© 2023 Claude Flibotte
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
Dr William S Sadler MD
The composition of this text is based on the book “The Urantia Book Workbooks, volume III” by Dr. William S. Sadler, MD.
After reading this book by Dr. Sadler, I found it so interesting that I first decided to translate it into French, and secondly to share with you these pearls of knowledge and wisdom! In fact, it is more of a translation than a composition, because my contribution is limited to the text under each subtitle.
The plan of salvation according to the teachings of the Bible
First, we will see according to the Bible, this “sacred” book used by several religious institutions around the world, the survival plan proposed after physical death and based on various false beliefs. Among these we find: the fall of man, original sin, man is captive to sin, man is a child of the devil, redemption can only be accomplished through blood, Christ is the redeemer, the doctrine of atonement, finally, we are adopted children of God. I will not dwell on these subjects, because they are erroneous and do not constitute the new truths revealed by Jesus in his time, but lost over the millennia. The revelations of the Urantia Book update the message of Jesus and more.
The plan of salvation according to The Urantia Book
Secondly, we will here direct our attention to the plan of salvation as it exists in the religion of Jesus, according to the version of the Urantia Book, and according to the eternal purpose of God.
¶ Consideration of Michael’s incarnate outpouring
1. To deserve the supreme and unlimited sovereignty of one’s universe.
Michael of Nebadon had already completed six other bestowals in his own universe. It remained for him to accomplish one final bestowal as a man of flesh and blood, in the image of his own creatures. He did this in order to:
. . . To live such identical lives as he imposes upon the intelligent beings of his own creation, thus to bestow himself in the likeness of his various orders of created beings, is a part of the price which every Creator Son must pay for the full and supreme sovereignty of his self-made universe of things and beings. (UB 120:0.1)
2. Become a merciful, wise and understanding administrator.
Despite the intensive training followed in Paradise and in Havona under the supervision of his peers, a final improvement takes place during this final event.
Though numerous incidental benefits accrue to the various worlds, systems, and constellations, as well as to the different orders of universe intelligences affected and benefited by these bestowals, still they are primarily designed to complete the personal training and universe education of a Creator Son himself. (UB 119:0.5)
3. Reveal the Father who is in heaven and do his will.
Along with the goal of earning sovereignty over his universe, he had to reveal the Father to men.
Your great mission to be realized and experienced in the mortal incarnation is embraced in your decision to live a life wholeheartedly motivated to do the will of your Paradise Father, thus to reveal God, your Father, in the flesh and especially to the creatures of the flesh. (UB 120:2.8)
4. Represent the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity.
Throughout his previous bestowals, Michael had submitted to the will of the various representations of the Paradise Trinity. In this one, he had to submit to do the will of the Father.
. . . he was aspiring to the privilege of representing the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity which can be exercised in the direct and personal administration of a local universe. (UB 120:0.4)
5. Put an end to Lucifer’s rebellion.
In addition to gaining his sovereignty and revealing his Father, our Father, he had to put an end to the rebellion of Lucifer, his own misguided son.
On an afternoon in late summer, amid the trees and in the silence of nature, Michael of Nebadon won the unquestioned sovereignty of his universe. On that day he completed the task set for Creator Sons to live to the full the incarnated life in the likeness of mortal flesh on the evolutionary worlds of time and space. . . . And when Jesus came down from his sojourn on Mount Hermon, the Lucifer rebellion in Satania and the Caligastia secession on Urantia were virtually settled. (UB 134:8.9)
6. To reveal the will and promote the evolution of God the Supreme.
Through his personal experience in functioning as a revealer of the will of the Supremacy, Michael, like all other Master Sons, identified himself with the Supreme for eternity.
In passing through the experience of revealing the Seven Master Spirit wills of the Trinity, the Creator Son has passed through the experience of revealing the will of the Supreme. . . . In this universe age he reveals the Supreme and participates in the actualization of the sovereignty of Supremacy. (UB 119:8.7)
7. To provide for the universal granting of Thought Adjusters.
The mission of Jesus was to restore spiritual freedom to men afflicted by the Lucifer rebellion. Through his temporal life the will of the finite creature and the will of the infinite Creator are destined to become one, even as they are also in process of union in the evolving Deity of the Supreme Being. His Spirit of Truth is destined to open the way for the influx of Adjusters to all morally normal beings.
. . . Pour out upon the planet of your bestowal the Spirit of Truth and thus make all normal mortals on that isolated sphere immediately and fully accessible to the ministry of the segregated presence of our Paradise Father, the Thought Adjusters of the realms. (UB 120:2.6)
8. Prepare the way for the outpouring of the Spirit of Truth.
During His incarnate life, Jesus was the Spirit of Truth, but His teachings were limited to His personal presence. He taught His apostles that after His departure, He would send His Spirit of Truth to guide the minds of all men.
. . . And this Spirit of Truth which I will bestow upon you shall guide and comfort you and shall eventually lead you into all truth. (UB 180:4.2)
. . . This new teacher is the Spirit of Truth who will live with each one of you, in your hearts, and so will all the children of light be made one and be drawn toward one another. (UB 180:4.5)
9. To become the inspiration of a religious life for one’s entire universe.
The human Jesus lived a perfect life serving as a model for every human of all time to follow, dedicated to doing the will of the Heavenly Father.
. . . Live the ideal religious life for the inspiration and edification of all your universe. (UB 120:2.5)
. . . shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come. (UB 120:2.7)
10. The death of Jesus on the cross.
A- The cross is the work of man and not of God.
The events as recounted in The Urantia Book and culminating in the hour when the Master was to be crucified are sufficient to demonstrate that his death, at that time, was a purely natural affair and engineered by men.
It was man and not God who planned and executed the death of Jesus on the cross. (UB 186:5.2)
B- The cross was not a sacrifice for the guilt of mortals.
Contrary to the belief conveyed by Christianity, God did not sacrifice his only son to redeem our sins.
. . . The cross is not the symbol of the sacrifice of the innocent Son of God in the place of guilty sinners and in order to appease the wrath of an offended God, (UB 188:5.9)
C- Man is not a child of the devil
Anyone who truly knows the Father as Jesus presented him to us cannot conceive that in his infinite love, the Father would not voluntarily sacrifice his Son any more than he would condemn a sincere soul for the misdeeds of his ancestors.
Mortal man was never the property of the archdeceivers. Jesus did not die to ransom man from the clutch of the apostate rulers and fallen princes of the spheres. The Father in heaven never conceived of such crass injustice as damning a mortal soul because of the evil-doing of his ancestors. Neither was the Master’s death on the cross a sacrifice which consisted in an effort to pay God a debt which the race of mankind had come to owe him. (UB 188:4.3)
11. The death of Jesus is not an atonement.
The following quotes are quite explicit!
Jesus is not about to die as a sacrifice for sin. He is not going to atone for the inborn moral guilt of the human race. Mankind has no such racial guilt before God. Guilt is purely a matter of personal sin and knowing, deliberate rebellion against the will of the Father and the administration of his Sons. (UB 186:5.7)
The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath. (UB 4:5.4)
Righteousness implies that God is the source of the moral law of the universe. Truth exhibits God as a revealer, as a teacher. But love gives and craves affection, seeks understanding fellowship such as exists between parent and child. Righteousness may be the divine thought, but love is a father’s attitude. The erroneous supposition that the righteousness of God was irreconcilable with the selfless love of the heavenly Father, presupposed absence of unity in the nature of Deity and led directly to the elaboration of the atonement doctrine, which is a philosophic assault upon both the unity and the free-willness of God. (UB 2:6.5)
12. To establish man’s new and living path towards God
During his incarnation, Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
. . . Jesus is the new and living way from man to God, from the partial to the perfect, from the earthly to the heavenly, from time to eternity. (UB 129:4.7)
. . . “I am the door, I am the new and living way, and whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the endless truth-search for eternal life.” (UB 166:3.7)
. . . Jesus was and is the new and living way whereby man can come into the divine inheritance which the Father has decreed shall be his for but the asking. (UB 101:6.17)
13. Restore the right of ascension to the mansion worlds on the third day.
The isolation of Urantia in the Lucifer rebellion had suspended the process by which mortals can pass directly to the shores of the mansion worlds after death. Prior to Michael’s bestowal on Urantia, all souls slept until the dispensational resurrections or the special millennial resurrections. Moses himself was not permitted to go across the valley of death until the opportunity of a special resurrection, for the fallen Planetary Prince, Caligastia, opposed this release.
. . . But ever since the day of Pentecost, Urantia mortals again may proceed directly to the morontia spheres. (UB 52:5.5)
- To make mortal man a son of God.
Truly, through our faith, we are now sons and daughters of God our Father.
. . . “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.” (UB 40:6.2)
15. To increase the plan of perfection of mortal ascendants.
How can we resist such an injunction, knowing that he is our Father, our Creator, and that he IS Infinite Love?
. . . From the Universal Father who inhabits eternity there has gone forth the supreme mandate, “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.” In love and mercy the messengers of Paradise have carried this divine exhortation down through the ages and out through the universes, even to such lowly animal-origin creatures as the human races of Urantia. (UB 1:0.3)
. . . The very instant the Eternal Son accepted his Father’s plan of perfection attainment for the creatures of the universes, the moment the ascension project became a Father-Son plan, that instant the Infinite Spirit became the conjoint administrator of the Father and the Son for the execution of their united and eternal purpose. (UB 8:3.5)
16. The three parts of the plan of perfection:
The divine plan for achieving perfection embraces three universal adventures, three unique, yet wonderfully related, undertakings.
A— The plan of progressive accomplishment.
. . . This provision for upstepping the creatures of time involves the Father’s bestowal of the Thought Adjusters and the endowing of material creatures with the prerogatives of personality. (UB 7:4.4)
B- The plan of effusion
. . . This is the proposal of the Eternal Son and consists of his bestowal of the Sons of God upon the evolutionary creations, there to personalize and factualize, to incarnate and make real, the love of the Father and the mercy of the Son to the creatures of all universes. (UB 7:4.5)
C- The plan of the ministry of mercy.
. . . the Infinite Spirit projected and put in operation the tremendous and universal enterprise of mercy ministry. This is the service so essential to the practical and effective operation of both the attainment and the bestowal undertakings, . . . (UB 7:4.6)
17. The survival of mortals and the ascension to Paradise.
This is what our Father has planned for us!
A- The journey to Paradise
Evolutionary mortals are born on the planets of space, pass through the morontia worlds, ascend the spirit universes, traverse the Havona spheres, find God, attain Paradise, and are mustered into the primary Corps of the Finality, therein to await the next assignment of universe service. There are six other assembling finality corps, but Grandfanda, the first mortal ascender, presides as Paradise chief of all orders of finaliters. And as we view this sublime spectacle, we all exclaim: What a glorious destiny for the animal-origin children of time, the material sons of space! (UB 31:10.20)
B— Find God.
The attainment of the Universal Father is the passport to eternity, . . . (UB 26:9.2)
The test of time is almost over; the race for eternity has been all but run. The days of uncertainty are ending; the temptation to doubt is vanishing; the injunction to be perfect has been obeyed. From the very bottom of intelligent existence the creature of time and material personality has ascended the evolutionary spheres of space, thus proving the feasibility of the ascension plan while forever demonstrating the justice and righteousness of the command of the Universal Father to his lowly creatures of the worlds: “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.” (UB 26:9.3)
18. The destiny of mortals is the Paradise Body of finality.
This is what awaits us when we have attained Paradise, met our Father, and been enlisted in the Paradise Corps of the Finality. Until the end of the second universe age, we will serve throughout the seven superuniverses.
The present known destiny of surviving mortals is the Paradise Corps of the Finality; . . . At present the Paradise finaliters are working throughout the grand universe in many undertakings, . . . (UB 112:7.15)
19. The ultimate destiny of the finaliters.
A whole lot of responsibility awaits us when we are ready!
What an adventure! What a romance! A gigantic creation to be administered by the children of the Supreme, these personalized and humanized Adjusters, these Adjusterized and eternalized mortals, these mysterious combinations and eternal associations of the highest known manifestation of the essence of the First Source and Center and the lowest form of intelligent life capable of comprehending and attaining the Universal Father. We conceive that such amalgamated beings, such partnerships of Creator and creature, will become superb rulers, matchless administrators, and understanding and sympathetic directors of any and all forms of intelligent life which may come into existence throughout these future universes of the first outer space level. (UB 112:7.18)
20. Concerning Jesus’ statement on the cross. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Jesus had acquired a spiritual identity, built up during his life in the flesh. Some philosophers believe that it was this spiritual identity that had to be handed over to the custody of the Paradise Father. In fact, they do not know whether or not this spiritual reality returned to be part of the resurrected personality, but they tend to believe it did.
. . . But there are those in the universe who hold that this soul-identity of Jesus now reposes in the “bosom of the Father,” to be subsequently released for leadership of the Nebadon Corps of the Finality in their undisclosed destiny in connection with the uncreated universes of the unorganized realms of outer space. (UB 188:3.8)
¶ The Survival Plan as detailed in The Urantia Book
¶ I. The divine plan of perfection.
1- The eternal goal.
The Father’s plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life. And the infinite treasures of this incomparable career will reward our continued efforts!
The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh. (UB 32:5.8)
2- The divine plan: “Be perfect”
The myriad planetary systems were all made to eventually be inhabited by intelligent creatures, beings who can know God, receive divine affection, and love God in return.
