textfiles/occult/URANTIA/p026.txt

       Urantia Book Paper 26 Ministering Spirits Of The Central Universe
        SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.

  Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
 Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
    Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
    Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
  Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
    Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
  Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
   Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
    Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
                            The Corps Of The Finality
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              Paper 26 Ministering Spirits Of The Central Universe

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Introduction

SUPERNAPHIM are the ministering spirits of Paradise and the central universe;
they are the highest order of the lowest group of the children of the Infinite
Spirit--the angelic hosts. Such ministering spirits are to be encountered from
the Isle of Paradise to the worlds of time and space. No major part of the
organized and inhabited creation is without their services.

1. THE MINISTERING SPIRITS

Angels are the ministering-spirit associates of the evolutionary and ascending
will creatures of all space; they are also the colleagues and working
associates of the higher hosts of the divine personalities of the spheres. The
angels of all orders are distinct personalities and are highly individualized.
They all have a large capacity for appreciation of the ministrations of the
reversion directors. Together with the Messenger Hosts of Space, the
ministering spirits enjoy seasons of rest and change; they possess very social
natures and have an associative capacity far transcending that of human beings.

The ministering spirits of the grand universe are classified as follows:

1. Supernaphim.

2. Seconaphim.

3. Tertiaphim.

4. Omniaphim.

5. Seraphim.

6. Cherubim and Sanobim.

7. Midway Creatures.

The individual members of the angelic orders are not altogether stationary as
to personal status in the universe. Angels of certain orders may become
Paradise Companions for a season; some become Celestial Recorders; others
ascend to the ranks of the Technical Advisers. Certain of the cherubim may
aspire to seraphic status and destiny, while evolutionary seraphim can achieve
the spiritual levels of the ascending Sons of God.

The seven orders of ministering spirits, as revealed, are grouped for
presentation in accordance with their functions of greatest importance to
ascending creatures:

1. The Ministering Spirits of the Central Universe. The three orders of
supernaphim serve in the Paradise-Havona system. Primary or Paradise
supernaphim are created by the Infinite Spirit. The secondary and tertiary
orders,

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serving in Havona, are respectively the offspring of the Master Spirits and of
the Spirits of the Circuits.

2. The Ministering Spirits of the Superuniverses--the seconaphim, the
tertiaphim, and the omniaphim. Seconaphim, the children of the Reflective
Spirits, variously serve in the seven superuniverses. Tertiaphim, of origin in
the Infinite Spirit, are eventually dedicated to the liaison service of the
Creator Sons and the Ancients of Days. Omniaphim are created concertedly by the
Infinite Spirit and the Seven Supreme Executives, and they are the exclusive
servants of the latter. The discussion of these three orders forms the subject
of a succeeding narrative in this series.

3. The Ministering Spirits of the Local Universes embrace the seraphim and
their assistants, the cherubim. With these offspring of a Universe Mother
Spirit mortal ascenders have initial contact. The midway creatures, of nativity
on the inhabited worlds, are not really of the angelic orders proper, though
often functionally grouped with the ministering spirits. Their story, with an
account of the seraphim and cherubim, is presented in those papers dealing with
the affairs of your local universe.

All orders of the angelic hosts are devoted to the various universe services,
and they minister in one way or another to the higher orders of celestial
beings; but it is the supernaphim, seconaphim, and seraphim who, in large
numbers, are employed in the furtherance of the ascending scheme of progressive
perfection for the children of time. Functioning in the central, super-, and
local universes, they form that unbroken chain of spirit ministers which has
been provided by the Infinite Spirit for the help and guidance of all who seek
to attain the Universal Father through the Eternal Son.

Supernaphim are limited in "spirit polarity" regarding only one phase of
action, that with the Universal Father. They can work singly except when
directly employing the exclusive circuits of the Father. When they are in power
reception on the Father's direct ministry, supernaphim must voluntarily
associate in pairs to be able to function. Seconaphim are likewise limited and
in addition must work in pairs in order to synchronize with the circuits of the
Eternal Son. Seraphim can work singly as discrete and localized personalities,
but they are able to encircuit only when polarized as liaison pairs. When such
spirit beings are associated as pairs, the one is spoken of as complemental to
the other. Complemental relationships may be transient; they are not
necessarily of a permanent nature.

