Nebadon

From a cosmic standpoint, the administrative division of the superuniverses is something of a matryoshka. When you imagine that an inhabited planet is the smallest of the dolls, the local universe will be the one that embraces it third. In the system of Satania and within the constellation of Norlatiadek, Earth complements the local universe of Nebadon, together with ten million similar planets.

This study completes a series in which I delve into the structure of the grand universe as revealed in The Urantia Book. Knowing the other materials from the series will certainly help you find your way around it better.

Suspended in time and space

The individual superhuman administrations of the grand universe, while collectively functioning in behalf of the divine plan, have distinct responsibilities: The system governments are chiefly concerned with the physical status and biologic problems of the living beings of their tributary worlds. The task of the constellation authorities is to unify and stabilize their constituents, and therefore they pay the greatest attention to the social conditions and governments that prevail in their systems and on individual planets. The authorities of the local universes are most concerned with the spiritual status of the planets under their rule.

Though the local universes are about midway in vertical administrative structure, they are the primary, not to say the most important, divisions of the grand universe. All broader divisions grouping them into sectors and superuniverses, or internal divisions grouping them into constellations and systems, appear to be secondary. The local universes are the focal points of material time-space reality.

All the constituents of the superuniverses are finite in character. This means that the local universes have an evolutionary origin, and that they are still evolving. For according to the plan of the Universal Father, perfection outside of the Isle of Paradise and Havona is attainable only in this way — evolutionarily. But God is not the direct creator of the material components of space. He entrusts this assignment to his Paradise Sons—the Michaels, otherwise known as the Creator Sons—and function in the local universes through them. The initial concepts of the planned universes are conceived by the Architects of the Master Universe, the foundations are laid by the Force Organizers, but it is the Creator Sons who select the locations for their establishment and prepare them. These Sons, therefore, are not the designers, but the builders of the universes; and subsequently the legislators and sovereigns, even of the Father. But let’s start from the beginning.

Prologue

Light, heat, electricity, magnetism, chemism, energy, and matter are — in origin, nature, and destiny — one and the same thing, together with other material realities as yet undiscovered on Urantia.

42:4.1 (472.12)

It is God, of course, who is the First Source and Center. The Universal Father precedes all, is the origin of all, and keeps the life of all things. Regardless of later transformations, it is His divine light that has always and forever permeated the whole of creation.

However, we are curious. And even if we accept such lofty truths on faith (as befits agondonters), we still ask: Where did our universe come from? Modern science, studying this subject, is still wading in (cosmic) darkness. Therefore, when looking for answers, we should not expect them to be easy. Because they are not.

The Urantia Book, in revealing the genesis of the material universes, will far outstrip current scientific knowledge. It is possible that science, due to its atheistic approach, will be stuck in dead ends for a long time. I’m very far from a scientific approach, which is why I’m completely blind to this topic. Therefore, there will be subjective simplifications and understatements. Various beings also take part in this whole enterprise, but in order not to complicate it even more, I will omit their class divisions and characteristics. The compromises of our finite nature are also obvious, because we will not understand existence that never had a beginning. Therefore, like the authors of the Urantia Papers, I will break down the past eternity into a sequence of events.

Once upon a time…

First, in the eternal past, the Universal Father expressed the infinite personality of his spirit self in the being of the Eternal Son, and then he revealed the infinite potential of his nonpersonal self as the Isle of Paradise (at this moment the Infinite Spirit was also personalized, but his person may be omitted in this introduction). This primordial differentiation has given rise to two realities: the deified – with possibility of personalization, and the undeified – impossible to personalize. When considering the origins of universes, I will focus on the latter.

