P.298 - §1 Primary supernaphim are
the supernal servants of the Deities on the eternal Isle of Paradise.
Never have they been known to depart from the paths of light and righteousness.
The roll calls are complete; from eternity not one of this magnificent
host has been lost. These high supernaphim are perfect beings, supreme
in perfection, but they are not absonite, neither are they absolute. Being
of the essence of perfection, these children of the Infinite Spirit work
interchangeably and at will in all phases of their manifold duties. They
do not function extensively outside Paradise, though they do participate
in the various millennial gatherings and group reunions of the central
universe. They also go forth as special messengers of the Deities, and
in large numbers they ascend to become Technical Advisers. P.298 - §2 Primary supernaphim are also placed in
command of the seraphic hosts ministering on worlds isolated because of
rebellion. When a Paradise Son is bestowed upon such a world, completes
his mission, ascends to the Universal Father, is accepted, and returns
as the accredited deliverer of this isolated world, a primary supernaphim
is always designated by the chiefs of assignment to assume command of
the ministering spirits on duty in the newly reclaimed sphere. Supernaphim
in this special service are periodically rotated. On Urantia the present
"chief of seraphim" is the second of this order to be on duty
since the times of the bestowal of Christ Michael. P.298 - §3 From eternity the primary supernaphim have served on the Isle of Light and have gone forth on missions of leadership to the worlds of space, but they have functioned as now classified only since the arrival on Paradise of the Havona pilgrims of time. These high angels now minister chiefly in the following seven orders of service: P.298 - §4 1. Conductors of Worship. P.298 - §5 2. Masters of Philosophy. P.298 - §6 3. Custodians of Knowledge. P.298 - §7 4. Directors of Conduct. P.298 - §8 5. Interpreters of Ethics. P.298 - §9 6. Chiefs of Assignment. P.298 - §10 7. Instigators of Rest. P.298 - §11 Not until the ascending pilgrims actually
attain Paradise residence do they come under the direct influence of these
supernaphim, and then they pass through a training experience under the
direction of these angels in the reverse order of their naming. That is,
you enter upon your Paradise career under the P.299 - §0 tutelage of the instigators of rest and, after successive seasons with the intervening orders, finish this training period with the conductors of worship. Thereupon are you ready to begin the endless career of a finaliter. |
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1. INSTIGATORS OF REST - P.299 P.299 - §1 The instigators of rest are the inspectors of Paradise who go forth from the central Isle to the inner circuit of Havona, there to collaborate with their colleagues, the complements of rest of the secondary order of supernaphim. The one essential to the enjoyment of Paradise is rest, divine rest; and these instigators of rest are the final instructors who make ready the pilgrims of time for their introduction to eternity. They begin their work on the final attainment circle of the central universe and continue it when the pilgrim awakes from the last transition sleep, the slumber which graduates a creature of space into the realm of the eternal. P.299 - §2 Rest is of a sevenfold nature: There is
the rest of sleep and of play in the lower life orders, discovery in the
higher beings, and worship in the highest type of spirit personality.
