© 2013 Israel Dix
© 2013 Olga López, for translation and republishing
© 2012 The Urantia Book Fellowship
(Published in The Fellowship Herald, Summer 2012 issue)
From Israel Dix (Stockholm, Sweden)
¶ Ambiguity
The book states that “[t]he laws of revelation hamper us greatly by their proscription of the impartation of unearned or premature knowledge” UB 101:4.1. As speculative as it may be, there is one possible and definitely interesting way around this limitation [1].
There are several statements in The Urantia Book that are formulated to give them more than one meaning. Regarding science, it allows interpreting a statement both before and after a given scientific discovery. In other words: you can state a fact that will soon be discovered, while simultaneously presenting what is considered a fact at the present moment.
As an example, although not related to our search for the stars, consider the Moon and Mercury. At the time the Urantia Papers were written, it was widely believed among the scientific community that Mercury always offered the same face to the Sun, as the Moon does to the Earth. Because we have better data, we now know that it is false—that its rotation has slowed to the point where its day and year are nearly identical, and that it has a fluctuating day/year ratio. The gravitational pull of the sun will eventually lead to a more stable situation, like with the Moon. But the statement can be read in two ways:
The planets nearest the sun were the first to have their revolutions slowed down by tidal friction. Such gravitational influences also contribute to the stabilization of planetary orbits while acting as a brake on the rate of planetary-axial revolution, causing a planet to revolve ever slower until axial revolution ceases, leaving one hemisphere of the planet always turned toward the sun or larger body, as is illustrated by the planet Mercury and by the moon, which always turns the same face toward Urantia. (UB 57:6.2)
Before we had better facts, the quote could be read according to our imprecise science, which always presents the same face to the Sun as the Moon. But “as demonstrated by the planet Mercury” is also an example, and can also be interpreted, as acting “as a brake on the axial rotation rate of the planet; this makes a planet rotate more and more slowly”. The ambiguity is caused by the absence of a comma after “Mercury” and the comma after “Luna” which, although not necessary, would provide more clarity.
I am of the opinion that statements like this are psychologically interpreted in different ways, leading us to one interpretation or the other, depending on whether the reader encounters the statement before or after the scientific discovery is made. Such a theory is not without foundation, given the human tendency to think from the perspective of our own time. Thus, in an attempt to obey while simultaneously surrounding the mandate of the revelation, the revelators could have made that ambiguous statement on purpose.
But back to our topic of counting the stars. Another example of the limitations imposed on the revelators on what could be said before an important discovery is found in the following: “You would be more than interested in the planetary conduct of this type of mortal because such a race of beings inhabits a sphere in close proximity to Urantia.” [UB 49:3.6] This is not an ambiguous statement but rather an imprecise one. I bring it up first to point out that it is probably a sister world, an inhabited planet within our solar system. The number juggling we’ve done earlier has given us a chance to reinterpret what “very close” actually means. It is imprecise with respect to the distance, because it is a statement prior to the discovery of alien life in our solar system. And secondly I mention it to introduce another statement, which has an ambiguity (exactly like the statement of the Moon and Mercury) that gives more credence to other inhabited spheres of Monmatia, our solar system. This particular statement is rarely read as indicating life elsewhere in the solar system but, having discovered the numerical circumstances above, it suddenly comes to mind, at least to me, with a dual and ambiguous meaning. And that reinterpretation itself gives rise to the aforementioned temporal bias in the interpretation of ambiguity. Let’s take a look:
“But as this era opens, Urantia is in every way evolving toward a state favorable for the support of the initial forms of marine life. Slowly but surely physical developments on earth and in adjacent space regions are preparing the stage for the later attempts to establish such life forms as we had decided would be best adapted to the unfolding physical environment—both terrestrial and spatial.”. [UB 58:1.5] Ordinarily, we could read “adjacent regions of space” as being adjacent to Urantia, or simply outside of our atmosphere, and that conditions in space were ripe for life on Urantia. And it would not be incorrect, since later it is clarified that “These energy conditions of space are germane to the essential environment of life establishment, but they are not effective in the subsequent modification of the inheritance factors of the germ plasm as are some of the longer rays of radiant energy” [UB 58:3.4]
One factor that is misleading in its interpretation is the context in which the claim is placed. The statement prior to this is related to the “initial forms of marine life”, which naturally focuses our attention on the oceans of Urantia.
