Текст книги "The British Study Edition of the Urantia Papers"

Автор книги: Tigran Aivazian

^37:1.1 Many of the unique orders generally grouped in this category are unrevealed, but as presented in these papers, the Universe Aids include the following seven orders:

^37:1.2 1. Bright and Morning Stars.

^37:1.3 2. Brilliant Evening Stars.

^37:1.4 3. Archangels.

^37:1.5 4. Most High Assistants.

^37:1.6 5. High Commissioners.

^37:1.7 6. Celestial Overseers.

^37:1.8 7. Mansion World Teachers.

^37:1.9 ¶ Of the first order of Universe Aids, the Bright and Morning Stars, there is just one in each local universe, and he is the first-born of all creatures native to a local universe. The Bright and Morning Star of our universe is known as Gabriel of Salvington. He is the chief executive of all Nebadon, functioning as the personal representative of the Sovereign Son and as spokesman for his creative consort.

^37:1.10 During the earlier times of Nebadon, Gabriel worked quite alone with Michael and the Creative Spirit. As the universe grew and administrative problems multiplied, he was provided with a personal staff of unrevealed assistants, and eventually this group was augmented by the creation of the Nebadon corps of Evening Stars.

^37:2.1 These brilliant creatures were planned by the Melchizedeks and were then brought into being by the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit. They serve in many capacities but chiefly as liaison officers of Gabriel, the local universe chief executive. One or more of these beings function as his representatives at the capital of every constellation and system in Nebadon.

^37:2.2 As chief executive of Nebadon, Gabriel is ex officio chairman of, or observer at, most of the Salvington conclaves, and as many as 1,000 of these are often in session simultaneously. The Brilliant Evening Stars represent Gabriel on these occasions; he cannot be in two places at the same time, and these superangels compensate for this limitation. They perform an analogous service for the corps of the Trinity Teacher Sons.

^37:2.3 Though personally occupied with administrative duties, Gabriel maintains contact with all other phases of universe life and affairs through the Brilliant Evening Stars. They always accompany him on his planetary tours and frequently go on special missions to the individual planets as his personal representatives. On such assignments they have sometimes been known as “the angel of the Lord.” They frequently go to Uversa to represent the Bright and Morning Star before the courts and assemblies of the Ancients of Days, but they seldom journey beyond the confines of Orvonton.

^37:2.4 ¶ The Brilliant Evening Stars are a unique twofold order, embracing some of created dignity and others of attained service. The Nebadon corps of these superangels now numbers 13,641. There are 4,832 of created dignity, while 8,809 are ascendant spirits who have attained this goal of exalted service. Many of these ascendant Evening Stars started their universe careers as seraphim; others have ascended from unrevealed levels of creature life. As an attainment goal this high corps is never closed to ascension candidates so long as a universe is not settled in light and life.

^37:2.5 Both types of Brilliant Evening Stars are easily visible to morontia personalities and certain types of supermortal material beings. The created beings of this interesting and versatile order possess a spirit force which can be manifested independently of their personal presence.

^37:2.6 ¶ The head of these superangels is Gavalia, the first-born of this order in Nebadon. Since the return of Christ Michael from his triumphant bestowal on Urantia, Gavalia has been assigned to the ascendant mortal ministry, and for the last 1900 Urantia years his associate, Galantia, has maintained headquarters on Jerusem, where he spends about half of his time. Galantia is the first of the ascendant superangels to attain this high estate.

^37:2.7 No grouping or company organization of the Brilliant Evening Stars exists other than their customary association in pairs on many assignments. They are not extensively assigned on missions pertaining to the ascendant career of mortals, but when thus commissioned, they never function alone. They always work in pairs – one a created being, the other an ascendant Evening Star.

^37:2.8 One of the high duties of the Evening Stars is to accompany the Avonal bestowal Sons on their planetary missions, even as Gabriel accompanied Michael on his Urantia bestowal. The two attending superangels are the ranking personalities of such missions, serving as cocommanders of the archangels and all others assigned to these undertakings. It is the senior of these superangel commanders who, at the significant time and age, bids the Avonal bestowal Son, “Be about your brother’s business.”

^37:2.9 Similar pairs of these superangels are assigned to the planetary corps of Trinity Teacher Sons that functions to establish the postbestowal or dawning spiritual age of an inhabited world. On such assignments the Evening Stars serve as liaisons between the mortals of the realm and the invisible corps of Teacher Sons.

