© 2009 Eduardo Altuzarra
© 2009 Urantia Association of Spain
This theory modifies the one presented in April 2006 and which is on the website www.urantia.es, Works section, First Part, Superuniverse of Orvonton following the news in 2008 “The Milky Way has two spiral arms.”
¶ Introduction
It is important to gain an adequate understanding of the physical makeup (UB 15:0.3) of the Grand Universe. In the space around us, all universes are in orderly, well-understood, and perfectly controlled procession (UB 15:1.1). We must also be consistent between what the revelators expounded, what is written, and what we interpret (Troy). We must try to understand that the dimensions and forms are simply breathtaking. Everything is homogeneous and orderly.
I dare say that, to achieve a little order in our minds, we must take into account how things are named within The Urantia Book (UB) and how astronomers name them. As I understand it, they have few things in common.
The Milky Way, as I understand it, is a great expanse of space within the superuniverse of Orvonton. Astronomers believe it is the galaxy within which our solar system is located and where we humans live. But when we try to locate a galaxy 100,000 light-years or more in diameter, as we are accustomed to seeing it from the photographs shown to us by astronomers, within what the revelators tell us may be Orvonton, it turns out that it doesn’t fit. A nebula of that size may very well not actually exist within the superuniverse, given the dimensions the revelators say Orvonton has (UB 15:3.2 and UB 32:2.11).
If the nebulae within the first level of outer space are not the same in type and form, except for a very small number in the inner periphery of the superuniverse, as those within Orvonton (UB 57:3.2 and UB 15:4.7-8), then we cannot attach a similar galaxy as astronomers claim the Milky Way to it.
If the revelators tell us that our astronomers have located more or less eight of the ten major parts of Orvonton (UB 15:3.4), I interpret that they almost see the majority of the superuniverse, that is, much further beyond the 100,000 years that astronomers say the Milky Way galaxy is, leaving only two parts hidden because they are in the opposite place from ours, far to the north. Which I suppose is also not true.
If you could observe the superuniverse of Orvonton from a distant position in space, you would immediately recognize the ten major sectors of the seventh galaxy. UB 15:3.4
I deduce that Orvonton is equal to the seventh galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy is composed of a large number of ancient spiral and other nebulae, many of which still retain their original configuration. UB 15:4.8
I interpret the Milky Way galaxy to be the same as Orvonton.
The immense star clouds of Orvonton should be regarded as individual aggregates of matter, comparable to the various nebulae observable in the outer space regions of the Milky Way Galaxy. UB 15:4.9
I consider Orvonton to be the Milky Way galaxy.
My theory is based on similar phrases and paragraphs found in the various UB documents. I interpret that when the revelators speak of the Milky Way, they are referring to our superuniverse of Orvonton. Note that Andronover is a distorted nebula that has produced 1,013,628 suns. That a Local Universe is composed of one or more nebulae (UB 41:0.3), more or less similar to Andronover, not forgetting the ten forms of nebulae, and that a superuniverse is composed of 100,000 Local Universes, UB 15:2.10.
We know from the UB that the immense Milky Way star system represents the central core of Orvonton (UB 15:3.1). As I understand it, Orvonton has no “arms,” only its component nebulae do, each rotating according to its own metamorphosis. A Major Sector, a Minor Sector, a Constellation, or a Local System need not have appendages. A Constellation is an administrative part of a Local Universe, a Local System is another administrative part, and Physical Systems are the smallest part of space, with 1, 2, or 3 suns, several planets, and various satellites.
Nebulae or galaxies. I consider that when the UB refers to them, it refers to the same thing, and to me they are the “mother of the lamb.” They are what give rise to the Local Universes, the suns, the planets, and the satellites (UB 15:4.7), although with some exceptions. They are what our astronomers see when they look into outer space (UB 12:1.8 and UB 12:2.2). There are 10 forms of nebulae (UB 15:4.4), and all are the origin of the seven superuniverses. They have four or more levels of development (Paper 57). There are small ones, which are within our superuniverse; one of these, in the north, has created 40,000 suns. Not many more exist within our superuniverse at present, creating stars. There are also large ones, which are outside the boundaries of our superuniverse and may create suns on the order of 100,000,000 (UB 15:4.5).
Nebulae need not have a direct relationship to administrative units such as Major Sectors, Minor Sectors, Local Universes, etc. Although some Local Universes are the product of a single nebula (UB 15:4.6).