The Isle of Paradise is the source of all impersonal influences and all matter in the universe of universes. Everything that exists comes from Paradise and will return there. This undeified reality which, springing from Paradise, pervades all things, is known in The Urantia Book as the Unqualified Absolute. It is not yet space. Rather, the infinite and never-exhausting possibility of its occurrence. Space comes later. And while it is revealed through the Unqualified Absolute, it is only one of its manifestations. The Unconditioned Absolute is therefore something more than primordial space, but in these considerations I will equate it with it — it is the foundation of all impersonal, and therefore material, existence in the cosmos. This prespace attribute of the Unqualified Absolute is known in the Papers as “space potency“; (Paper 11:8.8 clearly points out however, that space potency does not determine that which precedes space. Rather are those influences and potentials which, as they are emitted from Paradise, constitute the space presence of the Unqualified Absolute). From our perspective, the potency of space — the absoluta is still nothingness.

In my attempt to grasp the origin of the universes, I therefore regard the Unqualified Absolute and its space potency as the starting point. But before I go any further, I need to clarify the meanings of the words “force,” “energy,” “power,” and “gravity”.

Definitions

It happens that the authors of The Urantia Book use the same words in different contexts, especially when we are talking about something that we have not discovered ourselves, or so far we have not named. This is also the case with terms indicating different forms of physical influence of the Isle of Paradise. I will try to define them for the purposes of this study:

Force indicates influences originating in the Unqualified Absolute which are not yet responsive to Paradise gravity.
Energy is the transmuting forces which are responsive to Paradise gravity but not yet responsive to linear gravity.
Power is all forms of transformed energy which are responsive to both Paradise gravity and linear gravity. We can observe and study some manifestations of power.
Paradise gravity is absolute —only force and space are nonresponsive to Paradise gravity.
Linear gravity is material gravity as we know and understand it.

Something out of nothing

The first change in space potency is initiated by the Force Organizers. They release its prematerial potential from the domination of the Unqualified Absolute, transforming it into the energetic manifestations of physical reality — force; on Uversa it is called segregata. This is the moment when something begins to emerge from nothing, even if our science of the existence of this something is not yet conscious. Interestingly, the mere presence of the Force Organizers is sufficient for such initial transformations. So at the beginning they are passive. Only now, in such an agitated field of space, do they begin to act actively. They set in motion gigantic cyclones of force around their presence, which, once initiated, can never be stopped or limited. This is the birth of nebulae. A tremendous and powerful reactive force massively set in motion is transformed into energy — the active ancestor of all universe matter; on Uversa it is known as the ultimata. In response to the actions of the Force Organizers, space potency rapidly shifts from the force to the energy stage, thus beginning to respond to the circular gravity grasp of Paradise. If there is something, it moves towards the Father.

In fulfilling their task, the Force Organizers can leave. The Power Directors, their offspring, the Power Centers, and their cooperating Physical Controllers then go to work. They establish directional channels and circuits of energy flow whereby power appears in space; and consequently physical matter responsive to linear gravity; on Uversa such power is called gravita. In this way, energy matures to the point where it can be shaped to serve the purposes of the Creator Michaels. A Paradise Son cannot begin the organization of his universe until the Material Foundations—suns and planets are provided by the Power Directors. When a Creator Son and his Creative Daughter consort enter the scene, the universe building enters upon the next stage.

In the early days of universe building even the Paradise Creators are primarily concerned with material equilibrium. The pattern of a local universe takes shape not only as a result of the activities of the power centers but also because of the space presence of the Creative Spirit. And throughout these early epochs of local universe building the Creator Son exhibits a little-understood attribute of material control, and he does not leave his capital planet until the gross equilibrium of the local universe has been established.

116:5.13 (1274.3)

To be continued

Universes develop and stabilize over hundreds of billions of years. Upon the arrival of a Creator Son work begins on his universe headquarters and on the headquarters worlds of the constellations and systems. And while the constituents of local creations are evolutionary, the seats of superhuman governments are always spheres designed and created according to finished designs.

The Power Centers and the Physical Controllers are responsible for the physical evolution of the successive generations of stellar and planetary offspring initiated by the Force Organizers. In Nebadon this physical supervision of the archuniverse was fully co-ordinated with the plans of Michael the Creator. The Power Directors and their associates serve in perfect symbiosis with these Paradise Sons and are forever associated with them in the processes of controlling the power which they originally organized and encircuited. The same one hundred Power Centers who collaborated with a Michael Son in the initial formation of Nebadon are still at work on Salvington today.

