Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 27
MINISTRY OF THE PRIMARY SUPERNAPHIM
1. Primary supernaphim are the supernal servants of the Deities on the eternal Isle of Paradise. Never have they been known to depart from the paths of light and righteousness...Primary supernaphim are also placed in command of the seraphic hosts ministering on worlds isolated because of rebellion ... On Urantia the present "chief of seraphim" is the second of this order to be on duty since the times of the bestowal of Christ Michael.
2. These high angels now minister chiefly in the following seven orders of service:
1. Conductors of Worship.
2. Masters of Philosophy.
3. Custodians of Knowledge.
4. Directors of Conduct.
5. Interpreters of Ethics.
6. Chiefs of Assignment.
7. Instigators of Rest.
Not until the ascending pilgrims actually attain Paradise residence do they come under the direct influence of these supernaphim.
3. Rest is of a sevenfold nature: There is the rest of sleep and of play...discovery...worship… energy intake...the transit sleep...the deep sleep of metamorphosis, the transition rest from one stage of being to another ... 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 timeless 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.
4. I have observed that, when the ascendant mortals have periods of leisure, they evince a predilection to fraternize with the reserve corps of the superaphic chiefs of assignment. When you mortal ascenders attain Paradise, your societal relationships involve a great deal more than contact with a host of exalted and divine beings and with a familiar multitude of glorified fellow mortals. You must also fraternize with upwards of three thousand different orders of Paradise Citizens, with the various groups of the Transcendentalers, and with numerous other types of Paradise inhabitants, permanent and transient, who have not been revealed on Urantia. After sustained contact with these mighty intellects of Paradise, it is very restful to visit with the angelic types of mind; they remind the mortals of time of the seraphim with whom they have had such long contact and such refreshing association.
5. The higher you ascend in the scale of life, the more attention must be paid to universe ethics. Ethical awareness is simply the recognition by any individual of the rights inherent in the existence of any and all other individuals ... Every new group of colleagues met with adds one more level of ethics to be recognized and complied with until, by the time the mortals of ascent reach Paradise, they really need someone to provide helpful and friendly counsel regarding ethical interpretations. They do not need to be taught ethics, but they do need to have what they have so laboriously learned properly interpreted to them as they are brought face to face with the extraordinary task of contacting with so much that is new.
6. All Paradise conduct is wholly spontaneous, in every sense natural and free. But there still is a proper and perfect way of doing things on the eternal Isle and the directors of conduct are ever by the side of the "strangers within the gates" to instruct them and to guide their steps as to put them at perfect case and at the same time to enable the pilgrims to avoid that confusion and uncertainty which would otherwise be inevitable. Only by such an arrangement could endless confusion be avoided; and confusion never appears on Paradise...Notwithstanding all the long preparation therefor and the long journey thereto, Paradise is still inexpressibly strange and unexpectedly new to those who finally attain residential status.
7. The superaphic custodians of knowledge are the higher "living epistles" known and read by all who dwell an Paradise ...They are in reality living, automatic libraries... it is...inherently impossible for an untruth to gain lodgment in the minds of these perfect and replete repositories of the truth of eternity and the intelligence of time. These custodians conduct informal courses of instruction for the residents of the eternal Isle, but their chief function is that of reference and verification.
8. When you locate that supernaphim who is exactly what you desire to verify, you will find available all the known facts of all universes, for these custodians of knowledge are the final and living summaries of the vast network of the recording angels...And this living accumulation of knowledge is distinct from the formal records of Paradise, the cumulative summary of universal history.
9. Next to the supreme satisfaction of worship is the exhilaration of philosophy. Never do you climb so high or advance so far that there do not remain a thousand mysteries which demand the employment of philosophy in an attempted solution.
10. The master philosophers of Paradise delight to lead the minds of its inhabitants, both native and ascendant, in the exhilarating pursuit of attempting to solve universe problems ... These Paradise philosophers teach by every possible method of instruction…All of these higher techniques of imparting knowledge and conveying ideas are utterly beyond the comprehension capacity of even the most highly developed human mind. One hour's instruction on Paradise would be the equivalent of ten thousand years of the word‑memory methods of Urantia ... These intellectual pursuits of Paradise are not broadcast; the philosophy of perfection is available only to those who are personally present.
11. Worship is the highest privilege and the first duty of all created intelligences...The quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as the knowledge of the infinite character of the Gods progresses, the act of worship becomes increasingly all‑encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings.
12. The periodic, spontaneous, group, and other special outbursts of supreme adoration and spiritual praise enjoyed on Paradise are conducted under the leadership of a special corps of primary supernaphim. Under the direction of these conductors of worship, such homage achieves the creature goal of supreme pleasure and attains the heights of the perfection of sublime self‑expression and personal enjoyment.
13. Without improvement in the technique of worship it would require hundreds of years for the average mortal who reaches Paradise to give full and satisfactory expression to his emotions of intelligent appreciation and ascendant gratitude. The conductors of worship open up new and hitherto unknown avenues of expression so that these wonderful children of the womb of space and the travail of time are enabled to gain the full satisfactions of worship in much less time.
14. Worship is the highest joy of Paradise existence...Never since the times of Grandfanda have the supernaphim been able fully to accommodate the spirit of worship on Paradise.. And this is because personalities of inherent perfection never can fully appreciate the tremendous reactions of the spiritual emotions of beings who have slowly and laboriously made their way upward to Paradise glory from the depths of the spiritual darkness of the lower worlds of time and space.
15. Sometimes all Paradise becomes engulfed in a dominating tide of spiritual and worship expression. Often the conductors of worship cannot control such phenomena until the appearance of the threefold fluctuation of the light of the Deity abode, signifying that the divine heart of the Gods has been fully and completely satisfied by the sincere worship of the residents of Paradise, the perfect citizens of glory and the ascendant creatures of time. What a triumph of technique! What a fruition of the eternal plan and purpose of the Gods that the intelligent love of the creature child should give full satisfaction to the infinite love of the Creator Father!
16. 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 occasion 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 spirit realization by a finaliter will probably signalize the celebration of the first of the jubilees of eternity...The endless service of the Paradise Trinity is about to begin; and now the finaliter is face to face with the challenge of God the Ultimate.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the closest analogy of “divine rest” that human beings can experience? What type of rest often leads to spiritual growth?
2. Is the experience of learning how to relate fraternally with people of other races, cultures, and religions preparation for the ethics we will learn on the ascent to Paradise?
3. Why is the long process of gaining knowledge through evolutionary experience superior for us than the instantaneous knowledge God could give us?
4. How does knowledge arrive at truth and experience achieve wisdom? Why is thinking about perplexing problems enriching and satisfying?
5. We usually think of worship as losing ourselves in the admiration and love of God; why does worship on Paradise result in “supreme pleasure” and “sublime self-expression?”
6. How do we expand the spontaneity of worship in our daily lives?
7. If our becoming finaliters signalizes the celebration of the first jubilee of eternity, do you suppose we will have the same long struggle understanding God the Ultimate that we are now experiencing in the quest of God the Supreme?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship