© 2005 Philip Calabrese, Ph.D.
© 2005 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
“… revelation does synthesize the apparently divergent sciences of nature and the theology of religion into a consistent and logical universe philosophy, a co-ordinated and unbroken explanation of both science and religion, thus creating a harmony of mind and satisfaction of spirit which answers in human experience those questionings of the mortal mind which craves to know how the Infinite works out his will and plans in matter, with minds, and on spirit.” (The Urantia Book, UB 101:2.1)
(Continued from part 1; Spring-summer, '05)
These levels of reality are convenient compromise symbolizations of the present universe age and for the mortal perspective. There are a number of other ways of looking at reality from other-than-mortal perspective and from the standpoint of other universe ages. Thus it should be recognized that the concepts herewith presented are entirely relative, relative in the sense of being conditioned and limited by
- The limitations of mortal language.
- The limitations of the mortal mind.
- The limited development of the seven superuniverses.
- Your ignorance of the six prime purposes of superuniverse development which do not pertain to the mortal ascent to Paradise.
- Your inability to grasp even a partial eternity viewpoint.
- The impossibility of depicting cosmic evolution and destiny in relation to all universe ages, not just in regard to the present age of the evolutionary unfolding of the seven superuniverses.
- The inability of any creature to grasp what is really meant by pre-existentials or by postexperientials — that which lies before beginnings and after destinies." (UB 106:0.10-17)
Note that these limitations are not the kind that require revision of The Urantia Book’s science in a “few short years” or “in a very short time”; they are long-lasting ones that must wait for human language to evolve, mortal mind to expand in consciousness, for the further development of the seven superuniverses, and other long-lasting circumstances that a few years will not change.
“The space-stage of the master universe seems to be adequate for the actualization of the Supreme Being, for the formation and full function of the Trinity Ultimate, for the eventuation of God the Ultimate, and even for the inception of the Trinity Absolute. But our concepts regarding the full function of this second experiential Trinity seem to imply something beyond even the wide-spreading master universe.” (UB 106:6.2)
These are very far-reaching concepts, relative perhaps, but not likely to need revision by our scientists for a very, very long time.
These are very far-reaching concepts, relative perhaps, but not likely to need revision by our scientists for a very, very long time.
“The finite universe of matter would eventually become uniform and deterministic but for the combined presence of mind and spirit. The influence of the cosmic mind constantly injects spontaneity into even the material worlds.” (UB 195:6.15)
This “cosmic mind” has still to be discovered by contemporary science.
“Mankind is slow to perceive that, in all that is personal, matter is the skeleton of morontia, and that both are the reflected shadow of enduring spirit reality. How long before you will regard time as the moving image of eternity and space as the fleeting shadow of Paradise realities?” (UB 189:1.3)
So we are asked to reformulate our concepts of space and time by recognizing Paradise.
“After the chief of archangels had been granted this request, he summoned to his assistance many of his fellows, together with a numerous host of the representatives of all orders of celestial personalities, and then, with the aid of the Urantia midwayers, proceeded to take possession of Jesus’ physical body. This body of death was a purely material creation; it was physical and literal; it could not be removed from the tomb as the morontia form of the resurrection had been able to escape the sealed sepulchre. By the aid of certain morontia auxiliary personalities, the morontia form can be made at one time as of the spirit so that it can become indifferent to ordinary matter, while at another time it can become discernible and contactable to material beings, such as the mortals of the realm.” (UB 189:2.3)
The existence and nature of “morontia,”a new word, was revealed. It was not possible for our scientists to discover it. It required revelation. Recall that our metaphysics is a failure and just adds confusion; we need revelation to make sense out of this semi-spiritual, semi-material realm called morontia. Incidentally, that new word might be derived from “more” and “ontia” (reality).
The existence and nature of “morontia,” a new word, was revealed. It was not possible for our scientists to discover it. It required revelation. Recall that our metaphysics is a failure and just adds confusion; we need revelation to make sense out of this semi-spiritual, semi-material realm called morontia.
“Although your spectroscopic estimations of astronomic velocities are fairly reliable when applied to the starry realms belonging to your superuniverse and its associate superuniverses, such reckonings with reference to the realms of outer space are wholly unreliable. Spectral lines are displaced from the normal towards the violet by an approaching star; likewise these lines are displaced towards the red by a receding star. Many influences interpose to make it appear that the recessional velocity of the external universes increases at the rate of more than one hundred miles a second for every million light-years increase in distance. By this method of reckoning, subsequent to the perfection of more powerful telescopes, it will appear that these far-distant systems are in flight from this part of the universe at the unbelievable rate of more than thirty thousand miles a second. But this apparent speed of recession is not real; it results from numerous factors of error embracing angles of observation and other time-space distortions.” (UB 12:4.14)
Here a Perfector of Wisdom, acting by authority of the Ancients of Days, tells us that the Big Bang, “expanding universe” idea of contemporary science is flat out wrong and due to “numerous factors of error” in the interpretations of our observations. The Big Bang is presently a fundamental premise of almost all contemporary cosmology.