¶ Description
¶ Paper 11
To try to imagine how Creation is composed in space, Discussion 11, in its various sections, gives us a fairly clear explanation. On page 125, it says:
The relatively quiet zones between the space levels, such as that separating the seven superuniverses from the first outer space level, are vast elliptical regions where space activities are at rest. ***These zones separate the immense galaxies that are rapidly whirling in orderly procession around Paradise. You may visualize the first outer space level, **where incalculable universes are now in the process of formation, as a vast Paradise-revolving procession of galaxies, bounded above and below by the quiescent zones of intervening space, and bounded on the inner and outer margins by the relatively quiet zones of space. UB 11:7.7
¶ Paper 12
Between the energy circuits of the seven superuniverses and this gigantic outer belt of force activity, there is a space zone of comparative quiet, which varies in width but averages about four hundred thousand light-years. These space zones are free from star dust—cosmic fog. … But about one-half million light-years beyond the periphery of the present grand universe we observe the beginnings of a zone of an unbelievable energy action which increases in volume and intensity for over twenty-five million light-years. These tremendous wheels of energizing forces are situated in the first outer space level, a continuous belt of cosmic activity encircling the whole of the known, organized, and inhabited creation. UB 12:1.14
When Urantia astronomers peer through their increasingly powerful telescopes into the mysterious stretches of outer space (I interpret that as beyond the borders of Orvonton) and there behold the amazing evolution of almost countless physical universes, they should realize that they are gazing upon the mighty outworking of the unsearchable plans of the Architects of the Master Universe. UB 12:2.1
Although the unaided human eye can see only two or three nebulae outside the borders of the superuniverse of Orvonton, your telescopes literally reveal millions upon millions of these physical universes in process of formation. Most of the starry realms visually exposed to the search of your present-day telescopes are in Orvonton, but with photographic technique the larger telescopes penetrate far beyond the borders of the grand universe into the domains of outer space, where untold universes are in process of organization. And there are yet other millions of universes beyond the range of your present instruments. UB 12:2.2
Sections 1 and 2 of paper 12 tell us in some of its paragraphs our position in created space, what is outside and inside our superuniverse, the measurements used, and what our astrophysicists can see. What they say exists within the first level in paper 11 is called galaxies, and in paper 12 what they say exists in outer space (the first level) is called nebulae. This is where I interpret that, from the comparison the revelators make between galaxy and nebula, I deduce that they are the same thing: immense wheels of energy. I consider these data to be taken into account when establishing the theory.
In the not-distant future, new telescopes will reveal to the wondering gaze of Urantian astronomers no less than 375 million new galaxies in the remote stretches of outer space. At the same time these more powerful telescopes will disclose that many island universes formerly believed to be in outer space are really a part of the galactic system of Orvonton. The seven superuniverses are still growing; the periphery of each is gradually expanding; new nebulae are constantly being stabilized and organized; (I gather that these nebulae are in the last phase of their development, very nearly losing their atomic nuclei while retaining very tenuous arms; more on that later in Disc. 57) and some of the nebulae which Urantian astronomers regard as extragalactic are actually on the fringe of Orvonton and are traveling along with us. UB 12:2.3
¶ Paper 15
It is important first to gain an adequate idea of the physical constitution and material organization of the superuniverse domains, for then you will be the better prepared to grasp the significance of the marvelous organization provided for their spiritual government and for the intellectual advancement of the will creatures who dwell on the myriads of inhabited planets scattered hither and yon throughout these seven superuniverses. UB 15:0.3
Later on and imagining, since there is no photograph that illustrates it, he says:
…the universes are engaged in an orderly, well-understood, and perfectly controlled processional, swinging in majestic grandeur… UB 15:1.1
At the end of the next page 165 it says:
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. Beyond you there are still others, but you are far removed in space from those physical systems… UB 15:1.6
¶ 3. FROM THE SUPERUNIVERSE OF ORVONTON
Practically all of the starry realms visible to the naked eye on Urantia belong to the seventh section of the grand universe, the superuniverse of Orvonton. UB 15:3.1
I attach what is seen with the naked eye from Urantia and this is literal, do not interpret or imagine:
If we gave that ellipse a longitudinal section AB or if we could look at it from above, we would not see this:
We would see, as I imagine, something similar to this:
The vast Milky Way starry system represents the central nucleus of Orvonton, being largely beyond the borders of your local universe. UB 15:3.1
I explain how I interpret and imagine the Milky Way or Orvonton, and in principle, it’s not like Andromeda; that’s impossible. Why? Very simple: Andromeda is located within the first level of outer space, and everything within that level is in the first phase of development. Nebulae have four phases of behavior: millions and millions of years to transform into a large star cluster, host suns and planets, and later become inhabitable. I come to interpret and imagine, given the time elapsed in the formation of our superuniverse, and its being much greater than the time elapsed in the formation of the first level, that the nebulae within our superuniverse must be fully developed or about to be, in their final phase. In fact, the UB itself says that there are still some nebulae within our superuniverse releasing their last suns, but that most are already fully developed to host life.