These brilliant creatures of light are sustained directly by the intake of the
spiritual energy of the primary circuits of the universe. Urantia mortals must
obtain light-energy through the vegetative incarnation, but the angelic hosts
are encircuited; they "have food that you know not." They also partake of the
circulating teachings of the marvelous Trinity Teacher Sons; they have a
reception of knowledge and an intake of wisdom much resembling their technique
of assimilating the life energies.

2. THE MIGHTY SUPERNAPHIM

The supernaphim are the skilled ministers to all types of beings who sojourn on
Paradise and in the central universe. These high angels are created in three
major orders: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

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Primary supernaphim are the exclusive offspring of the Conjoint Creator. They
divide their ministry about equally between certain groups of the Paradise
Citizens and the ever-enlarging corps of ascendant pilgrims. These angels of
the eternal Isle are highly efficacious in furthering the essential training of
both groups of Paradise dwellers. They contribute much that is helpful to the
mutual understanding of these two unique orders of universe creatures--the one
being the highest type of divine and perfect will creature, and the other, the
perfected evolution of the lowest type of will creature in all the universe of
universes.

The work of the primary supernaphim is so unique and distinctive that it will
be separately considered in the succeeding narrative.

Secondary supernaphim are the directors of the affairs of ascending beings on
the seven circuits of Havona. They are equally concerned in ministering to the
educational training of numerous orders of Paradise Citizens who sojourn for
long periods on the world circuits of the central creation, but we may not
discuss this phase of their service.

There are seven types of these high angels, each of origin in one of the Seven
Master Spirits and in nature patterned accordingly. Collectively, the Seven
Master Spirits create many different groups of unique beings and entities, and
the individual members of each order are comparatively uniform in nature. But
when these same Seven Spirits create individually, the resulting orders are
always sevenfold in nature; the children of each Master Spirit partake of the
nature of their creator and are accordingly diverse from the others. Such is
the origin of the secondary supernaphim, and the angels of all seven created
types function in all channels of activity open to their entire order, chiefly
on the seven circuits of the central and divine universe.

Each of the seven planetary circuits of Havona is under the direct supervision
of one of the Seven Spirits of the Circuits, themselves the collective--hence
uniform--creation of the Seven Master Spirits. Though partaking of the nature
of the Third Source and Center, these seven subsidiary Spirits of Havona were
not a part of the original pattern universe. They were in function after the
original (eternal) creation but long before the times of Grandfanda. They
undoubtedly appeared as a creative response of the Master Spirits to the
emerging purpose of the Supreme Being, and they were discovered in function
upon the organization of the grand universe. The Infinite Spirit and all his
creative associates, as universal co-ordinators, seem abundantly endowed with
the ability to make suitable creative responses to the simultaneous
developments in the experiential Deities and in the evolving universes.

Tertiary supernaphim take origin in these Seven Spirits of the Circuits. Each
one of them, on the separate Havona circles, is empowered by the Infinite
Spirit to create a sufficient number of high superaphic ministers of the
tertiary order to meet the needs of the central universe. While the Circuit
Spirits produced comparatively few of these angelic ministers prior to the
arrival in Havona of the pilgrims of time, the Seven Master Spirits did not
even begin the creation of secondary supernaphim until the landing of
Grandfanda. As the older of the two orders, the tertiary supernaphim will
therefore receive first consideration.

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3. THE TERTIARY SUPERNAPHIM

These servants of the Seven Master Spirits are the angelic specialists of the
various circuits of Havona, and their ministry extends to both the ascending
pilgrims of time and the descending pilgrims of eternity. On the billion study
worlds of the perfect central creation, your superaphic associates of all
orders will be fully visible to you. There you will all be, in the highest
sense, fraternal and understanding beings of mutual contact and sympathy. You
will also fully recognize and exquisitely fraternize with the descending
pilgrims, the Paradise Citizens, who traverse these circuits from within
outward, entering Havona through the pilot world of the first circuit and
proceeding outward to the seventh.

The ascending pilgrims from the seven superuniverses pass through Havona in the
opposite direction, entering by way of the pilot world of the seventh circuit
and proceeding inward. There is no time limit set on the progress of the
ascending creatures from world to world and from circuit to circuit, just as no
fixed span of time is arbitrarily assigned to residence on the morontia worlds.
But, whereas adequately developed individuals may be exempted from sojourn on
one or more of the local universe training worlds, no pilgrim may avoid passing
through all seven of the Havona circuits of progressive spiritualization.

