Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 26
MINISTERING SPIRITS OF THE CENTRAL UNIVERSE
1. The ministering spirits of the grand universe are classified as follows:
1. Supernaphim.
2. Seconaphin.
3. Tertiaphim.
4. Omniaphim.
5. Seraphim.
6. Cherubim and Sanobim.
7. Midway Creatures.
The individual members of the angelic orders are not altogether stationary as to personal status in the universe. Angels of certain orders may become Paradise Companions for a season; some become Celestial Recorders; others ascend to the ranks of the Technical Advisers. Certain of the cherubim may aspire to seraphic status and destiny, while evolutionary seraphim can achieve the spiritual levels of the ascending Sons of God.
2. It is the supernaphim, seconaphim, and seraphim who, in large numbers, are employed in the furtherance of the ascending scheme of progressive perfection for the children of time. Functioning in the central, super‑, and local universes, they form that unbroken chain of spirit ministers which has been provided by the Infinite Spirit for the help and guidance of all who seek to attain the Universal Father through the Eternal Son.
3. These brilliant creatures of light are sustained directly by the intake of the spiritual energy of the primary circuits of the universe. Urantia mortals must obtain light energy through the vegetative incarnation, but the angelic hosts are encircuited; they "have food that you know not." They also partake of the circulating teachings of the marvelous Trinity Teacher Sons; they have a reception of knowledge and an intake of wisdom much resembling their technique of assimilating the life energies.
4. Primary supernaphim are the exclusive offspring of the Conjoint Creator. They divide their ministry about equally between certain groups of the Paradise Citizens and the ever‑enlarging corps of ascendant pilgrims...Secondary supernaphim are the directors of the affairs of ascending beings on the seven circuits of Havona...There are seven types of these high angels, each of origin in one of the Seven Spirits and in nature patterned accordingly...Tertiary supernaphim take origin in these Seven Spirits of the Circuits.
5. There is no time limit set on the progress of the ascending creatures from world to world and from circuit to circuit, just as no fixed span of time is arbitrarily assigned to residence on the morontia worlds. But, whereas adequately developed individuals may be exempted from sojourn on one of more of the local universe training worlds, no pilgrim may avoid passing through all seven of the Havona circuits of progressive spiritualization.
6. The Harmony Supervisors...keep everything moving along smoothly and expeditiously... A great ability to co‑ordinate a diversity of activities involving personalities of differing orders—even multiple levels—enables these supernaphim to give assistance wherever and whenever required. They contribute enormously to the mutual understanding of the pilgrims of time and the pilgrims of eternity.
7. The Intelligence Co‑ordinators ... are always the wise and sympathetic promoters of fraternal association between the ascending and the descending pilgrims...By virtue of personal contacts with the broadcasters and the reflectors, these "living newsSynopsis of Papers" of Havona are instantly conversant with all information passing over the vast news circuits of the central universe. They secure intelligence by the Havona graph method, which enables them automatically to assimilate as much information in one hour of Urantia time as would require a thousand years for your most rapid telegraphic technique to record.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. These pilgrim helpers...conduct their work for the ascending mortals in three major divisions: first, the supreme understanding of the Paradise Trinity; second, the spiritual comprehension of the Father‑Son partnership; and third, the intellectual recognition of the Infinite Spirit.
12. But long before reaching Havona, these ascendant children of tine 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."
13. Time is of little consequence on the Havona circles ... achievement is the final and supreme test.
14. 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...It is in this circle that the ascenders achieve a new realization of Supreme Divinity.
15. I am somewhat at a loss to explain what takes place on this circle...But regardless of our inability to grasp the technique, each ascending creature seems to undergo a transforming growth, a new integration of consciousness, a new spiritualization of purpose, a new sensitivity for divinity, which can hardly be satisfactorily explained without assuming the unrevealed activity of the Supreme Being.
16. 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.
17. Never would a pilgrim of time find the first approachable person of the Paradise Trinity were it not for the help and assistance of these guides and the host of other spiritual beings engaged in instructing the ascenders respecting the nature and technique of the forthcoming Deity adventure.
