The Urantia Book speaks frequently of bestowal. You will check a random page and it is highly likely that you will come across something about bestowal. The English word “bestow” (also interchangeably translated as “to give”) appears there in many contexts, but all of them have a common denominator: Bestowals are gifts. And since I move in the area at the source of religion, one can add that it is a gift from heaven.
We like gifts from heaven, and most of all we misunderstand them, but we will not talk about manna from heaven. I tried to catch the definition of the word itself from the papers and based this study on it, but we will not understand the bestowals without examples. And looking for answers to the questions of what bestowals are and what they supposedly give us, one cannot start in any other place than at the Source.
The bestowal Father
The infinite and eternal Ruler of the universe of universes is power, form, energy, process, pattern, principle, presence, and idealized reality. But he is more; he is personal; he exercises a sovereign will, experiences self-consciousness of divinity, executes the mandates of a creative mind, pursues the satisfaction of the realization of an eternal purpose, and manifests a Father’s love and affection for his universe children. And all these more personal traits of the Father can be better understood by observing them as they were revealed in the bestowal life of Michael, your Creator Son, while he was incarnated on Urantia.
3:6.7 (53.5)
The Universal Father is the source of all. He is infinite and eternal. As the First Source and Center, it is the primordial cause of all causes. “No thing or essence, no relativity or finality exists except in direct or indirect connection and dependence on the primacy of the First Source and Center”. God can only be limited by his will — his decision to impose conditions or limits on himself.
By the power of his infinite will, sometime in eternity, the Universal Father implemented the principle of sharing and relinquished all functions which could be performed by another. It keeps to itself only those powers and competences that are (apparently) intransferable. He gives the rest.
If it is in the nature of God to share, then it is in the nature of created intelligent beings to act and experience. He therefore remains inactive in their behalf, and the breadth of the divine bestowal is beyond comprehension; even from a typically mundane perspective. God gives life and free will (isn’t that the definition of love?). God bestows personality. He bestows himself upon us mortals, and literally as the indwelling Thought Adjuster.
Plan
But let’s take a step back. We know that the Universal Father has decided that he will share. From The Urantia Book we will also learn why he does this: In this way, in co-operation with the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, he carries out the work of leading all universe creation to eternal perfection.
We are also part of this project. It was of us that they said: “Let us make mortal beings in our own image”; this is the mythical meaning of life. All the past and all the future, everything that has happened and everything that will happen — everything that is now is happening because of it.
God’s plan for perfection consists of three parallel undertakings:
- A plan of incremental achievement. The Plan of the Universal Father; it permits evolutionary creatures to grow and ascend to become like the Father.
- The bestowal plan. The Task of the Eternal Son; as co-ordinate Sons reveals to the universes the Father.
- Mercy Ministry Plan. The ministry of the Infinite Spirit sets the universes in motion.
The eternal plan of attaining perfection is realized thanks to bestowal and through bestowal. The Universe Father, in bestowing upon his co-ordinates, the Sons, and upon his myriad intelligences, permits them to function and carry out this plan in his name; us too. Together, the three Persons of Deity associate and interpenetrate, co-operating in such complex and coherent manner as to function as One God. A God who provides space, time, and security so that we have a place to experience and to grow, so that we can embrace and bind together what we have been and are, what we are becoming and what we will become. He bestows personality and free will, so that we can decide whether we want to become like him. He bestows the Sons that we may see that it is possible to become like him. He bestows us with our minds, so that we can hope to understand it all.
Giveaways
The first bestowal is at Source, but the offspring will always have something of parent nature. Therefore, like the Father, his children (and their children’s children…) share. The Universe Father communicates to the Eternal Son all that is possible to communicate; The Eternal Son bestows all possible authority and power upon the Conjoint Creator, the Infinite Spirit. Together, they cede transferable responsibilities and privileges to their children.
The Eternal Son, as the divine revelation of the identity of the Universal Father, does not fragment his purely personal nature. Therefore he can’t, in the sense (through the Thought Adjusters) like the Father, become a partner in experience. He circumvents this limitation by bestowing himself as unlimited spiritual influence and through the descending orders of divine sonship; even to the point where he stands before man himself as a man. What the experiences of partial entities are to the Universal Father, the experiences of the incarnations of his Paradise Sons are to the Eternal Son. Through the Thought Adjusters the Universal Father experiences with us and through the bestowal Sons, the Eternal Son experiences as we do.
The Infinite Spirit is an omnipresent and eternal action. The Urantia Book also designates him as the “Conjoint Actor,” therefore both the Father and the Son bestow the worlds of space in him and through him. From our most material perspective, the Spirit is everywhere, and everything around is Spirit and in the Spirit. He also bestows ministries of mercy in his own name, but perhaps most interestingly, the Infinite Spirit is the source of intelligence and reason: He bestows mind upon all universe creatures.
Filial
Bestowal gifts can take various forms. While the bestowals of life, mind, or even fragments of the Universal Father himself are quite logical — we finally get something (the papers also speak of the bestowal of “cosmic force” as a function of the Isle of Paradise), the bestowals of the descending Sons can already be perplexing. And it is to them that The Urantia Book devotes most space. However, even if they are less intuitive, they fit the definition of a gift; but this gift has a slightly different overtone.
Enlightened
The Sons bestow for the enlightenment of the grand universe and therefore for its development. Long ago (our universe was not yet in existence), at the time of the first mortal attainment of Havona, the Eternal Son performed his first bestowals. As Michael, the first-born Creator Son, he ascended through the experiences of his children from circuit to circuit, passing through this stage as they did (the Infinite Spirit “fully participated” in these bestowals). He personally showed that it is possible to rise to the Father and gave an example of how to do it flawlessly. Thus he shares the experiences which prepare the ascending creatures to reach the Father.
And this teaching appears many times in The Urantia Book. Like the first-born Eternal Son, the bestowal Sons are patterns for intelligent beings which choose to ascend to the Father. They enlighten.
The bestowals of the Eternal Son in Havona are not within the scope of human imagination; they were transcendental. He added to the experience of all Havona then and subsequently, but we do not know whether he added to the supposed experiential capacity of his existential nature. That would fall within the bestowal mystery of the Paradise Sons. We do, however, believe that whatever the Eternal Son acquired on these bestowal missions, he has ever since retained; but we do not know what it is.
7:5.7 (87.1)
The bestowal sons
The Universal Father divested himself of every part of himself which could be bestowed. He descends from the Isle of Paradise in the persons of his Sons, conferring upon them all transferable authority. Thus he accomplishes the plan of revelation of the Universe Father.
The Eternal Son has three sons on Paradise. At least that many have been revealed to us. The Paradise Sons of God are three distinct but related groups: the Creator Sons – the Michaels, the Avonals – the Magisterial Sons, and the Trinity Teacher Sons – the Daynals. The Paradise Sons of God are divine in origin and nature. They are referred to as the offspring of the Eternal Son, but the representatives of each group have a more complex origin. The Creator Sons are of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son, the Magisterial Sons are the offspring of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, and the Trinity Teacher Sons are called forth by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (but the Trinity Teacher Sons are not on bestowal missions).
In all their attributes the Paradise Sons of God are the perfect portrayal of the Original Son. There is a unique direct communication channel between them that weaves them together in bonds of well-nigh absolute spirit connection. This communication is instantaneous—wholly independent of time (though sometimes conditioned by space). Notwithstanding their differing origins, from the standpoint of service, prayer, and worship, all Sons are as one. Their spirit is one, and their work is equally perfect. They serve as if each of them were the first and only Son of God. And they serve everywhere, from the Isle of Paradise, where they come from, to the youngest, backward planets like Earth. From the human standpoint every Paradise Son is the First; and “he who has seen the Son of Paradise has seen the Eternal Son of God”.
The Eternal Son is the power but also the inspiration to all Paradise Sons. Personally and with their voices he spreads the divine commandment, “Be you perfect, even as your Father in Havona is perfect”. Ever since the original bestowal the Creator Sons and the Magisterial Sons have always been ready to bestow themselves and to enlighten the manifold orders of created life; also as the created ones. The Sons are realized and personified in order to represent and make real the Father’s love and the Son’s mercy towards created beings: they enlighten. We would not have ascended to Paradise had it not been for their ministry (and without the bestowal ministry of the Infinite Spirit and his daughters). And they do it in reflection of the first of them.
We also know the lower orders of descending Sons; these too can do the bestowal. Thus we read of the life-bestowing Life Carriers or the bestowal of blood upon the Material Sons and Daughters. Of the crisis incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek, The Urantia Book also speaks of as a bestowal. And while all these are filial gifts, papers most often associate the bestowal with the peculiar ministry of the Sons of Paradise.
From this perspective bestowal may be understood as the incarnation of a higher creature into a being of a lower order. However, it is not the mere fact of incarnation that is at stake. Rather, it is about the externalization of the divine being and how such a presence affects created beings.
Incarnation
The Urantia Book does not disclose the nature of the work of the Paradise Sons of God on the higher levels of the superuniverses and for the central universe — they execute the bestowal plan in the local universes.