That corps of tertiary supernaphim which is chiefly assigned to the service of
the pilgrims of time is classified as follows:

1. The Harmony Supervisors. It must be apparent that some sort of co-ordinating
influence would be required, even in perfect Havona, to maintain system and to
insure harmony in all the work of preparing the pilgrims of time for their
subsequent Paradise achievements. Such is the real mission of the harmony
supervisors--to keep everything moving along smoothly and expeditiously.
Originating on the first circuit, they serve throughout Havona, and their
presence on the circuits means that nothing can possibly go amiss. A great
ability to co-ordinate a diversity of activities involving personalities of
differing orders--even multiple levels--enables these supernaphim to give
assistance wherever and whenever required. They contribute enormously to the
mutual understanding of the pilgrims of time and the pilgrims of eternity.

2. The Chief Recorders. These angels are created on the second circuit but
operate everywhere in the central universe. They record in triplicate,
executing records for the literal files of Havona, for the spiritual files of
their order, and for the formal records of Paradise. In addition they
automatically transmit the transactions of true-knowledge import to the living
libraries of Paradise, the custodians of knowledge of the primary order of
supernaphim.

3. The Broadcasters. The children of the third Circuit Spirit function
throughout Havona, although their official station is located on planet number
seventy in the outermost circle. These master technicians are the broadcast
receivers and senders of the central creation and the directors of the space
reports of all Deity phenomena on Paradise. They can operate all of the basic
circuits of space.

4. The Messengers take origin on circuit number four. They range the
Paradise-Havona system as bearers of all messages requiring personal transmis-

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sion. They serve their fellows, the celestial personalities, the Paradise
pilgrims, and even the ascendant souls of time.

5. The Intelligence Co-ordinators. These tertiary supernaphim, the children of
the fifth Circuit Spirit, are always the wise and sympathetic promoters of
fraternal association between the ascending and the descending pilgrims. They
minister to all the inhabitants of Havona, and especially to the ascenders, by
keeping them currently informed regarding the affairs of the universe of
universes. By virtue of personal contacts with the broadcasters and the
reflectors, these "living newspapers" of Havona are instantly conversant with
all information passing over the vast news circuits of the central universe.
They secure intelligence by the Havona graph method, which enables them
automatically to assimilate as much information in one hour of Urantia time as
would require a thousand years for your most rapid telegraphic technique to
record.

6. The Transport Personalities. These beings, of origin on circuit number six,
usually operate from planet number forty in the outermost circuit. It is they
who take away the disappointed candidates who transiently fail in the Deity
adventure. They stand ready to serve all who must come and go in the service of
Havona, and who are not space traversers.

7. The Reserve Corps. The fluctuations in the work with the ascendant beings,
the Paradise pilgrims, and other orders of beings sojourning in Havona, make it
necessary to maintain these reserves of supernaphim on the pilot world of the
seventh circle, where they take origin. They are created without special design
and are competent to take up service in the less exacting phases of any of the
duties of their superaphic associates of the tertiary order.

4. THE SECONDARY SUPERNAPHIM

The secondary supernaphim are ministers to the seven planetary circuits of the
central universe. Part are devoted to the service of the pilgrims of time, and
one half of the entire order is assigned to the training of the Paradise
pilgrims of eternity. These Paradise Citizens, in their pilgrimage through the
Havona circuits, are also attended by volunteers from the Mortal Finality
Corps, an arrangement that has prevailed since the completion of the first
finaliter group.

According to their periodic assignment to the ministry of the ascending
pilgrims, secondary supernaphim work in the following seven groups:

1. Pilgrim Helpers.

2. Supremacy Guides.

3. Trinity Guides.

4. Son Finders.

5. Father Guides.

6. Counselors and Advisers.

7. Complements of Rest.

Each of these working groups contains angels of all seven created types, and a
pilgrim of space is always tutored by secondary supernaphim of origin in

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the Master Spirit who presides over that pilgrim's superuniverse of nativity.
When you mortals of Urantia attain Havona, you will certainly be piloted by
supernaphim whose created natures--like your own evolved natures--are derived
from the Master Spirit of Orvonton. And since your tutors spring from the
Master Spirit of your own superuniverse, they are especially qualified to
understand, comfort, and assist you in all your efforts to attain Paradise
perfection.

