The Sublime Adventure – LXXV. On a Personal Note (2 of 3)
Date Posted: October 1st, 2009
When I first read the Urantia Book, I became quite incensed
when I learned that I was born on an isolated planet. The news
went from bad to worse. First, our System Sovereign rebelled;
next, our Planetary Prince betrayed His trust; the downfall of
Adam and Eve followed; the seraphim could not properly minister
to us being themselves isolated; finally, the messages of first
Machiventa Melchizedek, and next Jesus got all confused over the
centuries. Poor me! Couldn’t I have been born on a normal
planet? And so it went during the years spent reading the Book.
Today, some 25 years later, I consider myself very lucky to have
been born on this planet. Why the change of heart?
First isolated does not mean abandoned. Urantia is often on
the mind of the Higher Beings. Didn’t Michael incarnate in the
flesh on our planet? Didn’t score of Higher Personalities came
to us to deliver their revelations? Weren’t some of us advanced
enough to understand, accept, and perchance propagate the
teachings of the Book?
Living on a quarantined planet makes us stronger; we’re
asked to believe without seeing, and most of us do; we face (at
the planetary level) incredible problems and we can’t turn to
Higher Beings. True, we have the United Nations, but ultimately
it’s a purely human institution, and therefore, not surprisingly,
it often fails to settle our international problems.
The morontia souls from Urantia will be hardy beings ready
to stand up to any challenge presented to them. They have after
all seen much worse on their native planet. And this
challenging start in life will stand them in good stead
throughout all eternity!
But it is not only our difficult start on our trial world,
it goes much further.
Nebadon is a young universe. It cannot therefore benefit
from the long experience of the score of Personalities that are
in charge of older universes. We have less than 4 million
planets*, and many, I suspect, are newcomers to the family of
planets; therefore they require a lot of care and attention. We
have had more than our share of administrative problems. Also,
as previously mentioned, there has been a relatively large number
of rebellions. This is due to the fact that our Michael gives a
lot of freedom to his administrators. Higher Beings have
favorably commented on that; the liberty given will foster
initiative and pay handsome dividends in the future.
* At the last registry (these revelations were made in 1934)
there were 3,840,101 inhabited planets (out of a potential of 10
million inhabited worlds). [P359].
While the seven superuniverses were created together, they
differ in the degree of organization (from a physical,
administrative, spiritual, and other controls), and among them,
Orvonton is considered the least organized.
Put another way, we from Urantia will be tested like few
other mortals in the universe. I for one will welcome the
forthcoming challenges. I know that there was a time when I
looked at it differently, but 25 years later I have matured and
learned to appreciate the gift I was given. I am now so glad I
was born on this planet!
* * *
Of all the passages I have quoted from the Book, there is
one that I particularly cherish. It ties in so nicely with what
I’ve said in the preceding section.
“In all this is shown the wisdom of the Creators. It would
be just as easy for the Universal Father to make all mortals
perfect beings, to impart perfection by his divine word. But
that would deprive them of the wonderful experience of the
adventure and training associated with their long and gradual
inward climb, an experience to be had only by those who are so
fortunate as to begin at the very bottom of living existence.”
[P361 & 362].
* * *
After having been acquainted with the vastness of the
universe, you must feel lost. One planet among trillions! One
person among many, many mortals, a number that cannot be
calculated, let alone comprehended! Do not be concerned. The
Father will never mislaid you no matter how vast the universe is!
He is not called the Universal Father for nothing. He cares for
our planet as if it was the only world in existence. He loves
you as if you were his only child. And in a way you are: He has
given a part of himself to you to keep in safekeeping. He will
never again create anybody like you, you are unique. If you
reject the survival plan, He will grieve for He would have lost
an irreplaceable soul.
When you arrive on the central universe, a Graduate Guide
will be exclusively dedicated to the task of guiding you through
Havona. A Paradise Companion will keep you company on Paradise
if you arrive alone. Once you leave Urantia, you will never
again be alone, except by choice.
But perhaps the Book tells it better than I can.
“Your planet is a member of an enormous cosmos; you belong
to a well-nigh infinite family of worlds, but your sphere is just
as precisely administered and just as lovingly fostered as if it
were the only inhabited world in all existence.” [P183].
“The love of the Father absolutely individualizes each
personality as a unique child of the Universal Father, a child
without duplicate in infinity, a will creature irreplaceable in
all eternity. The Father’s love glorifies each child of God,
illuminating each member of the celestial family, sharply
silhouetting the unique nature of each personal being against the
impersonal levels that lie outside the fraternal circuit of the
Father of all. The love of God strikingly portrays the
transcendent value of each will creature, unmistakably reveals
the high value which the Universal Father has placed upon each
and every one of his children from the highest creator
personality of Paradise status to the lowest personality of will
dignity among the savage tribes of men in the dawn of the human
species on some evolutionary world of time and space.” [P138].
“Even though the spirit of a Son be poured out upon all
flesh, even though a Son once dwelt with you in the likeness of
mortal flesh, even though the seraphim personally guard and guide
you, how can any of these divine beings of the Second and Third
Centers ever hope to come as near to you or to understand you as
fully as the Father, who has given a part of himself to be in
you, to be your real and divine, even your eternal, self?”
[P139].