What is ambiguous about this is the fact that “Earth and adjacent regions of space” suffices to convey that life is beginning only on Urantia. That’s all it takes, but for some interesting reason the words “both terrestrial and space” are added. This statement may refer directly to “adjacent regions of space” on Urantia. But it can also refer to a planned implantation of life “very close” to Urantia. Test the statement by reading it several times, removing one clause or the other. Also read it with “both terrestrial and space” referring once to “on Earth and adjacent regions of space,” and again to “those life forms we have decided are best suited to the physical environment.” The discovery of the organization of the Satania system, as stated above, was what led me to read that statement with its second meaning. And this led me to the conclusion of pre- and post-interpretative ambiguity as a possibility of circumventing the limitations of revelation [2].
So now we have a statement that speaks both of regions of space related to the implantation of life on Urantia, and the statement related to the implantation of life on Urantia and elsewhere in our region of space. “Both terrestrial and spatial« can then refer to ”those forms of life». In regards to said monumental scientific discovery, a limitation was placed on what could be said, restricting it to providing the era of pre-discovery of life on other worlds.
I’ll point out our first ambiguous quote regarding sixty-one decimal worlds versus sixty-two. In addition, we have the oddly worded “sky map” of how many worlds are contained within each solar system, which prevents the importance of the organization of the universe from being immediately obvious. This, in combination with the Moon-Mercury ambiguity, the ambiguity of “adjacent regions of space” and the initial contradiction of “one in ten” and “about one in ten”, caught my attention and drove me to all this theory of the organization of Satania, as well as the possibility of the wording of the revelation as the cause of such ambiguous statements. There are enough gaps in what is said to avoid instantly recognizing this beautiful pattern of the spheres, this “organization of the universe”[3].
¶ Options are good
Once we have considered the implantation of life in the “adjacent regions of space” that are “very close to Urantia”, as well as the numerical and organizational proof that we have a sister sphere with non-breathers, we can proceed to a fascinating pattern within of this organizational vision. The question is still there: to which of the two combinations of worlds do we belong? Do we have a sister non-breather world in our solar system, or two worlds, one of which is a non-breather sphere, the other of unknown type?
Consider these two consecutive and complementary statements:
Of the electric groupings of mortal life, almost twenty-three per cent belong to class number four, the Urantia type of existence. These types are distributed as follows: number 1, one per cent; number 2, two per cent; number 3, five per cent; number 4, twenty-three per cent; number 5, twenty-seven per cent; number 6, twenty-four per cent; number 7, eight per cent; number 8, five per cent; number 9, three per cent; number 10, two per cent—in whole percentages. (UB 49:2.23)
The first sentence gives us a figure of “nearly twenty-three percent”, to which Urantia belongs. However, the second statement gives us the same figures “in total percentages”. Here we have yet another seemingly contradictory finding, and in the same paragraph, no less! Something’s up here.
With some thought, we can determine that the first percentage is real; is the current ratio of planets with a type four atmosphere. Each new world added to the life log will slightly change this actual percentage. The second sentence, on the other hand, is related to the projection, the plan, something I have since called the Satania Life Template. It is a projected plan containing all the final ratios, relationships and organizations, just as they will be when Satania finally reaches 1,000 worlds, a completed system. The only way for the full percentages to be reached would be to have some final value of the proportions. Thus, in the final count, there will be exactly 23% of 1,000 worlds (230 worlds) with a class 4 electrical reaction in the completed Satania system.