The pilgrims of time are transported past the dark gravity bodies of Havona to
the outer planetary circuit by the transport personalities of the primary order
of seconaphim, operating from the headquarters of the seven superuniverses. A
majority, but not all, of the seraphim of planetary and local universe service
who have been accredited for the Paradise ascent will part with their mortal
associates before the long flight to Havona and will at once begin a long and
intense training for supernal assignment, expecting to achieve, as seraphim,
perfection of existence and supremacy of service. And this they do, hoping to
rejoin the pilgrims of time, to be reckoned among those who forever follow the
course of such mortals as have attained the Universal Father and have received
assignment to the undisclosed service of the Corps of the Finality.

The pilgrim lands on the receiving planet of Havona, the pilot world of the
seventh circuit, with only one endowment of perfection, perfection of purpose.
The Universal Father has decreed: "Be you perfect, even as I am perfect." That
is the astounding invitation-command broadcast to the finite children of the
worlds of space. The promulgation of that injunction has set all creation astir
in the co-operative effort of the celestial beings to assist in bringing about
the fulfillment and realization of that tremendous command of the First Great
Source and Center.

When, through and by the ministry of all the helper hosts of the universal
scheme of survival, you are finally deposited on the receiving world of Havona,
you arrive with only one sort of perfection--perfection of purpose. Your
purpose has been thoroughly proved; your faith has been tested. You are known
to be disappointment proof. Not even the failure to discern the Universal
Father can shake the faith or seriously disturb the trust of an ascendant
mortal who has passed through the experience that all must traverse in order to
attain the perfect spheres of Havona. By the time you reach Havona, your
sincerity has become sublime. Perfection of purpose and divinity of desire,
with steadfastness of faith, have secured your entrance to the settled abodes
of eternity; your deliverance from the uncertainties of time is full and
complete; and now must you come face to face with the problems of Havona and
the immensities of Paradise, to meet which you have so long been in training in
the experiential epochs of time on the world schools of space.

Faith has won for the ascendant pilgrim a perfection of purpose which admits
the children of time to the portals of eternity. Now must the pilgrim helpers
begin the work of developing that perfection of understanding and that
technique of comprehension which are so indispensable to Paradise perfection of
personality.

Ability to comprehend is the mortal passport to Paradise. Willingness to
believe is the key to Havona. The acceptance of sonship, co-operation with the
indwelling Adjuster, is the price of evolutionary survival.

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5. THE PILGRIM HELPERS

The first of the seven groups of secondary supernaphim to be encountered are
the pilgrim helpers, those beings of quick understanding and broad sympathy who
welcome the much-traveled ascenders of space to the stabilized worlds and
settled economy of the central universe. Simultaneously these high ministers
begin their work for the Paradise pilgrims of eternity, the first of whom
arrived on the pilot world of the inner Havona circuit concomitantly with the
landing of Grandfanda on the pilot world of the outer circuit. Back in those
far-distant days the pilgrims from Paradise and the pilgrims of time first met
on the receiving world of circuit number four.

These pilgrim helpers, functioning on the seventh circle of Havona worlds,
conduct their work for the ascending mortals in three major divisions: first,
the supreme understanding of the Paradise Trinity; second, the spiritual
comprehension of the Father-Son partnership; and third, the intellectual
recognition of the Infinite Spirit. Each of these phases of instruction is
divided into seven branches of twelve minor divisions of seventy subsidiary
groups; and each of these seventy subsidiary groupings of instruction is
presented in one thousand classifications. More detailed instruction is
provided on subsequent circles, but an outline of every Paradise requirement is
taught by the pilgrim helpers.

That, then, is the primary or elementary course which confronts the
faith-tested and much-traveled pilgrims of space. But long before reaching
Havona, these ascendant children of time have learned to feast upon
uncertainty, to fatten upon disappointment, to enthuse over apparent defeat, to
invigorate in the presence of difficulties, to exhibit indomitable courage in
the face of immensity, and to exercise unconquerable faith when confronted with
the challenge of the inexplicable. Long since, the battle cry of these pilgrims
became: "In liaison with God, nothing--absolutely nothing--is impossible."

There is a definite requirement of the pilgrims of time on each of the Havona
circles; and while every pilgrim continues under the tutelage of supernaphim by
nature adapted to helping that particular type of ascendant creature, the
course that must be mastered is fairly uniform for all ascenders who reach the
central universe. This course of achievement is quantitative, qualitative, and
experiential--intellectual, spiritual, and supreme.

Time is of little consequence on the Havona circles. In a limited manner it
enters into the possibilities of advancement, but achievement is the final and
supreme test. The very moment your superaphic associate deems you to be
competent to pass inward to the next circle, you will be taken before the
twelve adjutants of the seventh Circuit Spirit. Here you will be required to
pass the tests of the circle determined by the superuniverse of your origin and
by the system of your nativity. The divinity attainment of this circle takes
place on the pilot world and consists in the spiritual recognition and
realization of the Master Spirit of the ascending pilgrim's superuniverse.

When the work of the outer Havona circle is finished and the course presented
is mastered, the pilgrim helpers take their subjects to the pilot world of the
next circle and commit them to the care of the supremacy guides. The pilgrim
helpers always tarry for a season to assist in making the transfer both
pleasant and profitable.

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6. THE SUPREMACY GUIDES

Ascenders of space are designated "spiritual graduates" when translated from
the seventh to the sixth circle and are placed under the immediate supervision
of the supremacy guides. These guides should not be confused with the Graduate
Guides--belonging to the Higher Personalities of the Infinite Spirit--who, with
their servital associates, minister on all circuits of Havona to both ascending
and descending pilgrims. The supremacy guides function only on the sixth circle
of the central universe.

It is in this circle that the ascenders achieve a new realization of Supreme
Divinity. Through their long careers in the evolutionary universes the pilgrims
of time have been experiencing a growing awareness of the reality of an
almighty overcontrol of the time-space creations. Here, on this Havona circuit,
they come near to encountering the central universe source of time-space
unity--the spiritual reality of God the Supreme.

I am somewhat at a loss to explain what takes place on this circle. No
personalized presence of Supremacy is perceptible to the ascenders. In certain
respects, new relationships with the Seventh Master Spirit compensate this
noncontactability of the Supreme Being. But regardless of our inability to
grasp the technique, each ascending creature seems to undergo a transforming
growth, a new integration of consciousness, a new spiritualization of purpose,
a new sensitivity for divinity, which can hardly be satisfactorily explained
without assuming the unrevealed activity of the Supreme Being. To those of us
who have observed these mysterious transactions, it appears as if God the
Supreme were affectionately bestowing upon his experiential children, up to the
very limits of their experiential capacities, those enhancements of
intellectual grasp, of spiritual insight, and of personality outreach which
they will so need, in all their efforts at penetrating the divinity level of
the Trinity of Supremacy, to achieve the eternal and existential Deities of
Paradise.

When the supremacy guides deem their pupils ripe for advancement, they bring
them before the commission of seventy, a mixed group serving as examiners on
the pilot world of circuit number six. After satisfying this commission as to
their comprehension of the Supreme Being and of the Trinity of Supremacy, the
pilgrims are certified for translation to the fifth circuit.

7. THE TRINITY GUIDES

Trinity guides are the tireless ministers of the fifth circle of the Havona
training of the advancing pilgrims of time and space. The spiritual graduates
are here designated "candidates for the Deity adventure" since it is on this
circle, under the direction of the Trinity guides, that the pilgrims receive
advanced instruction concerning the divine Trinity in preparation for the
attempt to achieve the personality recognition of the Infinite Spirit. And here
the ascending pilgrims discover what true study and real mental effort mean as
they begin to discern the nature of the still-more-taxing and far-more-arduous
spiritual exertion that will be required to meet the demands of the high goal
set for their achievement on the worlds of this circuit.

Most faithful and efficient are the Trinity guides; and each pilgrim receives
the undivided attention, and enjoys the whole affection, of a secondary supern-

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aphim belonging to this order. Never would a pilgrim of time find the first
approachable person of the Paradise Trinity were it not for the help and
assistance of these guides and the host of other spiritual beings engaged in
instructing the ascenders respecting the nature and technique of the
forthcoming Deity adventure.

After the completion of the course of training on this circuit the Trinity
guides take their pupils to its pilot world and present them before one of the
many triune commissions functioning as examiners and certifiers of candidates
for the Deity adventure. These commissions consist of one fellow of the
finaliters, one of the directors of conduct of the order of primary
supernaphim, and either a Solitary Messenger of space or a Trinitized Son of
Paradise.