This great aggregation of suns, dark islands of space, double stars, globular clusters, star clouds, spiral and other nebulae, together with myriads of individual planets, forms a watchlike, elongated-circular grouping of about one seventh of the inhabited evolutionary universes. UB 15:3.1
From the astronomical position of Urantia, as you look through the cross section of near-by systems to the great Milky Way, you observe that the spheres of Orvonton are traveling in a vast elongated plane, the breadth being far greater than the thickness and the length far greater than the breadth. UB 15:3.2
Observation of the so-called Milky Way discloses the comparative increase in Orvonton stellar density when the heavens are viewed in one direction, while on either side the density diminishes; the number of stars and other spheres decreases away from the chief plane of our material superuniverse. When the angle of observation is propitious, gazing through the main body of this realm of maximum density, you are looking toward the residential universe and the center of all things. UB 15:3.3
Of the ten major divisions of Orvonton, eight have been roughly identified by Urantian astronomers. UB 15:3.4
There’s nothing to interpret or imagine here either; it’s written very clearly, and I think it doesn’t matter whether they’re represented as “little cheeses,” as “portions” of space, as cubes, as rhombic polyhedrons, or as something else. They’re ten major divisions; they can never be ten Andromeda-type nebulae.
Why do I say that? To say what I say, you have to read the first four sections of Decree 57, interpret them carefully (according to my theory), and draw conclusions. I consider them important.
The other two are difficult of separate recognition because you are obliged to view these phenomena from the inside. If you could look upon the superuniverse of Orvonton from a position far-distant in space, you would immediately recognize the ten major sectors of the seventh galaxy. UB 15:3.4
The rotational center of your minor sector is situated far away in the enormous and dense star cloud of Sagittarius, around which your local universe and its associated creations all move, and from opposite sides of the vast Sagittarius subgalactic system you may observe two great streams of star clouds emerging in stupendous stellar coils. UB 15:3.5
The nucleus of the physical system to which your sun and its associated planets belong is the center of the onetime Andronover nebula. This former spiral nebula was slightly distorted by the gravity disruptions associated with the events which were attendant upon the birth of your solar system, and which were occasioned by the near approach of a large neighboring nebula. This near collision changed Andronover into a somewhat globular aggregation but did not wholly destroy the two-way procession of the suns and their associated physical groups. Your solar system now occupies a fairly central position in one of the arms of this distorted spiral, situated about halfway from the center out towards the edge of the star stream. UB 15:3.6
The Sagittarius sector and all other sectors and divisions of Orvonton are in rotation around Uversa, and some of the confusion of Urantian star observers arises out of the illusions and relative distortions produced by the following multiple revolutionary movements:
- The revolution of Urantia around its sun.
- The circuit of your solar system about the nucleus of the former Andronover nebula.
- The rotation of the Andronover stellar family and the associated clusters about the composite rotation-gravity center of the star cloud of Nebadon.
- The swing of the local star cloud of Nebadon and its associated creations around the Sagittarius center of their minor sector.
- The rotation of the one hundred minor sectors, including Sagittarius, about their major sector.
- The whirl of the ten major sectors, the so-called star drifts, about the Uversa headquarters of Orvonton.