The enlightened worlds all recognize and worship the Universal Father, the eternal maker and infinite upholder of all creation. The will creatures of universe upon universe have embarked upon the long, long Paradise journey, the fascinating struggle of the eternal adventure of attaining God the Father. The transcendent goal of the children of time is to find the eternal God, to comprehend the divine nature, to recognize the Universal Father. God-knowing creatures have only one supreme ambition, just one consuming desire, and that is to become, as they are in their spheres, like him as he is in his Paradise perfection of personality and in his universal sphere of righteous supremacy. (UB 1:0.3)
3- Status of the universe with regard to the plan of perfection.
Although the central universe of Havona may serve as a model creation for all other universes, and as a final learning experience for the pilgrims of time on their way to Paradise, this universe was created for the pleasure and satisfaction of the perfect and infinite Creators.
The amazing plan for perfecting evolutionary mortals and, after their attainment of Paradise and the Corps of the Finality, providing further training for some undisclosed future work, does seem to be, at present, one of the chief concerns of the seven superuniverses and their many subdivisions; but this ascension scheme for spiritualizing and training the mortals of time and space is by no means the exclusive occupation of the universe intelligences. There are, indeed, many other fascinating pursuits which occupy the time and enlist the energies of the celestial hosts. (UB 4:0.3)
4- Meaning of the injunction of perfection.
In collaboration with our Adjuster, we gradually become divine and thus respond to his injunction to be more and more perfect!
This magnificent and universal injunction to strive for the attainment of the perfection of divinity is the first duty, and should be the highest ambition, of all the struggling creature creation of the God of perfection. This possibility of the attainment of divine perfection is the final and certain destiny of all man’s eternal spiritual progress. (UB 1:0.4)
Urantia mortals can hardly hope to be perfect in the infinite sense, but it is entirely possible for human beings, starting out as they do on this planet, to attain the supernal and divine goal which the infinite God has set for mortal man; and when they do achieve this destiny, they will, in all that pertains to self-realization and mind attainment, be just as replete in their sphere of divine perfection as God himself is in his sphere of infinity and eternity. Such perfection may not be universal in the material sense, unlimited in intellectual grasp, or final in spiritual experience, but it is final and complete in all finite aspects of divinity of will, perfection of personality motivation, and God-consciousness. (UB 1:0.5)
This is the true meaning of that divine command, “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect,” which ever urges mortal man onward and beckons him inward in that long and fascinating struggle for the attainment of higher and higher levels of spiritual values and true universe meanings. This sublime search for the God of universes is the supreme adventure of the inhabitants of all the worlds of time and space. (UB 1:0.6)
5- No “shortcuts” in the development plan.
Whether remembering the sin of Lucifer and Caligastia or the error of Adam and Eve, there is no shorter and faster road than the perfect path traced by the Father!
Never, in all your ascent to Paradise, will you gain anything by impatiently attempting to circumvent the established and divine plan by short cuts, personal inventions, or other devices for improving on the way of perfection, to perfection, and for eternal perfection. (UB 75:8.5)
6- The infinite Spirit is the administrator of the plan of perfection.
Although it was a Creator Son of the Eternal Son and a Creative Spirit of the Infinite Spirit who created us and our universe; and while the Father faithfully maintains what they have organized, it is the business of this Universe Son and Universe Spirit to maintain and sustain their work and to minister to the creatures they themselves have fashioned.
The Infinite Spirit is the effective agent of the all-loving Father and the all-merciful Son for the execution of their conjoint project of drawing to themselves all truth-loving souls on all the worlds of time and space. The very instant the Eternal Son accepted his Father’s plan of perfection attainment for the creatures of the universes, the moment the ascension project became a Father-Son plan, that instant the Infinite Spirit became the conjoint administrator of the Father and the Son for the execution of their united and eternal purpose. And in so doing the Infinite Spirit pledged all his resources of divine presence and of spirit personalities to the Father and the Son; he has dedicated all to the stupendous plan of exalting surviving will creatures to the divine heights of Paradise perfection. (UB 8:3.5)
7- This perfection becomes a possession of the personality.
With the exception of Deity personalities, all superuniverse personalities are not, at the outset, entirely stable and worthy of absolute trust. When creature origins depart sufficiently from the original and divine Sources, whether they be the Sons of God or the ministering creatures of the Infinite Spirit, there is an increased possibility of disharmony, confusion, and sometimes rebellion — sin.
Excepting perfect beings of Deity origin, all will creatures in the superuniverses are of evolutionary nature, beginning in lowly estate and climbing ever upward, in reality inward. Even highly spiritual personalities continue to ascend the scale of life by progressive translations from life to life and from sphere to sphere. And in the case of those who entertain the Mystery Monitors, there is indeed no limit to the possible heights of their spiritual ascent and universe attainment. (UB 32:3.8)
The perfection of the creatures of time, when finally achieved, is wholly an acquirement, a bona fide personality possession. While the elements of grace are freely admixed, nevertheless, the creature attainments are the result of individual effort and actual living, personality reaction to the existing environment. (UB 32:3.9)
8- Man progresses from the bottom to the top.
When our perfection as a creature of time is finally realized, it is entirely an acquisition, a possession of our personality in good faith. Although the elements of grace are largely mixed in, the achievements of man are nevertheless the result of his individual efforts and of his present life, of his personality reaction to the existing environment.
The fact of animal evolutionary origin does not attach stigma to any personality in the sight of the universe as that is the exclusive method of producing one of the two basic types of finite intelligent will creatures. When the heights of perfection and eternity are attained, all the more honor to those who began at the bottom and joyfully climbed the ladder of life, round by round, and who, when they do reach the heights of glory, will have gained a personal experience which embodies an actual knowledge of every phase of life from the bottom to the top. (UB 32:3.10)
9- We are lucky to start at the bottom of the ladder.
Although we start at the lowest level of mind consciousness, we have the incredible advantage of reaching heights we cannot imagine here below!
In all this is shown the wisdom of the Creators. It would be just as easy for the Universal Father to make all mortals perfect beings, to impart perfection by his divine word. But that would deprive them of the wonderful experience of the adventure and training associated with the long and gradual inward climb, an experience to be had only by those who are so fortunate as to begin at the very bottom of living existence. (UB 32:3.11)
¶ II. The progressive ascension plan
1- The Father and the Son are united in the actualization of the “plan of progress”.
From all eternity, the Father and the Son are united in the divine plan of universal progress of creation.
The Eternal Son is in everlasting liaison with the Father in the successful prosecution of the divine plan of progress: the universal plan for the creation, evolution, ascension, and perfection of will creatures. And, in divine faithfulness, the Son is the eternal equal of the Father. (UB 7:4.1)
The Father and his Son are as one in the formulation and prosecution of this gigantic attainment plan for advancing the material beings of time to the perfection of eternity. This project for the spiritual elevation of the ascendant souls of space is a joint creation of the Father and the Son, and they are, with the co-operation of the Infinite Spirit, engaged in associative execution of their divine purpose. (UB 7:4.2)
2- The three parts of the plan of divine perfection.
This plan of divine perfection comes in three parts.
This divine plan of perfection attainment embraces three unique, though marvelously correlated, enterprises of universal adventure:
The Plan of Progressive Attainment. This is the Universal Father’s plan of evolutionary ascension, a program unreservedly accepted by the Eternal Son when he concurred in the Father’s proposal, “Let us make mortal creatures in our own image.” This provision for upstepping the creatures of time involves the Father’s bestowal of the Thought Adjusters and the endowing of material creatures with the prerogatives of personality.
The Bestowal Plan. The next universal plan is the great Father-revelation enterprise of the Eternal Son and his co-ordinate Sons. This is the proposal of the Eternal Son and consists of his bestowal of the Sons of God upon the evolutionary creations, there to personalize and factualize, to incarnate and make real, the love of the Father and the mercy of the Son to the creatures of all universes. Inherent in the bestowal plan, and as a provisional feature of this ministration of love, the Paradise Sons act as rehabilitators of that which misguided creature will has placed in spiritual jeopardy. Whenever and wherever there occurs a delay in the functioning of the attainment plan, if rebellion, perchance, should mar or complicate this enterprise, then do the emergency provisions of the bestowal plan become active forthwith. The Paradise Sons stand pledged and ready to function as retrievers, to go into the very realms of rebellion and there restore the spiritual status of the spheres. And such a heroic service a co-ordinate Creator Son did perform on Urantia in connection with his experiential bestowal career of sovereignty acquirement.
The Plan of Mercy Ministry. When the attainment plan and the bestowal plan had been formulated and proclaimed, alone and of himself, the Infinite Spirit projected and put in operation the tremendous and universal enterprise of mercy ministry. This is the service so essential to the practical and effective operation of both the attainment and the bestowal undertakings, and the spiritual personalities of the Third Source and Center all partake of the spirit of mercy ministry which is so much a part of the nature of the Third Person of Deity. Not only in creation but also in administration, the Infinite Spirit functions truly and literally as the conjoint executive of the Father and the Son.” LU 7:4.3-6
3- The eternal Son is the depository of the plan of perfection
tion.From the following quote we can see that the Father, Son and Spirit have been working together, from all eternity, in their work of creation.
