© 1977 Peter and Eileen Laurence
© 1977 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
When a new idea first appears it may seem simple and formless, mainly because we have not yet begun to realize its many facets. Greater exposure sometimes reveals a complex and seemingly unrelated profusion of elements inherent in this originally simple concept. What was at first a hazy and amorphous totality takes on the appearance of chaos and confusion. Finally, the observation of certain patterns and the growth of understanding bring into focus the unifying factors which knit these diverse elements into a single fabric.
One of the functions of research is to look for patterns, or regularities, in an unknown universe. The validity of a pattern, once observed, may be tested by its “predictability,” the capacity to describe unobserved phenomena from those which are perceived. Many of us find, however, that the patterns which are within the grasp of our limited senses do not allow us to project a clear image of the spiritual realm. Thus, without revelation, this dimension would lie mainly uncharted.
Through revelation we are assured that “… the universe is wholly and ever law-abiding and unfailingly dependable.” (UB 156:2.4) This statement applies to spiritual realities just as much as it does to the more familiar physical properties of the universe. “There are just as certain and reliable laws in the spirit world as obtain in the material realms,” (UB 44:5.4) Even the duality between these two worlds is limited; “… while in practical application the laws of nature operate in what seems to be the dual realms of the physical and the spiritual, in reality they are one. The First Source and Center is the primal cause of all materialization and at the same time the first and final Father of all spirits.” (UB 42:11.1)
Deity is unity, and the closer our conceptions and understandings come to Deity, the clearer become the connecting strands between the diverse and incomprehensible images which constitute our early exposure to the total spiritual mosaic. The initial glimpses form a tantalizing puzzle which can only be resolved in the light of unified reality. “But the divine mechanism of the universe is altogether too perfect for the scientific methods of the finite mind of man to discern even a trace of the dominance of the infinite mind.” (UB 42:11.2) To truly comprehend the patterns of reality we must become God-knowing, and that goal lies at the distant end of a long ascension. Predictability, like wisdom, is the increasing reward of an eternal carcer.
— Peter and Eileen Laurence