When an ascendant soul actually starts for Paradise, he is accompanied only by
the transit trio: the superaphic circle associate, the Graduate Guide, and the
ever-present servital associate of the latter. These excursions from the Havona
circles to Paradise are trial trips; the ascenders are not yet of Paradise
status. They do not achieve residential status on Paradise until they have
passed through the terminal rest of time subsequent to the attainment of the
Universal Father and the final clearance of the Havona circuits. Not until
after the divine rest do they partake of the "essence of divinity" and the
"spirit of supremacy" and thus really begin to function in the circle of
eternity and in the presence of the Trinity.

The ascender's companions of the transit trio are not required to enable him to
locate the geographic presence of the spiritual luminosity of the Trinity,
rather to afford all possible assistance to a pilgrim in his difficult task of
recognizing, discerning, and comprehending the Infinite Spirit sufficiently to
constitute personality recognition. Any ascendant pilgrim on Paradise can
discern the geographic or locational presence of the Trinity, the great
majority are able to contact the intellectual reality of the Deities,
especially the Third Person, but not all can recognize or even partially
comprehend the reality of the spiritual presence of the Father and the Son.
Still more difficult is even the minimum spiritual comprehension of the
Universal Father.

Seldom does the quest for the Infinite Spirit fail of consummation, and when
their subjects have succeeded in this phase of the Deity adventure, the Trinity
guides prepare to transfer them to the ministry of the Son finders on the
fourth circle of Havona.

8. THE SON FINDERS

The fourth Havona circuit is sometimes called the "circuit of the Sons." From
the worlds of this circuit the ascending pilgrims go to Paradise to achieve an
understanding contact with the Eternal Son, while on the worlds of this circuit
the descending pilgrims achieve a new comprehension of the nature and mission
of the Creator Sons of time and space. There are seven worlds in this circuit
on which the reserve corps of the Paradise Michaels maintain special service
schools of mutual ministry to both the ascending and descending pilgrims; and
it is on these worlds of the Michael Sons that the pilgrims of time and the
pilgrims of eternity arrive at their first truly mutual understanding of one
another. In many respects the experiences of this circuit are the most
intriguing of the entire Havona sojourn.

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The Son finders are the superaphic ministers to the ascending mortals of the
fourth circuit. In addition to the general work of preparing their candidates
for a realization of the Trinity relationships of the Eternal Son, these Son
finders must so fully instruct their subjects that they will be wholly
successful: first, in the adequate spiritual comprehension of the Son; second,
in the satisfactory personality recognition of the Son; and third, in the
proper differentiation of the Son from the personality of the Infinite Spirit.

After the attainment of the Infinite Spirit, no more examinations are
conducted. The tests of the inner circles are the performances of the pilgrim
candidates when in the embrace of the enshroudment of the Deities. Advancement
is determined purely by the spirituality of the individual, and no one but the
Gods presumes to pass upon this possession. In the event of failure no reasons
are ever assigned, neither are the candidates themselves nor their various
tutors and guides ever chided or criticized. On Paradise, disappointment is
never regarded as defeat; postponement is never looked upon as disgrace; the
apparent failures of time are never confused with the significant delays of
eternity.

Not many pilgrims experience the delay of seeming failure in the Deity
adventure. Nearly all attain the Infinite Spirit, though occasionally a pilgrim
from superuniverse number one does not succeed on the first attempt. The
pilgrims who attain the Spirit seldom fail in finding the Son; of those who do
fail on the first adventure, almost all hail from superuniverses three and
five. The great majority of those who fail on the first adventure to attain the
Father, after finding both the Spirit and the Son, hail from superuniverse
number six, though a few from numbers two and three are likewise unsuccessful.
And all this seems clearly to indicate that there is some good and sufficient
reason for these apparent failures; in reality, simply unescapable delays.

The defeated candidates for the Deity adventure are placed under the
jurisdiction of the chiefs of assignment, a group of primary supernaphim, and
are remanded to the work of the realms of space for a period of not less than
one millennium. They never return to the superuniverse of their nativity,
always to that supercreation most propitious for their retraining in
preparation for the second Deity adventure. Following this service, on their
own motion, they return to the outer circle of Havona, are immediately escorted
to the circle of their interrupted career, and at once resume their
preparations for the Deity adventure. Never do the secondary supernaphim fail
to pilot their subjects successfully on the second attempt, and the same
superaphic ministers and other guides always attend these candidates during
this second adventure.