The Eternal Son is the personal trustee, the divine custodian, of the Father’s universal plan of creature ascension. Having promulgated the universal mandate, “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect,” the Father intrusted the execution of this tremendous undertaking to the Eternal Son; and the Eternal Son shares the fostering of this supernal enterprise with his divine co-ordinate, the Infinite Spirit. Thus do the Deities effectively co-operate in the work of creation, control, evolution, revelation, and ministration—and if required, in restoration and rehabilitation. (UB 7:4.7)
4- Survival, one of the main activities of the universe.
Far more than the three paradise deities, higher spirits, angelic hosts and even midwayers work on the plan of creation!
The entire organization of high spirits, angelic hosts, and midway fellows is enthusiastically devoted to the furtherance of the Paradise plan for the progressive ascension and perfection attainment of evolutionary mortals, one of the supernal businesses of the universe—the superb survival plan of bringing God down to man and then, by a sublime sort of partnership, carrying man up to God and on to eternity of service and divinity of attainment—alike for mortal and midwayer. (UB 77:9.12)
5- Survival conditions of deceased persons.
No matter to what series a mortal belongs, he is certain to survive if he actively participates with his Adjuster in his own divinization.
As to the chances of mortal survival, let it be made forever clear: All souls of every possible phase of mortal existence will survive provided they manifest willingness to co-operate with their indwelling Adjusters and exhibit a desire to find God and to attain divine perfection, even though these desires be but the first faint flickers of the primitive comprehension of that “true light which lights every man who comes into the world.” (UB 40:5.19)
6- Plan of triumphant ascension.
Every mortal who sincerely cooperates with his Adjuster will experience the sublime consciousness of knowing God and the heavenly assurance of surviving to find God through the progressive experience of becoming more and more like him.
Man is spiritually indwelt by a surviving Thought Adjuster. If such a human mind is sincerely and spiritually motivated, if such a human soul desires to know God and become like him, honestly wants to do the Father’s will, there exists no negative influence of mortal deprivation nor positive power of possible interference which can prevent such a divinely motivated soul from securely ascending to the portals of Paradise. (UB 5:1.7)
The Father desires all his creatures to be in personal communion with him. He has on Paradise a place to receive all those whose survival status and spiritual nature make possible such attainment. Therefore settle in your philosophy now and forever: To each of you and to all of us, God is approachable, the Father is attainable, the way is open; the forces of divine love and the ways and means of divine administration are all interlocked in an effort to facilitate the advancement of every worthy intelligence of every universe to the Paradise presence of the Universal Father. (UB 5:1.8)
¶ III. The Mortal Survival Plan
1- Objective of the survival plan.
The morontia plan of mortal progression, and the spirit plan thereafter, has a definite and divine purpose. It is the plan of the Creators to provide the creatures of time with progressive opportunities to master the details of grand universe operation and administration.
The mortal-survival plan has a practical and serviceable objective; you are not the recipients of all this divine labor and painstaking training only that you may survive just to enjoy endless bliss and eternal ease. There is a goal of transcendent service concealed beyond the horizon of the present universe age. If the Gods designed merely to take you on one long and eternal joy excursion, they certainly would not so largely turn the whole universe into one vast and intricate practical training school, requisition a substantial part of the celestial creation as teachers and instructors, and then spend ages upon ages piloting you, one by one, through this gigantic universe school of experiential training. The furtherance of the scheme of mortal progression seems to be one of the chief businesses of the present organized universe, and the majority of innumerable orders of created intelligences are either directly or indirectly engaged in advancing some phase of this progressive perfection plan. (UB 48:8.3)
2- The path of mortal ascension.
To compensate for the finite status of creatures and to overcome their conceptual limitations, the Universal Father established for evolutionary creatures a sevenfold approach to Deity, God the Sevenfold.
This sevenfold Deity personalization in time and space and to the seven superuniverses enables mortal man to attain the presence of God, who is spirit. This sevenfold Deity, to finite time-space creatures sometime power-personalizing in the Supreme Being, is the functional Deity of the mortal evolutionary creatures of the Paradise-ascension career. Such an experiential discovery-career of the realization of God begins with the recognition of the divinity of the Creator Son of the local universe and ascends through the superuniverse Ancients of Days and by way of the person of one of the Seven Master Spirits to the attainment of the discovery and recognition of the divine personality of the Universal Father on Paradise. (UB 0:8.9)
3- The deadly survival experience.
Here, laid out in detail, is the entire divine plan for mortal survival.
While the mortal survivors of time and space are denominated ascending pilgrims when accredited for the progressive ascent to Paradise, these evolutionary creatures occupy such an important place in these narratives that we here desire to present a synopsis of the following seven stages of the ascending universe career:
Planetary Mortals.
