sequence relationships cannot be more than relative landmarks on the unending highway of eternity. ~ The Urantia Book, (115:3.18)
The difficulty in arriving at a state of dynamic equilibrium is inherent in the fact of the growing cosmos. The established circuits of physical creation are being continually jeopardized by the appearance of new energy and new mass. A growing universe is an unsettled universe; hence no part of the cosmic whole can find real stability until the fullness of time witnesses the material completion of the seven superuniverses. ~ The Urantia Book, (116:5.16)
The grand universe is not only a material creation of physical grandeur, spirit sublimity, and intellectual magnitude, it is also a magnificent and responsive living organism. There is actual life pulsating throughout the mechanism of the vast creation of the vibrant cosmos. The physical reality of the universes is symbolic of the perceivable reality of the Almighty Supreme; and this material and living organism is penetrated by intelligence circuits, even as the human body is traversed by a network of neural sensation paths. This physical universe is permeated by energy lanes which effectively activate material creation, even as the human body is nourished and energized by the circulatory distribution of the assimilable energy products of nourishment. The vast universe is not without those co-ordinating centers of magnificent overcontrol which might be compared to the delicate chemical-control system of the human mechanism. But if you only knew something about the physique of a power center, we could, by analogy, tell you so much more about the physical universe. ~ The Urantia Book, (116:7.1)
The grand universe is mechanism as well as organism, mechanical and living—a living mechanism activated by a Supreme Mind, co-ordinating with a Supreme Spirit, and finding expression on maximum levels of power and personality unification as the Supreme Being. But to deny the mechanism of the finite creation is to deny fact and to disregard reality. ~ The Urantia Book, (118:9.4)
Jesus and the Universe
"I am absolutely assured that the entire universe is friendly to me—this all-powerful truth I insist on believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the contrary." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (133:1.4)
"There is unity in the cosmic universe if you could only discern its workings in actuality. The real universe is friendly to every child of the eternal God. The real problem is: How can the finite mind of man achieve a logical, true, and corresponding unity of thought? This universe-knowing state of mind can be had only by conceiving that the quantitative fact and the qualitative value have a common causation in the Paradise Father. Such a conception of reality yields a broader insight into the purposeful unity of universe phenomena; it even reveals a spiritual goal of progressive personality achievement. And this is a concept of unity which can sense the unchanging background of a living universe of continually changing impersonal relations and evolving personal relationships." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (133:5.8)
In many ways these gentile believers appreciated Jesus' teachings more fully than the Jews. Many of these Greek-speaking Syrophoenicians came to know not only that Jesus was like God but also that God was like Jesus. These so-called heathen achieved a good understanding of the Master's teachings about the uniformity of the laws of this world and the entire universe. They grasped the teaching that God is no respecter of persons, races, or nations; that there is no favoritism with the Universal Father; that the universe is wholly and ever law-abiding and unfailingly dependable. These gentiles were not afraid of Jesus; they dared to accept his message. All down through the ages men have not been unable to comprehend Jesus; they have been afraid to. ~ The Urantia Book, (156:2.4)
The law of the universe is: Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find. ~ The Urantia Book, (167:5.2)
The Universe is More Than Purely Material
If this were only a material universe, material man would never be able to arrive at the concept of the mechanistic character of such an exclusively material existence. This very mechanistic concept of the universe is in itself a nonmaterial phenomenon of mind, and all mind is of nonmaterial origin, no matter how thoroughly it may appear to be materially conditioned and mechanistically controlled. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:7.6)
Any scientific interpretation of the material universe is valueless unless it provides due recognition for the scientist. .... Likewise is the universe of universes without significance apart from the I AM, the infinite God who made it and unceasingly manages it. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:7.18)
The universe is not like the laws, mechanisms, and the uniformities which the scientist discovers, and which he comes to regard as science, but rather like the curious, thinking, choosing, creative, combining, and discriminating scientist who thus observes universe phenomena and classifies the mathematical facts inherent in the mechanistic phases of the material side of creation. Neither is the universe like the art of the artist, but rather like the striving, dreaming, aspiring, and advancing artist who seeks to transcend the world of material things in an effort to achieve a spiritual goal. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:7.22)