This is important to note because by having such a template, Life Carriers can find appropriate worlds (or combinations of worlds) on which to bestow life. And it shouldn’t be that difficult to do considering the vast number of worlds and solar systems you have and will have to choose from. In the Satania system, and around the year 1934, “There are thirty-six uninhabited planets nearing the life-endowment stage, and several are now being made ready for the Life Carriers. There are nearly two hundred spheres which are evolving so as to be ready for life implantation within the next few million years.” [UB 49:0.3] In such a fruitful universe, it is easy to conceive that four inhabited planets could regularly be found and other combinations, at least in the most recent and stable half of the system, in which to carry out their plans for living things.
I will remind you that we are still exploring the big picture, the question of which combination of worlds we belong to, option one or option two. This life setting template implies an interesting possibility. If we are to extend these worlds to the finished Life of Satania Template, we will discover that there is only one possible combination of worlds that reaches one thousand worlds, organized according to four separate series of related creatures, as whole percentages. I propose the following for the finished Satania system of 1000 worlds:
- Series one of kindred creatures (O worlds containing only one inhabited planet per solar system), which will consist of 800 worlds and give 80 decimal worlds.
- Kindred creature series two (worlds XX, containing two planets of mortal life per solar system), which will consist of 150 worlds and give 15 decimal planets.
- Series three of kindred creatures (consisting of worlds YYY, three planets per solar system), which will reach 30 worlds in the finished Satania system and thus contain 3 experimental spheres.
- Series four of kindred creatures (ZZZZ, four inhabited planets per solar system) which will consist of 20 worlds. This group of planets will eventually have two decimal worlds.
The system is slightly complete in the middle in terms of the aggregate, as well as between the four categories, and slightly decreases between the solar systems of various worlds. At least the template gives numerical values that approximate the proportions now prevailing in the unfinished system. Kinship series three and four are numerically weak in that respect, probably because it takes an old system to regularly produce so many habitable worlds in a single solar system.
This numerical formula, while tentative, seems the most likely for Satania’s finished system. It might just as likely be a finished product of three ZZZZ star systems instead of five, with the remaining 8 worlds picked up by various combinations of the other categories, but the reason this particular combination is so appealing nonetheless is that, both in the aggregate and in each category, 10% of all worlds are experimental. So I will hold onto this as the primary grouping of worlds in the Satania Life Template.
You will now notice that in the XX category of worlds, which has two planets per solar system, there are 9 decimal worlds out of 92, out of a total of 15 in the finished system of Satania. The complete percentage of experimental worlds of dual solar systems is one and a half percent. [UB 49:2.7]
Curiously, “In all of Satania there are only nine worlds of this type [of non-breathers]” UB 49:3.1. Is it a coincidence that the number of experimental worlds in the XX series is the same as the number of worlds with non-breathers in all of Satania? And that the projected complete system has in that specific category 15 worlds, or 1.5%?
The Urantia Book does not give us a concrete percentage of the predicted number of non-breather worlds in Satania, but it does stick to a percentage. I surmise that this, like the ambiguity discussed previously, is an attempt to be imprecise in order not to make the certainty of this System Template set in stone. Leave room for speculation and possibilities. We are reminded that “Such conceptual expansion would hardly be desirable as it would deprive the thinking mortals of the next thousand years of that stimulus to creative speculation which these partially revealed concepts supply. It is best that man not have an overrevelation; it stifles imagination.» [UB 30:0.2]
Although we don’t have a direct percentage for non-breathers, we are told that: “Of the Orvonton inhabited worlds this type amounts to less than seven per cent. In Nebadon this percentage is less than three. In all Satania there are only nine such worlds.” [UB 49:3.1] Naturally, a younger section of space “still abounds in meteoric space bodies; and worlds without a protective friction atmosphere are subject to incessant bombardment by these wanderers.” [UB 49:3.2] As Orvonton is older than Nebadon, it is much more stable, contains fewer errant space bodies, and therefore can have higher levels of non-breathers. Satania, being younger than Nebadon, would similarly contain fewer possibilities for non-breather worlds, and therefore a slightly lower percentage than all of Nebadon. And these decreasing percentages would correspond approximately to the age of the universes, as well as their stability.