9. THE FATHER GUIDES

When the pilgrim soul attains the third circle of Havona, he comes under the
tutelage of the Father guides, the older, highly skilled, and most experienced
of the superaphic ministers. On the worlds of this circuit the Father guides
maintain schools of wisdom and colleges of technique wherein all the beings
inhabiting the central universe serve as teachers. Nothing is neglected which
would be of service to a creature of time in this transcendent adventure of
eternity attainment.

The attainment of the Universal Father is the passport to eternity,
notwithstanding the remaining circuits to be traversed. It is therefore a
momentous oc-

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casion on the pilot world of circle number three when the transit trio announce
that the last venture of time is about to ensue; that another creature of space
seeks entry to Paradise through the portals of eternity.

The test of time is almost over; the race for eternity has been all but run.
The days of uncertainty are ending; the temptation to doubt is vanishing; the
injunction to be perfect has been obeyed. From the very bottom of intelligent
existence the creature of time and material personality has ascended the
evolutionary spheres of space, thus proving the feasibility of the ascension
plan while forever demonstrating the justice and righteousness of the command
of the Universal Father to his lowly creatures of the worlds: "Be you perfect,
even as I am perfect."

Step by step, life by life, world by world, the ascendant career has been
mastered, and the goal of Deity has been attained. Survival is complete in
perfection, and perfection is replete in the supremacy of divinity. Time is
lost in eternity; space is swallowed up in worshipful identity and harmony with
the Universal Father. The broadcasts of Havona flash forth the space reports of
glory, the good news that in very truth the conscientious creatures of animal
nature and material origin have, through evolutionary ascension, become in
reality and eternally the perfected sons of God.

10. THE COUNSELORS AND ADVISERS

The superaphic counselors and advisers of the second circle are the instructors
of the children of time regarding the career of eternity. The attainment of
Paradise entails responsibilities of a new and higher order, and the sojourn on
the second circle affords ample opportunity to receive the helpful counsel of
these devoted supernaphim.

Those who are unsuccessful in the first effort at Deity attainment are advanced
from the circle of failure directly to the second circle before they are
returned to superuniverse service. Thus the counselors and advisers also serve
as the counselors and comforters of these disappointed pilgrims. They have just
encountered their greatest disappointment, in no way differing from the long
list of such experiences whereon they climbed, as on a ladder, from chaos to
glory--except in its magnitude. These are they who have drained the
experiential cup to its dregs; and I have observed that they temporarily return
to the services of the superuniverses as the highest type of loving
ministrators to the children of time and temporal disappointments.

After a long sojourn on circuit number two the subjects of disappointment are
examined by the councils of perfection sitting on the pilot world of this
circle and are certified as having passed the Havona test; and this, so far as
nonspiritual status is concerned, grants them the same standing in the
universes of time as if they had actually succeeded in the Deity adventure. The
spirit of such candidates was wholly acceptable; their failure was inherent in
some phase of the technique of approach or in some part of their experiential
background.

They are then taken by the counselors of the circle before the chiefs of
assignment on Paradise and are remanded to the service of time on the worlds of
space; and they go with joy and gladness to the tasks of former days and ages.
In another day they will return to the circle of their greatest disappointment
and attempt anew the Deity adventure.

                                top of page - 296

For the successful pilgrims on the second circuit the stimulus of evolutionary
uncertainty is over, but the adventure of the eternal assignment has not yet
begun; and while the sojourn on this circle is wholly pleasurable and highly
profitable, it lacks some of the anticipative enthusiasm of the former circles.
Many are the pilgrims who, at such a time, look back upon the long, long
struggle with a joyous envy, really wishing they might somehow go back to the
worlds of time and begin it all over again, just as you mortals, in approaching
advanced age, sometimes look back over the struggles of youth and early life
and truly wish you might live your lives over once again.

But the traversal of the innermost circle lies just ahead, and soon thereafter
the last transit sleep will terminate, and the new adventure of the eternal
career will begin. The counselors and advisers on the second circle begin the
preparation of their subjects for this great and final rest, the inevitable
sleep which ever intervenes between the epochal stages of the ascendant career.

When those ascendant pilgrims who have attained the Universal Father complete
the second-circle experience, their ever-attendant Graduate Guides issue the
order admitting them to the final circle. These guides personally pilot their
subjects to the inner circle and there place them in the custody of the
complements of rest, the last of those orders of secondary supernaphim assigned
to the ministry of the pilgrims of time on the world circuits of Havona.

