© 1961 William S. Sadler Jr.
© 2009 Antonio Moya, de la traducción
© 2009 Urantia Association of Spain
Sources: Appendices to “A Study of the Master Universe” (Prologue in Eternity; Appendix I, Background to the Master Universe; Appendix VIII, Transformative Techniques; and Appendix XV, The Master Architects and the Transcendentals)
We might try to improve our concept of the Zero Age by calling it, for example, “the first age before the universes.” As we enter this hypothetical age, we leave objective reality behind, but we do not depart from a valid concept. In taking stock of the content of the Zero Age, we should first note that the Paradise Trinity, the Infinite Spirit, and the central universe are absent. The concept of the Zero Age predates the Spirit, therefore predates Havona; and without the Spirit, there is no Trinity. In the Zero Age, we find the following realities:
This, then, is the inventory of absolute realities in the Zero Age. However, are we sure that no subabsolute reality is actually present in this era? That’s debatable. Let’s look at the Zero Age a little more closely:
Were the Master Architects present? Paradise traditions hold that the most senior Architect (the Paradise Architect) and the three Architects of Havona all contributed to the planning of Havona. (UB 31:9.5) If this is correct, then at least these four Architects must have been present at the Zero Age. There is an additional statement that Architect number 28,012 failed to become absonitized because he transcended the upper limits of absonitity. (UB 31:9.10) Since the Paradise Architect is the most senior Architect and functions on the “upper limit of absonitness,” he must therefore have been not the first completed Architect but the 28,011th, the last (and highest) possible Architect. This reasoning suggests that the entire corps of 28,011 Architects was present in the Zero Age. If the Master Architects were present, then sub-absolute reality was present.
Reversibility of Sequences.—The fact that the sequence of the Architects’ appearance appears to be as logical in one direction as in the other suggests that we may be dealing with a timeless sequence. The relationship between the Son and the Father poses a similar paradox: If the Eternal Son is the “unqualified spirit personality” shed by the Father (UB 10:2.2), then in a sense the Son predates the Father. Again we encounter what appears to be a timeless sequence. And we have been informed that time, as we understand it, is not a part of Paradise life, although the natives of the eternal Isle are well aware of the “timeless sequence of events.” (UB 11:3.1)
Were time and space present? We believe not. Quite possibly, zones of interspace filled all regions outside Paradise. (UB 11:7.2) Time and space might not be objectively present; but if the Architects of the Master Universe already existed, then time and space could be conceptually present in the absonite minds of the transcendental Architects.
Were the Paradise Citizens present? If the Havona natives are eternal, then it seems reasonable to assume that the Paradise Citizens are “more eternal.” Even if this were the case, we know that this designation could not apply to the “more than three thousand orders” of such citizens, because the last of these groups was personalized at the time of the Trinity mandate that organized the superuniverses (LU 19:7.5) and this must have occurred at the “dawning” of the Second Universe Age.
Before leaving the study of the First Age, we should examine a rather exceptional group of beings—the Architects of the Master Universe. These beings are not created, they are “concluded.” This is a new word we should define:
Concluded has a special meaning in the Papers. It’s a word that describes how someone is brought into existence, much like the word “created,” but concluded doesn’t mean created. In fact, it means some kind of initiatory act that is prior to time, pre-creative, or has the status of eternity. We’ve been told that God, as a person, creates, and as a superperson, concludes. Absonite beings, the Transcendentals, are not created; they are concluded.
These “completed” Master Architects are present in the First Age. There’s even the possibility that they were present before the First Age, but we can be absolutely certain that they were present and active in the First Age. The Master Architects are neither finite nor absolute—they are absonite beings—which means they are Transcendental.
The Architects are not creators, nor are they creatures. They appear to be almost like the living, intelligent blueprints, or architectural plans, of the master universe, personifying God’s plan for the entire master creation. The Architects begin their work in the post-Havona creations long before anyone else is on the scene, preparing the space stage for new developments, and all this work is in progress long before the creators and administrators of these post-Havona universes appear. They are organized for service in seven corps, all in conformity with the geographical plans of the cosmos, the Paradise plan, and the master universe—the Central Isle and the six concentric levels of space.
The “Techniques of Conclusion” provide us with a careful reflection on the possible method of origin of the Transcendentals and their governing corps, the Architects of the Master Universe. (UB 31:9.2) In connection with this study, it will be noted that these beings are concerned solely with “the superadministration of the master universe” (UB 31:8.3), and we infer that they may well be the personifications of God’s plans for the entire master universe—past, present, and future. We arrive at the final insight that these Absonite beings were concluded (came into existence) as an inherent and practically inevitable outgrowth of the working out of those plans for the master universe. In other words, God could hardly make serious plans concerning the master universe without concluding (without imagining the existence of) the Architects and the Transcendentals; and these concluded absonites could only come into existence as a repercussive corollary of the elaboration of such plans.
“Conclusion” is a term used to designate the manner of origination of transcendental (absonite) beings. (UB 30:1.15) The origin of these beings is known, but the authors of the Papers have been forbidden to reveal it. (UB 31:9.3) However, we are told that the Deity Absolute must have been involved in the origin of the Transcendentals and must have had some part in their destiny. We are further informed that the act of conclusion is comparable to the act of creation, in the same sense that God as a superperson is comparable to God as a person. The Papers teach us that “God, as superperson, concludes” (UB 30:1.21) and elsewhere speak of “…beings…concluded…by any two or all three members of the Paradise Trinity.” (UB 13:1.13)
In the context of the Documents, “conclude” means that something happens inherently due to the circumstances. It is inevitable in view of the events involved. It could not be avoided in view of the events.
From the other uses of the word “conclude” in the Documents, we also deduce that it is a superfinite act related to the “origin” of certain absonite (transcendental) beings. God must conclude beings on the transcendental level of reality and in eternity; this is very different from the creation of creatures on the finite level and in time.
Against this background of definitions, it should be possible to engage in some speculative reasoning about the meaning of “conclusion.” This line of reasoning will be based on a new premise: “the principle of coherence,” the “organic unity of the cosmos.” (UB 4:1.10) The universe is coherent because God is coherent. Let us first review this “principle of coherence” as applied by the Papers (in the form of compatibility) in connection with God’s attribute of omnipotence. Then we can reason by analogy to see if the same principle might perhaps make the conclusion related to God’s “thinking” in formulating the plans.
Compatibility as a Corollary of God’s Omnipotence.- We have been informed that the highest attribute of God’s omnipotence has a corollary, and that the name of that corollary is “compatibility.” (UB 118:5.1)
Just as “omnipotence” is associated in the Documents with “compatibility,” it means that God’s omnipotent acts create “things with one nature,” and, at the same time, compatibility determines the coherence of the “nature of all things” that are created. Here we could very well use the same example used in the Documents to better clarify this relationship:
Suppose the created thing is a circle. When it is created, the circle is characterized by circularity, and at the same time, circularity becomes the fundamental nature of all circles.
A “square circle” is, therefore, not a possibility. It would violate the principle of compatibility, which is an inseparable corollary of the highest attribute of omnipotence. The important point to note is: omnipotence has something attached to it, and this is a corollary that demands universal consistency. The Papers further express this “principle of consistency” with regard to omnipotence and omniscience: The omnipotence of God does not mean that He can do the undoable, nor does omniscience mean that He can know the unknowable. (UB 3:4.1)
We consider this principle as one of the fundamental principles that govern events in time and space, in transcended time and space, in eternity and in Paradise.
Brotherhood results from fatherhood.- God does not “create” the universal brotherhood of all creatures. God constitutes Himself the Father of each personal creature, and inherent in this relationship between universe Creator and creature (between Father and Son) is the fact of universal brotherhood. The brotherhood relationship does not have to be planned, invented, proposed, or created; it is an inherent corollary of the universal fatherhood of God. Universal brotherhood results from the universal fatherhood of God. The one is inseparable from the other. (UB 12:7.9)
An Analogy: Completion as a Corollary to God’s Plans.- Let us now apply this “principle of consistency” to the making of universal plans, to the establishment of separate and definite potentials. We advance the proposal that when God makes plans, there are certain repercussions that are inherent in, and inseparable from, the making of those plans. We will repeat and expand on this proposal. When God makes plans, everything eternally necessary for the initiation, fulfillment, and culmination of those plans will inherently and inevitably appear (in eternity); it will happen, it will come to pass, it will eventually emerge, it will be the consequence of, it will take place, it will occur—in short, it will be “finished.” If this did not happen, God would not be making true plans; He would be “daydreaming.” (We believe that God is quite aware of the subjunctive, but we believe that He thinks and plans in the “eternal indicative.”)
When God conceives the master universe, the idea must be separated within total reality and, consequently, arises from the static level as a structured potential, as a defined plan; and the appearance, the completion, of the Architects of the Master Universe—those beings who personify God’s plan for the master creation—is inherent in the conceptualization of that plan. (And along with the Architects, the other Transcendentals would be concluded.) If this reasoning is valid, then the origin of these concluded beings is pre-creative, because they are related to, and their appearance is a consequence of, God’s act when he separated and defined certain potentials. (The creative level is the fourth level of functioning of Total Deity; the potential level is an earlier, second level.)
This way of reasoning is consistent with the claim that Transcendentals are neither creators nor creatures. They were never created—they are conceptual repercussions of God’s plans and, therefore, are not creatures. They are not creators because they do not create; they are “initiators” (those who begin things, those who initiate things), and, as “initiators,” they perform their work long before the “creators” appear in the field of action of space.
We believe that God initiates, directly or indirectly, the origin of all absonite beings, the Transcendentals, and their governing body, the Architects of the Master Universe. But God does not “create” these beings; He appears to “conceive” their existence as a natural and necessary part of the elaboration of serious plans and the expression of separate potentials—potentials that will emerge as actuals (*) in the development of the master universe.
The Mechanism of Conclusion. - In any effort we make to understand the method of conclusion, we will be dependent upon speculative logic. When God makes plans, He “thinks.” He may be planning future events in time and space, but He must “think” far above the finite, space-time level of existence; He probably “thinks” above the absonite level, the level of transcended space-time. We believe He “thinks” into eternity. God’s plans could therefore impact (through the Paradise Trinity) the Deity Absolute. The Deity Absolute could react to those plans by casting out from the potentials of infinity those factors, forces, entities, and beings indispensable for initiating (for setting in motion and beginning) the plans in question. In other words, beings could result from the Deity Absolute (directly or indirectly) as a consequence (directly or indirectly) of God’s conception of plans. And at this point in our speculation, it is reassuring to remember that the Papers state that the Absolute in Deity may have been involved in the origin of the Transcendentals.
Finally, this whole line of reasoning is consistent with the assertion that the Transcendentals “…are the consummated children of divinity, Ultimacy, and eternity.” Their origin is inherent in the plans of divinity; their nature and activity are at the ultimate level of reality; they made their appearance as an event in eternity.
To summarize our findings and conclusions regarding the transformative technique called “conclusion,” God “creates” the creators and creatures; God “ideates” the existence of the Transcendentals as part of His “thinking” when planning the master universe, and whether or not these concluded beings appear in exactly this manner is not so important. We believe that this study of the possible manner in which they appear will enhance our “feeling” for the word “conclude” and make the unfathomable origin of the Transcendentals less mysterious.
The figures given for the seven corps of Architects of the Master Universe do not, at first glance, appear to have much meaning or to follow any particular system or pattern (351, section 9). However, an arithmetical analysis of these figures reveals a definite system or pattern as they increase, corps after corps, until they reach 28,011, the total of this entire group of the governing corps of Transcendentals, the planners and co-ordinators of the master universe. Consider the following analysis of these figures:
The Paradise Level. - At this highest level, there is an Architect, the most senior Architect, who is assisted by three Architects of the second corps. The most senior Architect coordinates Paradise and its three satellite circuits.
The Havona Level.- On this level there are three Architects; they are assisted by seven Architects of the third corps. In Havona there are (excluding the dark gravity bodies) ten circuits of inhabited spheres: the three Paradise satellite circuits and the seven billion world circuits.
The Superuniverse Level.- On the third corps are seven Architects. They are assisted by the seventy Architects of the fourth corps. They supervise the superuniverse space level, which is divided into seven superuniverses and subdivided into seventy major sectors.
The Primary Space Level.- There are seventy Architects assigned to the first outer space level. This corps of seventy Architects ensures the (present and) future administration of the first outer space level. We are informed that there are now 70,000 major aggregates of matter in outer space and that each of these aggregates is larger than a superuniverse. (UB 31:10.12) If all are on the Primary Space Level, then each Architect (of the fourth corps) appears to have supervision over 1,000 of these physical aggregates. This suggests that each Architect will have jurisdiction over a growing mass materialization already a thousand times larger than the mass materialization of a superuniverse. The astronomical scope of the Architects appears to expand as we proceed into outer space.
We don’t know, but we assume that the 490 Architects of the Fifth Corps will serve as associate assistants to those of the Fourth Corps. If this is the case, each Architect of the Fourth Corps will have seven associate assistants.
The secondary spatial level.- The Architects of the fifth corps amount to 490 members.
The tertiary space level.- The sixth corps of universe planners rises to 3,430 members.
The Quaternary Space Level.- The universe planners of the seventh and final corps number 24,010 members.
| 1. Paradise Level: | 1 |
| 2. Havona Level: | 3 |
| 3. Level of the superuniverses: | 7 |
| 4. Primary spatial level: | 70 |
| 5. Secondary spatial level: | 490 |
| 6. Tertiary spatial level: | 3,430 |
| 7. Quaternary spatial level: | 24,010 |
| Total | 28.011 |
Note. - This number 28,011 represents a kind of limit, the exhaustion of the customizable potential of the absonite level. It was not possible to conclude an additional Architect; the number 28,011 reached the limits of absonitness, and the attempt to conclude Architect number 28,012 failed because at this point the Architects’ conceptualization transcended the absonite and “…encountered the mathematical level of the presence of the Absolute.” (352:3)
We have been taught that Transcendentals are not created—they are neither creatures nor creators—they are uncreated non-creators. We have already examined the origin of Transcendentals (see “Techniques of Conclusion”). In that study of conclusion techniques, we arrive at the final idea that these beings come into existence (occur) because such an occurrence is a natural part of God’s thinking, because it is an inevitable consequence of the “working out” of the master universe plans. Transcendentals are not created; they occur (are completed) as a consequence of God’s working out of the master universe plans. Therefore, they are not creatures, nor are they creators; they are not related to creation as such; they are pre-creators (initiators) in relation to what is included in God’s plans for the master universe.
These concluded, occurring “uncreated noncreators” are a complex order of existence living in the western regions of Paradise. (UB 31:8.2) They utilize a form of energy (tranosta) not found elsewhere in the universe. (UB 42:2.19) They are the supercitizens of Paradise (UB 31:8.2) concerned only with master universe affairs (UB 31:8.3) and are subject to God the Ultimate and the direction of the Paradise Trinity. (UB 31:8.4) They may experience growth, but their growth is effected by superevolutionary techniques (UB 105:7.2); they are experiential beings, but the technique they use to experience is superexperiential.
The Transcendentals function on seven levels of the absonite (UB 31:9.3) and exist on four ultimate levels of personality activity. (UB 30:1.15) They work in twelve grand divisions, and each of these divisions has one thousand major work groups, 12,000 groups in all. Each of these major work groups has seven classes (7 x 12,000), or 84,000 classes of Transcendentals. This is a large number of different types of beings. The Paradise Citizens appear to be rather numerous, but the “more than three thousand orders” of Paradise Citizens (UB 19:7.5) are comparatively few in comparison with the 84,000 classes of supercitizens on the Eternal Isle.