Once again: are we one of two or one of three inhabited planets in the solar system? It’s good to speculate, and with the circumstances of where we are in the plan of things, and given the information we have, there are simply two possibilities. Nothing is definitively revealed about alien life, except that there is life elsewhere orbiting the sun.
Although we cannot be sure, I predict here that every decimal world that falls into category XX has a sister sphere of a world with nonbreathers: nine decimal spheres, each with a world of nonbreathers sharing its solar orbit. I also predict that the Satania Life Template has a projected completion plan of 1½ percent of non-breather worlds.
Because of this matching percentile harmony, I personally exclude an inhabited third world in the solar system.
¶ Provision for the future
“All inhabited worlds are basically grouped for celestial administration into the local systems, and each of these local systems is limited to about one thousand evolutionary worlds. This limitation is by the decree of the Ancients of Days, and it pertains to actual evolutionary planets whereon mortals of survival status are living. Neither worlds finally settled in light and life nor planets in the prehuman stage of life development are reckoned in this group.” [UB 49:0.2]
Once again, we see the word “ones” next to “a thousand worlds.” Undoubtedly, they take into account the worlds settled in light and life, as well as the life that does not yet have the dignity of the will.
I suspect that when the Satania system is complete, a new Template of Life will be spread over the current projection of worlds. In that future age, as the worlds are established in light and life, the possibility of establishing new forms of life will be allowed. In that late age, the regions of space will be more settled. They will contain less debris that could harm non-atmospheric worlds. It is possible that the percentage of non-breather worlds will increase in this future age, and this is supported by the fact that this percentage is actually higher in older areas of the universe.
There are some other substantial facts that lead me to suspect that Satania’s Life Template will be altered after reaching 1000 worlds. Regarding the planets that have been settled in light and life for some time, we are told that “all ascenders are destined, before attaining the minor sector, to receive some sort of transient assignment on a planet passing through the earlier stages of evolution.” [UB 55:3.11] If new planets are not created, these visits are impossible.
Creating more non-breathers in the system will also provide more child and spirit fusion candidates. “Finaliters acquire a marvelous and far-flung experience of transient service in all seven segments of the grand universe, but they do not ordinarily acquire that intimate knowledge of any one universe which even now characterizes the Spirit-fused veterans of the Nebadon Corps of Completion.” [UB 40:10.6] Such veteran citizens of the superuniverses and local universes inevitably create essential wisdom for the attainment of light and life on the respective levels.
As the systems settle more and more in light and life, the number of young worlds on which Adjusters can gain preliminary experience by indwelling mortal minds decreases substantially. However, with the addition of non-breather worlds to the Satania Template, “gain valuable indwelling experience on planets of the loan order; it does not follow that Adjusters only gain experience for advanced work in those mortal subjects who fail to survive.” [UB 110:7.3]. Therefore, they can gain experience on planets where most, if not all, candidates have survival status.
There is a fourth provision for the future. Suppose that the inhabited third world of our solar system is now uninhabited. Suppose that, at some point in the future, Urantia and your non-breather world, working together, have the opportunity to assist in ministry to a new, younger sister sphere. I believe this is the case, and it is another reason why I believe that only two of the three possible worlds are inhabited. The experiential knowledge and ministry training they provide us would be amazing!
¶ Possibilities to explore
Satania’s Life Template handles exact percentiles, and having such a template allows Life Carriers to group worlds based on those percentages. I will briefly note here that other approximate and exact percentages relating to the types of mortals inhabiting the spheres are given in the sections entitled “The Planetary Physical Types”, “The Worlds of the Non-breathers”, and “The Planetary Series of Mortals”. From time to time I find myself trying to find matching percentages in the combination of categories O, X, Y and Z with these three sections, in the hope that it might lead to a better understanding of Satania’s organizational structure.
