THE CONCEPT OF RACE IN
THE Urantia BOOK
Charles Olivea
The Urantian Journal of Urantia Brotherhood
Winter, 1980
Introduction
This essay has a two-fold purpose: to suggest an explanation why Deity chooses to differentiate the mortal planetary-races by color and endowment; and to offer some ideas on today's perplexing issues of social justice, genetic control, and racism on Urantia.
Part I
In attempting to understand the concept of race in The Urantia Book, I found it necessary to adopt the view that "Finite origins are helpful, but only divine causes reveal final effects. Eternal ends are not shown in time beginnings." (*215:8) It is helpful to have a Life Carrier's listing of some of the reasons for racial differences: variety for natural selection; interbreeding of diverse, but superior inheritance factors; competitive interracial development; variation in racial status provides the opportunity for developing tolerance; and, encouraging individual races to first grow in numbers and come to maturity before worldwide homogeneous racial mixing. (*726:3-7) While these reasons do describe something important about the process of racial evolution in the human condition, they do not explain how the plan for multiple evolutionary races of color relates to God and his cosmic design of the universe.
It seems to me that racial differences in mental and physical endowments must be in some way a reflection of the divine nature of Deity personality. After all, the plan of biological differentiation is divinely sanctioned, The evolutionary races of color appear to serve as still another means by which Deity chooses to reveal itself to ascending mortals. I perceive an analogous relationship between Deity personalities (Universal Father, Eternal Son, and Infinite Spirit), and their associative combinations to the six human races of color and the violet (or Adamic) race. These relationships are outlined in the chart given below:
Cosmic Function of Human and Adamic Races (A Reflection of the Divine Characteristics of Triune Deity)
Deity Personality Divine Characteristics -- Races
1. Universal Father Thought (Thinking) -- Red
2. Eternal Son Word (Feeling) --Yellow Primary
3. Infinite Spirit Action (Doing) --Blue Function
4. Universal + Eternal Thought + Word --Orange
Father Son
5. Universal + Infinite Thought + Action --Green Secondary
Father Spirit Function
6. Eternal + Infinite Word + Action -- Indigo
Son Spirit
7. Universal + Eternal + Infinite Thought + Word + Action --Violet Integrative
Father Son Spirit Function
We know that the Universal Father, Eternal Son, and Infinite Spirit are the primary individual personalities of triune Deity (not to be confused with the Paradise Trinity, which is undivided, organic, and indivisible Deity). Triune Deity makes the approach to/from the planetary realms of time and space possible through God the Sevenfold, whose divine purpose is to compensate for limitations of creatures in their efforts to find God. (*11-12) It is my belief that a clue to the meaning of the cosmic functions of the violet race and six evolutionary races of color can be found in God the Sevenfold, particularly the Seven Master Spirits. The Seven Master Spirits constitute the first link of the Supreme Creators in time and space with the Supreme Being and triune Paradise Deity. I think the )connection between these races and the Master Spirits is suggested by the fact that the Seven Master Spirits exhaust ". . the associative possibilities mathematically inherent in the factual existence of the three persons of Deity .... this explains why the universe is operated in seven grand divisions, and why the number seven is basically fundamental in its organization and administration." (*184:1) "By and in and through these Seven Spirits, the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, or the Infinite Spirit, or any dual association, is able to function as such. When the Father, the Son, and the Spirit act together, they can and do function through Master Spirit Number Seven. . . . " (*185:2)
Furthermore, the divine nature of the primary personalities of Deity, represented in the grand universe as the seven identities of the Seven Master Spirits, can be described in terms of "thought, word," or "action," or some combination thereof. The Universal Father is the God of Thought (*90:1); the Eternal Son is the God of Word (*73:1); and, the Infinite Spirit is the God of Action (*90:5). 1 hold that these diversified characteristics of the Deity personalities and the attenuation of this pattern into the grand universe through the Seven Master Spirits, are introduced on the planetary level in the analogous, biological form of racial differentiation. Each race is an approximate correlation to one of the triune Deities, or one of its associative combinations.
Cosmic Design
We know from The Urantia Book that the cosmic design for a normal, typical planetary evolution allows for three primary races (red, yellow, and blue) and three secondary races (orange, green, and indigo), all of which are known on this planet as the Sangik races. Differences in color, which conform to elements of the light spectrum, improve identification of a particular race. Eventually, the biologically healthier individuals of all the races are to be integrated with the imported assistance of the violet race, the advanced offspring of an Adam and Eve. This scheme of mental and physical finite creature growth permits the fullest possible manifestation of the Deity personalities to human beings in a biological dimension. The primary races are so-named because each seems to reflect the divine nature of one of the primary Deities, the Father, Son, or Spirit. It would follow then, that the secondary races function as "secondary" in the sense that each is paired analogously with one of the dual associative combinations of the original three primary Deities.