Mortals who attain Paradise are able to associate with Transcendentals (UB 27:2.3); certain transcendental ministers facilitate this possibility. Ascending mortals are personalities, and Transcendentals are superpersonalities (UB 31:8.2); however, the personal and the superpersonal may still associate. (UB 0:5.4) Mortals are enrolled in the finaliter corps by the most senior Architect of the Master Universe. (UB 31:9.1)
The superpersonal Transcendentals are entirely unlike the other-personal creations of the Eternal Son. (UB 6:5.3) These progeny of the Paradise Son reside on their near-Paradise worlds. (UB 13:3.2) However, the Transcendentals may have a possible kinship of a superpersonal nature with the superpersonal representatives of the Eternal Son who reside on the superuniverse capitals, and possibly with the Trinity Inspired Spirits who are also believed to be superpersonal in nature. (UB 19:5.3) Nevertheless, we do not believe that this in any way indicates any genetic relationship. Consider the following: In the Paradise Classification of Living Beings (UB 30:0.1), the Trinity Inspired Spirits are included in Group I, Class C, under the “Trinity Origin and Trinitized Beings” (UB 30:1.18); the superpersonal representatives of the Eternal Son are included in Group VI, under the “Superpersonal Beings” (UB 30:1.103); while the Transcendentals are included in Group IV, in the “Concluded Transcendental Beings” (UB 30:1.92).
The Architects of the Master Universe (and their transcendental associates) are concerned with initiating God’s plans. God completes these beings; later, God creates those Supreme Creators (and those High Administrators) who are so necessary for the detailed development and cosmic realization of those plans. And still later, these completed beings and these creators will unite (with evolving deity) to bring about the culmination of that destiny which is attainable through the plans God has made, and through the potentials that have been established in accordance with His plans.
The completed Architects are the “initiators,” those who begin the plan. The Supreme Creators are the “realizers,” those who create the existences foreseen in the plan. Together (with the experiential deity) they become the “culminators,” those who achieve destiny—the destiny God has established in the plan.
It would appear that the major functions of the Transcendentals are related to the precreative level of universe planning. (UB 41:0.2) But we do not believe that this work is limited to directing the Force Organizers and fabricating the nebulae of space. (UB 31:9.12) We advance the proposition that the Architects and their transcendental associates are related to all phases of master universe developmental planning. (UB 31:8.3) Consider the following:
a) The Design of Matter.—There is a clear indication in the Papers (UB 42:9.5) that the Master Architects are the designers of the structure of physical matter. The physical stability and biological flexibility of matter are attributed to their almost infinite wisdom.
b) The Design of Living Beings.—There is a certain order of beings mentioned only once in the Papers (UB 36:0.1). This order is called “the (unrevealed) Architects of Being.” They are responsible for formulating the plans pertaining to the fundamental construction of living beings. The Life Carriers of the local universes carry out all their work within the framework of these plans. Although not indicated in the Papers, we profess the belief that these unrevealed Architects of Being belong to the Transcendentals.
c) The Framework of Free Will.—The extent of free will freedom is in accordance with the preplanning of the Master Architects. The scope of Creator and creature choice “…operates within the limits, and in accordance with the possibilities…” established by the Architects of the Master Universe for the grand universe of the present age. (UB 118:7.2) This is in no sense an abolition of free will; it is a definition of the limits of free will. For their part, the Supreme Creators may further define the limits of the freedom of choice that may be exercised by their creatures. An example of this is the creative design of the Lanonandeks of Nebadon; these local universe Sons were created with “…a wide degree of personal freedom to choose and plan.” Our Creator Son thus exercised his freedom of “choice as creator” within the previously defined limits, established by the Architects in the exercise of their “pre-creative choice” - initial choice.
All of these examples relate the activities of the Transcendentals to the precreative level of universe planning. But there is another recorded operation that suggests the Transcendentals have a continuing relationship with the current affairs of the present universe age:
d) Absonite Intervention.—We have been taught that the Personalized Adjusters are the “stabilizers and equalizers” of the universes (UB 109:7.2); they are the “…wise and powerful executives of the Architects…” (UB 109:7.3); but they are not frequently observed to function in the universes. (UB 109:7.6) However, the activity of these Personalized Adjusters provides a channel for the Architects of the Master Universe to intervene directly in the affairs of the present universe age. A direct intervention of this kind in evolutionary affairs probably took place on our world in connection with a recent Vorondadek Regency when three Personalized Adjusters appeared unannounced in the Regent’s presence (UB 109:7.7), among the “most active” of the superhuman groups then working on our world. (UB 109:7.8)
These four examples of the activities of the Transcendentals serve to outline their functions in connection with universe planning and with the continuing work of stabilizing and compensating for the events of the present universe age.
e) The Spheres of Light and Life.—When an inhabited world has reached the seventh stage of light and life, certain absonite ministers come from Paradise to perform their service on that settled planet. Among other services, such ministers are able to “…reveal the presence of the finaliters in the morontia temple.” (UB 55:6.7)
This is a fifth example of Transcendental activity that appears to be dedicated to advancing the transition of evolutionary domains from the peak of finite development to the superfinite growth potential of a future universe age.
The Papers teach us that the Transcendentals are neither infinite nor finite, that they are absonite. This word does not exist in English; it is a word inserted into the Papers. In the opinion of this writer, it is a coined word—a compound word. It appears to be constructed from parts of two words—absolute and finite. The first two syllables of “abso-lute” and the last syllable of “fi-nite” complement each other very well to compose the word “abso-nite.” This word is appropriately symbolic of a reality that is neither absolute nor finite, but lies between the two.
The absonite level of reality. - Let’s finally examine in a little more detail the use of the word “absonite,” which is used to designate a level of reality that is more than finite, but less than absolute. Regarding this level, we have been informed that:
Deduction: The lowest absonite level probably descends to contact the finite level.
Conclusions: The absonite probably connects the finite with the absolute in the same way that morontia fills the void between matter and spirit.
In our examination of the nature and activity of the Transcendentals, we have used three words that are somewhat unusual: initiators, achievers, and culminators. These three words have been associated respectively with three other words: beginnings, existences, and destinies. These two groups of three words are used this way in the Documents (page 1171, paragraph 5). The concepts suggested by these two groups of three words are also called causes, intermediates, and finals.
Definitions of beginning, completion, and culmination are also given. From this analysis, we can deduce that these words are used to describe the sequence of actualization ([1]) of reality—at least as it takes place in the present universe age. In examining the use of these words, we wish to draw attention to the following additional associations:
a) Inception.- As this word is used in the Documents, it means the activity of an “initiator.” We understand this to mean a pre-created being; a finished being. Its function is not to create, but rather to carry out pre-creative organizational and preparatory work for the subsequent work of the Creators who will appear later. Such an initiator is related to fundamental causes and fundamental beginnings.
b) Realization.—As this word is used in the Documents, it means the results of the work of a “realizer.” This seems to be the work of a created being, who is also a Creator. His work consists in creating—in making real, converting into actuality ([1:1]), bringing into concrete existence. His work is intermediate in relation to the earlier beginning and the later culmination.
c) Culmination.- As this word is used in the Documents, it can mean the activity of a culminator (of destiny?). This activity could possibly be supercreative or even postcreative. A culminator would not be related to “causes” or “intermediaries,” but rather to endings—culminating or consummated actions that lead to destinies. Culmination apparently occurs at all levels—finite, absonite, and absolute. The Supreme Being is said to be both a consummator (UB 117:2.1) and a culminator (UB 117:3.12). The Supreme Being, the Master Architects, and the Supreme Creators (in the Trinity Ultimate) will act as consummators of destiny in the master universe (UB 106:3.5). And in the Trinity Absolute, the Supreme and the Ultimate are associated with an unrevealed being called the Consummator of Universe Destiny (UB 0:12.8).
The Transcendentals appear to be the first actors in a threefold progressive series: they prepare, the creators carry out, and together they finalize. The grand universe plan is concluded in the Architects, brought into existence by the Supreme Creators, and consummated in and through the evolutionary completion of the Supreme Being (UB 106:3.2).
Viewed from a historical sequence, the transcendentals are both before and after the finite. (UB 105:5.4)
In other words, they are both beginnings and culminations in finite reality. As initiators, in the sense of the maturation of potentials, the transcendentals act to enable and separate the potentials of the Absolutes so that they are useful to the Creators working on the finite level of existence.
This dual relationship can be stated in another way: From the perspective of eternity, the transcendentals appear to appear in advance of the finite; from the perspective of time, they are found at the end of finite evolutionary progression. It is also possible to regard the transcendentals as a “pre-echo” of the finite (UB 105:7.1). Without the absonite level, there would be no precreative plans for the finite; hence, the transcendentals are found before the finite. From the standpoint of evolutionary progress, the absonite level appears as the postfinite goal of all ascending creatures; all will attain it after the completion of their finite progression.
Thus, the Transcendentals seem to act as initiators of the finite and culminators of the finite. They maintain the paradoxical relationship of being “before and after” all finite existence.
Reversible Sequence: Timeless Sequence. In the “Prologue—The Zero Age,” we examined the chronology of the appearance of the Architects of the Master Universe. In that study, we deduced that the Architects were probably present in the Zero Age (in the pre-Havona Age) because Paradise traditions hold that the most senior Architect and the three Architects of Havona contributed to the planning of the central universe (UB 31:9.5). That study of the Papers led to the additional conclusion that the entire group of Architects of the Master Universe, all 28,011, were probably present.
We note that the Architects, as a group, exhausted the scale of absoniteness with the appearance of the 28,011th Architect. This was experimentally demonstrated by the unsuccessful attempt to complete the 28,012th Architect, at which point it was revealed that the Architects’ conceptualization transcended the absonite and stumbled upon “…the mathematical level of the presence of the Absolute.” (UB 31:9.10) This means that the 28,011th Architect, the last completed Architect, must function on the highest level of absonite, for the next Architect (the 28,012th) proved superabsonite and failed to be completed.
Yet they teach us that the oldest Architect, the “first completed,” is the only one who works on the Paradise level, which is defined as “the highest level of the absonite.” (UB 31:9.4) If this is the case, then it appears that the oldest Architect must have been the last completed as well as the first completed. As we have already indicated, this entire account of the completion of the Architects suggests that our finite concept of sequences is not valid on the absonite level—the finite concept of time sequence at least is not. The Papers remind us that native Paradise beings are aware of “the timeless sequence of events.” (UB 11:3.1)
The Conclusion in Relation to Time.—Conclusion is an event that takes place in transcended time or eternity. Absolute beings have no origin. They are, in this respect, like the natives of Havona (UB 105:7.3). However, from the perspective of time, conclusion is something that took place in the past, that might take place in the present, or that might take place in the future. We gather this from speculation in the Papers about the lost member of each finaliter (mortal) company. In Paper 31, the idea is proposed that such a lost member may be “…some type of Paradise personality not yet created, completed, or trinitized.” (UB 31:8.1) This statement indicates that one of the authors of this Paper believes that an act of conclusion could take place either in the present or in the future. Now, if conclusion is a supertime (or eternity) event and could furthermore be a past, present, or future (from the perspective of time) occurrence, then is it possible for beings who are concluded in the present—or in the future—to appear retroactively with respect to the sequence of time?
Relationships of Time to Transcended Time. - The Papers speak of a relationship between time and transcended time that may result in the blurring of the finite time sequence. They suggest that the Supreme may project certain forecasts onto the supertime levels and then reflect back onto the finite time level a projection of certain phases of its future state. They refer to this as “…the Immanence of Projected Incompleteness” (UB 4:1.10). This is, in essence, an invasion of the finite past-present by the finite future, passing through the absonite level of supertime. It is undoubtedly true that both the Supreme and the Ultimate are able to foreshadow some of their future universe activities by some such time-preempting technique (UB 117:7.3).
Anticipatory Sequences. - When a personality originating outside of time, a Paradise Personality, enters the timestream of events on an inhabited world, such an event might cause time ripples of anticipation, as well as time ripples of consequences. Consider the following line of reasoning:
In our attempt to understand the transformative technique of conclusion, we seem to have discovered one of the fundamental principles underlying the operations of the cosmos. We will provisionally call it “The Principle of Organic Coherence.” This principle can perhaps be expressed as:
The acts of Deity always produce coherent reactions in the sensitive potential of the affected level of Reality.