As with the hunch that led to this study, I have a few hunches left regarding the Satania system. I can save them for another article. Meanwhile, image number 2 shows the completed Satania system. This is the entire system of 1,000 worlds, and is a template that the Satania administrators have in mind as a projection. The separate categories are 800 (or 80% of) inhabited and solitary solar system worlds, 150 (or 15% of) dual solar system worlds, etc. The red line indicates the current status of Satania. It should be noted that in the two-world category, the finished system will have 15 decimal planets (and 15 non-breathing worlds), while in the incomplete system (within the red line) there are only nine decimal worlds and also non-breathing worlds. breathers in The Urantia Book, that is, both in the complete and incomplete worlds. I have also included in this diagram all the other worlds of Satania in the mentioned revealed system.
In an unfinished system, the percentage is not exact. In a finished system, the ratios are exact because they match the template patterns. Like I said, there are possibilities to explore in the future.
The thing is, with the Satania Template and the numbers we’re given, I suspect there are solutions. I suspect this because, in the section on planetary physical types, [UB 49:1] I notice the ambiguity and weird wording, just where it’s needed if someone is trying to cover something up without hiding it. The possibilities for these combinations are, however, much greater than are the mere three combinations that can cause Urantia to drift toward 6.
¶ Reverse engineering
What we’ve done here, this climb to the top of the mountain, is called reverse engineering. Rather than lay out a system and chop it up into several separate, obscure, imprecise quotes, we have taken these fragmentary quotes and used them to flesh out a possible picture of the Satania system. The Urantia Book mentions one facet here, another facet there, and those few bits and pieces seem to be enough to capture, in part, an organized structure. Satania then appears to be a real object. It has definite dimensions, structures, and patterns, and we have been given enough conclusions to discover something of the “variables that dot the procession of evolutionary spheres.” [UB 40:5.15]
It is as if, in describing other aspects of a reality, a fleeting glimpse of one aspect of a real structure is described, and that by putting them together again, we can capture something of what the total structure can be like. We have reverse engineered Satania from the few images we can capture from the amazing but very limited view on the top of the mountain. Once again, a real object is being described. Let’s talk about human authorship, and I’ll tell you about someone who invents this structure, embedded in a dozen simple yet ambiguous quotes across sections and pages, mentioned only in passing, if someone is lucky enough to find it.
But why don’t they tell us directly? Why do they actually tell us through various limited facets? What’s more, why leave us enough clues to tell us after all? Why was I able to draw these conclusions from the information?
To answer the last question first, we must understand that The Urantia Book claims to be a revelation designed to further our cosmic orientation. In fact, “Man’s terrestrial orientation, his cosmic insight, and his spiritual directionization are all enhanced by a better comprehension of universe realities and their techniques of interassociation, integration, and unification.” [UB 106:0.1] “The real purpose of all universe education is to effect the better co-ordination of the isolated child of the worlds with the larger realities of his expanding experience.” [UB 2:7.12] Considering that “in more recent times a divisional headquarters of the archangels has been maintained on Urantia”, and “that many ascendant activities of the Brilliant Evening Stars are directed from the capital of a local system, Satania” [UB 37:3.3] it appears that Urantia, the bestowal world of Christ Michael, is destined to take more responsibility for the affairs of the universe. And the revelators conjecture regarding the worlds where the Sons of God have been bestowed that “on such worlds practically all Adjusters indwelling intelligent men and women of survival capacity belong to the advanced or to the supreme type.” [UB 109:3.6]
Incredibly, it is only in the era of the Trinity Teacher Sons that “The revelation of truth is now extended to the central universe and to Paradise” [UB 52:7.3] Even so, in this world so little enlightened and that is still tainted with the consequences of sin and rebellion, we have been given that revelation of Havona and Paradise. The fact that within the pages of The Urantia Book there exists a numerical formula for understanding the worlds of Satania, is significant for our (Urantia’s) future responsibility, “known locally as ‘the world of the cross’.” [UB 20:6.6] The present differential should be noted “the civilization of Urantia is the joint product of the Urantia mortals and the Urantia midwayers, and this is true despite the present differential between the two levels of culture, a differential which will not be compensated prior to the ages of light and life.” [UB 77:9.8] It seems conclusive that knowing the Satania system allows a better cosmic orientation, as well as the future possibility of open participation with that system. It is intended that this knowledge begins to build a bridge between our world and our system of worlds. The Urantia Book is a real attempt to harmonize these divergent and differential cultures.
