© 2004 Antonio Moya
© 2004 Urantia Association of Spain
In our finite universe, we know of the existence of TWO extreme realities, energy-matter on the one hand and the personality of man on the other, and two intermediate realities, plant life and animal life.
The Urantia Book tells us that God is energy, and God is spirit. And that when Infinity differentiated Reality, it did so by separating the Isle of Paradise (the thing) from the Eternal Son (the personality). On our finite level, this divergence between energy and spirit gives rise to two extreme ways of perceiving the universe: science and religion.
THE TWO EXTREMES OF REALITY
| God is energy | God is spirit |
|---|---|
| Science | Religion |
| The energy | The spirit |
| Reason | Faith |
| The facts | The values |
| The mathematical | The volitional |
| The physical | The spiritual |
| The inanimate | The animate |
| The rationalist | The idealist |
| The outside world | The inside world |
| See the universe from the outside | See the universe from the inside |
These two extreme phases of universal reality are correlated by the Universal Mind (the Infinite Spirit).
Our brain has two hemispheres. It is designed to synthesize facts and values, to grasp finite reality as it appears to us:
| Left H. | Right H. |
|---|---|
| Analytical | Imaginative |
| Rational | Intuitive |
| Sequential | Responsive |
| Planner | Creative |
| Scientific | Spiritual |
“There is an absence of experiential connection between the material and the spiritual levels of the universe” (UB 102:3.2). There is a gulf, unknown to man, between energy and spirit: the morontia gulf. And the bridge across this gulf is unavailable to us: the morontia mote. On our material level, philosophy (logic) or revelation is the substitute for the morontia mote. Without the mote, truth, love, and goodness cannot be discerned in the phenomena of the material world. (Thus, perhaps because of that gulf, the lack of the mote, “in our mortal state, nothing can be absolutely proved; both science and religion are predicated on assumptions. On the morontia level, the postulates of both science and religion are capable of partial proof by mota logic” (UB 103:7.10).)
Philosophy (logic), or Revelation link
Human Science (reason) … with … Spiritual Religion (faith)
Humans perceive things (Science), meanings (Philosophy), and values (Religion). Body, mind, and spirit.
The Urantia Book says: “Your world is generally ignorant of the origin of things, even physical things” (UB 101:4.1). “If the mind cannot draw conclusions, if it cannot penetrate to the true origins, then it will infallibly take the conclusions for granted, and invent the origins in order to have a means of logical thought within the framework of these mind-created postulates.” “The universe cannot be explained, neither can a finite creature offer a rational reason for his own individual existence WITHOUT APPEALING to the prior acts and pre-existent volition of ancestral beings, Creators or procreators.” (UB 115:1.4).
Science DOES NOT KNOW the origin or destiny of the universe, energy, space, life, or intelligence. Science also does not know WHAT IS space, energy, life, or intelligence. Science DOES NOT HAVE answers to these questions, nor to the eternal questions of humanity: who are we, where did we come from, what are we doing here, and where are we going next?
We know virtually nothing about Reality, neither its origin nor its destiny. Science has no answers. Revelation alone provides answers to man’s questions. But those answers are beyond our power of demonstration. That is why we need faith (faith in the unprovable answers of Revelation). “Faith is the only solution yet discovered for the escape from the quagmire of mortal thought concerning the continued survival of individual personality” (UB 101:10.6).
God is a quest, NOT evidence. Without God, this makes no sense. But with God, everything makes sense, everything has an explanation.
It is evident that the goal of life is not material, because we are short-lived here. The goal of life must be spiritual. “Human life continues—survives—because it has a function in the universe, the task of finding God” (UB 132:3.7). “Physical death is A TECHNIQUE for escaping material life in the flesh” (UB 47:10.7).
All finite existence (material, mental, and spiritual) represents a continuous transfer from the potential to the actual (to the manifested). Living as we do in uncertainty is inherent to living in time. Because in time NOTHING is definitive or perfect, but everything is constantly changing; we never know what will happen to us tomorrow. Hence the uncertainty.
Ultimately, the ultimate question is: Are we aware of who we are dealing with in the universe? We are dealing with an improbable Entity, unique in its kind, unfathomable, absolute, and infinite. A Being beyond our imagination and our ability to comprehend. And all other beings, high and low, come from Him. He is all there is, for He is potentiality and manifestation, energy and personality, static and dynamic, Father and Archetype. The totality of Reality is Infinity. Reality originates in infinity and moves toward infinity. All things and all beings have their beginning, their existence, and their destiny in Infinity. The origins of Reality are therefore absolute, and destinies are infinite.
God is the Model for the entire universe of things and beings. And He is also the Father of the universal family. So you and I, king or pauper, Melchizedek or human, are brothers.