One nebula may power a single local universe, but this is not the rule. In the case of Nebadon, The Urantia Book is most telling about Andronover nebula, but our universe was made up of a few nebulae. And even when planets are of heterogeneous origin, they all share motion in space. The Power Directors, by processing force from various sources, have produced one aggregation of the bodies of heaven which ever since have been cohesive in the orbit of Orvonton.

Local universes vary in size and visible matter content. But they all contain a similar energy potential: About one hundred-thousandth part of the force endowment of the superuniverse to which they belong (which seems logical). The power charge and potential matter endowment of a single local universe depend on the function of the Power Directors and the Creator Sons themselves. Nebadon is slightly below average in this respect.

Matryoshka

The administrative organization of the grand universe is clearly divided into the governments of Havona, the superuniverses, the local universes, and so on. Such demarcations correspond to astronomical divisions at the same time – the central universe is separated by superuniverses, and in them you can see the lines demarcating individual sectors. But there are no such unambiguous physical boundaries of the local universes (in connection with the aforementioned energy division).

The space phenomenon which unequivocally distinguishes one universe from another is the circuit of the Creative Daughter of the Infinite Spirit. All universes are filled with a kind of cosmic presence of these Daughters. I have the impression that they are the ones that set the divisions. That which pervades the Creative Daughter of Salvington is Nebadon; that which lies beyond her space presence is no longer Nebadon—these are the regions of other local universes inhabited by sister Creative Daughters. The Creative Daughter is therefore everywhere, and her circumference ends exactly at the boundaries of the local universe.

Orbiting

All celestial bodies are characterized by rotational and circular motion. This is how gravity works. Planets in systems revolve around their stars, this is obvious to us, but larger parts of superuniverses (and they themselves) also have their orbits. The universe, regardless of the origin of its constituents—whole and as these aggregations of bodies — swings around Havona and the Isle of Paradise; we simply do not yet know.

Nebadon orbits within its minor sector (its rotational center is located in the Sagittarius star cloud), and as a component of it, it travels in a definite and predictable path for celestial astronomers, counterclockwise, circling the center of everything in a circumference. Inside Nebadon, too, everything is in constant rotation.

Nebadon day is 18 days, 6 hours, and two and a half minutes of Earth time. The year of Nebadon is the period required for it to advance through the circuit (probably only a portion of it) of Uversa and is 100 days; it’s about 5 years of our time. Nebadon time is the standard time for all constellations and systems. And while the affairs of the constellations are conducted in accordance with Nebadon time, the systems and individual planets have their own methods of reckoning time.

Life

The implementation of the plan to build the local universe is coming to an end. There is a material cosmos; and becomes friendly. When evolutionary patience yields stability, the Creator Son and the Creative Daughter create life. By divine act they bring into being their first conjoint concept of the identity and ideal of divinity which, as a being—the Bright and Morning Star—becomes the right hand of the Creator and the chief executive of his universe. Soon after, other diverse and equally wonderful creatures appear. In such an expanding universe and its constellations they assume functions of government, direction, advisory, and teaching. Further stabilization allows the Creators to undertake, from our perspective, the most important of the Father’s intentions: the creation of mortal man in their divine image.

Nebadon is a comparatively young creation of superuniverse number seven, Orvonton. The organization of its habitable worlds is still in progress, so at the time of the revelation of the Papers there were only 3,840,101 inhabited planets in Nebadon. There will be 10 million.

Nebadon is the eighty-fourth of the one hundred local universes of the minor sector of Ensa. At this time he was in the southeastern part of Orvonton. The closest neighboring universes are: Avalon, Henselon, Sanselon, Portalon, Wolvering, Fanoving and Alvoring.

The average diameter of a star in Nebadon is about 1,600,000 kilometers; the volume of the largest is 60 million times larger than the volume of the Sun. The planets of the individual local universes are all characterized by a noticeable physical kinship, albeit eventual planetary life is always original. And so it is in Nebadon.