If this statement in The Urantia Book is not factual then The Urantia Book is a dangerous fraud. We can’t have it both ways. Either The Urantia Book is good and its words are factual and true, or The Urantia Book is bad and its words dangerous to believe. Those who try to combine supposed already bad science-many supposed errors in The Urantia Book — with supposed good spiritual truth are deluding themselves and misleading others.
The Urantia Book claims to authoritatively correct error, but contemporary science still has not discovered these errors. That must be coming, or The Urantia Book is a fraud because these statements are otherwise gratuitous. They did not have to be made if they were not true.
“The Urantia Papers.” The papers of which this is one, constitute the most recent presentation of truth to the mortals of Urantia. These papers differ from all previous revelations, for they are not the work of a single universe personality but a composite presentation by many beings. But no revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete. All other celestial ministrations are no more than partial, transient, and practically adapted to local conditions in time and space. While such admissions as this may possibly detract from the immediate force and authority of all revelations, the time has arrived on Urantia when it is advisable to make such frank statements, even at the risk of weakening the future influence and authority of this, the most recent of the revelations of truth to the mortal races of Urantia.” (UB 92:4.9)
The Urantia Book claims to authoritatively correct error, but contemporary science still has not discovered these errors. That must be coming, or The Urantia Book is a fraud because these statements are otherwise gratuitous. They did not have to be made if they were not true.
Here a Nebadon Melchizedek admits that he wants to err on the side of weakening the authority of The Urantia Book rather than have people believe that The Urantia Book is a complete revelation or anything more than “partial, transient, and practically adapted to local conditions in time and space.” He is concerned with a relatively far-distant future compared to a man’s life span.
“Revelation is a technique whereby ages upon ages of time are saved in the necessary work of sorting and sifting the errors of evolution from the truths of spirit acquirement.” UB 101:5.1
So “ages upon ages” are saved by revelation, and our science will outgrow only “many” revelatory scientific statements in “a few short years,” not “most” or “all.”
“As far as possible, consistent with our mandate, we have endeavored to utilize and to some extent coordinate the existing records having to do with the life of Jesus on Urantia. Although we have enjoyed access to the lost record of the Apostle Andrew and have benefited from the collaboration of a vast host of celestial beings who were on earth during the times of Michael’s bestowal (notably his now Personalized Adjuster), it has been our purpose also to make use of the so-called Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” (UB 121:8.1)
So lost knowledge has been supplied about Jesus. Note that the author says that his mandate is to express the life and teachings of Jesus and do it with human knowledge if possible, or if necessary with superhuman knowledge.
So lost knowledge has been supplied about Jesus. Note that the author says that his mandate is to express the life and teachings of Jesus and do it with human knowledge if possible, or if necessary
“The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus — aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle Andrew-embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements. The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in purely human sources.” (UB 121:8.13)
So again there was permission to reveal if human concepts were inadequate; and some conceptual expressions were required even if it meant using superhuman concepts.
Working as a professional mathematician during my entire career with a specialty in combining Boolean logic with conditional probability theory, I have become well versed on the contemporary gradations of truth from absolute, through partial, to the absence of truth. A proposition contains no truth when there is no model (example or instance) in which it is true. A proposition has partial truth if it applies and is true in some instance. Absolutely true propositions are those true in all models or instances in which the proposition applies, such as mathematical theorems. But that is still relative to the overall conceptual framework of all mathematical statements in the larger natural language in which they are made. Thus “absolute” here means “relatively absolute,” relative to the natural language conceptual framework assumed in order to make the mathematical arguments or probabilistic statements.
Another feature of my background that may be helpful for some readers to know is that I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, but in my twenties I rejected the principle of “papal infallibility” and the intellectual and moral stranglehold that this doctrine attempts to put upon believers, as though any papal statement could infallibly embody absolute truth, or could be absolutely understood by the human mind. But I didn’t reject God, and since 1970 I have been appreciating The Urantia Book.
I am well aware of the history of attempts by believers to crystallize their beliefs and impose them on new believers or converts, to take an absolute attitude about their interpretations of revelation. But it is not yet time to be much concerned about this reaction among Urantia Book believers because The Urantia Book revelation has not yet been significantly validated by the findings of science that people are much tempted to make a fetish of it. After it has gained general acceptance and respect by most of the scientists of the world, that will be the beginning of the time to be concerned about taking The Urantia Book cosmology too seriously. That will be the time to reread and heed the limitations of revelation.
By that time on Urantia, a place called Paradise, with a geographic zone of Infinity, will be the acknowledged time-less, space-less center of the material cosmos. (While we living now on Urantia will then likely be breathing a more energetic type of air on a “mansion” world, even sometimes sipping wine in new form with Jesus, as he promised.)
Phil Calabrese is a professional mathematician and a reader of The Urantia Book since 1970.