There is also the normal rest of energy intake, the recharging of beings
with physical or with spiritual energy. And then there is the transit
sleep, the unconscious slumber when enseraphimed, when in passage from
one sphere to another. Entirely different from all of these is the deep
sleep of metamorphosis, the transition rest from one stage of being to
another, from one life to another, from one state of existence to another,
the sleep which ever attends transition from actual universe status in
contrast to evolution through various stages of any one status. P.299 - §3 But the last metamorphic sleep is something more than those previous transition slumbers which have marked the successive status attainments of the ascendant career; thereby do the creatures of time and space traverse the innermost margins of the temporal and the spatial to attain residential status in the timeless and spaceless abodes of Paradise. The instigators and the complements of rest are just as essential to this transcending metamorphosis as are the seraphim and associated beings to the mortal creature's survival of death. P.299 - §4 You enter the rest on the final Havona
circuit and are eternally resurrected on Paradise. And as you there spiritually
repersonalize, you will immediately recognize the instigator of rest who
welcomes you to the eternal shores as the very primary supernaphim who
produced the final sleep on the innermost circuit of Havona; and you will
recall the last grand stretch of faith as you once again made ready to
commend the keeping of your identity into the hands of the Universal Father. P.299 - §5 The last rest of time has been enjoyed; the last transition sleep has been experienced; now you awake to life everlasting on the shores of the eternal abode. "And there shall be no more sleep. The presence of God and his Son are before you, and you are eternally his servants; you have seen his face, and his name is your spirit. There shall be no night there; and they need no light of the sun, for the Great Source and Center gives them light; they shall live forever and ever. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away." |
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2. CHIEFS OF ASSIGNMENT - P.300 P.300 - §1 This is the group designated from time
to time by the chief supernaphim, "the original pattern angel,"
to preside over the organization of all three orders of these angels--primary,
secondary, and tertiary. The supernaphim, as a body, are wholly self-governing
and self-regulatory except for the functions of their mutual chief, the
first angel of Paradise, who ever presides over all these spirit personalities. P.300 - §2 The angels of assignment have much to
do with glorified mortal residents of Paradise before they are admitted
to the Corps of the Finality. Study and instruction are not the exclusive
occupations of Paradise arrivals; service also plays its essential part
in the prefinaliter educational experiences of Paradise. And I have observed
that, when the ascendant mortals have periods of leisure, they evince
a predilection to fraternize with the reserve corps of the superaphic
chiefs of assignment. P.300 - §3 When you mortal ascenders attain Paradise, your societal relationships involve a great deal more than contact with a host of exalted and divine beings and with a familiar multitude of glorified fellow mortals. You must also fraternize with upwards of three thousand different orders of Paradise Citizens, with the various groups of the Transcendentalers, and with numerous other types of Paradise inhabitants, permanent and transient, who have not been revealed on Urantia. After sustained contact with these mighty intellects of Paradise, it is very restful to visit with the angelic types of mind; they remind the mortals of time of the seraphim with whom they have had such long contact and such refreshing association. |
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3. INTERPRETERS OF ETHICS - P.300 P.300 - §4 The higher you ascend in the scale of
life, the more attention must be paid to universe ethics. Ethical awareness
is simply the recognition by any individual of the rights inherent in
the existence of any and all other individuals. But spiritual ethics far
transcends the mortal and even the morontia concept of personal and group
relations. P.300 - §6 The interpreters of ethics are of inestimable
assistance to the Paradise arrivals in helping them to adjust to numerous
groups of majestic beings during that eventful period extending from the
attainment of residential status to formal induction into the Corps of
Mortal Finaliters. Many of the numerous types of Paradise Citizens the
ascendant pilgrims have already met on the seven P.301 - §0 circuits of Havona. The glorified mortals
have also enjoyed intimate contact with the creature-trinitized sons of
the conjoint corps on the inner Havona circuit, where these beings are
receiving much of their education. And on the other circuits the ascending
pilgrims have met numerous unrevealed residents of the Paradise-Havona
system who are there pursuing group training in preparation for the unrevealed
assignments of the future. P.301 - §1 All these celestial companionships are invariably mutual. As ascending mortals you not only derive benefit from these successive universe companions and such numerous orders of increasingly divine associates, but you also impart to each of these fraternal beings something from your own personality and experience which forever makes every one of them different and better for having been associated with an ascending mortal from the evolutionary worlds of time and space. |
