Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 46
THE LOCAL SYSTEM HEADQUARTERS
1. Jerusem, the headquarters of Satania, is an average capital of a local system ... Your local system has passed through some stormy experiences, but it is at present being administered most efficiently ...Order and good will are being restored, and the conditions on Jerusem are more and more approaching the heavenly status of your traditions, for the system headquarters is truly the heaven visualized by the majority of twentieth‑century religious believers.
2. The sphere has seven major capitals and seventy minor administrative centers ...The standard mile of Jerusem is equivalent to about seven Urantia miles. The standard weight, the "gradant,"...represent almost exactly ten ounces of your weight. The Satania day equals three days of Urantia time, less one hour, four minutes, and fifteen seconds, that being the time of the axial revolution of Jerusem. The system year consists of one hundred Jerusem days.
3. The full‑light temperature is maintained at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, while during the period of light recession it falls to a little lower than 50 degrees ...There are no days and. nights, no seasons of heat and cold ...rarefied energies are projected upward through the planetary atmosphere...until they reach the electric air‑ceiling of the sphere; and then these energies are reflected back and down as a gentle, sifting, and even light of about the intensity of Urantia sunlight when the sun is shining overhead at ten o'clock in the morning ...On Urantia it is this same gas shield which prevents the escape of the terrestrial broadcast waves.
4. This lighting of the sphere is uniformly maintained for seventy‑five per cent of the Jerusem day, and then there is a gradual recession until, at the time of minimum illumination, the light is about that of your full moon of a clear night. This is the quiet hour for all Jerusem. Only the broadcast‑receiving stations are in operation during this period of rest and rehabilitation.
5. There are thousands upon thousands of small lakes but no raging rivers nor expansive oceans ...The physical plant life and the morontia world of living things both require moisture, but this is largely supplied by the subsoil system of circulation which extends all over the sphere...The atmosphere of Jerusem is a three‑gas mixture...This third gas in no way unfits the air for the respiration of animals or plants of the material orders.
6. The transportation system is allied with the circulatory streams of energy movement, these main energy currents being located at ten‑mile intervals. By adjustment of physical mechanisms the material beings of the planet can proceed at a pace varying from two to five hundred miles per hour. The transport birds fly at about one hundred miles an hour.
7. Jerusem and its associated worlds are endowed with the ten standard divisions of physical life characteristic of the architectural spheres of Nebadon...Jerusem is indeed a foretaste of paradisiacal glory and. grandeur ...Until you actually arrive on Jerusem, you can hardly entertain anything like a true concept of the heavenly worlds.
8. The manufacturing or laboratory sector of Jerusem is an extensive domain, one which Urantians would hardly recognize since it has no smoking chimneys; nevertheless, there is an intricate material economy associated with these special worlds, and there is a perfection of mechanical technique and physical achievement which would astonish arid even awe your most experienced chemists and inventors.
9. Mount Seraph is the highest elevation on Jerusem, almost fifteen thousand feet, and is the point of departure for all transport seraphim ...A seraphic transport departs every three seconds of Urantia time ...Transports arrive on the crystal field, the so‑called sea. of glass. Around this area are the receiving stations for the various orders of beings who traverse space by seraphic transport.
10. The superuniverse and Paradise‑Havona broadcasts are received on Jerusem in liaison with Salvington and by a technique involving the polar crystal, the sea of glass. In addition ...These‑stations are adjusted to the reception of broadcasts from the local worlds, from the constellation headquarters, and from the capital. of the local universe ...of all preoccupations for an ascendant mortal on Jerusem, none is more engaging and engrossing than that of listening in on the never‑ending stream of universe space reports.
11. When Paradise messages are in reception, the entire population is assembled around the sea of glass, and the Uversa friends add the reflectivity phenomena to the technique of the Paradise broadcast so that everything heard becomes visible.
12. Considerable portions of Jerusem are assigned as residential areas, while other portions of the system capital are given over to the necessary administrative functions...On Jerusem and in Nebadon these arrangements are designed as follows:
1. The. Circles—the nonnative residential areas.
2. The squares—the system executive‑administrative areas.
3. The rectangles—the rendezvous of the lower native life.
4. The triangles—the local or Jerusem administrative areas.
13. Jerusem enjoys the efficient services of the spironga of design for system function. These beings are devoted to spiritual ministry in behalf of the supermaterial residents and visitors ...They are on Jerusem what the midway creatures are on Urantia.
14. The system capitals are unique in that they are the only worlds which exhibit well‑nigh perfectly all three phases of universe existence: the material, the morontial, and the spiritual.
15. 1. Circles of the Sons of God. The Trinity Teacher Sons come the nearest to being the personal representatives of the Universal Father in a local system; they are at least Trinity‑origin beings. This second circle is a domain of extraordinary interest to all the peoples of Jerusem.
16. From the first of the mansion worlds on through all the Jerusem career of ascending mortals, the Melchizedeks are foster fathers and ever‑present advisers. It would not be amiss to say that they are the dominant influence on Jerusem aside from the ever-present activities of the Material Sons and Daughters.
17. The seventh circle is the rendezvous of the ascending sons, those assigned mortals who may be temporarily functioning on the system headquarters, together with their seraphic consorts. All ex‑mortals above the status of Jerusem citizens and below that of finaliters are reckoned as belonging to the group having its headquarters in this circle.
18. These circular reservations of the Sons occupy an enormous area, and until nineteen hundred years ago there existed a great open space at its center. This central region is now occupied by the Michael memorial, completed some five hundred years ago. Four hundred and. ninety‑five years ago, when this temple was dedicated, Michael was present in person, and all Jerusem heard the touching story of the Master Son's bestowal on Urantia, the least of Satania.
19. 2. The circles of the angels. On a system headquarters, records are always preserved in material, in morontia, and in spirit form.
20. These seven circles are surrounded by the exhibit panorama of Jerusem, five thousand standard miles in circumference, which is devoted to the presentation of the advancing status of the peopled worlds of Satania and is constantly revised so as to truly represent up‑to‑date conditions on the individual planets. I doubt not that this vast promenade overlooking the circles of the angels will be the first sight of Jerusem to claim your attention when you are permitted extended leisure on your earlier visits.
21. 4. The circles of the Master Physical Controllers. This temple of power is one of two sectors on Jerusem where ascending mortals and midway creatures are not permitted. The other one is the dematerializing sector in the area of the Material Sons, a series of laboratories wherein the transport seraphim transform material beings into a state quite like that of the morontia order of existence.
22. 5. The circles of the ascending mortals. The central area of the circles of the ascending mortals is occupied by a group of 619 planetary memorials representative of the inhabited worlds of the system, and these structures periodically undergo extensive changes ...Many changes are even now being made in the Urantia structures. The center of these 619 temples is occupies by a working model of Edentia and its many worlds of ascendant culture.
23. Ascenders enjoy their Jerusem services ..The activities of such a world are of three distinct varieties: work, progress, and play. Stated otherwise, they are: service, study, and relaxation. The composite activities consist of social intercourse, group entertainment, and divine worship. There is great educational value in mingling with diverse groups of personalities, orders very different from ones own fellows.
24. 6. The circles of the courtesy colonies. The seven circles of the courtesy colonies are graced by three enormous structures: the vast astronomic observatory of Jerusem, the gigantic art gallery of Satania, and. the immense assembly hail of the reversion directors, the theater of morontia activities devoted to rest and recreation.
25. 7. The circles of the finaliters have a unique structure at the center. This edifice on Jerusem is sealed with the insignia of Michael, and it bears this inscription: "Undedicated to the seventh stage of spirit—to the eternal assignment.”.…Someday you shall look upon this silent temple, even though you may not penetrate its mystery.
26. The spornagia are the landscape gardeners of the headquarters worlds, and they are both original and artistic in their treatment of the open spaces of Jerusem. They utilize both animals and numerous mechanical contrivances in the culture of the soil.
27. Spornagia are not Adjuster indwelt...Although spornagia neither possess nor evolve survival souls, though they do not have personality, nevertheless, they do evolve an individuality which can experience reincarnation...Spornagia are the only creatures in all the universe of Nebadon who experience this or any other sort of reincarnation.
28. Perhaps I can best suggest to Urantia minds something of the nature of these beautiful and serviceable creatures by saying that they embrace the combined traits of a faithful horse and an affectionate dog and manifest an intelligence exceeding that of the highest type of chimpanzee ....There are those who believe that, in a future universe age, these faithful spornagia will escape from their animal level of existence and attain a worthy evolutional destiny of progressive intellectual growth and even spiritual achievement.
29. The triangles are surrounded by the panoramic depiction of the system headquarters history. At present there is an erasure of over two standard miles in this circular story. This sector will be restored upon the readmission of Satania into the constellation family.
30. But ere long, the adjudication of Lucifer and his associates will restore the Satania system to the Norlatiadek constellation, and subsequently, Urantia and the other isolated spheres will be restored to the Satania circuits, and again will such worlds enjoy the privileges of interplanetary communication and intersystem communion.
31. There will come an end for rebels and rebellion. The Supreme Rulers are merciful and patient, but the law of deliberately nourished evil is universally and unerringly executed. "The wages of sin is death"—eternal obliteration.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the most unusual physical characteristic of Jerusem?
2. Why type of physical mechanism for travel might be used on Jerusem and how might transport birds be used?
3. Why do you think broadcasts are viewed at the broadcast-receiving station rather than at individual receivers?
4. Why do you think we were given such a detailed description of Jerusem?
5. Why do you think morals are not allowed in the temple of power of the Master Physical Controllers and the dematerialization sector of the Material Sons?
6. What type of work might we be doing on Jerusem.
7. How will be know when Satania is restored to the Norlatiadek constellation and what will it be like to have Urantia restored to the Satania circuits?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship