The Urantia Book Fellowship

A Study of the Master Universe: Appendices
A Development of Concepts in the Urantia Book

Bill Sadler (William S. Sadler, Jr.)
Copyright © 1968 Second Society Foundation

Table of Contents for This Study

APPENDIX V: DUAL-DEITY IN THE UNIVERSE AGES

Author's Introductory Comments

The successive partnerships of Dual-Deity seem to operate in all universes and in all ages. These associations of a dual nature stand in contrast to the trinities and to the other operations of Total Deity. Both Dual-Deity and Total Deity are active in the successive ages and in the expanding space levels. Both have their roots in past eternity and both project their functions outward from the universe of eternity into the present creations of time and space, into the future domains of outer space, and on into the most remote ages of the universe of infinity.

§1. DUAL-DEITY PIONEERS; TRINITY CONSOLIDATES

The relationships between Dual-Deity and Trinity start in past eternity. The Father-Son partnership is a past-eternal association [8:0.2]; so also is the Paradise Trinity. [8:1.4] This original Dual-Deity partnership and the original Total Deity (Trinity) relationship, established in past eternity, seems to set the pattern for all such subsequent deity relationships.

In past eternity the Father-Son partnership produces the Infinite Spirit and eternalizes Havona. The Father-Son initiates these transactions, but they are consummated by the Paradise Trinity. The central creation is of Trinity-origin [4:1.2]; [14:4.3] and is administered by Trinity origin beings. [citation needed]; [17:1.1]; [18:2.1]

We are informed [8:3.3] that, in subsequent creation, the Spirit has the same relation to the Son that the Son has to the Father in the production of the central universe. The local universes are the work of the Creator Sons and the Creative Spirits. Here, again, Dual-Deity is taking the initiative. Is there any reason to believe that Trinity will consolidate this action? There is! The Papers speculate [23:4.4] concerning the future ages and wonder if the settled grand universe will sometime be administered more extensively by Trinity-origin beings, while their former associates of single and dual-origin will be working in the outer universes. The trinity administrators apparently take over whenever the "outer universes," the frontier universes, have become "inner universes" - perfected and settled realms. The Trinity Ambassadors to the local universes become active in administration when such universes are settled in light and life. [55:10.1]

§2. THE PROGRESSIONS OF DUAL-DEITY PARTNERSHIPS

We are informed [106:8.9] there is a progressive series of the partnerships of Dual-Deity, and that one gives way in succession to the next. These are as follows:

It is apparent that there are going to be a number of successive associations of this dual nature - apparently six in all. The first such association is related to the First Age and the central universe; the second association is apparently related to the Second Age and the grand universe. A study of the next four partnerships will disclose similar associations with ages and universes.

We believe the first three associations have to do with the development of the master universe - particularly with the development of the three nuclear universes: central-, grand-, and master-universes. The Father-Son is concerned with Havona; the Son-Spirit, with the affairs of our present age - the perfecting of 700,000 local universes; the Spirit-Supreme partnership would seem to be concerned with the outer universes.

We associate the Spirit-Supreme partnership with the four outer space levels. We do not see how the Supreme-Ultimate association could function until the Ultimate has emerged, and this will not be until the master universe has been completed. [0:9.2] The last two partnerships could hardly be started, much less operate, until after the completion of the master universe and the functioning of the Supreme-Ultimate.

The transition from existentials. An examination of these dual associations shows a transition from existential deity toward experiential deity and then back toward an association of existential-experientials. The Father-Son partnership is totally existential - the only such association. The Son-Spirit partnership may be existential on Paradise. We know nothing about its functions there, but we do know about the dual association of Universe Sons and Spirits in the local universes - this is an experiential-evolutionary association. The Spirit-Supreme partnership is half experiential even if the Infinite Spirit is to be the cooperating partner. What is more likely, however, is that this association will involve some measure of association between the Supreme and the Master Spirits, and they are all experiential. [10:2.8] Even the Creative Spirits might be involved in this relationship.

The Supreme-Ultimate partnership is unique; it is totally experiential (much as the Father-Son partnership is uniquely existential). The subsequent associations of Dual-Deity then begin to veer back toward the existential, starting with the partnership of the Ultimate-Absolute and ending with the association of Absolute and Father-Infinite.

There is another comparison that can be made between the first and the last partnership. The Father-Son partnership is eternal, it has no origin. The association of the (limited) Absolute and the Father-Infinite would also appear to be eternal, and it could hardly have a consummation.

The Processional of Initiative. These dual associations seem to indicate God's desire to share the initiative of creatorship with his divine co-ordinates and associates. God initiates Reality when he separates himself from the Son. Then he takes the initiative in the trinitization of the Spirit and the production of Havona. In the local universes, it is the Sons who are taking the initiative and the Spirits who are the consenting and concurring creators. In outer space, we have the idea that it will be the Spirits who carry the initiative with the Supreme serving as the seconding and concurring creator. And thus, out into the Cosmos Infinite, this processional of initiative moves with the partnerships that follow that of the Spirit and the Supreme.

§3. THE FATHER-SON PARTNERSHIP: THE FIRST UNIVERSE AGE

The eternal partnership of the Father-Son must be the prototype for all Dual-Deity associations. This partnership trinitizes the Infinite Spirit, unites with the Spirit in the Paradise Trinity, and concurrently produces the central universe of eternal perfection. These transactions are "eternity events" and they take place at the dawn of the First Universe Age. [8:0.2]; [8:1.8]

In the production of the central creation Dual-Deity functions as the initial cause, but the actual administration of this divine creation is by Trinity-origin beings - the Father's worlds are ruled by Trinitized Secrets of Supremacy. [18:1.1]

We have no information concerning the administration of the worlds of the Son. [13:3.2] The worlds of the Spirit are supervised by the (Trinity-origin) Supreme Executives. [17:1.1] Each of the billion worlds of Havona proper is directed by a resident Eternal of Days. [18:2.1] Since the appearance of Havona is an "eternity event," there never was a "time" when it had dual-origin administrators. Nonetheless, it was initiated by the Dual-Deity association of the Father-Son, was consummated in creation by the Infinite Spirit, by virtue of which it became a Trinity-origin universe. It is administered by Trinity origin beings and the Havona natives are spoken of as a "direct creation of the Paradise Trinity. " [19:6.2]

§4. THE SON-SPIRIT PARTNERSHIP: THE SECOND UNIVERSE AGE

The Father-Son partnership initiates the First Universe Age and produces the universe of eternal perfection. The Son-Spirit partnership operates in the Second Universe Age and is concerned with the evolutionary growth of the local universes of original imperfection. The first partnership is consummated in eternity and on Paradise; the second partnership is evolutionary - it is evolving to consummation in time and will achieve completion only with the perfecting of the imperfect creations of space. (If the Son-Spirit partnership involves a new relationship between the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit on Paradise the Papers are silent on this point.)

It appears that the Son-Spirit partnership will be consummated at the close of the Second Age, with the following consequences:

The Father-Son partnership trinitizes a deity equal (the Infinite Spirit) and is consummated in the Paradise Trinity. The Son-Spirit partnerships will be consummated by similar action on the part of 700,000 Universe Sons and Spirits. This will result in the appearance of 700,000 associate creators of co-ordinate status and will change the Dual-Deity associations of the Universe Sons and Spirits into Creative Trios.

The Father-Son partnership is still functioning in the present age; it did not cease to function with the close of the First Age. The Father-Son partnership is the source of the Creator Sons, and it will apparently be a continuing source of such Sons in the post-supreme ages of the outer universes.

We do not believe that the Son-Spirit partnership will terminate at the close of the present age, but it will have reached a new level of development for the 700,000 Creator Sons and Creative Spirits who organized and perfected the local universes of time and space. For this group of 700,000, the Dual-Deity relation will have become a quasi-trinity relationship, a Creative Trio. We also believe that other Universe Sons and Spirits will be entering into new Dual-Deity partnerships in the outer universes.

The point to be noted is this: These Dual-Deity partnerships, once established, do not terminate, but apparently continue to operate and to be augmented by the formation of new partnerships of Dual-Deity.

A collective association of Dual-Deity. The Second Universe Age is also the age of the collaboration of the Supreme Creators and Triune Paradise Deity [0:8.8] either as the Three Persons of Deity or as the Paradise Trinity. This is a dual relationship that is deity-unified on one side by the Paradise Deities and, on the other side, must be evolving deity-unity with the Supreme Creator Corps. The Paradise Deities are eternally unified in the Paradise Trinity; the Supreme Creators are seemingly evolving a unified deity entity that will become one of the three (deity) members of the First Experiential Trinity.

The deity entity of the collective association of the Supreme-Creator-Corps could sustain a relationship to the Paradise Trinity that would constitute a form of Dual-Deity association.

§5. THE SPIRIT-SUPREME PARTNERSHIP: THE POST-SUPREME AGES

Much as the partnership of the Father-Son is associated with the First Universe Age, and that of the Son-Spirit is related to the Second, so does the partnership of the Spirit-Supreme appear to be associated with the Third and subsequent ages of the development of the master universe. This association of Spirit-Supreme could hardly function in the present (second) age; the Supreme Being is not yet an actualized deity. This, then, is the first Dual-Deity partnership we have encountered that is a wholly future proposition. The Papers have almost nothing to say about the Dual-Deity relationship of the Spirit-Supreme, but they do have much to say about the relationship between the Spirit and the Supreme:

[9:1.7] At times, and in certain functions, the Infinite Spirit appears to make up for certain deficiencies of the experiential deities.

[116:4.2] The Infinite Spirit acts in various ways to make up for the incompleteness of the Supreme.

(ibid.) This closeness is shared by the Seven Master Spirits, especially by the Seventh Master Spirit, who speaks for the Supreme

[116:4.5] The Master Spirits support the sovereignty of the Supreme and are, themselves, affected in action by his emerging purpose.