Beginning

The center of everything, Havona, establishes the pattern of perfection. That which is outside of Havona is gradually perfecting. The Creator Sons are always original, and therefore their universes are characterized by almost infinite variety. Though spiritually related, after all, they all originate in the Universal Father; no two local universes are, and will not be alike.

The first completed act of physical creation in Nebadon consisted in the organization of the headquarters world, the architectural sphere of Salvington, with its satellites. From the time of the initial moves of the power centers and physical controllers to the arrival of the living staff on the completed spheres of Salvington, there intervened a little over one billion years of your present planetary time. The construction of Salvington was immediately followed by the creation of the one hundred headquarters worlds of the projected constellations and the ten thousand headquarters spheres of the projected local systems of planetary control and administration, together with their architectural satellites. Such architectural worlds are designed to accommodate both physical and spiritual personalities as well as the intervening morontia or transition stages of being.

32:2.3 (358.5)

Michael of Nebadon began the formation of his (our) local universe about 400 billion years ago. I can only imagine what the creation of the universe actually looks like. The Power Directors, the Force Organizers, and the Physical Controllers select matter and, by setting cosmic forces in motion, make them available and push them to the goal intended by the Creators. I think it’s similar to biological evolution. When superhuman planners know how the matter will develop, long before life is implanted, they know where it will go. It is enough to activate the appropriate evolutionary mechanisms. And wait.

First things first

The simplified chronology of the organization of Nebadon is as follows:

987 billion years ago. There are first signs of favorable spatial conditions in the area of Orvonton of interest to us. If I were to look for our material beginnings, it would be this date (and soon the trillionth anniversary…).
900 billion years ago. The Uversa Council of Equilibrium issues permission to dispatch a Force Organizer to the designated region. Interestingly, the Orvonton authorities assigned to this assignment the same Force Organizer who, 87 billion years earlier, had discovered the potential of the new material creation. This Organizer of Force, then acting inspector number 811,307, is therefore not only the discoverer of our universe, but also, in a sense, its forefather.
875 billion years ago.

875,000,000,000 years ago the enormous Andronover nebula number 876,926 was duly initiated. Only the presence of the force organizer and the liaison staff was required to inaugurate the energy whirl which eventually grew into this vast cyclone of space. Subsequent to the initiation of such nebular revolutions, the living force organizers simply withdraw at right angles to the plane of the revolutionary disk, and from that time forward, the inherent qualities of energy insure the progressive and orderly evolution of such a new physical system.

57:1.6 (652.2)

500 billion years ago. Andronover produces the first sun. A Creator Son of Paradise chooses the Andronover nebula for the site of his universe. About this time the construction of the capital and the constellation headquarters began. This lasted at least 100 billion years. This is also the time when the first system administration boards began to be established. I suppose that these are being built on an ongoing basis as needed, because the last one was completed many billions of years later.
300 billion years ago. Michael’s staff arrives in the ready-made, designed capital.
200 billion years ago. The first evolving worlds of Nebadon become populated (300 billion years after the appearance of the first sun). Nebadon is recorded in Havona as a creation in which mortals live. From a human perspective, this is the moment of the existence of our local universe.
6 billion years ago. The Andronover nebula disintegration is finalizing. This is also the time when our Sun was formed. In all, the mother nebula gave origin to 1,013,628 stars; only 56 of them do not have their own planetary systems (of course, not all of them contain populated planets).
5 billion years ago. The construction of the architectural planets of the headquarters of the local systems of Nebadon is nearing completion. In total, there are 647,591 designed worlds in our universe.

Administration

In accordance with accepted and practiced techniques of creation, when the initial material plan for the building of Nebadon was completed, Michael and the Creative Spirit of Salvington began the creation of life. I suppose it happened well over 200 billion years ago.

The Son initiates the creation of certain of the universe children, while the Spirit is solely responsible for bringing into existence the numerous orders of spirit personalities who minister and serve under the direction and guidance of this selfsame Mother Spirit. In the creation of other types of universe personalities, both the Son and the Spirit function together, and in no creative act does the one do aught without the counsel and approval of the other.

33:3.8 (369.3)

Their first creative act was, according to the principle, the creation of the Bright and Morning Star. The Bright and Morning Star of Nebadon — Gabriel — became (he or she?) chief executive of the universe, personal assistant to Michael, and spokesman for his consort. Each universe has only one such administrator, but with the establishment of successive beings and orders of beings, there has been a government ranging from the supreme councils of the universe, through the constellation fathers, to the system rulers and the Planetary Princes. The offspring of a Paradise Creator Son and Mother Spirit of the local universes consist of, among others; the Melchizedek Sons, the Vorondadek Sons, the Lanonandek Sons, and the Life Carriers. By himself, Michael creates the Material Sons (Adams and Eves), and by herself the Creative Spirit creates the Seraphim order (angels).

Authorities

The organization of the administration of the local universes is “in a certain sense” a duplication of that existing in the perfect central creation, Havona. With one exception; on the headquarters of the universes, therefore also on Salvington, reside all personalities who represent sovereign authority and administrative autonomy, but not the Universe Father. He is always represented by the Paradise Creator Son. He serves first as a governor, and later as the supreme ruler acting according to his own laws. Since the seventh bestowal the Creator Son of Nebadon, also known as Christ Michael, has exercised supreme sovereignty over his universe.

Nebadon is supervised by the first personality of the Infinite Spirit, the resident Master Spirit of Orvonton, as belonging to the seventh superuniverse. Such supervision is really only indirect, for it is functioned in relation to the inhabitants by the Creative Spirit of Salvington, the consort of the Creator Son. And since the Master Spirits are the creators of among the others the Power Directors, the co-operation of the Master Spirit of Orvonton with the Creator-Michael was twofold: First, he assisted him in the development of the physical organization of Nebadon (through the Power Directors), then he participated in the life-creation transactions (through the agency of the Creative Spirit).

In every way, the Universal Father governs all creation. However, as is his custom, he resigns from all functions that can be performed by someone else. Therefore did he intrust the administration of the universes to the Paradise Sons and the Creative Spirits. They are the ones who set the plans, rules and administrative acts. And they put them into practice. They entrust executive power to the Bright and Morning Star, judicial power to the Constellation Fathers, System Sovereigns and Planetary Princes. The management of the universe is characterized by the descending delegation of authority. Until full self-government of the individual.

The Salvington Couples

Contrary to Catholic belief, the incarnate Michael of Nebadon— Jesus of Nazareth is not the second person of the Trinity. And this is not blasphemy. Christ Michael has all the divine attributes and powers that the Eternal Sons would manifest if he were here. In fact, he has additional power and authority because he not only personifies the Eternal Son, but also fully represents and embodies the presence of the Universal Father. This makes him the most powerful, versatile, and influential of all divine beings. Michael has competences to do his work. Perfect partnership with the Creative Spirit makes him the personal trustee of the fullness of divinity manifested in Nebadon for both; the Father and the Son, and thanks to the Creative Spirit for the Spirit.

The Master Creator Son is the personal sovereign of his universe, but in all the details of its management the Universe Spirit is codirector with the Son. While the Spirit ever acknowledges the Son as sovereign and ruler, the Son always accords the Spirit a co-ordinate position and equality of authority in all the affairs of the realm. In all his work of love and life bestowal the Creator Son is always and ever perfectly sustained and ably assisted by the all-wise and ever-faithful Universe Spirit and by all of her diversified retinue of angelic personalities. Such a Divine Minister is in reality the mother of spirits and spirit personalities, the ever-present and all-wise adviser of the Creator Son, a faithful and true manifestation of the Paradise Infinite Spirit.

33:3.3 (368.3)

Michael of Nebadon holds supreme sovereignty in his universe. The Creative Spirit works in perfect relationship with him. In such a partnership we should see the ideal of husband and wife, and ultimately father and mother. Anyway, nothing prevents us from calling them our cosmic parents. They created us and our closest cosmic neighborhood.

(The sovereignty which the Universal Father surrenders to the Michaels is almost full. It is limited only by the pre-existent “gravity circuits” centered on Paradise and by the clauses of the Ancients of Days regarding executive judgments and personality destruction — creators never judge creatures of their creation).

Capital

The projected capital city of Nebadon, Salvington, lies at its very center. This is the personal abode of sovereign Michael. During the earlier ages of the universes the Creator Sons are not permitted to leave their headquarters. Now, if necessary, Gabriel takes his place, and when he is not at Salvington, then Father Melchizedek. One of the assistants to the Creator Son is always present. They had never left Salvington unattended. Logically, the Creative Spirit is always in the capital.

The headquarters of Nebadon is located on 491 planets. They are all designed spheres. Salvington orbits 490 worlds: 70 primary worlds, each of which revolves around 6 minor subordinate spheres. Together they constitute the spiritual training area for ascending mortals like us — Melchizedek University. Of course, this is not the only purpose of these planets.

Diplomacy

While the administration of beings of direct Trinity origin (neither the Creator Son nor the Creative Spirit is of Trinity origin) terminates in the superuniverse governments, Havona and Paradise personalities are also present in each local universe. In Nebadon this group is headed by the Union of Days, ambassador of the Paradise Trinity, Immanuel of Salvington.

Immanuel is the only being in Nebadon who has not proclaimed submission to Michael, and who is not subject to the laws of his government. Neither does he have the right to interfere in the affairs of Nebadon (except for the supervision he exercises over his fellow Faithfuls of Days, who hold positions on the constellation headquarters). Immanuel the ambassador acts exclusively as an adviser to Michael the Sovereign and his assistants. He never gives uninvited.

Nebadon also has ambassadors of its own who represent our universe to the other universes of Orvonton. And the consuls, functioning within the confines of a given local universe, represent the constellations of that universe, both in the affairs of the whole universe and in their dealings with other constellations. The lowest level of universe diplomacy is the observers who represent their systems (within the limits of their universe) on the constellation headquarters.

In their own way

Each superuniverse has its own language, a tongue spoken by its personalities and prevailing throughout its sectors. This is known as the tongue of Uversa in our superuniverse. Each local universe also has its own language. All of the higher orders of Nebadon are bilingual, speaking both the language of Nebadon and the tongue of Uversa. When two individuals from different local universes meet, they communicate in the tongue of Uversa; if, however, one of them hails from another superuniverse, they must have recourse to a translator. In the central universe there is little need of a language; there exists perfect and well-nigh complete understanding; there, only the Gods are not fully comprehended. We are taught that a chance meeting on Paradise reveals more of mutual understanding than could be communicated by a mortal language in a thousand years. Even on Salvington “we know as we have been known”.

44:4.3 (503.3)

Superhuman languages are more complex than ours. And although the language of Nebadon has only 48 basic units of the alphabet, in speech it can be used to summarize the course of an entire human life in 30 minutes. How does it sound? It’s hard to say…

The oratory of the spirit world is one of the rare treats which await you who have heard only the crude and stumbling orations of Urantia. There is harmony of music and euphony of expression in the orations of Salvington and Edentia which are inspiring beyond description. These burning concepts are like gems of beauty in diadems of glory. But I cannot do it! I cannot convey to the human mind the breadth and depth of these realities of another world!

44:4.8 (503.8)

Worthy of citizenship

We are citizens of Nebadon. Together with his brethren from the remaining four million (and in the future all ten million) inhabited planets; we represent and will eternally represent Nebadon in the arena of the master universe. Nebadon is our home. The Creative Spirit, embracing us almost literally like a matryoshka, will always remain our mother; Christ Michael, the Son of Paradise, who among his planets singled out the Earth, our father.

A difficult road is behind us and not at all easier still ahead. However, regardless of the circumstances and what the future brings, we can be proud of our origins – both of Earth and Nebadon. Now it is up to us whether Nebadon can finally be proud of us as well.

P.S. Circuits

There are three distinct “spirit circuits” in Nebadon:
1. The bestowal spirit of the Creator Son, the Consoler, the Spirit of Truth;
2. The spiritual circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit;
3. The intelligence ministry circuit associated with the function of the seven adjutant mind-spirits.