The Plan of Survival

   

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THE PLAN OF SURVIVAL

SECTION ONE

THE PLAN OF SALVATION

AS PRESENTED IN THE RELIGION ABOUT JESUS

THE BIBLE VERSION

1. The fall of man. Gen. 3.

2. Original sin.

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22.

“Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.” Rom. 5:12.

“Because of one man’s trespass, death reigned, through that one man.” Rom. 5:17.

“One man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men.” Rom. 5:18.

3. Man a captive of sin.

“I see in my members another law...making me captive to the law of sin... With my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Rom. 7:23,25.

4. Man a child of the devil.

“And so we were by nature children of wrath.” Eph. 2:3.

“By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil.” 1 John 3:10.

5. Redemption only through blood.

“Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Rom. 5:9.

“In him we have redemption through his blood.” Eph. 1:7.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Heb. 9:22.

“For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matt. 26:28.

6. Christ is the Redeemer.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.” Rom. 8:3.

“They are justified...through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood.” Rom. 3:24,25.

“Christ died for the ungodly.” Rom. 5:6.

“Christ redeemed us... having become a curse for us.” Gal. 3:13.

7. The atonement doctrine.

“Moses said, ‘...now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’” Ex. 32:30.

“We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received our reconciliation.” Rom. 5:11. (This passage in the King James Version is the only use of the word atonement in the New Testament.)

“At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:6,8.

“Christ died for our sins.” 1 Cor. 15:3.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” Gal. 3:13.

8. We are adopted sons of God.

“To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Gal. 4:5.

“To all who received him...he gave power to become children of God.” John 1:12.

SECTION TWO

THE PLAN OF SALVATION

AS PRESENTED IN THE RELIGION OF JESUS

THE URANTIA BOOK VERSION

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE

“There is in the mind of God a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life.” (365.3) 32:5.7

CONSIDERATION OF MICHAEL’S INCARNATE BESTOWAL

1. To earn the supreme and unlimited sovereignty of his universe.

“To live such identical lives as he imposes upon the intelligent beings of his own creation, thus to bestow himself in the likeness of his various orders of created beings, is a part of the price which every Creator Son must pay for the full and supreme sovereignty of his self-made universe of things and beings.” (1323.1) 120:0.1

2. To become a merciful, wise, and understanding administrator.

“These bestowals are not essential to the wise, just, and efficient management of a local universe, but they are absolutely necessary to a fair, merciful, and understanding administration of such a creation...” (1308.5) 119:0.5

3. To reveal the Father in heaven and to do his will.

“‘Your great mission to be realized and experienced in the mortal incarnation is embraced in your decision to live a life whole heartedly motivated to do the will of your Paradise Father, thus to reveal God, your Father, in the flesh and especially to the creatures of the flesh.’” (1328.5) 120:2.8

4. To portray the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity.

“...he was aspiring to the privilege of representing the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity which can be exercised in the direct and personal administration of a local universe.” (1324.1) 120:0.4

5. To terminate the Lucifer rebellion.

“On an afternoon in late summer, amid the trees and in the silence of nature, Michael of Nebadon won the unquestioned sovereignty of his universe. On that day he completed the task set for Creator Sons to live to the full the incarnated life in the likeness of mortal flesh... And when Jesus came down from his sojourn on Mount Hermon, the Lucifer rebellion in Satania and the Caligastia secession on Urantia were virtually settled.” (1494.2) 134:8.9

6. To reveal the will and to enhance the evolution of God the Supreme.

“In passing through the experience of revealing the Seven Master Spirit wills of the Trinity, the Creator Son has passed through the experience of revealing the will of the Supreme...In this universe age he reveals the Supreme and participates in the actualization of the sovereignty of Supremacy.” (1318.6) 119:8.7

7. To provide for the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters.

“‘Pour out upon the planet of your bestowal the Spirit of Truth and thus make all normal mortals of that isolated sphere immediately and fully accessible to the ministry of the segregated presence of our Paradise Father, the Thought Adjusters of the realms.’” (1328.2) 120:2.6

8. To prepare the way for the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth.

“‘And this Spirit of Truth which I will bestow upon you shall guide and comfort you and shall eventually lead you into all truth.’” (1948.3) 180:4.2

“‘This new teacher is the Spirit of Truth who will live with each one of you, in your hearts, and so will all the children of light be made one and be drawn toward one another.’” (1949.1) 180:4.5

9. To become the inspiration for religious living for all his universe.

“‘Live the ideal religious life for the inspiration and edification of all your universe.’” (1328.2) 120:2.5

“‘Rather shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come.’” (1328.4) 120:2.7

10. Jesus’ death on the cross.

A. The cross was man’s doing, not God’s.

“It was man and not God who planned and executed the death of Jesus on the cross.” (2002.3) 186:5.2

B. The cross was not a sacrifice for mortal guilt.

“The cross is not the symbol of the sacrifice of the innocent Son of God in the place of guilty sinners and in order to appease the wrath of an offended God...” (2019.2) 188:5.9

C. Man is not a child of the devil.

“Mortal man was never the property of the archdeceivers. Jesus did not die to ransom man from the clutch of the apostate rulers and fallen princes of the spheres...Neither was the Master’s death on the cross a sacrifice which consisted in an effort to pay God a debt which the race of mankind had come to owe him.” (2016.8) 188:4.3

11. Jesus’ death was not an atonement.

“Jesus is not about to die as a sacrifice for sin. He is not going to atone for the inborn moral guilt of the human race. Mankind has no such racial guilt before God.” (2003.1) 186:5.7

“The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath.” (60.3) 4:5.4

“The erroneous supposition that the righteousness of God was irreconcilable with the selfless love of the heavenly Father, presupposed absence of unity in the nature of Deity and led directly to the elaboration of the atonement doctrine, which is a philosophic assault upon both the unity and free-willness of God.” (41.3) 2:6.5

12. To establish the new and living way from man to God.

“Jesus is the new and living way from man to God, from the partial to the perfect, from the earthly to the heavenly, from time to eternity.” (1425.6) 129:4.7

“‘ I am the door, I am the new and living way, and whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the endless truth-search for eternal life.’” (1829.4) 166:3.7

“Jesus was and is the new and living way whereby man can come into the divine inheritance which the Father has decreed shall be his but for the asking.” (1113.6) 101:6.17

13. To restore the right of ascension to the mansion worlds on the third day.

“But ever since the day of Pentecost, Urantia mortals again may proceed directly to the morontia spheres.” (596.2) 52:5.5

14. To portray mortal man as a son of God.

“‘Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.’” (448.1) 40:6.2 1 John 3:1.

15. To enhance the perfection plan for mortal ascenders.

“From the Universal Father who inhabits eternity there has gone forth the supreme mandate, ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.’ In love and mercy the messengers of Paradise have carried this divine exhortation down through the ages and out through the universes, even to such lowly animal-origin creatures as the human races of Urantia.” (21.3) 1:0.3

“The very instant the Eternal Son accepted his Father’s plan of perfection attainment for the creatures of the universes, the moment the ascension project became a Father-Son plan, that instant the Infinite Spirit became the conjoint administrator of the Father and the Son for the execution of their united and eternal purpose.” (93.7) 8:3.5

16. The three parts of the perfection plan.

A. The Plan of Progressive Attainment.

“This provision for upstepping the creatures of time involves the Father’s bestowal of the Thought Adjusters and the endowing of material creatures with the prerogatives of personality.” (85.5) 7:4.4

B. The Bestowal Plan.

“This is the proposal of the Eternal Son and consists of his bestowal of the Sons of God upon the evolutionary creations, there to personalize and factualize, to incarnate and make real, the love of the Father and the mercy of the Son to the creatures of all universes.” (85.6) 7:4.5

C. The Plan of Mercy Ministry.

“...the Infinite Spirit projected and put in operation the tremendous and universal enterprise of mercy ministry. This is the service so essential to the practical and effective operation of both the attainment and bestowal undertakings...” (85.7) 7:4.6

17. Mortal survival and the Paradise ascension.

A. The Paradise journey.

“Evolutionary mortals are born on the planets of space, pass through the morontia worlds, ascend the spirit universes, traverse the Havona spheres, find God, attain Paradise, and are mustered into the primary Corps of the Finality, therein to await the next assignment of universe service...And as we view this sublime spectacle, we all exclaim: What a glorious destiny for the animal-origin children of time, the material sons of space!” (354.6) 31:10.20

B. Finding God.

“The attainment of the Universal Father is the passport to eternity...The test of time is almost over; the race for eternity has been all but run. The days of uncertainty are ending; the temptation to doubt is vanishing; the injunction to be perfect has been obeyed. From the very bottom of intelligent existence the creature of time and material personality has ascended the evolutionary spheres of space, thus proving the feasibility of the ascension plan while forever demonstrating the justice and righteousness of the command of the Universal Father to his lowly creatures of the worlds: ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.’” (294.6) 26:9.2

18. Mortal destiny is the Paradise Corps of the Finality.

“The present known destiny of surviving mortals is the Paradise Corps of the Finality...At present the Paradise finaliters are working throughout the grand universe in many undertakings...” (1239.4) 112:7.15

19. Ultimate finaliter destiny.

“What an adventure! What a romance! A gigantic creation to be administered by the children of the Supreme, these personalized and humanized Adjusters, these Adjusterized and eternalized mortals, these mysterious combinations and eternal associations of the highest known manifestation of the essence of the First Source and Center and the lowest form of intelligent life capable of comprehending and attaining the Universal Father. We conceive that such amalgamated beings, such partnerships of Creator and creature, will become superb rulers, matchless administrators, and understanding and sympathetic directors of any and all forms of intelligent life which may come into existence throughout these future universes of the first outer space level. (1239.7) 112:7.18

