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Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 32
THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL UNIVERSES

1. A local universe is the handiwork of a Creator Son of the Paradise order of Michael. It comprises one hundred constellations, each bracing one hundred systems of inhabited worlds. Each system will eventually contain approximately one thousand inhabited. spheres ...Urantia belongs to a local universe whose sovereign is the God-­man of Nebadon, Jesus of Nazareth and Michael of Salvington.

2.  The first completed act of physical creation in Nebadon consisted in the organization of the headquarters world, the architectural sphere of Salvington, with its satellites. From the time of the initial moves of the power centers and physical controllers to the arrival of the living staff on the completed spheres of Salvington, there intervened a little over one billion years of your present planetary time.

3.  Presently, the physical plan of a universe is completed, and the Creator Son, in association with the Creative Spirit, projects his plan of life creation; whereupon does this representation of the Infinite Spirit begin her universe function as a distinct creative personality. When this first creative act is formulated and executed, there springs into being the Bright and Morning Star, the personification of this initial creative concept of identity and ideal of divinity. This is the chief executive of the universe, the personal associate of the Creator Son, one like him in all aspects of character, though markedly limited, in the attributes of divinity.

4.  And now that the right‑hand helper and chief executive of the Creator Son has been provided, there ensues the bringing into existence of a vast and wonderful array of diverse creatures. The sons and daughters of the local universe are forthcoming, and soon thereafter the government of such a creation is provided, extending from the supreme councils of the universe to the fathers of the constellations and the sovereigns of the local systems—the aggregations of those worlds which are designed subsequently to become the homes of the varied, mortal races of will creatures; and each of those worlds will be presided over by a Planetary Prince.

5.  The organization of planetary abodes is still progressing in Nebadon, for this universe is, indeed, a young cluster in the starry and planetary realms of Orvonton. At the last registry there were 3,840,101 inhabited planets in Nebadon, and Satania, the local system of your world, is fairly typical of other systems…It's 6l9 inhabited worlds are located in over five hundred. different physical systems.

6.  From Jerusem, the headquarters of Satania, it is over two hundred thousand light‑years to the physical center of the superuniverse of Orvonton, far, far away in the dense diameter of the Milky Way...From the outermost system of inhabited worlds to the center of the superuniverse is a trifle less than two hundred and fifty thousand light-years.

7.  The physical systems of time and space are all evolutionary in origin ... Except in the central universe, perfection is a progressive attainment ....And an almost infinite variety characterizes the plans of the Creator Sons for organizing, evolving, disciplining, and settling their respective local universes.

8.  The farther down the scale of life we go, the more difficult it becomes to locate, with the eye of faith, the invisible Father ...The surest safeguard for the creature throughout the long struggle to attain the Father, during this time when inherent conditions make such attainment impossible, is tenaciously to hold on to the truth-­fact of the Father's presence in his Sons. Literally and figuratively, spiritually and. personally, the Father and the Sons are one. It is a fact: He who has seen a Creator Son has seen the Father.

9. The fact of animal evolutionary origin does not attach stigma 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.

10. The divinely perfect creature and the evolutionary perfected creature are equal in degree of divinity potential, but they differ in kind. Each must depend on the other to attain supremacy of service...The two prime manifestations of finite reality, innate perfection and evolved perfection, be they personalities or universes, are co­ordinate, dependent, and integrated. Each requires the other to achieve completion of function, service, and destiny.

11. God has full understanding of the need of every intelligent creature for function and experience and therefore, in every situation, be it concerned with the destiny of a universe or the welfare of the humblest of his creatures, God retires from activity in favor of the galaxy of creature and Creator personalities who inherently intervene between himself and any given universe situation of creative event.

12. God is not a self‑centered personality; the Father freely distributes himself to his creation and to his creatures. He lives and acts, not only in the Deities, but also in his Sons, whom he intrusts with the doing of everything that it is divinely possible for them to do. The Universal Father has truly divested himself of every function which it is possible for another being to perform. And this is just as true of mortal man as of the Creator Son who rules in God’s stead at the headquarters of a local universe. Thus we behold the outworking of the ideal and infinite love of the Universal Father.

13. The Universal Father has poured out himself, as it were, to make all creation rich in personality possession arid potential spiritual attainment. God. has given us himself that we may be like him, arid he has reserved for himself of power and glory only that which is necessary for the maintenance of those things for the love of which he has divested himself of all things else.

14. There is a great and glorious purpose in the march of the universes through space. All of your mortal struggling is not in vain. We are all part of an immense plan, a gigantic enterprise, and it is the vastness of the undertaking that renders it impossible to see very much of it at any one time and during any one life.

15. The eternal purpose of the eternal God is a high spiritual ideal. The events of time and the struggles of material existence are but the transient scaffolding which bridges over to the other side, to the promised land of spiritual reality and supernal existence.

16. Most human beings die because, having failed to achieve the spirit level of Adjuster fusion, the metamorphosis of death constitutes the only possible procedure whereby they may escape the fetters of time and the bonds of material creation, thereby being enabled to strike spiritual step with the progressive procession of eternity.

17. The sectors of time are like the flashes of personality in temporal form; they appear for a season, and then they are lost to human sight, only to reappear as new actors and continuing factors in the higher life of the endless swing around the eternal circle. Eternity can hardly be conceived as a straightaway drive, in view of our belief in a delimited, universe moving over a vast, elongated circle around the central dwelling place of the Universal. Father.

18. Frankly, eternity is incomprehensible to the finite mind of time. You simply cannot grasp it; you cannot comprehend it. I do not completely visualize it, and even if I did, it would be impossible for me to convey my concept to the human mind. Never­theless, I have done my best to portray something of our viewpoint, to tell you some­what of our understanding of things eternal. I am endeavoring to aid you in the crystallization of your thoughts about these values which are of infinite nature and eternal import.

19. 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. And the infinite treasures of such a matchless career are yours for the striving! 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.

Discussion Questions

1. How does the description of the creation of the local universe differ from the traditional views of creation?

2. How does one understand how the Creator Son and the Universe Mother Spirit cooperate in the creation of Gabriel?

3. How will people who have had a rather simple idea  of heaven react to the complex organization of the local universe?

4. Will the picture of millions of inhabited planets spread over thousands of light years change the view of our importance in the universe?

5. What are the limitations of the traditional view of fiat creation compared with the potentials of evolutionary creation?

6. Why do many people believe that God is responsible for almost everything that happens in their lives?

7. How can a vision of the eternal purposes of eternity help us live creatively in the present?


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