These present relationships, in the grand universe, may be amplified (after the emergence of the Supreme) in the new relationships of the outer space creations:

[16:0.4] The Master Spirits are concerned with those segments of the outer universes that are correlated with their superuniverse spheres of jurisdiction.

[116:0.5] The tertiary function of the Supreme Being is of master-universe scope and includes: (a) his function as a super-Almighty, and (b) some unknown aspect of mind.

We have the opinion that the Supreme Being will be collaborating with the Master Spirits in all of the transcendental developments of the four outer space levels. This appears to be the new association of Dual-Deity that will be characteristic of these realms.

We deem it likely that the Supreme Being will have a constant but growing influence in the outer space universes, and this constant function will be in association with a progressive expansion of the interaction of the seven natures of the Master Spirits. We believe this will produce an expansion of creative diversity that can be expressed as follows:

(a) In the superuniverses, seven kinds of diversity [116:0.5]

(b) In the Primary Space Level, forty-nine kinds (7 x 7)

(c) In the Secondary Space Level, 343 kinds (7 x 7 x 7)

(d) In the Tertiary Space Level, 2,401 kinds (7 x 7 x 7 x 7)

(e) In the Quartan Space Level, 16,807 kinds (7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7)

The first two Dual-Deity associations are consummated in acts of trinitization. We do not perceive that this will be the case with the partnership of the Spirit-Supreme. The Papers are silent on this point.

We know that the appearance of God the Ultimate is the result of the unification of the First Experiential Trinity [106:4.3] and is notthe result of any union on the part of the Spirit and the Supreme. One result of this collaboration is the continuing of the evolution of the Supreme on the transcendental levels of growth. This must involve a further expansion of his deity presence for eventual membership in the Second Experiential Trinity.

§6. DUAL-DEITY IN THE POST-ULTIMATE AGE

Three of the associations of Dual-Deity appear to be post-master universe and it is hardly possible to consider their function in "universe" ages. Their consideration belongs more properly to our study (See Appendix XXVII; Growth of the Cosmos Infinite). Nevertheless, to make this story complete, we should recapitulate them here:

(a) The Supreme- Ultimate. This association will apparently form sometime after the completion of the master universe. We perceive a great similarity between the Dual-Deity of Supreme-Ultimate and the partnership of Father-Son. Both are consummated in an act of deity-trinitization and both lead to the formation of a new trinity. With the Father-Son, it is the appearance of God the Spirit and the union of the three deities in the Paradise Trinity. With the Supreme-Ultimate, it is the appearance of God the Absolute and the union of the three deities in the Third Experiential Trinity, the Second Level of the Trinity of Trinities.

(b) The Ultimate-Absolute. We associate the function of this Dual-Deity partnership with the continued growth of the Cosmos Infinite. We believe that this endless universe will be initiated by the Supreme-Ultimate, and that its future growth will be fostered by the Ultimate-Absolute.

(c) The Absolute and Father-Infinite. This association appears to be a future-eternal relationship that may, or may not, be realizable. The Papers speak of it as "the completion of the cycle of reality." [106:8.9]


Footnote: Other Associations of Dual-Deity

There are three associations of Dual-Deity that are functional in the operations of the seven triunities. (1147, §4) They appear in the second, third, and fourth triunities. Let us consider these three examples:

(a) The Father-Son. This Dual-Deity partnership appears as the first member of the Power-Pattern Triunity, the second triunity. The other two members are the Isle of Paradise and the Conjoint Actor. It is the function of this triunity to impose pattern (system) on total creation. It must be that the Universal Father is, in this relationship, functioning "as the absolute and unqualified personality," hence his inseparability from the Eternal Son. [10:2.2]

(b) The Son-Spirit. This Dual-Deity partnership appears as the second member of the Spirit-Evolutional Triunity, the third triunity. The other two members are the Universal Father and the Deity Absolute. This relationship stresses the equality of the relationship of Son and Spirit to the Father [citation needed] and further stresses the fact that active spirit functioning is largely a matter of the operations of the Son and his Sons and the Spirit and his Spirits. The Father is spoken of as existing "before spirit," the Son-Spirit as "active creative spirit," and the Deity Absolute as "beyond spirit."

(c) The Father-Spirit. This Dual-Deity partnership is something new; we have not encountered it before. It is the first member of the Triunity of Energy Infinity, the fourth triunity. The other two members are the Isle of Paradise and the Unqualified Absolute. The presentation of the triunities is made in the Papers in terms of their sub-ultimate function on the level of supremacy. [citation needed] This being the case, this presentation would pertain to the perspective of the present universe age. We know that Solitarington [13:1.16] is the status sphere of Father-Spirit-origin beings, and that Solitary Messengers and the Power Directors enjoy status there. [13:1.17] We are further instructed that, while the Father had nothing to do with the origin of these beings, ". . . in this universe age he does have to do with their function." (ibid.)