20. Concerning the statement of Jesus on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

“But there are those in the universe who hold that this soul-identity of Jesus now reposes in the ‘bosom of the Father,’ to be subsequently released for leadership of the Nebadon Corps of the Finality in their undisclosed destiny in connection with the uncreated universes of the unorganized realms of outer space.” (2015.4) 188:3.8

SECTION THREE

THE PLAN OF SURVIVAL

As detailed in The Urantia Book

I. THE DIVINE PLAN OF PERFECTION

1. The eternal goal.

“The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh.” (365.4) 32:5.8

2. The divine plan: “Be you perfect.”

“The enlightened worlds all recognize and worship the Universal Father, the upholder of all creation. The will creatures of universe upon universe have embarked upon the long, long Paradise journey, the fascinating struggle of the eternal adventure of attaining God the Father. The transcendent goal of the children of time is to find the eternal God, to comprehend the divine nature, to recognize the Universal Father. God-knowing creatures have only one supreme ambition, just one consuming desire, and that is to become, as they are in their spheres, like him as he is in his Paradise perfection of personality and in his universal sphere of righteous supremacy.” (21.3) 1:0.3

3. Universe status of the perfection plan.

“The amazing plan for perfecting evolutionary mortals and, after their attainment of Paradise and the Corps of the Finality, providing further training for some undisclosed future work, does seem to be, at present, one of the chief concerns of the seven superuniverses and their many subdivisions; but this ascension scheme for spiritualizing and training the mortals of time and space is by no means the exclusive occupation of the universe intelligences. There are, indeed, many other fascinating pursuits which occupy the time and enlist the energies of the celestial hosts.” (54.3) 4:0.3

4. Meaning of the perfection injunction.

“This magnificent and universal injunction to strive for the attainment of the perfection of divinity is the first duty, and should be the highest ambition, of all the struggling creature creation of the God of perfection. This possibility of the attainment of divine perfection is the final and certain destiny of all man's eternal spiritual progress.

“Urantia mortals can hardly hope to be perfect in the infinite sense, but it is entirely possible for human beings, starting out as they do on this planet, to attain the supernal and divine goal which the infinite God has set for mortal man; and when they do achieve this destiny, they will, in all that pertains to self-realization and mind attainment, be just as replete in their sphere of divine perfection as God himself is in his sphere of infinity and eternity. Such perfection may not be universal in the material sense, unlimited in intellectual grasp, or final in spiritual experience, but it is final and complete in all finite aspects of divinity of will, perfection of personality motivation, and God-consciousness.

“This is the true meaning of that divine command, ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect,’ which ever urges mortal man onward and beckons him inward in that long and fascinating struggle for the attainment of higher and higher levels of spiritual values and true universe meanings. This sublime search for the God of universes is the supreme adventure of the inhabitants of all the worlds of time and space.” (22.1) 1:0.4

5. No “short cuts” in the perfection plan.

“Never, in all your ascent to Paradise, will you gain anything by impatiently attempting to circumvent the established and divine plan by short cuts, personal inventions, or other devices for improving on the way of perfection, to perfection, and for eternal perfection.” (846.4) 75:8.5

6. Infinite Spirit administrator of perfection plan.

“The Infinite Spirit is the effective agent of the all-loving Father and the all-merciful Son for the execution of their conjoint project of drawing to themselves all truth-loving souls on all the worlds of time and space...the Infinite Spirit pledged all his resources of divine presence and of spirit personalities to the Father and the Son; he has dedicated all to the stupendous plan of exalting surviving will creatures to the divine heights of Paradise perfection.” (93.7) 8:3.5

7. This perfection becomes a personality possession.

“Excepting perfect beings of Deity origin, all will creatures in the superuniverses are of evolutionary nature, beginning in lowly estate and climbing ever upward, in reality inward. Even highly spiritual personalities continue to ascend the scale of life by progressive translations from life to life and from sphere to sphere. And in the case of those who entertain the Mystery Monitors, there is indeed no limit to the possible heights of their spiritual ascent and universe attainment.

“The perfection of the creatures of time, when finally achieved, is wholly an acquirement, a bona fide personality possession. While the elements of grace are freely admixed, nevertheless, the creature attainments are the result of individual effort and actual living, personality reaction to the existing environment.” (361.3) 32:3.8

8. Man climbs from the bottom to the top.

“The fact of animal evolutionary to any personality in the sight of the universe as that is the exclusive method of producing one of the two basic types of finite intelligent will creatures. When the heights of perfection and eternity are attained, all the more honor to those who began at the bottom and joyfully climbed the ladder of life, round by round, and who, when they do reach the heights of glory, will have gained a personal experience which embodies an actual knowledge of every phase of life from the bottom to the top.” (361.5) 32:3.10

9. We are fortunate who begin at the bottom.

“In all this is shown the wisdom of the Creators. It would be just as easy for the Universal Father to make all mortals perfect beings, to impart perfection by his divine word. But that would deprive them of the wonderful experience of the adventure and training associated with the long and gradual inward climb, an experience to be had only by those who are so fortunate as to begin at the very bottom of living existence.” (361.6) 32:3.11

II. THE PROGRESSIVE ASCENSION PLAN

1. Father and Son are united in “plan of progress.”

“The Eternal Son is in everlasting liaison with the Father in the successful prosecution of the divine plan of progress: the universal plan for the creation, evolution, ascension, and perfection of will creatures. And, in divine faithfulness, the Son is the eternal equal of the Father.

“The Father and his Son are as one in the formulation and prosecution of time to the perfection of eternity. This project for the spiritual elevation of the ascendant souls of space is a joint creation of the Father and the Son, and they are, with the co-operation of the Infinite Spirit, engaged in associative execution of their divine purpose.” (85.2) 7:4.1

2. Three parts of the divine perfection plan.

“This divine plan of perfection attainment embraces three unique, though marvelously correlated, enterprises of universal adventure:

“1. The Plan of Progressive Attainment. This is the Universal Father’s plan of evolutionary ascension, a program unreservedly accepted by the Eternal Son when he concurred in the Father’s proposal, ‘Let us make mortal creatures in our own image.’ This provision for upstepping the creatures of time involves the Father’s bestowal of the Thought Adjusters and the endowing of material creatures with the prerogatives of personality.

“2. The Bestowal Plan. The next universal plan is the great Father-revelation enterprise of the Eternal Son and his co-ordinate Sons. This is the proposal of the Eternal Son and consists of his bestowal of the Sons of God upon the evolutionary creations, there to personalize and factualize, to incarnate and make real, the love of the Father and the mercy of the Son to the creatures of all universes. Inherent in the bestowal plan, and as a provisional feature of this ministration of love, the Paradise Sons act as rehabilitators of that which misguided creature will has placed in spiritual jeopardy. Whenever and wherever there occurs a delay in the functioning of the attainment plan, if rebellion, perchance, should mar or complicate this enterprise, then do the emergency provisions of the bestowal plan become active forthwith. The Paradise Sons stand pledged and ready to function as retrievers, to go into the very realms of rebellion and there restore the spiritual status of the spheres. And such a heroic service a co-ordinate Creator Son did perform on Urantia in connection with his experiential bestowal career of sovereignty acquirement.

“3. The Plan of Mercy Ministry. When the attainment plan and the bestowal plan had been formulated and proclaimed, alone and of himself, the Infinite Spirit projected and put in operation the tremendous and universal enterprise of mercy ministry. This is the service so essential to the practical and effective operation of both the attainment and the bestowal undertakings, and the spiritual personalities of the Third Source and Center all partake of the spirit of mercy ministry which is so much a part of the nature of the Third Person of Deity. Not only in creation but also in administration, the Infinite Spirit functions truly and literally as the conjoint executive of the Father and the Son.” (85.4) 7:4.3

3. Eternal Son is trustee of perfection plan.

“The Eternal Son is the personal trustee, the divine custodian, of the Father’s universal plan of creature ascension. Having promulgated the universal mandate, ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect,’ the Father intrusted the execution of this tremendous undertaking to the Eternal Son; and the Eternal Son shares the fostering of this supernal enterprise with his divine co-ordinate, the Infinite Spirit. Thus do the Deities effectively co-operate in the work of creation, control, evolution, revelation, and ministration—and if required, in restoration and rehabilitation.” (86.1) 7:4.7

4. Survival, a chief business of the universe.

“The entire organization of high spirits, angelic hosts, and midway fellows is enthusiastically devoted to the furtherance of the Paradise plan for the progressive ascension and perfection attainment of evolutionary mortals, one of the supernal businesses of the universe—the superb survival plan of bringing God down to man and then, by a sublime sort of partnership, carrying man up to God and on to eternity of service and divinity of attainment—alike for mortal and midwayer.” (867.3) 77:9.12

5. Conditions of mortal survival.

“As to the chances of mortal survival, let it be made forever clear: All souls of every possible phase of mortal existence will survive provided they manifest willingness to co-operate with their indwelling Adjusters and exhibit a desire to find God and to attain divine perfection, even though these desires be but the first faint flickers of the primitive comprehension of that ‘true light which lights every man who comes into the world.’” (447.4) 40:5.19  John 1:9.

6. All-triumphant ascension plan.

“Man is spiritually indwelt by a surviving Thought Adjuster. If such a human mind is sincerely and spiritually motivated, if such a human soul desires to know God and become like him, honestly wants to do the Father’s will, there exists no negative influence of mortal deprivation nor positive power of possible interference which can prevent such a divinely motivated soul from securely ascending to the portals of Paradise.

“The Father desires all his creatures to be in personal communion with him. He has on Paradise a place to receive all those whose survival status and spiritual nature make possible such attainment. Therefore settle in your philosophy now and forever: To each of you and to all of us, God is approachable, the Father is attainable, the way is open; the forces of divine love and the ways and means of divine administration are all inter-locked in an effort to facilitate the advancement of every worthy intelligence of every universe to the Paradise presence of the Universal Father.”(63.5) 5:1.7

III. THE MORTAL-SURVIVAL PLAN

1. Objective of the mortal-survival plan.

“The mortal-survival plan has a practical and serviceable objective; you are not the recipients of all this divine labor and painstaking training only that you may survive just to enjoy endless bliss and eternal ease. There is a goal of transcendent service concealed beyond the horizon of the present universe age. If the Gods designed merely to take you on one long and eternal joy excursion, they certainly would not so largely turn the whole universe into one vast and intricate practical training school, requisition a substantial part of the celestial creation as teachers and instructors, and then spend ages upon ages piloting you, one by one, through this gigantic universe school of experiential training. The furtherance of the scheme of mortal progression seems to be one of the chief businesses of the present organized universe, and the majority of innumerable orders of created intelligences are either directly or indirectly engaged in advancing some phase of this progressive perfection plan.” (558.1) 48:8.3

2. The path of mortal ascent.

“This sevenfold Deity personalization in time and space and to the seven superuniverses enables mortal man to attain the presence of God, who is spirit. This sevenfold Deity, to finite time-space creatures sometime power-personalizing in the Supreme Being, is the functional Deity of the mortal evolutionary creatures of the Paradise-ascension career. Such an experiential discovery-career of the realization of God begins with the recognition of the divinity of the Creator Son of the local universe and ascends through the superuniverse Ancients of Days and by way of the person of one of the Seven Master Spirits to the attainment of the discovery and recognition of the divine personality of the Universal Father on Paradise.” (11.13) 0:8.9

2. The mortal survival experience.

“While the mortal survivors of time and space are denominated ascending pilgrims when accredited for the progressive ascent to Paradise, these evolutionary creatures occupy such an important place in these narratives that we here desire to present a synopsis of the following seven stages of the ascending universe career:

1. Planetary Mortals.
2. Sleeping Survivors.
3. Mansion World Students.
4. Morontia Progressors.
5. Superuniverse Wards.
6. Havona Pilgrims.
7. Paradise Arrivals.

“The following narrative presents the universe career of an Adjuster-indwelt mortal. The Son- and Spirit-fused mortals share portions of this career, but we have elected to tell this story as it pertains to the Adjuster-fused mortals, for such a destiny may be anticipated by all of the human races of Urantia.

“1. Planetary Mortals. Mortals are all animal-origin evolutionary beings of ascendant potential. In origin, nature, and destiny these various groups and types of human beings are not wholly unlike the Urantia peoples. The human races of each world receive the same ministry of the Sons of God and enjoy the presence of the ministering spirits of time. After natural death all types of ascenders fraternize as one morontia family on the mansion worlds.

“2. Sleeping Survivors. All mortals of survival status, in the custody of personal guardians of destiny, pass through the portals of natural death and, on the third period, personalize on the mansion worlds. Those accredited beings who have, for any reason, been unable to attain that level of intelligence mastery and endowment of spirituality which would entitle them to personal guardians, cannot thus immediately and directly go to the mansion worlds. Such surviving souls must rest in unconscious sleep until the judgment day of a new epoch, a new dispensation, the coming of a Son of God to call the rolls of the age and adjudicate the realm, and this is the general practice throughout all Nebadon. It was said of Christ Michael that, when he ascended on high at the conclusion of his work on earth, ‘He led a great multitude of captives.’ And these captives were the sleeping survivors from the days of Adam to the day of the Master’s resurrection on Urantia. (Eph. 4:8.)

“The passing of time is of no moment to sleeping mortals; they are wholly unconscious and oblivious to the length of their rest. On reassembly of personality at the end of an age, those who have slept five thousand years will react no differently than those who have rested five days. Aside from this time delay these survivors pass on through the ascension regime identically with those who avoid the longer or shorter sleep of death.

“These dispensational classes of world pilgrims are utilized for group morontia activities in the work of the local universes. There is a great advantage in the mobilization of such enormous groups; they are thus kept together for long periods of effective service.

“3. Mansion World Students. All surviving mortals who reawaken on the mansion worlds belong to this class.

“The physical body of mortal flesh is not a part of the reassembly of the sleeping survivor; the physical body has returned to dust. The seraphim of assignment sponsors the new body, the morontia form, as the new life vehicle for the immortal soul and for the indwelling of the returned Adjuster. The Adjuster is the custodian of the spirit transcript of the mind of the sleeping survivor. The assigned seraphim is the keeper of the surviving identity—the immortal soul—as far as it has evolved. And when these two, the Adjuster and the seraphim, reunite their personality trusts, the new individual constitutes the resurrection of the old personality, the survival of the evolving morontia identity of the soul. Such a reassociation of soul and Adjuster is quite properly called a resurrection, a reassembly of personality factors; but even this does not entirely explain the reappearance of the surviving personality. Though you will probably never understand the fact of such an inexplicable transaction, you will sometime experientially know the truth of it if you do not reject the plan of mortal survival.

“The plan of initial mortal detention on seven worlds of progressive training is nearly universal in Orvonton. In each local system of approximately one thousand inhabited planets there are seven mansion worlds, usually satellites or subsatellites of the system capital. They are the receiving worlds for the majority of ascending mortals.

“Sometimes all training worlds of mortal residence are called universe ‘mansions,’ and it was to such spheres that Jesus alluded when he said: ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions.’ From here on, within a given group of spheres like the mansion worlds, ascenders will progress individually from one sphere to another and from one phase of life to another, but they will always advance from one stage of universe study to another in class formation. (John 14:2.)

“4. Morontia Progressors. From the mansion worlds on up through the spheres of the system, constellation, and the universe, mortals are classed as morontia progressors; they are traversing the transition spheres of mortal ascension. As the ascending mortals progress from the lower to the higher of the morontia worlds, they serve on countless assignments in association with their teachers and in company with their more advanced and senior brethren.

“Morontia progression pertains to continuing advancement of intellect, spirit, and personality form. Survivors are still three-natured beings. Throughout the entire morontia experience they are wards of the local universe. The regime of the superuniverse does not function until the spirit career begins.

“Mortals acquire real spirit identity just before they leave the local universe headquarters for the receiving worlds of the minor sectors of the superuniverse. Passing from the final morontia stages to the first or lowest spirit status is but a slight transition. The mind, personality, and character are unchanged by such an advance; only does the form undergo modification. But the spirit form is just as real as the morontia body, and it is equally discernible.

“Before departing from their native local universes for the superuniverse receiving worlds, the mortals of time are recipients of spirit confirmation from the Creator Son and the local universe Mother Spirit. From this point on, the status of the ascending mortal is forever settled. Superuniverse wards have never been known to go astray. Ascending seraphim are also advanced in angelic standing at the time of their departure from the local universes.

“5. Superuniverse Wards. All ascenders arriving on the training worlds of the superuniverses become the wards of the Ancients of Days; they have traversed the morontia life of the local universe and are now accredited spirits. As young spirits they begin the ascension of the superuniverse system of training and culture, extending from the receiving spheres of their minor sector in through the study worlds of the ten major sectors and on to the higher cultural spheres of the superuniverse headquarters.

“There are three orders of student spirits in accordance with their sojourn upon the minor sector, major sectors, and the superuniverse headquarters worlds of spirit progression. As morontia ascenders studied and worked on the worlds of the local universe, so spirit ascenders continue to master new worlds while they practice at giving out to others that which they have imbibed at the experiential founts of wisdom. But going to school as a spirit being in the superuniverse career is very unlike anything that has ever entered the imaginative realms of the material mind of man.

“Before leaving the superuniverse for Havona, these ascending spirits receive the same thorough course in superuniverse management that they received during their morontia experience in local universe supervision. Before spirit mortals reach Havona, their chief study, but not exclusive occupation, is the mastery of local and superuniverse administration. The reason for all of this experience is not now fully apparent, but no doubt such training is wise and necessary in view of their possible future destiny as members of the Corps of the Finality.

“The superuniverse regime is not the same for all ascending mortals. They receive the same general education, but special groups and classes are carried through special courses of instruction and are put through specific courses of training.

“6. Havona Pilgrims. When spirit development is complete, even though not replete, then the surviving mortal prepares for the long flight to Havona, the haven of evolutionary spirits. On earth you were a creature of flesh and blood; through the local universe you were a morontia being; through the superuniverse you were an evolving spirit; with your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona your spiritual education begins in reality and in earnest; your eventual appearance on Paradise will be as a perfected spirit.

“The journey from the superuniverse headquarters to the Havona receiving spheres is always made alone. From now on no more class or group instruction will be administered. You are through with the technical and administrative training of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Now begins your personal education, your individual spiritual training. From first to last, throughout all Havona, the instruction is personal and threefold in nature: intellectual, spiritual, and experiential.

“The first act of your Havona career will be to recognize and thank your transport seconaphim for the long and safe journey. Then you are presented to those beings who will sponsor your early Havona activities. Next you go to register your arrival and prepare your message of thanksgiving and adoration for dispatch to the Creator Son of your local universe, the universe Father who made possible your sonship career. This concludes the formalities of the Havona arrival; whereupon you are accorded a long period of leisure for free observation, and this affords opportunity for looking up your friends, fellows, and associates of the long ascension experience. You may also consult the broadcasts to ascertain who of your fellow pilgrims have departed for Havona since the time of your leaving Uversa.

“The fact of your arrival on the receiving worlds of Havona will be duly transmitted to the headquarters of your local universe and personally conveyed to your seraphic guardian, wherever that seraphim may chance to be.

The ascendant mortals have been thoroughly trained in the affairs of the evolutionary worlds of space; now they begin their long and profitable contact with the created spheres of perfection. What a preparation for some future work is afforded by this combined, unique, and extraordinary experience! But I cannot tell you about Havona; you must see these worlds to appreciate their glory or to understand their grandeur.

“7. Paradise Arrivals. On reaching Paradise with residential status, you begin the progressive course in divinity and absonity. Your residence on Paradise signifies that you have found God, and that you are to be mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. Of all the creatures of the grand universe, only those who are Father fused are mustered into the Mortal Corps of the Finality. Only such individuals take the finaliter oath. Other beings of Paradise perfection or attainment may be temporarily attached to this finality corps, but they are not of eternal assignment to the unknown and unrevealed mission of this accumulating host of the evolutionary and perfected veterans of time and space.

“Paradise arrivals are accorded a period of freedom, after which they begin their associations with the seven groups of the primary supernaphim. They are designated Paradise graduates when they have finished their course with the conductors of worship and then, as finaliters, are assigned on observational and co-operative service to the ends of the far-flung creation. As yet there seems to be no specific or settled employment for the Mortal Corps of Finaliters, though they serve in many capacities on worlds settled in light and life.

“If there should be no future or unrevealed destiny for the Mortal Corps of the Finality, the present assignment of these ascendant beings would be altogether adequate and glorious. Their present destiny wholly justifies the universal plan of evolutionary ascent. But the future ages of the evolution of the spheres of outer space will undoubtedly further elaborate, and with more repleteness divinely illuminate, the wisdom and loving-kindness of the Gods in the execution of their divine plan of human survival and mortal ascension.” (340.3) 30:4.1

IV. LIFE IN THE FLESH

1. Ascension during “light and life.”

“The translated souls of the flowering ages of the settled spheres do not pass through the mansion worlds. Neither do they sojourn, as students, on the morontia worlds of the system or constellation. They do not pass through any of the earlier phases of morontia life. They are the only ascending mortals who so nearly escape the morontia transition from material existence to semispirit status. The initial experience of such Son seized mortals in the ascension career is in the services of the progression worlds of the universe headquarters. And from these study worlds of Salvington they go back as teachers to the very worlds they passed by, subsequently going on inward to Paradise by the established route of mortal ascension.” (624.3) 55:2.9

2. Work of Adjusters for ascenders.

The Thought Adjuster will recall and rehearse for you only those memories and experiences which are a part of, and essential to, your universe career. If the Adjuster has been a partner in the evolution of aught in the human mind, then will these worth-while experiences survive in the eternal consciousness of the Adjuster. But much of your past life and its memories, having neither spiritual meaning nor morontia value, will perish with the material brain; much of material experience will pass away as onetime scaffolding which, having bridged you over to the morontia level, no longer serves a purpose in the universe. But personality and the relationships between personalities are never scaffolding; mortal memory of personality relationships has cosmic value and will persist. On the mansion worlds you will know and be known, and more, you will remember, and be remembered by, your onetime associates in the short but intriguing life on Urantia.” (1235.4) 112:5.22

3. Paradise path of mortal ascenders.

“On Urantia you pass through a short and intense test during your initial life of material existence. On the mansion worlds and up through your system, constellation, and local universe, you traverse the morontia phases of ascension. On the training worlds of the superuniverse you pass through the true spirit stages of progression and are prepared for eventual transit to Havona. On the seven circuits of Havona your attainment is intellectual, spiritual, and experiential. And there is a definite task to be achieved on each of the worlds of each of these circuits.” (158.4) 14:5.1

4. Paradise the destiny of all survivors.

“After all, to mortals the most important thing about eternal Paradise is the fact that this perfect abode of the Universal Father is the real and far-distant destiny of the immortal souls of the mortal and material sons of God, the ascending creatures of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Every God-knowing mortal who has espoused the career of doing the Father’s will has already embarked upon the long, long Paradise trail of divinity pursuit and perfection attainment. And when such an animal-origin being does stand, as countless numbers now do, before the Gods on Paradise, having ascended from the lowly spheres of space, such an achievement represents the reality of a spiritual transformation bordering on the limits of supremacy.” (127.6) 11:9.8

V. THE INEVITABILITIES

1. Evolutionary creature life is beset by inevitabilities.

“The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:

“1. Is courage—strength of character—desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and re-acting to disappointments.

“2. Is altruism—service of one’s fellows—desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.

“3. Is hope—the grandeur of trust—desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.

“4. Is faith—the supreme assertion of human thought—desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.

“5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.

“6. Is idealism—the approaching concept of the divine—desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.

“7. Is loyalty—devotion to highest duty—desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.

“8. Is unselfishness—the spirit of self-forgetfulness—desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.

“9. Is pleasure—the satisfaction of happiness—desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.” (51.4) 3:5.5

“The creatures of Havona are naturally brave, but they are not courageous in the human sense. They are innately kind and considerate, but hardly altruistic in the human way. They are expectant of a pleasant future, but not hopeful in the exquisite manner of the trusting mortal of the uncertain evolutionary spheres. They have faith in the stability of the universe, but they are utter strangers to that saving faith whereby mortal man climbs from the status of an animal up to the portals of Paradise. They love the truth, but they know nothing of its soul-saving qualities. They are idealists, but they were born that way; they are wholly ignorant of the ecstasy of becoming such by exhilarating choice. They are loyal, but they have never experienced the thrill of wholehearted and intelligent devotion to duty in the face of temptation to default. They are unselfish, but they never gained such levels of experience by the magnificent conquest of a belligerent self. They enjoy pleasure, but they do not comprehend the sweetness of the pleasure escape from the pain potential.” (52.3) 3:5.17

2. But this mortal man is a son of God.

“It is a solemn and supernal fact that such lowly and material creatures as Urantia human beings are the sons of God, faith children of the Highest. ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.’ ‘As many as received him, to them gave he the power to recognize that they are the sons of God.’ While ‘it does not yet appear what you shall be,’ even now ‘you are the faith sons of God’; ‘for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, whereby you cry, “our Father.”’ Spoke the prophet of old in the name of the eternal God: ‘Even to them will I give in my house a place and a name better than sons; I will give them an everlasting name, one that shall not be cut off.’ ‘And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts.’” (448.1) 40:6.2 1 John 3:1. John 1:12. 1 John 3:2. Rom. 8:15. Isa. 56:5. 1 John 4:13.

3. Survival choice is indomitable.

“Eternal survival of personality is wholly dependent on the choosing of the mortal mind, whose decisions determine the survival potential of the immortal soul. When the mind believes God and the soul knows God, and when, with the fostering Adjuster, they all desire God, then is survival assured. Limitations of intellect, curtailment of education, deprivation of culture, impoverishment of social status, even inferiority of the human standards of morality resulting from the unfortunate lack of educational, cultural, and social advantages, cannot invalidate the presence of the divine spirit in such unfortunate and humanly handicapped but believing individuals. The indwelling of the Mystery Monitor constitutes the inception and insures the possibility of the potential of growth and survival of the immortal soul.”(69.8) 5:5.13

VI. JESUS’ BESTOWAL

1. Purpose of Jesus’ bestowal.

“A Creator Son did not incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and bestow himself upon the humanity of Urantia to reconcile an angry God but rather to win all mankind to the recognition of the Father’s love and to the realization of their sonship with God. After all, even the great advocate of the atonement doctrine realized something of this truth, for he declared that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.’” (1083.6) 98:7.1 2. Cor. 5:19.

2. The new concept of the Messiah.

“The new and vital feature of Peter’s confession was the clear-cut recognition that Jesus was the Son of God, of his unquestioned divinity. Ever since his baptism and the wedding at Cana these apostles had variously regarded him as the Messiah, but it was not a part of the Jewish concept of the national deliverer that he should be divine. The Jews had not taught that the Messiah would spring from divinity; he was to be the ‘anointed one,’ but hardly had they contemplated him as being ‘the Son of God.’ In the second confession more emphasis was placed upon the combined nature, the supernal fact that he was the Son of Man and the Son of God, and it was upon this great truth of the union of the human nature with the divine nature that Jesus declared he would build the kingdom of heaven.

“Jesus had sought to live his life on earth and complete his bestowal mission as the Son of Man. His followers were disposed to regard him as the expected Messiah. Knowing that he could never fulfill their Messianic expectations, he endeavored to effect such a modification of their concept of the Messiah as would enable him partially to meet their expectations. But he now recognized that such a plan could hardly be carried through successfully. He therefore elected boldly to disclose the third plan—openly to announce his divinity, acknowledge the truthfulness of Peter’s confession, and directly proclaim to the twelve that he was a Son of God.

“For three years Jesus had been proclaiming that he was the ‘Son of Man,’ while for these same three years the apostles had been increasingly insistent that he was the expected Jewish Messiah. He now disclosed that he was the Son of God, and upon the concept of the combined nature of the Son of Man and the Son of God, he determined to build the kingdom of heaven. He had decided to refrain from further efforts to convince them that he was not the Messiah. He now proposed boldly to reveal to them what he is, and then to ignore their determination to persist in regarding him as the Messiah.” (1748.1) 157:5.1

VII. DEATH AND RESURRECTION

1. Spirit returns to God who gave it.

“When you are through down here, when your course has been run in temporary form on earth, when your trial trip in the flesh is finished, when the dust that composes the mortal tabernacle ‘returns to the earth whence it came’; then, it is revealed, the indwelling ‘Spirit shall return to God who gave it.’ There sojourns within each moral being of this planet a fragment of God, a part and parcel of divinity. It is not yet yours by right of possession, but it is designedly intended to be one with you if you survive the mortal existence.” (26.5) 1:4.3 Eccl. 12:7.

2. Relation of Adjusters to death.

“Subsequent to physical death, except in individuals translated from among the living, the released Adjuster goes immediately to the home sphere of Divinington. The details of what transpires on that world during the time of awaiting the factual reappearance of the surviving mortal depend chiefly on whether the human being ascends to the mansion worlds in his own individual right or awaits a dispensational summoning of the sleeping survivors of a planetary age.” (1231.3) 112:4.3

3. Survival without delay.

“If the human individual survives without delay, the Adjuster, so I am instructed, registers at Divinington, proceeds to the Paradise presence of the Universal Father, returns immediately and is embraced by the Personalized Adjusters of the superuniverse and local universe of assignment, receives the recognition of the chief Personalized Monitor of Divinington, and then, at once, passes into the ‘realization of identity transition,’ being summoned therefrom on the third period and on the mansion world in the actual personality form made ready for the reception of the surviving soul of the earth mortal as that form has been projected by the guardian of destiny.” (1232.1) 112:4.13

4. The mansonia resurrection halls.

“From the Temple of New Life there extend seven radial wings, the resurrection halls of the mortal races. Each of these structures is devoted to the assembly of one of the seven races of time. There are one hundred thousand personal resurrection chambers in each of these seven wings terminating in the circular class assembly halls, which serve as the awakening chambers for as many as one million individuals. There halls are surrounded by the personality assembly chambers of the blended races of the normal post-Adamic worlds. Regardless of the technique which may be employed on the individual worlds of time in connection with special or dispensational resurrections, the real and conscious reassembly of actual and complete personality takes place in the resurrection halls of mansonia number one. Throughout all eternity you will recall the profound memory impressions of your first witnessing of these resurrection mornings.” (533.3) 47:3.5

5. The reconstruction of survivors.

“During the transit of surviving mortals from the world of origin to the mansion worlds, whether they experience personality reassembly on the third period or ascend at the time of a group resurrection, the record of personality constitution is faithfully preserved by the archangels on their worlds of special activities. These beings are not the custodians of personality (as the guardian seraphim are of the soul), but it is nonetheless true that every identifiable factor of personality is effectually safeguarded in the custody of these dependable trustees of mortal survival. As to the exact whereabouts of mortal personality during the time intervening between death and survival, we do not know.

“The situation which makes repersonalization possible is brought about in the resurrection halls of the morontia receiving planets of a local universe. Here in these life-assembly chambers the supervising authorities provide that relationship of universe energy—morontial, mindal, and spiritual—which makes possible the reconsciousizing of the sleeping survivor. The reassembly of the constituent parts of a onetime material personality involves:

“1. The fabrication of a suitable form, a morontia energy pattern, in which the new survivor can make contact with nonspiritual reality, and within which the morontia variant of the cosmic mind can be encircuited.

“2. The return of the Adjuster to the waiting morontia creature. The Adjuster is the eternal custodian of your ascending identity; your Monitor is the absolute assurance that you yourself and not another will occupy the morontia form created for your personality awakening. And the Adjuster will be present at your personality reassembly to take up once more the role of Paradise guide to your surviving self.

“3. When these prerequisites of repersonalization have been assembled, the seraphic custodian of the potentialities of the slumbering immortal soul, with the assistance of numerous cosmic personalities, bestows this morontia entity upon and in the awaiting morontia mind-body form while committing this evolutionary child of the Supreme to eternal association with the waiting Adjuster. And this completes the repersonalization, reassembly of memory, insight, and consciousness—identity.” (1234.4) 112:5.15

VIII. SURVIVAL OF SELF—PERSONALITY

1. The self must choose to survive as a personality.

“Selfhood is a cosmic reality whether material, morontial, or spiritual. The actuality of the personal is the bestowal of the Universal Father acting in and of himself or through his manifold universe agencies. To say that a being is personal is to recognize the relative individuation of such a being within the cosmic organism. The living cosmos is an all but infinitely integrated aggregation of real units, all of which are relatively subject to the destiny of the whole. But those that are personal have been endowed with the actual choice of destiny acceptance or of destiny rejection.”(1232.2) 112:5.1

2. In nonsurvivors, personality enters the Supreme.

“That which comes from the Father is like the Father eternal, and this is just as true of personality, which God gives by his own freewill choice, as it is of the divine Thought Adjuster, an actual fragment of God. Man's personality is eternal but with regard to identity a conditioned eternal reality. Having appeared in response to the Father's will, personality will attain Deity destiny, but man must choose whether or not he will be present at the attainment of such destiny. In default of such choice, personality attains experiential Deity directly, becoming a part of the Supreme Being. The cycle is foreordained, but man's participation therein is optional, personal, and experiential.” (1232.3) 112:5.2

3. Experience the keynote of survival.

“Nothing in the entire universe can substitute for the fact of experience on nonexistential levels. The infinite God is, as always, replete and complete, infinitely inclusive of all things except evil and creature experience. God cannot do wrong; he is infallible. God cannot experientially know what he has never personally experienced; God’s preknowledge is existential. Therefore does the spirit of the Father descend from Paradise to participate with finite mortals in every bona fide experience of the ascending career; it is only by such a method that the existential God could become in truth and in fact man’s experiential Father. The infinity of the eternal God encompasses the potential for finite experience, which indeed becomes actual in the ministry of the Adjuster fragments that actually share the life vicissitude experiences of human beings.” (1185.2) 108:0.2

4. The permanency of personality.

“The evolutionary planets are the spheres of human origin, the initial worlds of the ascending mortal career. Urantia is your starting point; here you and your divine Thought Adjuster are joined in temporary union. You have been endowed with a perfect guide; therefore, if you will sincerely run the race of time and gain the final goal of faith, the reward of the ages shall be yours; you will be eternally united with your indwelling Adjuster. Then will begin your real life, the ascending life, to which your present mortal state is but the vestibule. Then will begin your exalted and progressive mission as finaliters in the eternity which stretches out before you. And throughout all of these successive ages and stages of evolutionary growth, there is one part of you that remains absolutely unaltered, and that is personality—permanence in the presence of change.” (1225.1) 112:0.1

5. Custodians of identity and survival values.

“The guardian seraphim is the custodial trustee of the survival values of mortal man’s slumbering soul as the absent Adjuster is the identity of such an immortal universe being. When these two collaborate in the resurrection halls of mansonia in conjunction with the newly fabricated morontia form, there occurs the reassembly of the constituent factors of the personality of the mortal ascender.

“The Adjuster will identify you; the guardian seraphim will repersonalize you and then re-present you to the faithful Monitor of your earth days.

“And even so, when a planetary age ends, when those in the lower circles of mortal achievement are forgathered, it is their group guardians who reassemble them in the resurrection halls of the mansion spheres, even as your record tells: ‘And he shall send his angels with a great voice and shall together his elect from one end of the realm to another.’” (1247.3) 113:6.5 Matt. 24:31.

IX. THE MANSION WORLDS

1. Deficiency ministry of first mansion world.

“Almost the entire experience of mansion world number one pertains to deficiency ministry, Survivors arriving on this first of the detention spheres present so many and such varied defects of creature character and deficiencies of mortal experience that the major activities of the realm are occupied with the correction and cure of these manifold legacies of the life in the flesh on the material evolutionary worlds of time and space.” (533.6) 47:3.8

2. Life continuation on mansion worlds.

“On the mansion worlds the resurrected mortal survivors resume their lives just where they left off when overtaken by death. When you go from Urantia to the first mansion world, you will notice considerable change, but if you had come from a more normal and progressive sphere of time, you would hardly notice the difference except for the fact that you were in possession of a different body; the tabernacle of flesh and blood has been left behind on the world of nativity.” (532.7) 47:3.1

3. Must make up our earth failures.

“Those things which you might have learned on earth, but which you failed to learn, must be acquired under the tutelage of these faithful and patient teachers. There are no royal roads, short cuts, or easy paths to Paradise. Irrespective of the individual variations of the route, you master the lessons of one sphere before you proceed to another; at least this is true after you once leave the world of your nativity.” (551.2) 48:5.7

4. Cosmic awakening on mansion worlds.

“A real birth of cosmic consciousness takes place on mansonia number five. You are becoming universe minded. This is indeed a time of expanding horizons. It is beginning to dawn upon the enlarging minds of the ascending mortals that some stupendous and magnificent, some supernal and divine, destiny awaits all who complete the progressive Paradise ascension, which has been so laboriously but so joyfully and auspiciously begun. At about this point the average mortal ascender begins to manifest bona fide experiential enthusiasm for the Havona ascent. Study is becoming voluntary, unselfish service natural, and worship spontaneous. A real morontia character is budding; a real morontia creature is evolving.” (537.5) 47:7.5

5. Confirmation of Adjuster fusion.

“The union of the evolving immortal soul with the eternal and divine Adjuster is signalized by the seraphic summoning of the supervising super-angel for resurrected survivors and of the archangel of record for those going to judgment on the third day; and then, in the presence of such a survivor’s morontia associates, these messengers of confirmation speak: ‘This is a beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’ This simple ceremony marks the entrance of an ascending mortal upon the eternal career of Paradise service.