With the expansion of the grand universe the Eternal Son delegates a Paradise Michael to each newly projected local creation. The Creator Son is building a new universe and taking responsibility for its stability. At the same time he assumes the obligation to execute the bestowal plan. He swears not to assume full sovereignty of his realm until he has completed the seven creature bestowals. Upon completion, each Creator Son is exalted as the legitimate supreme ruler of his realm—he becomes a Master Son and rules by virtue of actual experience. To participate in the experiences of creature personalities, the Paradise Sons of God must possess their actual nature and incarnate their divine personalities in these very beings.
The power of the Michael Sons in their creations has been almost unlimited from the very beginning. But until the completion of the bestowal missions, they rule only as vicegerents of the Universal Father. In accordance with his will, they successively perform seven bestowals on the seven planets of their universes in seven different forms of living beings; creatures that they themselves created.
The bestowal missions of the Michaels (but also of the Avonals when they incarnate as mortals) are not limited to mere appearance among the creatures. The bestowal Son leads a normal life, inhabiting a given world as a being. It emerges or arrives on the planet in the form of an adult, developed individual; and in the case of mortal bestowals, the origin of bestowal is ordinary conception and childbirth. The Creator Son, reaching for the highest power in the universe, gets to know it in every detail. But at the same time, each of these details gives something back to the universe. The bestowals of this definition are the actual lives of Michael or Avonal — the Eternal Son in the pattern and environment of creature existence. It is not taking over the body by possession. The incarnations of the Eternal Son and his Paradise Sons unite, actually fuse, the divine nature of the Creator with the evolving nature of the creature.
The bestowal Sons of Paradise are the pattern. They have an impact on the spiritual progress of those with whom they live. Because when divinity becomes humanity-like, there is a chance that humanity can become divine. The fruits of their perfected life are inestimable—the bestowal gifts of the Sons. Is there anyone left on Earth who has not heard of Jesus (and how does our indifference to his teachings testify to us)? The Paradise Sons are always leading and inspiring. In this way, they not only gain invaluable experience, but also demonstrate their own leadership skills. The bestowal incarnations are a part of the process whereby they become dependable and understanding rulers (in the case of the Creator Sons) and judges (in the case of the Magisterial Sons). After all, there is no better way to learn about someone’s weaknesses and dilemmas than to step into their shoes.
Why are the Michaels required to perform seven bestowals, you may ask? Because it’s a magic number? It’s more than a magic of the Kind. These bestowals reveal the nature and portray the sevenfold position of the Paradise Deities — the Father-Son-Spirit, Father-Son, Father-Spirit, Son-Spirit, Spirit, Son, Father. The seven bestowals embrace the appearance of Michael on the seven creature levels of existence, and in consummation of these seven expressions of the will of Deity, they are conducted.
(Un)mortal
We do not know supermaterial realities (many do not believe in them at all). Therefore are the bestowals of the Michaels, when incarnated in the higher orders of morontia or spirit beings, abstract to us. But we do read in The Urantia Book of the bestowals in the likeness of mortal beings and about the most important for us, that 2000 years ago one of the Paradise Creator Sons personally bestows Earth.
In accordance with the bestowal plan, each evolutionary world will host the Paradise Sons. The same plan assumes that every Avonal and Michael will one day bestow such a world. Typically, when the intellectual and ethical progress of the mortal race has attained the evolutionary limit, an Avonal Paradise Son is incarnated on a magisterial mission (these are not designated bestowals in The Urantia Book). Later on, only after the spiritual progress of the inhabitants of a given planet has reached its natural limits does the bestowal Son arrive. These Sons also most often belong to the Avonal order. Only once in the history of each local universe does Michael function as the bestowal Son. This way the Creator and Sovereign of a local universe complete his seventh bestowal. This is a very rare case. The Creator Son will bestow only on one in 10 million of his inhabited planets. In our universe, it was the Earth. (It is difficult to admit that we are reaching our evolutionary limits, much less our spiritual limits. However, the development of our planet and species is not proceeding as originally planned. Therefore the story of Earth is unique and the bestowal of the Creator Son unexpected.) But The Urantia Book emphasizes that the bestowals of the Avonals, though different from those of Michael, are not in the least peculiarly inferior; they are just as divinely effective in their service as their brethren. And when a personal duplicate of the Original Son embarks upon a bestowal career among mortals, it literally becomes true that the divine “Word became flesh”.