A single evolutionary race of color might allow only the Universal Father to be revealed through biological means. Three races would expand this to the Eternal Son and Infinite Spirit. The existence of three additional racial groups implies Deity-combinations of Father-Son, Father-Spirit, and Son-Spirit. A tripartite Deity of Father-Son-Spirit is suggested analogously in the offspring of a super-mortal Material Son and Daughter functioning to biologically upstep and pull together the six human races. This violet race would be the seventh expression of triune Deity reflected on a biological plane.
In this context, some differentiation among the human races of color appears necessary and probably inevitable. "The Life Carriers impart the full bestowal of the living energies to the initial or red race, and each succeeding evolutionary manifestation of a distinct group of mortals represents variation at the expense of the original endowment." (*584:5) Certainly, all races are given a capacity for thought, word, and action (which can be re-phrased respectively as thinking, feeling, and doing)
However, the relative capacity of the primary Sangik races was in some respects greater than the secondary Sangik races. I think this was so because each of the former group emphasized a major attribute of a single Deity personality. The intelligence of the red race, a little higher in capacity than the two other primary races, came closest to the thinking power of the Father. The yellow race had the highest capacity for soul-sentiment because it best expressed the spiritual power of the Eternal Son. The blue race was noted for its mechanical inventiveness in the arts of civilization, which can be likened to the ability of the Infinite Spirit to get things done. (*723-725)
The Urantia Book states that the secondary Sangik races were somewhat less endowed by the Life Carriers in the bestowal of living energies than the endowment given to the primary Sangiks. I think this is because, in the secondary races, attributes of thinking, feeling, and doing had to be more differentiated than they were in the primary racial groups. Such as arrangement gives a distinct advantage in that "The evolution of six-or of three-colored races, while seeming to deteriorate the original endowment of the red man, provides certain very desirable variations in mortal types and affords an otherwise unattainable expression of diverse human potentials." (*584:7
It is my view that the secondary races reflect analogously a duality of Deity-associations and their respective characteristics. For example, the efforts of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit as a duality to reveal themselves to mortal creatures is advanced through the existence of the indigo race, which emphasizes the traits of feeling and doing. The divine benefit of this is to permit Deity to make a fuller, more creative biological revelation than if the mortal species was limited to only one or even three races of color. The human advantage is that "Biologically considered, the secondary Sangiks were in some respects superior to the primary races." (*920:8)
In the long view of human affairs, differentials of endowment in the primary and secondary races are enhanced by the Adamic bestowal and eventually integrated into a planetary racial amalgamation, after the various races of color are relieved of their degenerate strains. Whereas all evolutionary races are ascending and all are in need of compensatory assistance, the violet race is a descending race whose offspring uplift in a biological sense the six human races of color.
God's command: "Be you perfect, even as I am perfect," (*22:3) was given to us because the prerequisite potentials of perfection were (are) present in all the races. God knows and loves each person with an equal regard. Human beings of all the races of color were destined to receive an indwelling spirit-friend and guide, and Thought Adjuster. For these reasons, all races have equal standing before the celestial authorities. (*725:9)
Sonship with God is greater than distinctions of race among God's children. The experience of an individual's relationship with the Father is the most profound living truth a mortal being can possess. By implication, in one form or another, we humans are linked together as brothers and sisters in the family of God. Sooner or later, within the grand sweep of the historical evolution of human society, sonship status is increasingly perceived by human beings as more significant than racial status. INDEED, THE MAGNITUDE OF UNITY IMPLIED BY THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD IS INFINITELY GREATER THAN THE MAGNITUDE OF DIFFERENCE SUGGESTED BY THE VARIOUS RACES OF COLOR.
The cosmic plan for the human races of color on Urantia has been distorted, and at times side-tracked, by the special circumstances of our planet's history since the coming of the Sangik races a half-million years ago: the Lucifer rebellion and the betrayal of Caligastia, the Adamic default, and a myriad of social and genetic-environmental health problems lasting to our very day in the 20th century.
Part II
"Having failed to achieve race harmonization by the Adamic technique, you must now work out your planetary problem of race improvement by other and largely human methods. . . " (*586:5) The problems of biological evolution and genetic-environmental control are rendered still more complicated by what many people view as overlapping considerations of racism and social justice.
Racism Anti-Spiritual
Many people, with some justification, fear that any attempt to upstep the biological quality of the human race could result in the wholesale destruction of particular groups of otherwise innocent persons, or at least result in a grave deprivation of their personal liberties. Racism promotes these fears, Racism ignores one's earned character while emphasizing racial membership in deciding the value of a person or a group. It is an anti-spiritual, socially intolerant, unscientific distortion of reality. Modern racism has produced a trauma in the minds of large numbers of people on the subject of biological control and race.