^37:2.10 ¶ The Worlds of the Evening Stars. The sixth group of seven Salvington worlds and their 42 tributary satellites are assigned to the administration of the Brilliant Evening Stars. The seven primary worlds are presided over by the created orders of these superangels, while the tributary satellites are administered by ascendant Evening Stars.

^37:2.11 The satellites of the first three worlds are devoted to the schools of the Teacher Sons and the Evening Stars dedicated to the spirit personalities of the local universe. The next three groups are occupied by similar joint schools devoted to the training of ascending mortals. The seventh-world satellites are reserved for the triune deliberations of the Teacher Sons, the Evening Stars, and the finaliters. During recent times these superangels have been closely identified with the local universe work of the Corps of the Finality, and they have long been associated with the Teacher Sons. There exists a liaison of tremendous power and import between the Evening Stars and the Gravity Messengers attached to the finaliter working groups. The seventh primary world itself is reserved for those unrevealed matters which pertain to the future relationship that will obtain between the Teacher Sons, the finaliters, and the Evening Stars consequent upon the completed emergence of the superuniverse manifestation of the personality of God the Supreme.

^37:3.1 Archangels are the offspring of the Creator Son and the Universe Mother Spirit. They are the highest type of high spirit being produced in large numbers in a local universe, and at the time of the last registry there were almost 800,000 in Nebadon.

^37:3.2 Archangels are one of the few groups of local universe personalities who are not normally under the jurisdiction of Gabriel. They are not in any manner concerned with the routine administration of the universe, being dedicated to the work of creature survival and to the furtherance of the ascending career of the mortals of time and space. While not ordinarily subject to the direction of the Bright and Morning Star, the archangels do sometimes function by his authority. They also collaborate with others of the Universe Aids, such as the Evening Stars, as is illustrated by certain transactions depicted in the narrative of life transplantation on your world.

^37:3.3 ¶ The archangel corps of Nebadon is directed by the first-born of this order, and in more recent times a divisional headquarters of the archangels has been maintained on Urantia. It is this unusual fact that soon arrests the attention of extra-Nebadon student visitors. Among their early observations of intrauniverse transactions is the discovery that many ascendant activities of the Brilliant Evening Stars are directed from the capital of a local system, Satania. On further examination they discover that certain archangel activities are directed from a small and apparently insignificant inhabited world called Urantia. And then ensues the revelation of Michael’s bestowal on Urantia and their immediately quickened interest in you and your lowly sphere.

^37:3.4 Do you grasp the significance of the fact that your lowly and confused planet has become a divisional headquarters for the universe administration and direction of certain archangel activities having to do with the Paradise ascension scheme? This undoubtedly presages the future concentration of other ascendant activities on the bestowal world of Michael and lends a tremendous and solemn import to the Master’s personal promise, “I will come again.”

^37:3.5 ¶ In general, the archangels are assigned to the service and ministry of the Avonal order of sonship, but not until they have passed through extensive preliminary training in all phases of the work of the various ministering spirits. A corps of 100 accompanies every Paradise bestowal Son to an inhabited world, being temporarily assigned to him for the duration of such a bestowal. If the Magisterial Son should become temporary ruler of the planet, these archangels would act as the directing heads of all celestial life on that sphere.

^37:3.6 Two senior archangels are always assigned as the personal aids of a Paradise Avonal on all planetary missions, whether involving judicial actions, magisterial missions, or bestowal incarnations. When this Paradise Son has finished the judgment of a realm and the dead are called to record (the so-called resurrection), it is literally true that the seraphic guardians of the slumbering personalities respond to “the voice of the archangel.” The roll call of a dispensation termination is promulgated by an attendant archangel. This is the archangel of the resurrection, sometimes referred to as the “archangel of Michael.”

^37:3.7 ¶ 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.

^37:3.8 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.

^37:4.1 The Most High Assistants are a group of volunteering beings, of origin outside the local universe, who are temporarily assigned as central and superuniverse representatives to, or observers of, the local creations. Their number varies constantly but is always far up in the millions.

^37:4.2 From time to time we thus benefit from the ministry and assistance of such Paradise-origin beings as Perfectors of Wisdom, Divine Counsellors, Universal Censors, Inspired Trinity Spirits, Trinitized Sons, Solitary Messengers, supernaphim, seconaphim, tertiaphim, and other gracious ministers, who sojourn with us for the purpose of helping our native personalities in the effort to bring all Nebadon into fuller harmony with the ideas of Orvonton and the ideals of Paradise.