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4. DIRECTORS OF CONDUCT - P.301 P.301 - §2 Having already been fully instructed in
the ethics of Paradise relationships--neither meaningless formalities
nor the dictations of artificial castes but rather the inherent proprieties--the
ascendant mortals find it helpful to receive the counsel of the superaphic
directors of conduct, who instruct the new members of Paradise society
in the usages of the perfect conduct of the high beings who sojourn on
the central Isle of Light and Life. P.301 - §3 Harmony is the keynote of the central
universe, and detectable order prevails on Paradise. Proper conduct is
essential to progress by way of knowledge, through philosophy, to the
spiritual heights of spontaneous worship. There is a divine technique
in the approach to Divinity; and the acquirement of this technique must
await the pilgrims' arrival on Paradise. The spirit of it has been imparted
on the circles of Havona, but the final touches of the training of the
pilgrims of time can be applied only after they actually attain the Isle
of Light. P.301 - §4 All Paradise conduct is wholly spontaneous,
in every sense natural and free. But there still is a proper and perfect
way of doing things on the eternal Isle, and the directors of conduct
are ever by the side of the "strangers within the gates" to
instruct them and so guide their steps as to put them at perfect ease
and at the same time to enable the pilgrims to avoid that confusion and
uncertainty which would otherwise be inevitable. Only by such an arrangement
could endless confusion be avoided; and confusion never appears on Paradise. P.301 - §5 These directors of conduct really serve as glorified teachers and guides. They are chiefly concerned with instructing the new mortal residents regarding the almost endless array of new situations and unfamiliar usages. Notwithstanding all the long preparation therefor and the long journey thereto, Paradise is still inexpressibly strange and unexpectedly new to those who finally attain residential status. |
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5. THE CUSTODIANS OF KNOWLEDGE - P.301 P.301 - §6 The superaphic custodians of knowledge
are the higher "living epistles" known and read by all who dwell
on Paradise. They are the divine records of truth, the living books of
real knowledge. You have heard about records in the "book of life."
The custodians of knowledge are just such living books, records of perfection
imprinted upon the eternal tablets of divine life and supreme P.302 - §0 surety. They are in reality living, automatic
libraries. The facts of the universes are inherent in these primary supernaphim,
actually recorded in these angels; and it is also inherently impossible
for an untruth to gain lodgment in the minds of these perfect and replete
repositories of the truth of eternity and the intelligence of time. P.302 - §1 These custodians conduct informal courses
of instruction for the residents of the eternal Isle, but their chief
function is that of reference and verification. Any sojourner on Paradise
may at will have by his side the living repository of the particular fact
or truth he may wish to know. At the northern extremity of the Isle there
are available the living finders of knowledge, who will designate the
director of the group holding the information sought, and forthwith will
appear the brilliant beings who are the very thing you wish to know. No
longer must you seek enlightenment from engrossed pages; you now commune
with living intelligence face to face. Supreme knowledge you thus obtain
from the living beings who are its final custodians. P.302 - §2 When you locate that supernaphim who is
exactly what you desire to verify, you will find available all the known
facts of all universes, for these custodians of knowledge are the final
and living summaries of the vast network of the recording angels, ranging
from the seraphim and seconaphim of the local and superuniverses to the
chief recorders of the tertiary supernaphim in Havona. And this living
accumulation of knowledge is distinct from the formal records of Paradise,
the cumulative summary of universal history. P.302 - §3 The wisdom of truth takes origin in the
divinity of the central universe, but knowledge, experiential knowledge,
largely has its beginnings in the domains of time and space--therefore
the necessity for the maintenance of the far-flung superuniverse organizations
of the recording seraphim and supernaphim sponsored by the Celestial Recorders. P.302 - §4 These primary supernaphim who are inherently in possession of universe knowledge are also responsible for its organization and classification. In constituting themselves the living reference library of the universe of universes, they have classified knowledge into seven grand orders, each having about one million subdivisions. The facility with which the residents of Paradise can consult this vast store of knowledge is solely due to the voluntary and wise efforts of the custodians of knowledge. The custodians are also the exalted teachers of the central universe, freely giving out their living treasures to all beings on any of the Havona circuits, and they are extensively, though indirectly, utilized by the courts of the Ancients of Days. But this living library, which is available to the central and superuniverses, is not accessible to the local creations. Only by indirection and reflectively are the benefits of Paradise knowledge secured in the local universes. |
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6. MASTERS OF PHILOSOPHY - P.302 P.302 - §5 Next to the supreme satisfaction of worship
is the exhilaration of philosophy. Never do you climb so high or advance
so far that there do not remain a thousand mysteries which demand the
employment of philosophy in an attempted solution. P.302 - §6 The master philosophers of Paradise delight
to lead the minds of its inhabitants, both native and ascendant, in the
exhilarating pursuit of attempting to solve universe problems. These superaphic
masters of philosophy are the "wise P.303 - §0 men of heaven," the beings of wisdom
who make use of the truth of knowledge and the facts of experience in
their efforts to master the unknown. With them knowledge attains to truth
and experience ascends to wisdom. On Paradise the ascendant personalities
of space experience the heights of being: They have knowledge; they know
the truth; they may philosophize--think the truth; they may even seek
to encompass the concepts of the Ultimate and attempt to grasp the techniques
of the Absolutes. P.303 - §1 At the southern extremity of the vast
Paradise domain the masters of philosophy conduct elaborate courses in
the seventy functional divisions of wisdom. Here they discourse upon the
plans and purposes of Infinity and seek to co-ordinate the experiences,
and to compose the knowledge, of all who have access to their wisdom.
They have developed a highly specialized attitude toward various universe
problems, but their final conclusions are always in uniform agreement. P.303 - §2 These Paradise philosophers teach by every
possible method of instruction, including the higher graph technique of
Havona and certain Paradise methods of communicating information. All
of these higher techniques of imparting knowledge and conveying ideas
are utterly beyond the comprehension capacity of even the most highly
developed human mind. One hour's instruction on Paradise would be the
equivalent of ten thousand years of the word-memory methods of Urantia.
You cannot grasp such communication techniques, and there is simply nothing
in mortal experience with which they may be compared, nothing to which
they can be likened. P.303 - §3 The masters of philosophy take supreme
pleasure in imparting their interpretation of the universe of universes
to those beings who have ascended from the worlds of space. And while
philosophy can never be as settled in its conclusions as the facts of
knowledge and the truths of experience, yet, when you have listened to
these primary supernaphim discourse upon the unsolved problems of eternity
and the performances of the Absolutes, you will feel a certain and lasting
satisfaction concerning these unmastered questions. P.303 - §4 These intellectual pursuits of Paradise are not broadcast; the philosophy of perfection is available only to those who are personally present. The encircling creations know of these teachings only from those who have passed through this experience, and who have subsequently carried this wisdom out to the universes of space. |
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7. CONDUCTORS OF WORSHIP - P.303 P.303 - §5 Worship is the highest privilege and the first duty of all created intelligences. Worship is the conscious and joyous act of recognizing and acknowledging the truth and fact of the intimate and personal relationships of the Creators with their creatures. The quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as the knowledge of the infinite character of the Gods progresses, the act of worship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings. P.303 - §6 While the Isle of Paradise contains certain
places of worship, it is more nearly one vast sanctuary of divine service.
Worship is the first and dominant passion of all who climb to its blissful
shores--the spontaneous ebullition of the P.304 - §0 beings who have learned enough of God
to attain his presence. Circle by circle, during the inward journey through
Havona, worship is a growing passion until on Paradise it becomes necessary
to direct and otherwise control its expression. P.304 - §1 The periodic, spontaneous, group, and other special outbursts of supreme adoration and spiritual praise enjoyed on Paradise are conducted under the leadership of a special corps of primary supernaphim. Under the direction of these conductors of worship, such homage achieves the creature goal of supreme pleasure and attains the heights of the perfection of sublime self-expression and personal enjoyment. All primary supernaphim crave to be conductors of worship; and all ascendant beings would enjoy forever remaining in the attitude of worship did not the chiefs of assignment periodically disperse these assemblages. But no ascendant being is ever required to enter upon the assignments of eternal service until he has attained full satisfaction in worship. P.304 - §2 It is the task of the conductors of worship
so to teach the ascendant creatures how to worship that they may be enabled
to gain this satisfaction of self-expression and at the same time be able
to give attention to the essential activities of the Paradise regime.