“Immediately upon the confirmation of Adjuster fusion the new morontia being is introduced to his fellows for the first time by his new name and is granted the forty days of spiritual retirement from all routine activities wherein to commune with himself and to choose some one of the optional routes to Havona and to select from the differential techniques of Paradise attainment.” (538.2) 47:8.4 Rev. 2:17; 3:12; 14:1.

6. Is there a second probation?

“If ever there is doubt as to the advisability of advancing a human identity to the mansion worlds, the universe governments invariably rule in the personal interests of that individual; they unhesitatingly advance such a soul to the status of a transitional being, while they continue their observations of the emerging morontia intent and spiritual purpose. Thus divine justice is certain of achievement, and divine mercy is accorded further opportunity for extending its ministry.

“The governments of Orvonton and Nebadon do not claim absolute perfection for the detail working of the universal plan of mortal repersonalization, but they do claim to, and actually do, manifest patience, tolerance, understanding, and merciful sympathy. We had rather assume the risk of a system rebellion than to court the hazard of depriving one struggling mortal from any evolutionary world of the eternal joy of pursuing the ascending career.

“This does not mean that human beings are to enjoy a second opportunity in the face of the rejection of a first, not at all. But it does signify that all will creatures are to experience one true opportunity to make one undoubted, self-conscious, and final choice. The sovereign Judges of the universes will not deprive any being of personality status who has not finally and fully made the eternal choice; the soul of man must and will be given full and ample opportunity to reveal its true intent and real purpose.” (1233.3) 112:5.7

X. THE MORONTIA LIFE

1. Resurrection launches us on morontia career.

“Mortal death is a technique of escape from the material life in the flesh; and the mansonia experience of progressive life through seven worlds of corrective training and cultural education represents the introduction of mortal survivors to the morontia career, the transition life which intervenes between the evolutionary material existence and the higher spirit attainment of the ascenders of time who are destined to achieve the portals of eternity.” (540.3) 47:10.7

2. Morontia life really begins on Jerusem.

“The mortal personality initiated on the evolutionary worlds and tabernacled in the flesh—indwelt by the Mystery Monitors and invested by the Spirit of Truth—is not fully mobilized, realized, and unified until that day when such a Jerusem citizen is given clearance for Edentia and proclaimed a true member of the morontia corps of Nebadon—an immortal survivor of Adjuster association, a Paradise ascender, a personality of morontia status, and a true child of the Most Highs.” (540.2) 47:10.6

3. Seven times morontians sleep and are resurrected.

“Seven times do those mortals who pass through the entire mansonia career experience the adjustment sleep and the resurrection awakening. But the last resurrection hall, the final awakening chamber, was left behind on the seventh mansion world. No more will a form-change necessitate the lapse of consciousness or a break in the continuity of personal memory.” (540.1) 47:10.5

4. The survival of young children.

“Children who die when too young to have Thought Adjusters are repersonalized on the finaliter world of the local systems concomitant with the arrival of either parent on the mansion worlds. A child acquires physical entity at mortal birth, but in the matter of survival all Adjusterless children are reckoned as still attached to their parents.

“In due course Thought Adjusters come to indwell these little ones, while the seraphic ministry to both groups of the probationary-dependent orders of survival is in general similar to that of the more advanced parent or is equivalent to that of the parent in case only one survives. Those attaining the third circle, regardless of the status of their parents, are accorded personal guardians.

“Similar probation nurseries are maintained on the finaliter spheres of the constellation and the universe headquarters for the Adjusterless children of the primary and secondary modified orders of ascenders.” (570.1) 49:6.12

5. Parental experience is required of all ascenders.

“On the seven mansion worlds ascending mortals are afforded ample opportunities for compensating any and all experiential deprivations suffered on their worlds of origin, whether due to inheritance, environment, or unfortunate premature termination of the career in the flesh. This is in every sense true except in the mortal sex life and its attendant adjustments. Thousands of mortals reach the mansion worlds without having benefited particularly from the disciplines derived from fairly average sex relations on their native spheres. The mansion world experience can provide little opportunity for compensating these very personal deprivations. Sex experience in a physical sense is past for these ascenders, but in close association with the Material Sons and Daughters, both individually and as members of their families, these sex-deficient mortals are enabled to compensate the social, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of their deficiency. Thus are all those humans whom circumstances or bad judgment deprived of the benefits of advantageous sex association on the evolutionary worlds, here on the system capitals afforded full opportunity to acquire these essential mortal experiences in close and loving association with the supernal Adamic sex creatures of permanent residence on the system capitals.

“No surviving mortal, midwayer, or seraphim may ascend to Paradise, attain the Father, and be mustered into the Corps of the Finality without having passed through that sublime experience of achieving parental relationship to an evolving child of the worlds or some other experience analogous and equivalent thereto. The relationship of child and parent is fundamental to the essential concept of the Universal Father and his universe children. Therefore does such an experience become indispensable to the experiential training of all ascenders.

“The ascending midway creatures and the evolutionary seraphim must pass through this parenthood experience in association with the Material Sons and Daughters of the system headquarters. Thus do such nonreproducing ascenders obtain the experience of parenthood by assisting the Jerusem Adams and Eves in rearing and training their progeny.

“All mortal survivors who have not experienced parenthood on the evolutionary worlds must also obtain this necessary training while sojourning in the homes of the Jerusem Material Sons and as parental associates of these superb fathers and mothers. This is true except in so far as such mortals have been able to compensate their deficiencies on the system nursery located on the first transitional-culture world of Jerusem.” (516.1) 45:6.3

XI. SPIRIT PLAY AND RECREATION

1. All ascenders continue to play.

“The principles of Urantian play life are philosophically sound and continue to apply on up through your ascending life, through the circuits of Havona to the eternal shores of Paradise. As ascendant beings you are in possession of personal memories of all former and lower existences, and without such identity memories of the past there would be no basis for the humor of the present, either mortal laughter or morontia mirth. It is this recalling of past experiences that provides the basis for present diversion and amusement. And so you will enjoy the celestial equivalents of your earthly humor all the way up through your long morontia, and then increasingly spiritual, careers. And that part of God (the Adjuster) which becomes an eternal part of the personality of an ascendant mortal contributes the overtones of divinity to the joyous expressions, even spiritual laughter, of the ascending creatures of time and space.” (550.1) 48:4.20

2. The manifold functions of humor.

“Humor should function as an automatic safety valve to prevent the building up of excessive pressures due to the monotony of sustained and serious self-contemplation in association with the intense struggle for developmental progress and noble achievement. Humor also functions to lessen the shock of the unexpected impact of fact or of truth, rigid unyielding fact and flexible ever-living truth. The mortal personality, never sure as to which will next be encountered, through humor swiftly grasps—sees the point and achieves insight—the unexpected nature of the situation be it fact or be it truth.” (549.5) 48:4.18

3. Those who most need relaxation.

“The need for the relaxation and diversion of humor is greatest in those orders of ascendant beings who are subjected to sustained stress in their upward struggles. The two extremes of life have little need for humorous diversions. Primitive men have no capacity therefor, and beings of Paradise perfection have no need thereof. The hosts of Havona are naturally a joyous and exhilarating assemblage of supremely happy personalities. On Paradise the quality of worship obviates the necessity for reversion activities. But among those who start their careers far below the goal of Paradise perfection, there is a large place for the ministry of the reversion directors.” (549.3) 48:4.16

4. Increased spirituality lessens need for diversion.

“The higher the mortal species, the greater the stress and the greater the capacity for humor as well as the necessity for it. In the spirit world the opposite is true: The higher we ascend, the less the need for the diversions of reversion experiences. But proceeding down the scale of spirit life from Paradise to the seraphic hosts, there is an increasing need for the mission of mirth and the ministry of merriment. Those beings who most need the refreshment of periodic reversion to the intellectual status of previous experiences are the higher types of the human species, the morontians, angels, and the Material Sons, together with all similar types of personality.” (549.4) 48:4.17

XII. IN THE LOCAL UNIVERSE

1. Records of the local universe career.

“The Worlds of the Archangels. The seventh group of the encircling Salvington worlds, with their associated satellites, is assigned to the archangels. Sphere number one and all of its six tributary satellites are occupied by the personality record keepers. This enormous corps of recorders busy themselves with keeping straight the record of each mortal of time from the moment of birth up through the universe career until such an individual either leaves Salvington for the superuniverse regime or is ‘blotted out of recorded existence’ by the mandate of the Ancients of Days.

“It is on these worlds that personality records and identification sureties are classified, filed, and preserved during that time which intervenes between mortal death and the hour of repersonalization, the resurrection from death.” (409.4) 37:3.7

2. Ever-changing spiritual ascent.

“Before ascending mortals leave the local universe to embark upon their spirit careers, they will be satiated respecting every intellectual, artistic, and social longing or true ambition which ever characterized their mortal or morontia planes of existence. This is the achievement of equality of the satisfaction of self-expression and self-realization but not the attainment of identical experiential status nor the complete obliteration of characteristic individuality in skill, technique, and expression. But the new spirit differential of personal experiential attainment will not become thus leveled off and equalized until after you have finished the last circle of the Havona career. And then will the Paradise residents be confronted with the necessity of adjusting to that absonite differential of personal experience which can be leveled off only by the group attainment of the ultimate of creature status—the seventh-stage-spirit destiny of the mortal finaliters.” (508.3) 44:8.5

3. The visions of John and Paul.

“John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of advancing mortals from the seventh mansion world to their first heaven, the glories of Jerusem. He recorded: ‘And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death.’ (Perfected space communication is to be had on all these worlds; and your anywhere reception of such communications is made possible by carrying the ‘harp of God,’ a morontia contrivance compensating for the inability to directly adjust the immature morontia sensory mechanism to the reception of space communications.)