We believe this is so because Reality is more than mechanical; it is an organism; it is alive and unified as an organism, and hence it reveals the internal coherence and active responsiveness of a living organism. We have been taught that the responsiveness of mechanisms is intrinsically passive, whereas the responsiveness of organisms is inherently active. (UB 112:1.13)
Finite Reality is a living organism. - The Papers expound the idea that Reality is a living organism on the finite level. They propose the idea that the grand universe is a “magnificent, sentient, living organism” (UB 116:7.2). The Papers make illustrative comparisons between (116:7):
These quotations quite clearly describe the grand universe as a living organism, and they equally identify the Supreme Being as the emergent personalization of that living organism.
Superfinite Reality as a Living Organism.- We can further understand that whatever the Supreme is to the finite cosmos, the Ultimate must be to the absonite cosmos, the master universe. If the grand universe is a living creation personalizing its power in the Supreme, then the master universe must be a similar living organism personalizing its power in the Ultimate. If these statements are valid, then Total Reality must also be a living organism—an absolute living organism. And this absolute (existential) organism must be pervaded by the Infinite—by that being we know as God.
If we can consider the reality of each level to be active, living, and organic (rather than passive, lifeless, and mechanical), then we can better understand why any act of divinity, at any level, will produce certain repercussive reactions in the living organism of the affected level. Any such act of divinity will cause certain organic responses that are inevitable, inherent in the perpetuation of the symmetrical pattern of the living organic unity of Reality.
If this were not the case, then there would be no system (pattern of harmony) in the cosmos; something would be missing or displaced (UB 112:1.17). On the evolutionary time-space levels of imperfection, such disorder is quite likely to be encountered as a transient fact of time—hence the presence of error and evil. But on the high, superfinite levels of Reality, this could hardly be the case.
Can we validate this principle at superfinite levels? Can we find additional evidence for this principle—the Principle of Organic Coherence? Let’s examine other possibilities.
Absolute Organic Coherence.- Whenever God acts “…as absolute, unqualified personality, He can act only as, and with, the Son…” (UB 10:2.2) This is the essence of the Father-Son partnership, and such action is Father-Son action. Whenever the Father-Son partnership acts, the Conjoint Creator reacts, responds (UB 8:5.6); this is the activity of “…one as two and acting through the two.” (UB 10:4.5) If this Father-Son action is an action of their Total Deity, then it becomes the action of “…three as one and in one…”—the action of the Paradise Trinity. If the value of this Deity action is absolute, then it becomes the absolute action of the Paradise Trinity (UB 10:8.3); and the absolute action of the Paradise Trinity produces a repercussive activation of Total Deity—of the Absolute in Deity (UB 10:8.3). Such an activation of the Absolute in Deity will in turn activate the Unqualified Absolute by reason of the unifying presence of the Universal Absolute (UB 0:11.15). Thus, an absolute act on the part of God will repercuss Total Reality, to which Total Reality will respond. The Unqualified Absolute may be the mechanizer, but the Deity Absolute is the activator of Total Reality (UB 0:11.5). All of these relationships illustrate quite well the organic coherence of reaction on the absolute levels of Total Existential Reality.
The Organic Coherence of Deity.- Deity itself manifests an element of coherence best known as “…divinity… the characteristic, unifying, and co-ordinating quality of Deity.” (UB 0:1.16) This is further illustrated by the manner in which the experiential trinities encompass experiential Reality and, in turn, express the appearance of the experiential deities:
We advance the belief that the responsiveness of the universe will always react to the intentional will and commands of Deity and Divinity. The Unqualified reacts to the Absolute in Deity; the master universe is undoubtedly responsive to the emerging purposes of the Ultimate; the grand universe is becoming responsive to the emerging sovereignty of the Supreme.
This same principle is true even with respect to the evolutionary progression of human beings: “When man acts, the Supreme reacts, and this operation constitutes the fact of progress.” (UB 117:5.7)