Without improvement in the technique of worship it would require hundreds
of years for the average mortal who reaches Paradise to give full and
satisfactory expression to his emotions of intelligent appreciation and
ascendant gratitude. The conductors of worship open up new and hitherto
unknown avenues of expression so that these wonderful children of the
womb of space and the travail of time are enabled to gain the full satisfactions
of worship in much less time. P.304 - §3 All the arts of all the beings of the
entire universe which are capable of intensifying and exalting the abilities
of self-expression and the conveyance of appreciation, are employed to
their highest capacity in the worship of the Paradise Deities. Worship
is the highest joy of Paradise existence; it is the refreshing play of
Paradise. What play does for your jaded minds on earth, worship will do
for your perfected souls on Paradise. The mode of worship on Paradise
is utterly beyond mortal comprehension, but the spirit of it you can begin
to appreciate even down here on Urantia, for the spirits of the Gods even
now indwell you, hover over you, and inspire you to true worship. P.304 - §4 There are appointed times and places for
worship on Paradise, but these are not adequate to accommodate the ever-increasing
overflow of the spiritual emotions of the growing intelligence and expanding
divinity recognition of the brilliant beings of experiential ascension
to the eternal Isle. Never since the times of Grandfanda have the supernaphim
been able fully to accommodate the spirit of worship on Paradise. Always
is there an excess of worshipfulness as gauged by the preparation therefor.
And this is because personalities of inherent perfection never can fully
appreciate the tremendous reactions of the spiritual emotions of beings
who have slowly and laboriously made their way upward to Paradise glory
from the depths of the spiritual darkness of the lower worlds of time
and space. When such angels and mortals of time attain the presence of
the Powers of Paradise, there occurs the expression of the accumulated
emotions of the ages, a spectacle astounding to the angels of Paradise
and productive of the supreme joy of divine satisfaction in the Paradise
Deities. P.304 - §5 Sometimes all Paradise becomes engulfed
in a dominating tide of spiritual and worshipful expression. Often the
conductors of worship cannot control such phenomena until the appearance
of the threefold fluctuation of the light of the P.305 - §0 Deity abode, signifying that the divine heart of the Gods has been fully and completely satisfied by the sincere worship of the residents of Paradise, the perfect citizens of glory and the ascendant creatures of time. What a triumph of technique! What a fruition of the eternal plan and purpose of the Gods that the intelligent love of the creature child should give full satisfaction to the infinite love of the Creator Father! P.305 - §1 After the attainment of the supreme satisfaction of the fullness of worship, you are qualified for admission to the Corps of the Finality. The ascendant career is well-nigh finished, and the seventh jubilee prepares for celebration. The first jubilee marked the mortal agreement with the Thought Adjuster when the purpose to survive was sealed; the second was the awakening in the morontia life; the third was the fusion with the Thought Adjuster; the fourth was the awakening in Havona; the fifth celebrated the finding of the Universal Father; and the sixth jubilee was the occasion of the Paradise awakening from the final transit slumber of time. The seventh jubilee marks entrance into the mortal finaliter corps and the beginning of the eternity service. The attainment of the seventh stage of spirit realization by a finaliter will probably signalize the celebration of the first of the jubilees of eternity. P.305 - §2 And thus ends the story of the Paradise
supernaphim, the highest order of all the ministering spirits, those beings
who, as a universal class, ever attend you from the world of your origin
until you are finally bidden farewell by the conductors of worship as
you take the Trinity oath of eternity and are mustered into the Mortal
Corps of the Finality. P.305 - §4 [Presented by a Perfector of Wisdom from Uversa.] |