^37:4.3 Any of these beings may be voluntarily serving in Nebadon and hence be technically outside our jurisdiction, but when functioning by assignment, such personalities of the super– and central universes are not wholly exempt from the regulations of the local universe of their sojourn, though they continue to function as representatives of the higher universes and to work in accordance with the instructions which constitute their mission in our realm. Their general headquarters is situated in the Salvington sector of the Union of Days, and they operate in Nebadon subject to the oversupervision of this ambassador of the Paradise Trinity. When serving in unattached groups, these personalities from the higher realms are usually self-directing, but when serving on request, they often voluntarily place themselves wholly under the jurisdiction of the supervising directors of the realms of assigned function.

^37:4.4 Most High Assistants serve in local universe and in constellation capacities but are not directly attached to the system or planetary governments. They may, however, function anywhere in the local universe and may be assigned to any phase of Nebadon activity – administrative, executive, educational, and others.

^37:4.5 Most of this corps is enlisted in assisting the Nebadon Paradise personalities – the Union of Days, the Creator Son, the Faithfuls of Days, the Magisterial Sons, and the Trinity Teacher Sons. Now and then in the transaction of the affairs of a local creation it becomes wise to withhold certain details, temporarily, from the knowledge of practically all of the native personalities of that local universe. Certain advanced plans and complex rulings are also better grasped and more fully understood by the more mature and farseeing corps of Most High Assistants, and it is in such situations, and many others, that they are so highly serviceable to the universe rulers and administrators.

^37:5.1 The High Commissioners are Spirit-fused ascendant mortals; they are not Adjuster fused. You quite well understand about the universe-ascension career of a mortal candidate for Adjuster fusion, that being the high destiny in prospect for all Urantia mortals since the bestowal of Christ Michael. But this is not the exclusive destiny of all mortals in the prebestowal ages of worlds like yours, and there is another type of world whose inhabitants are never permanently indwelt by Thought Adjusters. Such mortals are never permanently joined in union with a Mystery Monitor of Paradise bestowal; nevertheless, the Adjusters do transiently indwell them, serving as guides and patterns for the duration of the life in the flesh. During this temporary sojourn they foster the evolution of an immortal soul just as in those beings with whom they hope to fuse, but when the mortal race is run, they take eternal leave of the creatures of temporary association.

^37:5.2 Surviving souls of this order attain immortality by eternal fusion with an individualized fragment of the spirit of the local universe Mother Spirit. They are not a numerous group, at least not in Nebadon. On the mansion worlds you will meet and fraternize with these Spirit-fused mortals as they ascend the Paradise path with you as far as Salvington, where they stop. Some of them may subsequently ascend to higher universe levels, but the majority will forever remain in the service of the local universe; as a class they are not destined to attain Paradise.

^37:5.3 Not being Adjuster fused, they never become finaliters, but they do eventually become enrolled in the local universe Corps of Perfection. They have in spirit obeyed the Father’s command, “Be you perfect.”

^37:5.4 ¶ After attaining the Nebadon Corps of Perfection, Spirit-fused ascenders may accept assignment as Universe Aids, this being one of the avenues of continuing experiential growth which is open to them. Thus do they become candidates for commissions to the high service of interpreting the viewpoints of the evolving creatures of the material worlds to the celestial authorities of the local universe.

^37:5.5 The High Commissioners begin their service on the planets as race commissioners. In this capacity they interpret the viewpoints and portray the needs of the various human races. They are supremely devoted to the welfare of the mortal races whose spokesmen they are, ever seeking to obtain for them mercy, justice, and fair treatment in all relationships with other peoples. Race commissioners function in an endless series of planetary crises and serve as the articulate expression of whole groups of struggling mortals.

^37:5.6 After long experience in problem solving on the inhabited worlds, these race commissioners are advanced to the higher levels of function, eventually attaining the status of High Commissioners of and in the local universe. The last registration recorded slightly over 1.5 billion of these High Commissioners in Nebadon. These beings are not finaliters, but they are ascendant beings of long experience and of great service to their native realm.

^37:5.7 We invariably find these commissioners in all the tribunals of justice, from the lowest to the highest. Not that they participate in the proceedings of justice, but they do act as friends of the court, advising the presiding magistrates respecting the antecedents, environment, and inherent nature of those concerned in the adjudication.