As our world matures, the experiential transfer of sovereignty from top to bottom is certain to occur. We are told that “That mind which can effect a partial abridgment of time and space, by this very act proves itself possessed of the seeds of wisdom which can effectively serve in lieu of the transcended barrier of restraint.” [UB 118:8.8] We are given a glimpse of the organization of Satania because we are simultaneously given the revealing statements that encourage morality and the disclaimers that can handle such liberation of concepts.
And this brings us to why the revelators did not directly tell us about this organized structure. Some of it has to do with the knowledge and experiential involvement that is gained. These levels of understanding of participation in the universe are to be explored, studied, and experientially achieved. We have not yet discovered life on another planet in the solar system. When finding this structure, rather than stating it directly, it is speculative, conjectural. It is based on my authority, rather than that of The Urantia Book. For me, this is something brilliant. They couldn’t reveal it. They made it possible to find her.
At the time of this publication, humanity is increasing its efforts to investigate the worlds and moons of our solar system, lately and especially the moons of Saturn. We have even begun rapid discoveries and advances in the search for planets in other stars[note 4]. Having discovered these facets of the organization of Satania in The Urantia Book, this author is waiting for the hour of discovery, fully confident that it will come one day. I have no doubt that there are non-breathers somewhere in our solar system. I’m pretty sure we’re world 90 of 92 in the category of dual solar system worlds, and that world 89 is a non-breather world sharing our sun. Someone in the Urantia community has their gaze set on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, as our sister sphere, while others turn their gaze towards Callisto. Still others, especially Arthur C. Clarke fans, insist on Iapetus. There is difference of opinion. They may be on a moon of Saturn, although I conjecture with some irony that it is a moon of Uranus. Think about it: Urantians and Uranians! Perhaps they live on an as-yet-undetected world whose gravity pulls Kuiper belt asteroids into a nice uniform rotation.
A later prospect is the moon Titan, from the descendants of the Gods. It is true that this planet has an atmosphere, but I often wonder if non-breathers could exist there. Such beings are not required to breathe the atmosphere, and such an atmosphere would provide protection from the meteor shower that abounds in the solar system. Recent photos show, from the upper atmosphere of that moon, numerous chemical lakes in the polar regions. Time will tell. I think Titan is habitable, but it’s not inhabited - a third world waiting for a future age.
As for Abraham’s ability to count, if his posterity was destined to be as numerous as the stars, as Melchizedek promised, then perhaps our own posterity is destined to be as wisely organized as the Satania system.
Israel Dix lives with his family in Stockholm, Sweden. He is a student at Stockholm University.
END of PART 2
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
- Full article published from Fellowship Herald.
¶ Endnotes (Urantia - 606 from Satania)
Not a few have pointed out that The Urantia Book often has ambiguous wording. Although I fully agree with this statement, I cannot limit this solely to the fact that The Urantia Book draws heavily on other works to give basic overviews of various topics for coordination. Nor can I dismiss his often imprecise writing style for sloppy use of source texts, as some critics of the book have suggested. There are other possibilities. I have noticed that several of these ambiguous statements take place in precisely those places where the science of 1934 was not accurate with the reality of the cosmos. This ambiguity curiously gives some interpretations applicable both before and after the discovery of real scientific facts. It is the apparently intentional use of ambiguity that makes me explore that possibility here. ↩︎
I must note here my opinion that some ambiguities in The Urantia Book are just ambiguities. ↩︎
It should be mentioned here that I only realized after the fact that the “sky map” quote appears in the section titled “organization of the universe”. Once I realized this, I came to understand that the entire organization system is included within the references of about 10 passages throughout many documents. Since then I have found twice as many claims that depend on these claims and that support this organizational pattern of the Satania system. ↩︎