“Paul also had a view of the ascendant-citizen corps of perfecting mortals on Jerusem, for he wrote: ‘But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the grand assembly of Michael, and to the spirits of just men being made perfect.’” (539.4) 47:10.2 Rev. 15:2-4. Heb. 12:22-23.

XIII. SUPERUNIVERSE ASCENT

1. Going through the superuniverse.

“You will early see the Perfections of days when you advance to the headquarters of Splandon after your sojourn on the worlds of your minor sector, for these exalted rulers are closely associated with the seventy major sector worlds of higher training for the ascendant creatures of time. The Perfections of Days, in person, administer the group pledges to the ascending graduates of the major sector schools.

“The work of the pilgrims of time on the worlds surrounding a major sector headquarters is chiefly of an intellectual nature in contrast with the more physical and material character of the training on the seven educational spheres of a minor sector and with the spiritual undertakings on the four hundred ninety university worlds of a superuniverse headquarters.

“Although you are entered only upon the registry of the major sector of Splandon, which embraces the local universe of your origin, you will have to pass through every one of the ten major divisions of our superuniverse. You will see all thirty of the Orvonton Perfections of Days before you reach Uversa.” (211.3) 18:4.7

2. Achievements of the superuniverse.

“That, then, is the primary or elementary course which confronts the faith-tested and much-traveled pilgrims of space. But long before reaching Havona, these ascendant children of time have learned to feast upon uncertainty, to fatten upon disappointment, to enthuse over apparent defeat, to invigorate in the presence of difficulties, to exhibit indomitable courage in the face of immensity, and to exercise unconquerable faith when confronted with the challenge of the inexplicable. Long since, the battle cry of these pilgrims became: ‘In liaison with God, nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible.’” (291.3) 26:5.3

3. Ascenders sponsored by Seventh Master Spirit.

“It is Master Spirit Number Seven who, in his multiple capacities, personally sponsors the progress of the ascension candidates from the worlds of time in their attempts to achieve comprehension of the undivided Deity of Supremacy. Such comprehension involves a grasp of the existential sovereignty of the Trinity of Supremacy so co-ordinated with a concept of the growing experiential sovereignty of the Supreme Being as to constitute the creature grasp of the unity of Supremacy. Creature realization of these three factors equals Havona comprehension of Trinity reality and endows the pilgrims of time with the ability eventually to penetrate the Trinity, to discover the three infinite persons of Deity.” (188.6) 16:3.18

XIV. PASSING THROUGH HAVONA

1. Pilgrims arrive with perfection of purpose.

“When, through and by the ministry of all the helper hosts of the universal scheme of survival, you are finally deposited on the receiving world of Havona, you arrive with only one sort of perfection—perfection of purpose. Your purpose has been thoroughly proved; your faith has been tested. You are known to be disappointment proof. Not even the failure to discern the Universal Father can shake the faith or seriously disturb the trust of an ascendant mortal who has passed through the experience that all must traverse in order to attain the perfect spheres of Havona. By the time you reach Havona, your sincerity has become sublime. Perfection of purpose and divinity of desire, with steadfastness of faith, have secured your entrance to the settled abodes of eternity; your deliverance from the uncertainties of time is full and complete; and now must you come face to face with the problems of Havona and the immensities of paradise, to meet which you have so long been in training in the experiential epochs of time on the world schools of space.” (290.3) 26:4.13

2. Executing the perfection command.

“The pilgrim lands on the receiving planet of Havona, the pilot world of the seventh circuit, with only one endowment of perfection, perfection of purpose. The Universal Father has decreed: ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.’ That is the astounding invitation-command broadcast to the finite children of the worlds of space. The promulgation of that injunction has set all creation astir in the co-operative effort of the celestial beings to assist in bringing about the fulfillment and realization of that tremendous command of the First Great Source and Center.” (290.2) 26:4.12

3. Being guided through Havona.

“The Graduate Guides are engaged in piloting the pilgrims of time through the seven circuits of Havona worlds. The guide who greets you upon your arrival on the receiving world of the outer Havona circuit will remain with you throughout your entire career on the heavenly circuits. Though you will associate with countless other personalities during your sojourn on a billion worlds, your Graduate Guide will follow you to the end of your Havona progression and will witness your entrance into the terminal slumber of time, the sleep of eternity transit to the Paradise goal, where, upon awakening, you will be greeted by the Paradise Companion assigned to welcome you and perhaps to remain with you until you are initiated as a member of the Mortal Corps of the Finality.” (270.1) 24:6.3

4. Experiences on the second Havona circuit.

“For the successful pilgrims on the second circuit the stimulus of evolutionary uncertainty is over, but the adventure of the eternal assignment has not yet begun; and while the sojourn on this circle is wholly pleasurable and highly profitable, it lacks some of the anticipative enthusiasm of the former circles. Many are the pilgrims who, at such a time, look back upon the long, long struggle with a joyous envy, really wishing they might somehow go back to the worlds of time and begin it all over again, just as you mortals, in approaching advanced age, sometimes look back over the struggles of youth and early life and truly wish you might live your lives over once again.” (296.1) 26:10.5

5. Meeting Havona helpers and Paradise pilgrims.

“The first of the seven groups of secondary supernaphim to be encountered are the pilgrim helpers, those beings of quick understanding and broad sympathy who welcome the much-traveled ascenders of space to the stabilized worlds and settled economy of the central universe. Simultaneously these high ministers begin their work for the Paradise pilgrims of eternity, the first of whom arrived on the pilot world of the inner Havona circuit concomitantly with the landing of Grandfanda on the pilot world of the outer circuit. Back in those far-distant days the pilgrims from Paradise and the pilgrims of time first met on the receiving world of circuit number four.” (291.1) 26:5.1

6. Grandfanda’s arrival in Havona.

“‘And Malvorian, the first of this order, did greet and instruct the pilgrim discoverer of Havona and did conduct him from the outer circuits of initial experience, step by step and circuit by circuit, until he stood in the very presence of the Source and Destiny of all personality, subsequently crossing the threshold of eternity to Paradise.’

“At that far-distant time I was attached to the service of the Ancients of Days on Uversa, and we all rejoiced in the assurance that, eventually, pilgrims from our superuniverse would reach Havona. For ages we had been taught that the evolutionary creatures of space would attain Paradise, and the thrill of all time swept through the heavenly courts when the first pilgrim actually arrived.

“The name of this pilgrim discoverer of Havona is Grandfanda, and he hailed from planet 341 of system 84 in constellation 62 of local universe 1,131 situated in superuniverse number one. His arrival was the signal for the establishment of the broadcast service of the universe of universes. Theretofore only the broadcasts of the superuniverses and the local universes had been in operation, but the announcement of the arrival of Grandfanda at the portals of Havona signalized the inauguration of the ‘space reports of glory,’ so named because the initial universe broadcast reported the Havona arrival of the first of the evolutionary beings to attain entrance upon the goal of ascendant existence.” (270.4) 24:6.6

XV. FINDING DEITY

1. Contacting the Supreme.

“Ascenders of space are designated ‘spiritual graduates’ when translated from the seventh to the sixth circle and are placed under the immediate supervision of the supremacy guides. These guides should not be confused with the Graduate Guides—belonging to the Higher Personalities of the Infinite Spirit— who, with their servital associates, minister on all circuits of Havona to both ascending and descending pilgrims. The supremacy guides functions only on the sixth circle of the central universe.

“It is in this circle that the ascenders achieve a new realization of Supreme Divinity. Through their long careers in the evolutionary universes the pilgrims of time have been experiencing a growing awareness of the reality of an almighty overcontrol of the time-space creations. Here, on this Havona circuit, they come near to encountering the central universe source of time-space unity—the spiritual reality of God the Supreme.” (292.1) 26:6.1

2. Finding the Infinite Spirit.

“Trinity guides are the tireless ministers of the fifth circle of the Havona training of the advancing pilgrims of time and space. The spiritual graduates are here designated ‘candidates for the Deity adventure’ since it is on this circle, under the direction of the Trinity guides, that the pilgrims receive advanced instruction concerning the divine Trinity in preparation for the attempt to achieve the personality recognition of the Infinite Spirit. And here the ascending pilgrims discover what true study and real mental effort mean as they begin to discern the nature of the still-more-taxing and far-more-arduous spiritual exertion that will be required to meet the demands of the high goal set for their achievement on the worlds of this circuit.” (292.5) 26:7.1

3. Preparing to meet the Eternal Son.

“The fourth Havona circuit is sometimes called the ‘circuit of the Sons.’ From the worlds of this circuit the ascending pilgrims go to Paradise to achieve an understanding contact with the Eternal Son, while on the worlds of this circuit the descending pilgrims achieve a new comprehension of the nature and mission of the Creator Sons of time and space. There are seven worlds in this circuit on which the reserve corps of the Paradise Michaels maintain special service schools of mutual ministry to both the ascending and descending pilgrims; and it is on these worlds of the Michael Sons that the pilgrims of time and the pilgrims of eternity arrive at their first truly mutual understanding of one another. In many respects the experiences of this circuit are the most intriguing of the entire Havona sojourn.” (293.5) 26:8.1

4. Preparing to recognize the Universal Father.

“When the pilgrim soul attains the third circle of Havona, he comes under the tutelage of the Father guides, the older, highly skilled, and most experienced of the superaphic ministers. On the worlds of this circuit the Father guides maintain schools of wisdom and colleges of technique wherein all the beings inhabiting the central universe serve as teachers. Nothing is neglected which would be of service to a creature of time in this transcendent adventure of eternity attainment.