18. When an ascendant soul actually starts for Paradise, he is accompanied only by the transit trio: the superaphic circle associate, the Graduate Guide, and the everpresent servital associate of the latter. These excursions from the Havona circles to Paradise are trial trips; the ascenders are not yet of Paradise status ... Seldom does the quest of the Infinite Spirit fail of consummation.
19. The fourth Havona circuit is sometimes called the "circuit of the Sons."... 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.
20. The Son finders ... must so fully instruct their subjects that they will be wholly successful: first, in the adequate spiritual comprehension of the Son; second, in the satisfactory personality recognition of the Son; and third, in the proper differentiation of the Son from the personality of the Infinite Spirit.
21. After the attainment of the Infinite Spirit, no more examinations are conducted... Advancement is determined purely by the spirituality of the individual, and no one but the Gods presumes to pass upon this possession. In the event of failure no reasons are ever assigned, neither are the candidates themselves nor their various tutors and guides ever chided or criticized. On Paradise, disappointment is never regarded as defeat; postponement is never looked upon as disgrace; the apparent failures of time are never confused with the significant delays of eternity.
22. The defeated candidates for the Deity Adventure...are remanded to the work of the realms of space for a period of not less than one millennium. They never return to the superuniverse of their nativity, always to that supercreation most propitious for their retraining in preparation for the second Deity adventure ... Never do the secondary supernaphim fail to pilot their subjects successfully on the second attempt.
23. 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...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.
24. 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.
25. The superaphic counselors and advisers of the second circle are the instructors of the children of time regarding the career of eternity ... Those who are unsuccessful in the first effort at Deity attainment are advanced from the circle of failure directly to the second circle before they are returned to superuniverse service ... They have just encountered their greatest disappointment, in no way differing from the long list of such experiences whereon they climbed, as on a ladder, from chaos to glory—except in its magnitude. These are they who have drained the experiential cup to its dregs; and I have observed that they temporarily return to the services of the superuniverses as the highest type of' loving ministrators to the children of time and temporal disappointments.
26. The spirit of such candidates was wholly acceptable; their failure was inherent in some phase of the technique of approach or in some part of their experiential back‑ground. They...are remanded to the service of time on the worlds of space; and they go with joy and gladness to the tasks of former days and ages. In another day they will return to the circle of their greatest disappointment and attempt anew the Deity adventure.
27. 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...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.
28. Much of an ascender's time on the last circuit is devoted to a continuation of the study of the impending problems of Paradise residence. A vast and diverse host of beings, the majority unrevealed, are permanent and transient residents of this inner ring of Havona worlds. And the commingling of these manifold types provides the superaphic complements of rest with a rich situational environment which they effectively utilize in furthering the education of the ascending pilgrims, especially with regard to the problems of adjustment to the many groups of beings soon to be encountered on Paradise.
29. Beyond doubt, the Creator Sons and their mortal children are preparing for some future and unknown universe service. Both traverse the gamut of the experiential universe and so are educated and trained for their eternal mission.
30. Near the end of the first‑circle sojourn the ascending pilgrims first meet the instigators of rest of the primary order of supernaphim. 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... 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.
Discussion Questions
1. How do we cultivate our growth toward perfection of purpose and learn to be disappointment proof?
2. Do we have planetary parallels to the Havona attitude towards failure—that defeat is not disgrace, only postponement?
3. The size and complexity of The Urantia Book may be beyond the comprehension level required to understand its teachings for many people of our world. How will we be able to teach these people the essence of its message?
4. Successful ascenders look back to the worlds of time and wish they could begin the adventure all over again. How might we who just starting our long educational training find ways to more fully enjoy and appreciate our present status and problems?
5. Why is the mutual understanding of ascendant mortals and Havona natives “the most intriguing of the entire Havona experience?”
6. Why do you think a deeper understanding of the Trinity is necessary for the personality recognition of the Infinite Spirit?
7. What type of service might the Corps of the Finality have on the worlds of outer space?
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