^37:5.8 High Commissioners are attached to the various messenger hosts of space and always to the ministering spirits of time. They are encountered on the programs of various universe assemblies, and these same mortal-wise commissioners are always attached to the missions of the Sons of God to the worlds of space.

^37:5.9 Whenever fairness and justice require an understanding of how a contemplated policy or procedure would affect the evolutionary races of time, these commissioners are at hand to present their recommendations; they are always present to speak for those who cannot be present to speak for themselves.

^37:5.10 ¶ The Worlds of the Spirit-fused Mortals. The eighth group of seven primary worlds and tributary satellites in the Salvington circuit are the exclusive possession of the Spirit-fused mortals of Nebadon. Ascending Adjuster-fused mortals are not concerned with these worlds except to enjoy many pleasant and profitable sojourns as the invited guests of the Spirit-fused residents.

^37:5.11 Except for those few who attain Uversa and Paradise, these worlds are the permanent residence of the Spirit-fused survivors. Such designed limitation of mortal ascent reacts to the good of the local universes by ensuring the retention of a permanent evolved population whose augmenting experience will continue to enhance the future stabilization and diversification of the local universe administration. These beings may not attain Paradise, but they achieve an experiential wisdom in the mastery of Nebadon problems that utterly surpasses anything attained by the transient ascenders. And these surviving souls continue as unique combinations of the human and the divine, being increasingly able to unite the viewpoints of these two widely separate levels and to present such a dual viewpoint with ever-heightening wisdom.

^37:6.1 The Nebadon educational system is jointly administered by the Trinity Teacher Sons and the Melchizedek teaching corps, but much of the work designed to effect its maintenance and upbuilding is carried on by the Celestial Overseers. These beings are a recruited corps embracing all types of individuals connected with the scheme of educating and training the ascending mortals. There are upward of 3,000,000 of them in Nebadon, and they are all volunteers who have qualified by experience to serve as educational advisers to the entire realm. From their headquarters on the Salvington worlds of the Melchizedeks, these overseers range the local universe as inspectors of the Nebadon school technique designed to effect the mind training and the spirit education of the ascending creatures.

^37:6.2 This training of mind and education of spirit is carried on from the worlds of human origin up through the system mansion worlds and the other spheres of progress associated with Jerusem, on the 70 socializing realms attached to Edentia, and on the 490 spheres of spirit progress encircling Salvington. On the universe headquarters itself are numerous Melchizedek schools, the colleges of the Universe Sons, the seraphic universities, and the schools of the Teacher Sons and the Union of Days. Every possible provision is made to qualify the various personalities of the universe for advancing service and improving function. The entire universe is one vast school.

^37:6.3 ¶ The methods employed in many of the higher schools are beyond the human concept of the art of teaching truth, but this is the keynote of the whole educational system: character acquired by enlightened experience. The teachers provide the enlightenment; the universe station and the ascender’s status afford the opportunity for experience; the wise utilization of these two augments character.

^37:6.4 Fundamentally, the Nebadon educational system provides for your assignment to a task and then affords you opportunity to receive instruction as to the ideal and divine method of best performing that task. You are given a definite task to perform, and at the same time you are provided with teachers who are qualified to instruct you in the best method of executing your assignment. The divine plan of education provides for the intimate association of work and instruction. We teach you how best to execute the things we command you to do.

^37:6.5 ¶ The purpose of all this training and experience is to prepare you for admission to the higher and more spiritual training spheres of the superuniverse. Progress within a given realm is individual, but transition from one phase to another is usually by classes.

^37:6.6 The progression of eternity does not consist solely in spiritual development. Intellectual acquisition is also a part of universal education. The experience of the mind is broadened equally with the expansion of the spiritual horizon. Mind and spirit are afforded like opportunities for training and advancement. But in all this superb training of mind and spirit you are forever free from the handicaps of mortal flesh. No longer must you constantly referee the conflicting contentions of your divergent spiritual and material natures. At last you are qualified to enjoy the unified urge of a glorified mind long since divested of primitive animalistic trends towards things material.

^37:6.7 ¶ Before leaving the universe of Nebadon, most Urantia mortals will be afforded opportunity to serve for a longer or shorter time as members of the Nebadon corps of Celestial Overseers.