Many have responded to modern racism with a call for social justice, which places one's character over race as the basis for determining the worth of an individual or group. For some, such a view is spiritually predicated on the Fatherhood of God and on the evolving brotherhood of man. However, many people base their argument for social justice only on humanism, which I think weakens the idea of human brotherhood by subtracting the Father concept. Proponents of social justice tend to minimize or ignore human differences and maximize human similarities. Equality in human affairs is their goal.
Unfortunately, the advocates of the ideals of social justice do not usually address the problems resulting from genetic flaws in the human race. Frequently, the effort to avoid the pitfalls of racism inadvertently clouds the necessity to prevent the reproduction of the more obviously genetically defective and enfeebled individuals found in all races. Racial ". . prejudice against 'half-castes,' 'hybrids,' and 'mongrels' arises because modern racial crossbreeding is, for the greater part, between the grossly inferior strains of the races concerned. You also get unsatisfactory offspring when the degenerate strains of the same race intermarry." (*920:1)
Another dimension to this subject is that "Hybridization of superior and dissimilar stocks is the secret of the creation of new and more vigorous strains. And this is true of plants, animals, and the human species. Hybridization augments vigor and increases fertility. Race mix-
tures of the average or superior strata of various peoples greatly increase creative potential, as is shown in the present population of the United States of North America. When such matings take place between the lower or inferior strata, creativity is diminished, as is shown by the present-day peoples of southern India." (*920:3) However, ". . the real jeopardy of the human species is to be found in the unrestrained multiplication of the inferior and degenerate strains of the various civilized peoples rather than in any supposed danger of their racial interbreeding." (*921:1) In other words, differences in racial endowment, such as they may exist in today's mixed races (white, black, brown, red, and yellow), are not the problem. Biological defectiveness in the various races is a cause for grave concern. Too extensive a biological abnormality would seem to jeopardize the sonship status of living and future human beings by interfering with their capacity for moral and spiritual discernment.
Health Problem
I think it is important for devotees of human brotherhood to distinguish between a recognition of degeneracy and racial prejudice. Racists should be restrained or convinced of the spiritual basis of humankind. It seems to me that the need for the biological improvement of the human race is really a HEALTH PROBLEM, rather than a racial one. Since the objections to genetic defectiveness would be applicable to both interracial and intraracial mixtures of abnormal individuals, the solution could emphasize mental and physical well-being without special reference to race. I think society needs to develop criteria for measuring the quality of mental and physical health of its people. In turn, such criteria should be used in some reasonable way to prevent the lower third of its population from reproducing. On the other hand, it would be in the interest of society to promote the reproduction of the upper two-thirds of its population, i.e., the tiers that range from average to superior on an intellectual and physical scale (yet to be designed). Racialistic solutions (along with nationalism) will not be the answer. They tend more and more to be disunifying and destructive. Racialism, which long ago made sense before the Caligastia betrayal and Adamic default, will become increasingly counter-productive as the world evolves into a global village of modern transportation, trade, and communication. The solution, paradoxically, ought to synthesize the unifying religious notion that we are all children in the family of God with the depurative scientific notion that sound minds and bodies depend to a large degree on a good genetic inheritance that not everyone has. Society must also insure the existence of a healthy environment for the proper development of its population.
Those of us who advocate changes of a social-biological nature ought to heed carefully the admonitions of an archangel of Nebadon, who said that we, "..should be unafraid to experiment with the mechanisms of society. But always should these adventures in cultural adjustment be controlled by those who are fully conversant with the history of social evolution; and always should these innovators be counseled by the wisdom of those who have had practical experience in the domains of contemplated social or economic experiment. No great social or economic change should be attempted suddenly. Time is essential to all types of human adjustment – physical, social, or economic. (911:6)
These qualifications are very important because any social-biological engineering will involve the home life – marriage and family, the foundations of society. In light of the above, it is my conclusion that social, medical, and genetic control can be safely entrusted only to persons who, at least,:
1) complete a successful parental experience;
2) hold an outlook which respects the right to life of the various racial (and ethnic) groups on this planet;
3) understand and apply insights from the science of molecular biology and birth technology;
4) understand and apply insight from the sociology and psychology of child culture;
5) possess a comprehensive knowledge of the history of our planet;
6) know how to make compromises in the political use of power;
7) and most importantly, are drawn to the Fatherhood of God and his sons and daughters of the human race.
- Charles Laurence Olivea, Watertown, Connecticut
A Service of
The Urantia Book
Fellowship