Sleeping Survivors.
Mansion World Students.
Morontia Progressors.
Superuniverse Wards.
Havona Pilgrims.
Paradise Arrivals.
The following narrative presents the universe career of an Adjuster-indwelt mortal. The Son- and Spirit-fused mortals share portions of this career, but we have elected to tell this story as it pertains to the Adjuster-fused mortals, for such a destiny may be anticipated by all of the human races of Urantia.
Planetary Mortals. Mortals are all animal-origin evolutionary beings of ascendant potential. In origin, nature, and destiny these various groups and types of human beings are not wholly unlike the Urantia peoples. The human races of each world receive the same ministry of the Sons of God and enjoy the presence of the ministering spirits of time. After natural death all types of ascenders fraternize as one morontia family on the mansion worlds.
Sleeping Survivors. All mortals of survival status, in the custody of personal guardians of destiny, pass through the portals of natural death and, on the third period, personalize on the mansion worlds. Those accredited beings who have, for any reason, been unable to attain that level of intelligence mastery and endowment of spirituality which would entitle them to personal guardians, cannot thus immediately and directly go to the mansion worlds. Such surviving souls must rest in unconscious sleep until the judgment day of a new epoch, a new dispensation, the coming of a Son of God to call the rolls of the age and adjudicate the realm, and this is the general practice throughout all Nebadon. It was said of Christ Michael that, when he ascended on high at the conclusion of his work on earth, “He led a great multitude of captives.” And these captives were the sleeping survivors from the days of Adam to the day of the Master’s resurrection on Urantia.
The passing of time is of no moment to sleeping mortals; they are wholly unconscious and oblivious to the length of their rest. On reassembly of personality at the end of an age, those who have slept five thousand years will react no differently than those who have rested five days. Aside from this time delay these survivors pass on through the ascension regime identically with those who avoid the longer or shorter sleep of death.
These dispensational classes of world pilgrims are utilized for group morontia activities in the work of the local universes. There is a great advantage in the mobilization of such enormous groups; they are thus kept together for long periods of effective service.
- Mansion World Students. All surviving mortals who reawaken on the mansion worlds belong to this class.
The physical body of mortal flesh is not a part of the reassembly of the sleeping survivor; the physical body has returned to dust. The seraphim of assignment sponsors the new body, the morontia form, as the new life vehicle for the immortal soul and for the indwelling of the returned Adjuster. The Adjuster is the custodian of the spirit transcript of the mind of the sleeping survivor. The assigned seraphim is the keeper of the surviving identity—the immortal soul—as far as it has evolved. And when these two, the Adjuster and the seraphim, reunite their personality trusts, the new individual constitutes the resurrection of the old personality, the survival of the evolving morontia identity of the soul. Such a reassociation of soul and Adjuster is quite properly called a resurrection, a reassembly of personality factors; but even this does not entirely explain the reappearance of the surviving personality. Though you will probably never understand the fact of such an inexplicable transaction, you will sometime experientially know the truth of it if you do not reject the plan of mortal survival.
The plan of initial mortal detention on seven worlds of progressive training is nearly universal in Orvonton. In each local system of approximately one thousand inhabited planets there are seven mansion worlds, usually satellites or subsatellites of the system capital. They are the receiving worlds for the majority of ascending mortals.
Sometimes all training worlds of mortal residence are called universe “mansions,” and it was to such spheres that Jesus alluded when he said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” From here on, within a given group of spheres like the mansion worlds, ascenders will progress individually from one sphere to another and from one phase of life to another, but they will always advance from one stage of universe study to another in class formation.
- Morontia Progressors. From the mansion worlds on up through the spheres of the system, constellation, and the universe, mortals are classed as morontia progressors; they are traversing the transition spheres of mortal ascension. As the ascending mortals progress from the lower to the higher of the morontia worlds, they serve on countless assignments in association with their teachers and in company with their more advanced and senior brethren.
Morontia progression pertains to continuing advancement of intellect, spirit, and personality form. Survivors are still three-natured beings. Throughout the entire morontia experience they are wards of the local universe. The regime of the superuniverse does not function until the spirit career begins.
Mortals acquire real spirit identity just before they leave the local universe headquarters for the receiving worlds of the minor sectors of the superuniverse. Passing from the final morontia stage to the first or lowest spirit status is but a slight transition. The mind, personality, and character are unchanged by such an advance; only does the form undergo modification. But the spirit form is just as real as the morontia body, and it is equally discernible.
Before departing from their native local universes for the superuniverse receiving worlds, the mortals of time are recipients of spirit confirmation from the Creator Son and the local universe Mother Spirit. From this point on, the status of the ascending mortal is forever settled. Superuniverse wards have never been known to go astray. Ascending seraphim are also advanced in angelic standing at the time of their departure from the local universes.