- The movement of Orvonton and six associated superuniverses around Paradise and Havona, the counterclockwise processional of the superuniverse space level. UB 15:3.7-14
¶ 4. NEBULAE - ANCESTORS OF THE UNIVERSES
Paradise force organizers are nebulae originators; … Thus are brought into being the spiral and other nebulae, the mother wheels of the direct-origin suns and their varied systems. In outer space there may be seen ten different forms of nebulae (Galaxies?), phases of primary universe evolution, and these vast energy wheels (Nebulae or galaxies?) had the same origin as did those in the seven superuniverses. UB 15:4.4
Nebulae vary greatly in size and in the resulting number and aggregate mass of their stellar and planetary offspring. A sun-forming nebula just north of the borders of Orvonton, but within the superuniverse space level, has already given origin to approximately forty thousand suns, and the mother wheel is still throwing off suns, the majority of which are many times the size of yours. Some of the larger nebulae of outer space are giving origin to as many as one hundred million suns. (I consider that Andromeda cannot have trillions of suns, as astronomers report) UB 15:4.5
Nebulae are not directly related to any of the administrative units, such as minor sectors or local universes, although some local universes have been organized from the products of a single nebula. Each local universe embraces exactly one one-hundred-thousandth part of the total energy charge of a superuniverse irrespective of nebular relationship, for energy is not organized by nebulae—it is universally distributed. UB 15:4.6
Not all spiral nebulae are engaged in sun making. … There are not many sun-forming nebulae active in Orvonton at the present time, though Andromeda, which is outside the inhabited superuniverse, is very active. This far-distant nebula is visible to the naked eye, and when you view it, pause to consider that the light you behold left those distant suns almost one million years ago. (It follows that when our astronomers look outward, they observe nebula-galaxies more than a million light-years distant from us.) UB 15:4.7
The Milky Way galaxy is composed of vast numbers of former spiral and other nebulae, and many still retain their original configuration. But as the result of internal catastrophes and external attraction, many have suffered such distortion and rearrangement as to cause these enormous aggregations to appear as gigantic luminous masses of blazing suns, like the Magellanic Cloud. The globular type of star clusters predominates near the outer margins of Orvonton. UB 15:4.8
The vast star clouds of Orvonton should be regarded as individual aggregations of matter comparable to the separate nebulae observable in the space regions external to the Milky Way galaxy. (I interpret and deduce that this refers to the same thing, Orvonton-Milky Way.) However, many of the so-called star clouds of space are composed only of gaseous matter. The energy potential of these stellar gas clouds is incredibly enormous, and a portion of them is absorbed by nearby suns and reemitted into space as solar emanations. UB 15:4.9
The superuniverse of Orvonton is illuminated and warmed by more than ten trillion blazing suns. These suns are the stars of your observable astronomic system. (I interpret these to be in the same proportion as our astronomers see when they look out into the superuniverse, 8/10 or so, whether suns or major divisions.) UB 15:6.10
¶ Paper 32
The Satania system of inhabited worlds is far removed from Uversa and that great sun cluster which functions as the physical or astronomic center of the seventh superuniverse. From Jerusem, the headquarters of Satania, it is over two hundred thousand light-years to the physical center of the superuniverse of Orvonton, far, far away in the dense diameter of the Milky Way. (I interpret and infer that this refers to the same thing, Orvonton-Milky Way Galaxy). Satania is on the periphery of the local universe, and Nebadon is now well out towards the edge of Orvonton. UB 32:2.11
From the most distant system of inhabited worlds to the center of the superuniverse is a little less than two hundred fifty thousand light-years.
¶ Paper 41
One or more—even many—such nebulae may be encompassed within the domain of a single local universe even as Nebadon was physically assembled out of the stellar and planetary progeny of Andronover and other nebulae. The spheres of Nebadon are of diverse nebular ancestry, but they all had a certain minimum commonness of space motion which was so adjusted by the intelligent efforts of the power directors as to produce our present aggregation of space bodies, which travel along together as a contiguous unit over the orbits of the superuniverse. UB 41:0.3
Such is the constitution of the local star cloud of Nebadon, which today swings in an increasingly settled orbit about the Sagittarius center of that minor sector of Orvonton to which our local creation belongs. UB 41:0.4
¶ Paper 42
They emanate in the largest quantities from the densest plane of the superuniverse, the Milky Way, which is also the densest plane of the outer universes. This phrase is found within a subject of short special rays. UB 42:5.5
¶ Paper 57
¶ 1. THE ANDRONOVER NEBULA
Urantia is of origin in your sun, and your sun is one of the multifarious offspring of the Andronover nebula, which was onetime organized as a component part of the physical power and material matter of the local universe of Nebadon. And this great nebula itself took origin in the universal force-charge of space in the superuniverse of Orvonton, long, long ago. UB 57:1.1