11. THE COMPLEMENTS OF REST

Much of an ascender's time on the last circuit is devoted to a continuation of
the study of the impending problems of Paradise residence. A vast and diverse
host of beings, the majority unrevealed, are permanent and transient residents
of this inner ring of Havona worlds. And the commingling of these manifold
types provides the superaphic complements of rest with a rich situational
environment which they effectively utilize in furthering the education of the
ascending pilgrims, especially with regard to the problems of adjustment to the
many groups of beings soon to be encountered on Paradise.

Among those who dwell on this inner circuit are the creature-trinitized sons.
The primary and the secondary supernaphim are the general custodians of the
conjoint corps of these sons, including the trinitized offspring of the mortal
finaliters and similar progeny of the Paradise Citizens. Certain of these sons
are Trinity embraced and commissioned in the supergovernments, others are
variously assigned, but the great majority are being gathered together in the
conjoint corps on the perfect worlds of the inner Havona circuit. Here, under
the supervision of the supernaphim, they are being prepared for some future
work by a special and unnamed corps of high Paradise Citizens who were, prior
to the times of Grandfanda, first executive assistants to the Eternals of Days.
There are many reasons for conjecturing that these two unique groups of
trinitized beings are going to work together in the remote future, not the
least of which is their common destiny in the reserves of the Paradise Corps of
Trinitized Finaliters.

On this innermost circuit, both the ascending and the descending pilgrims
fraternize with each other and with the creature-trinitized sons. Like their
parents, these sons derive great benefits from interassociation, and it is the
special mission of the supernaphim to facilitate and to insure the
confraternity

                                top of page - 297

of the trinitized sons of the mortal finaliters and the trinitized sons of the
Paradise Citizens. The superaphic complements of rest are not so much concerned
with their training as with promoting their understanding association with
diverse groups.

Mortals have received the Paradise command: "Be you perfect, even as your
Paradise Father is perfect." To these trinitized sons of the conjoint corps the
supervising supernaphim never cease to proclaim: "Be you understanding of your
ascendant brethren, even as the Paradise Creator Sons know and love them."

The mortal creature must find God. The Creator Son never stops until he finds
man--the lowest will creature. Beyond doubt, the Creator Sons and their mortal
children are preparing for some future and unknown universe service. Both
traverse the gamut of the experiential universe and so are educated and trained
for their eternal mission. Throughout the universes there is occurring this
unique blending of the human and the divine, the commingling of creature and
Creator. Unthinking mortals have referred to the manifestation of divine mercy
and tenderness, especially towards the weak and in behalf of the needy, as
indicative of an anthropomorphic God. What a mistake! Rather should such
manifestations of mercy and forbearance by human beings be taken as evidence
that mortal man is indwelt by the spirit of the living God; that the creature
is, after all, divinity motivated.

Near the end of the first-circle sojourn the ascending pilgrims first meet the
instigators of rest of the primary order of supernaphim. These are the angels
of Paradise coming out to greet those who stand at the threshold of eternity
and to complete their preparation for the transition slumber of the last
resurrection. You are not really a child of Paradise until you have traversed
the inner circle and have experienced the resurrection of eternity from the
terminal sleep of time. The perfected pilgrims begin this rest, go to sleep, on
the first circle of Havona, but they awaken on the shores of Paradise. Of all
who ascend to the eternal Isle, only those who thus arrive are the children of
eternity; the others go as visitors, as guests without residential status.

And now, at the culmination of the Havona career, as you mortals go to sleep on
the pilot world of the inner circuit, you go not alone to your rest as you did
on the worlds of your origin when you closed your eyes in the natural sleep of
mortal death, nor as you did when you entered the long transit trance
preparatory for the journey to Havona. Now, as you prepare for the attainment
rest, there moves over by your side your long-time associate of the first
circle, the majestic complement of rest, who prepares to enter the rest as one
with you, as the pledge of Havona that your transition is complete, and that
you await only the final touches of perfection.

Your first transition was indeed death, the second an ideal sleep, and now the
third metamorphosis is the true rest, the relaxation of the ages.

[Presented by a Perfector of Wisdom from Uversa.]

                                top of page - 298

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
 Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
    Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
    Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
  Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
    Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
  Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
   Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
    Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
                            The Corps Of The Finality

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