In bestowal upon the races of mankind the Paradise Sons are always born of woman as a male being. They mature and live an ordinary life (but they never have children). They come from average families, so they struggle with typical human problems and dilemmas. Jesus earned money as a carpenter to support his family, but bestors can do literally any job. There is probably no profession that is not practiced by one of the Paradise Sons. Interestingly, Jesus as a child was not aware of his divinity or knew his destiny. Growing up, he found God through his own true religion; just as anyone can do.
The louder part of the service of the enlightenment of human minds begins only when they have mastered the experience of mortal life and have attained perfection in harmony with the indwelling Thought Adjusters. Jesus did not go out to preach officially until he was fully aware of his role in the universe. It should be noted that the bestowal Sons never establish new rules of life on the planets of their incarnations, nor do they alter those already in force. They function as teachers, but they are wholly devoted to the spiritual enlightenment of the mortal races of the world. And these inspirations are universal. The bestowals and teachings of the Sons are a pattern not only for their sojourn but for the universe as a whole. They enable creatures to know the nature and character of divine personality. We should regard such bestowals as a reliable and sure source of information concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The Paradise Sons live their bestowal lives to the full. From birth and infancy, through youth, adulthood to death. And rarely do they meet such a tragic fate as Jesus. The vast majority of the planets afford a more loving reception for these Sons. However, they must die. How else could they experience the fullness of human life? God’s plan does not require that their deaths to be sudden or spectacular.
In addition to the above-mentioned benefits, these bestowals in the flesh bring about a pivotal change in the spiritual constitution of the world of the Paradise Sons. In passing away, they leave behind their spiritual influence, the Spirit of Truth, which draws all intelligent beings to the Father and lays the foundation for the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters (Adjusters do not universally come until the Spirit of Truth has appeared on the planet). And this gift is certain. But they can so alter the workings of the interconnectedness of the spiritual and material factors on the planet that they create unprecedented situations. This is what happened on our Earth.
The incarnations of the bestowal Sons are also directly related to what The Urantia Book designates “dispensational judgment”. And although in our beliefs we call this judgment the end of the world, it has nothing to do with the terrifying apocalyptic visions of destruction.
The bestowal of a Paradise Son on your world was inherent in the situation of closing a planetary age; it was inescapable, and it was not made necessary for the purpose of winning the favor of God. This bestowal also happened to be the final personal act of a Creator Son in the long adventure of earning the experiential sovereignty of his universe. What a travesty upon the infinite character of God! This teaching that his fatherly heart in all its austere coldness and hardness was so untouched by the misfortunes and sorrows of his creatures that his tender mercies were not forthcoming until he saw his blameless Son bleeding and dying upon the cross of Calvary!
4:5.6 (60.5)
Christ Michael
Michael of Nebadon began the building of his (our) local universe some 400 billion years ago. 399 billion years later he made ready for his first mission as a bestowal Son; he performed subsequent missions approximately every 150 million years. It has been almost 2 000 years since the completion of the seventh and last bestowal, when the divine personality of the Eternal Son incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth.
The history of Urantia is littered with failures. The joining of Prince Caligastia in the Lucifer rebellion delayed our progress by tens of thousands of years. The Adamic apostasy was the finishing touch in all this. This does not mean, however, that the Earth needed the Creator Son to put her tangled affairs in order. Rather did the evil and sin of our planet afford him a more entertaining background for the revelation of the matchless love, mercy, and patience of the Paradise Father.
The seventh bestowal of Michael of Nebadon brought an end to rebellion in the system. Through him, the lowest beings of animal origin learned the paradise way of attaining divinity. Not only here. Jesus lived a spirit-uplifting life for every intelligent being, human and superhuman, who has lived, is living, and will live on all the inhabited and future habitable planets of the universe.
We still do not realize the significance of this fact or the honor that has befallen us. And the way we treated Christ Michael reflects the level of our intellectual, ethical and spiritual development. The Paradise Son has chosen us, and the earth will forever remain a vital feature in the universe. We not only rejected the Son of Paradise (and we do), but to this day we profane his teachings and himself.
For us
Bestowing oneself does not take anything away from God. Neither potential, nor power, nor energy stores, required for the maintenance of the universes. He never loses strength, wisdom or love. Everything and always remains in the embrace of the central personality of deity. And even though the Creator withdraws from so many activities, He participates, thanks to the creatures, in the events that they have caused. And this participation is real and personal.
The Urantia Book depicts bestowals as (not fully tangible) gifts. The divine leave something from the bestowal to the gifted; and they also make themselves known to the bestowed. These are manifestations of sharing, with the intention to bring something good and original to the universal creation. Giving means giving something, and as the dictionary of the Polish language suggests – something valuable; in this context, it is even the most valuable.