Subsequent to the initiation of such nebular revolutions, the living force organizers simply withdraw at right angles to the plane of the revolutionary disk, and from that time forward, the inherent qualities of energy insure the progressive and orderly evolution of such a new physical system. UB 57:1.6
All evolutionary material creations are born of circular and gaseous nebulae, and all such primary nebulae are circular throughout the early part of their gaseous existence. As they grow older, they usually become spiral, and when their function of sun formation has run its course, they often terminate as clusters of stars or as enormous suns surrounded by a varying number of planets, satellites, and smaller groups of matter in many ways resembling your own diminutive solar system. UB 57:2.1
600,000,000,000 years ago the height of the Andronover energy-mobilization period was attained; the nebula had acquired its maximum of mass. At this time it was a gigantic circular gas cloud in shape somewhat like a flattened spheroid. UB 57:2.4
¶ 3. THE SECONDARY NEBULAR STAGE
The enormous nebula now began gradually to assume the spiral form and to become clearly visible to the astronomers of even distant universes. This is the natural history of most nebulae; before they begin to throw off suns and start upon the work of universe building, these secondary space nebulae are usually observed as spiral phenomena. UB 57:3.1
The near-by star students of that faraway era, as they observed this metamorphosis of the Andronover nebula, saw exactly what twentieth-century astronomers see when they turn their telescopes spaceward and view the present-age spiral nebulae of adjacent outer space. This paragraph tells us that almost nothing our astronomers see out there on the first level of outer space is the same as or has anything to do with what they see when they turn their telescopes into what they call the Milky Way, the central core of Orvonton, or the densest plane of the superuniverse—the Milky Way, as the revelators call it, at least that is my interpretation. UB 57:3.2
About the time of the attainment of the maximum of mass, the gravity control of the gaseous content commenced to weaken, and there ensued the stage of gas escapement, the gas streaming forth as two gigantic and distinct arms, which took origin on opposite sides of the mother mass. The rapid revolutions of this enormous central core soon imparted a spiral appearance to these two projecting gas streams. The cooling and subsequent condensation of portions of these protruding arms eventually produced their knotted appearance. These denser portions were vast systems and subsystems of physical matter whirling through space in the midst of the gaseous cloud of the nebula while being held securely within the gravity grasp of the mother wheel. UB 57:3.3
200,000,000,000 years ago witnessed the progression of contraction and condensation with enormous heat generation in the Andronover central cluster, or nuclear mass. Relative space appeared even in the regions near the central mother-sun wheel. The outer regions were becoming more stabilized and better organized; some planets revolving around the newborn suns had cooled sufficiently to be suitable for life implantation. The oldest inhabited planets of Nebadon date from these times. UB 57:3.10
¶ 4. THE TERTIARY AND QUATERNARY STAGES
The primary stage of a nebula is circular; the secondary is spiral; the tertiary is the first dispersion of the suns, while the quaternary encompasses the second and final cycle of solar dispersion, terminating the parent nucleus as a globular cluster or as a solitary sun functioning as the center of a terminal solar system.*** UB 57:5.1
6,000,000,000 years ago marks the end of the terminal breakup and the birth of your sun, the fifty-sixth from the last of the Andronover second solar family. This final eruption of the nebular nucleus gave birth to 136,702 suns, most of them solitary orbs. The total number of suns and sun systems having origin in the Andronover nebula was 1,013,628. The number of the solar system sun is 1,013,572. UB 57:4.8
And now the great Andronover nebula is no more, but it lives on in the many suns and their planetary families which originated in this mother cloud of space. The final nuclear remnant of this magnificent nebula still burns with a reddish glow and continues to give forth moderate light and heat to its remnant planetary family of one hundred and sixty-five worlds, which now revolve about this venerable mother of two mighty generations of the monarchs of light. UB 57:4.9
From all these paragraphs of Decree 57 I interpret that, except for a very few nebulae that are currently creating suns and those that are located very far on the periphery of the limits of the superuniverse, I would dare to say that more than 75% are nebulae that have already passed the four stages of reproduction, that is, without an atomic nucleus and tenuous spiral arms…the universes are caught up in an orderly, well-understood and perfectly controlled procession, which rotates with majestic grandeur…
¶ Bibliography
- VARIOUS PARAGRAPHS FROM DOCUMENTS 11-12-15-32-41-42-49 AND 57 OF THE URANTIA BOOK.
- “ASTRONOMY AND THE SUPERUNIVERSE” by Troy R. Bishop © 1982
- “WHAT IS ORVONTON REALLY LIKE?” by Antonio Moya 1987
- “FROM URANTIA TO THE MASTER UNIVERSE, INTERESTING FACTS” by Humberto Andrade 1997
- HOW BIG IS ORVONTON REALLY? by Norm Du Val.
- “A STUDY OF THE MASTER UNIVERSE” by William Sadler, Jr.
- HUBBLE PHOTOGRAPHS.