- Superuniverse Wards. All ascenders arriving on the training worlds of the superuniverses become the wards of the Ancients of Days; they have traversed the morontia life of the local universe and are now accredited spirits. As young spirits they begin the ascension of the superuniverse system of training and culture, extending from the receiving spheres of their minor sector in through the study worlds of the ten major sectors and on to the higher cultural spheres of the superuniverse headquarters.
There are three orders of student spirits in accordance with their sojourn upon the minor sector, major sectors, and the superuniverse headquarters worlds of spirit progression. As morontia ascenders studied and worked on the worlds of the local universe, so spirit ascenders continue to master new worlds while they practice at giving out to others that which they have imbibed at the experiential founts of wisdom. But going to school as a spirit being in the superuniverse career is very unlike anything that has ever entered the imaginative realms of the material mind of man.
Before leaving the superuniverse for Havona, these ascending spirits receive the same thorough course in superuniverse management that they received during their morontia experience in local universe supervision. Before spirit mortals reach Havona, their chief study, but not exclusive occupation, is the mastery of local and superuniverse administration. The reason for all of this experience is not now fully apparent, but no doubt such training is wise and necessary in view of their possible future destiny as members of the Corps of the Finality.
The superuniverse regime is not the same for all ascending mortals. They receive the same general education, but special groups and classes are carried through special courses of instruction and are put through specific courses of training.
- Havona Pilgrims. When spirit development is complete, even though not replete, then the surviving mortal prepares for the long flight to Havona, the haven of evolutionary spirits. On earth you were a creature of flesh and blood; through the local universe you were a morontia being; through the superuniverse you were an evolving spirit; with your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona your spiritual education begins in reality and in earnest; your eventual appearance on Paradise will be as a perfected spirit.
The journey from the superuniverse headquarters to the Havona receiving spheres is always made alone. From now on no more class or group instruction will be administered. You are through with the technical and administrative training of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Now begins your personal education, your individual spiritual training. From first to last, throughout all Havona, the instruction is personal and threefold in nature: intellectual, spiritual, and experiential.
The first act of your Havona career will be to recognize and thank your transport seconaphim for the long and safe journey. Then you are presented to those beings who will sponsor your early Havona activities. Next you go to register your arrival and prepare your message of thanksgiving and adoration for dispatch to the Creator Son of your local universe, the universe Father who made possible your sonship career. This concludes the formalities of the Havona arrival; whereupon you are accorded a long period of leisure for free observation, and this affords opportunity for looking up your friends, fellows, and associates of the long ascension experience. You may also consult the broadcasts to ascertain who of your fellow pilgrims have departed for Havona since the time of your leaving Uversa.
The fact of your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona will be duly transmitted to the headquarters of your local universe and personally conveyed to your seraphic guardian, wherever that seraphim may chance to be.
The ascendant mortals have been thoroughly trained in the affairs of the evolutionary worlds of space; now they begin their long and profitable contact with the created spheres of perfection. What a preparation for some future work is afforded by this combined, unique, and extraordinary experience! But I cannot tell you about Havona; you must see these worlds to appreciate their glory or to understand their grandeur.
- Paradise Arrivals. On reaching Paradise with residential status, you begin the progressive course in divinity and absonity. Your residence on Paradise signifies that you have found God, and that you are to be mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. Of all the creatures of the grand universe, only those who are Father fused are mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. Only such individuals take the finaliter oath. Other beings of Paradise perfection or attainment may be temporarily attached to this finality corps, but they are not of eternal assignment to the unknown and unrevealed mission of this accumulating host of the evolutionary and perfected veterans of time and space.
Paradise arrivals are accorded a period of freedom, after which they begin their associations with the seven groups of the primary supernaphim. They are designated Paradise graduates when they have finished their course with the conductors of worship and then, as finaliters, are assigned on observational and co-operative service to the ends of the far-flung creation. As yet there seems to be no specific or settled employment for the Mortal Corps of Finaliters, though they serve in many capacities on worlds settled in light and life.
If there should be no future or unrevealed destiny for the Mortal Corps of the Finality, the present assignment of these ascendant beings would be altogether adequate and glorious. Their present destiny wholly justifies the universal plan of evolutionary ascent. But the future ages of the evolution of the spheres of outer space will undoubtedly further elaborate, and with more repleteness divinely illuminate, the wisdom and loving-kindness of the Gods in the execution of their divine plan of human survival and mortal ascension.” LU 30:4.1-33
More in the next issue of Reflectivity!