“The attainment of the Universal Father is the passport to eternity, notwithstanding the remaining circuits to be traversed. It is therefore a momentous occasion on the pilot world of circle number three when the transit trio announce that the last venture of time is about to ensue; that another creature of space seeks entry to Paradise through the portals of eternity.” (294.5) 26:9.1

5. Guidance on these Paradise excursions.

“When an ascendant soul actually starts for Paradise, he is accompanied only by the transits trio: the superaphic circle associate, the Graduate Guide, and the ever-present servital associate of the latter. These excursions from the Havona circles to Paradise are trial trips; the ascenders are not yet of Paradise status. They do not achieve residential status on Paradise until they have passed through the terminal rest of time subsequent to the attainment of the Universal Father and the final clearance of the Havona circuits. Not until after the divine rest do they partake of the the ‘essence of divinity’ and the ‘spirit of supremacy’ and thus really begin to function in the circle of eternity and in the presence of the Trinity.

“The ascender’s companions of the transit trio are not required to enable him to locate the geographic presence of the spiritual luminosity of the the Trinity, rather to afford all possible assistance to a pilgrim in his difficult task of recognizing, discerning, and comprehending the Infinite Spirit sufficiently to constitute personality recognition. Any ascendant pilgrim on Paradise can discern the geographic or locational presence of the Trinity, the great majority are able to contact the intellectual reality of the Deities, especially the Third Person, but not all can recognize or even partially comprehend the reality of the spiritual presence of the Father and the Son. Still more difficult is even the minimum spiritual comprehension of the Universal Father.” (293.2) 26:7.4

XVI. FINAL PREPARATION FOR PARADISE DESTINY

1. Comprehension the passport to Paradise.

Ability to comprehend is the mortal passport to Paradise. Willingness to believe is the key to Havona. The acceptance of sonship, co-operation with the indwelling Adjuster, is the price of evolutionary survival.” (290.5) 26:4.15

2. Making ready for the Paradise journey.

“Near the end of the first-circle sojourn the ascending pilgrims first meet the instigators of rest of the primary order of supernaphisin. These are the angels of Paradise coming out to greet those who stand at the threshold of eternity and to complete their preparation for the transition slumber of the last resurrection. You are not really a child of paradise until you have traversed the inner circle and have experienced the resurrection of eternity from the terminal sleep of time. The perfected pilgrims begin this rest, go to sleep, on the first circle of Havona, but they awaken on the shores of Paradise. of all who ascend to the eternal Isle, only those who thus arrive are the children of eternity; the other go as visitors, as guests without residential status.” (297.3) 26:11.6

3. The final pre-Paradise sleep.

“And now, at the culmination of the Havona career, as you mortals go to sleep on the pilot world of the inner circuit, you go not alone to your rest as you did on the worlds of your origin when you close your eyes in the natural sleep of mortal death, nor as you did when you entered the preparatory for the journey to Havona. Now, as you prepare for the attainment rest, there moves over by your side your long-time associate of the first circle, the majestic complement of rest, who prepares to enter the rest as one with you, as the pledge of Havona that your transition is complete, and that you await only the final touches of perfection.

“Your first transition was indeed death, the second an ideal sleep, and now the third metamorphosis is the true rest, the relaxation of the ages.” (297.4) 26:11.7

4. The terminal rest of time.

“But the last metamorphic sleep is something more than those previous transition slumbers which have marked the successive status attainments of the ascendant career; thereby do the creatures of time and space traverse the innermost margins of the temporal and the spatial to attain residential status in the time less and spaceless abodes of Paradise. The instigators and the complements of rest are just as essential to this transcending metamorphosis as are the seraphim and associated beings to the mortal creature's survival of death.” (299.3) 27:1.3

5. The last grand stretch of faith.

“You enter the rest on the final Havona circuit and are eternally resurrected on Paradise. And as you there spiritually repersonalize, you will immediately recognize the instigator of rest who welcomes you to the eternal shores as the very primary supernaphim who produced the final sleep on the innermost circuit of Havona; and you will recall the last grand stretch of faith as you once again made ready to comment the keeping of your identity into the Universal Father.” (299.4) 27:1.4

6. The eternity arrival on Paradise.

“The last rest of time has been enjoyed; the last transition sleep has been experienced; now you awake to life everlasting on the shores of the eternal abode. ‘And there shall be no more sleep. The presence of God and his Son are before you, and you are eternally his servants; you have seen his face, and his name is your spirit. There shall be no night there; and they need no light of the sun, for the Great Source and Center gives them light; they shall live forever and ever. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things passed away.’” (299.5) 27:1.5 Rev. 22:5; 7:17; 21:4.

XVII. PARADISE

1. The scope of Paradise destiny.

“What an adventure! What a romance! A gigantic creation to be administered by the children of the Supreme, these personalized and humanized Adjusters, these Adjusterized and eternalized mortals, these mysterious combinations and eternal associations of the highest known manifestation of the essence of the First Source and Center and the lowest form of intelligent life capable of comprehending and attaining the Universal Father. We conceive that such amalgamated beings, such partnerships of Creator and creature. will become superb rulers, matchless administrators, and understanding and sympathetic directors of any and all forms of intelligent life which may come into existence throughout these future universes of the first outer space level.

“True it is, you mortals are of earthly, animal origin; your frame is indeed dust. But if you actually will, if you really desire, surely the heritage of the ages is yours, and you shall someday serve throughout the universes in your true characters—children of the Supreme God of experience and divine sons of the Paradise Father of all personalities.” (1239.7) 112:7.18

2. Paradise companionship for ascenders.

“Mortals come from races that are very social. The Creators well know that it is ‘not good for man to be alone,’ and provision is accordingly made for companionship, even on Paradise.

“If you, as an ascendant mortal, should reach Paradise in the company of the company of the companion or close associate of your earthly career, or if your seraphic guardian of destiny should chance to arrive with you or were waiting for you, then no permanent companion would be assigned you. But if you arrive alone, a companion will certainly welcome you as you awaken on the Isle of Light from the terminal sleep of time. Even if it is known that you will be accompanied by someone of ascendant association, temporary companions will be designated to welcome you to the eternal shores and to escort you to the reservation made ready for the reception of you and your associates. You may be certain of being warmly welcomed when you experience the resurrection into eternity on the everlasting shores of Paradise.

“Reception companions are assigned during the terminal days of the ascenders’ sojourn on the last circuit of Havona, and they carefully examine the records of mortal origins and eventful ascent through the worlds of space and the circles of Havona. When they greet the mortals of time, they are already well versed in the careers of these arriving pilgrims and immediately prove to be sympathetic and intriguing companions.

“During your prefinaliter sojourn on Paradise, if for any reason you should be temporarily separated from your associate of the ascending career—mortal or seraphic—a Paradise Companion would be forthwith assigned for counsel and companionship. When once assigned to an ascendant mortal of solitary residence on Paradise, the companion remains with this person until he either is rejoined by his ascendant associates or is duly mustered into the Corps of the Finality.” (283.5) 25:8.4

XVIII. THE CORPS OF THE FINALITY

1. Entering the Corps of the Finality.

“After the attainment of the supreme satisfaction of the fullness of worship, you are qualified for admission to the Corps of the Finality.

The ascendant career is well-nigh finished, and the seventh jubilee prepares for celebration. The first jubilee marked the mortal agreement with the Thought Adjuster when the purpose to survive was sealed; the second was the awakening in the morontia life; the third was the fusion with the Thought Adjuster; the fourth was the awakening in Havona; the fifth celebrated the finding of the Universal Father; and the sixth jubilee was the association of the Paradise awakening from the final transit slumber of time. The seventh jubilee marks entrance into the mortal finaliter corps and the beginning of the eternity service. The attainment of the seventh stage of a spirit realization by a finaliter will probably signalize the celebration of the first of the jubilees of eternity.” (305.1) 27:7.8

2. Taking the finaliter oath.

“Although all mortals who attain Paradise frequently fraternize with the Transcendentalers as they do with the Paradise Citizens, it develops that man’s first serious contact with a Transcendentaler occurs on that eventful occasion when, as a member of a new finaliter group, the mortal ascender stands in the finaliter receiving circle as the Trinity oath of eternity is administered by the chief of Transcendentalers, the presiding head of the Architects of the Master Universe.” (351.1) 31:8.4

3. Beginning of the end of the long ascension.

“Step by step, life by life, world by world, the ascendant career has been mastered, and the goal of Deity has been attained. Survival is complete in perfection, and perfection is replete in the supremacy of divinity. Time is lost in eternity; Space is swallowed up in worshipful identity and harmony with the Universal Father. The broadcasts of Havona flash forth the space reports of glory, the good news that is very truth the conscientious creatures of animal nature and material origin have, through evolutionary ascension, become in reality and eternally the perfected sons of God.” (295.2) 26:9.4

4. Finaliter destiny in outer space.

“We believe that the mortals of Adjuster fusion, together with their finaliter associates, are destined to function in some manner in the administration on the universes of the first outer space level. We have not the slightest doubt that in due time these enormous galaxies will become inhabited universes. And we are equally convinced that among the administrators thereof will be found the Paradise finaliters whose natures are the cosmic consequence of the blending of creatures and Creator.” (1239.6) 112:7.17

5. The high destiny of the finaliters.

“The Perfectors of Wisdom will always require this complement of experiential wisdom for the completion of their administrative sagacity. But it has been postulated that a high and hitherto unattained level of wisdom may possibly be achieved by the paradise finaliters after they are sometime inducted into the seventh stage of spirit existence. If this inference is correct, then would such perfected beings of evolutionary ascent undoubtedly become the most effective universe administrators ever to be known in all creation. I believe that such is the high destiny of finaliters.” (216.3) 19:2.5