Chapter 1: The Creative Thesis of Perfection: The Finite Story

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The Master Universe is a future-eternal reality. But, excepting Havona, it is not a past-eternal reality. This study of the master creation does not, therefore, properly begin until we are ready to consider Havona in relation to the post-Havona universes. In this Prologue to the study proper, we will accordingly give attention to those eternity acts of Deity which set the stage of space for the master universe - even for Havona, itself.

Since we are starting with an exploration of the eternal past, we might just as well do a good job of it and start as far back as imagination can take us.

First Prologue: Before the Beginning of Beginnings

We Begin with the Infinite All through the Urantia Papers there are statements and observations suggesting that behind everything, before the beginning, there is the Infinite. Somehow, we arrive at the "feeling" that all of the different manifestations of Reality - the Absolutes, the Deities, the Trinities - are different aspects and different phases of the Infinite. God seems to be the personification of the Infinite. The 'Universal Father' is the name we give to God in recognition of his relationship to us - his mortal children.

Before the beginning of beginnings there is that being, that Infinite One, whom we know as God. His infinity must be the foundation on which be has built all the structure of Deity, and Absolutes, and Trinities, and all manner of other Reality - deified and undeified; existential and experiential; actual and potential; time-realities and eternity-realities; perfect existences and imperfect existences; space-creations and non-space conditions -in short, everything and everyone that could exist everywhere and everywhen.

This Being, this Infinite One, is likely known by only two others (his Deity equals) his Eternal Son and their Infinite Spirit. So, even as the Infinite, God the Father is not without associates who understand him; but the two eternal co-ordinates of the infinite God are able to know him only because they share his infinity. To us of the later-appearing and experiencing orders of being, the quest for the Infinite is the first and the final challenge. To accept such a challenge means that we are willing to embark upon an endless voyage of discovery into the quantitative infinity of God-on-the outside, while at the same time, we are in the process of the undertaking and equally endless qualitative exploration of that spirit fragment of God-on-the-inside, the Adjuster (God's spirit) that even now indwells us during this life in the flesh.

We will start this study with an exploration of past-eternity, and we will start it with the firm belief that the unproven basis for all that happens is the Infinite - that being whom we call God.

We will pursue the unfolding of his divine purposes (as we are able to discern them) throughout time and transcended-time and on into future eternity, to see how far we may hope to progress in the quest for the Final Father, the Unqualified Father, the Absolute Father - even the FatherInfinite.

Second Prologue: The Zero Age

If we are going to study the master universe it would be a sound idea to start as far back as we can go. There are things that happened on Paradise in preparation for the master universe. The master creation develops through six major divisions of time; these are the six universe ages. (We are now living in the second of these ages.) The First Age is the age of Havona, the central universe. This divine creation is the eternal core of perfection around which the rest of the master universe is slowly revolving, and is slowly expanding into the vastness of all outer space.

Before the Times of Havona

Eternity "dawns" with eternal Havona already in existence, Prior to the 'times" of eternal Havona there can be no Factual Reality - but we can still have Valid Concept. And this is an important distinction: concept may be useful and valid without being factual; when we apply time-space language to pre-time-space reality we can never grasp actual fact but we can still hope to have a relatively valid concept.

For example: in our system of counting, the number "one" is the first real number. Nevertheless, our arithmetic recognizes that behind the reality of the number "one" is the concept of "zero." Zero is really not a factual reality, but it certainly is a valid concept and our mathematics would do very badly without it.

The First Universe Age is the first factual age, but behind it is the concept of a Zero Age, an age before the times of (eternal) Havona. The Papers make use of this Zero Concept without actually using the term, 'Zero Age." They speak of "the dawn of eternity," a hypothetical state of affairs prior to the appearance of the Infinite Spirit and the central universe. It is this state of affairs that we propose to call the Zero Age. (Thinking about the Zero Age is something like thinking about the zero mark on a twelve-inch ruler. We do not actually measure anything with this mark, but it does show where the first inch starts.)

Source relationships in eternity

When we try to think about "origins" in past eternity we are in real trouble. For example, God is the Father of an Eternal Son who is just as "old" as God This can be very confusing, even disconcerting. Suppose we forget all about "eternity" and use some comfortable "time language." If we do this we will discover there are three basic and distinct "source relationships" to be found among the eternal realities -the Three Persons of Deity, the Paradise Isle, and the central universe:

(a) If the Infinite Spirit and the central universe are eternal, then it logically follows that -
(b) The Eternal Son and the Isle of Paradise are more eternal -eternaler - because they were both in existence when the Spirit and Havona appeared. And, if the Son and Paradise are eternaler, then -
(c) The Universal Father is most eternal - eternalest - because he is the Father of the Son and, at the same time, the Source of Paradise.

This line of reasoning helps us think of at least three stages of development inside of eternity - eternal, eternaler, and eternalest. Suppose we start with the "oldest" of these. Let us go back (or in) just as far as we can possibly go in concept, and then move forward (or outward) step by step, toward the First Universe Age, Havona, and factual reality.

An Exploration of Past Eternity

When we go back as far as we can in our thinking about God, we find we are trying to imagine what God would have been like before he became the Father of the Eternal Son. This is a pre-Father concept of God. (It is not a factual reality, but it is a valid concept.) What was it like when God was all alone - before be had made any plans about creating anything? If we can think that far back then we may be able to start at the very heart of the Zero Age, and from there work our way outward toward factual reality.

Static Deity

We are going to have to use a few rather uncommon words in this study - words like "static." We cannot avoid these words, but we can define them as we go along:

Static is, in part, defined (in Webster) as:. . resting; quiescent; not moving, active, or exerting force of any kind; stable."

At the heart of the Zero Age we find quietness, absolute stability; nothing is moving. Here God is all-sufficient unto himself. He lives within himself; he is self-contained. He has an inside, but no outside; a within, but no beyond; an eternal present, but neither past nor future. He is self-existent. God Is!

Now, here is a point we should bear in mind: What we have just been considering is not something (theoretical) that existed a long time ago and then stopped; it is just as true today as it was way back in the depths of past-eternity, and it will go right on being true for all future-eternity. This means we must think in a larger way about God - he can be static at the same time he is being everything else. He does all these many things at the same time, and keeps on doing them all the time. He does not have to go from one thing to another

Potential Deity

Now we are taking our first step away from the depths of the Zero Age toward factual reality. And again, a definition is in order - the definition of the word "potential":

Potential is, in part, defined (in Webster) as follows: "Existing in possibility, not in actuality; becoming as distinguished from being; possible, or in the making as opposed to actual or realized; latent.

At this point, we are thinking of God after he has made a plan. He has done nothing about it as yet, but be is planning to do something. God has now purposed to do something, and that "something" accordingly becomes a possibility; it becomes a potential. We are, at this point, thinking about God after he has decided to express his will; he is self-willed Deity. Potentials have come into existence and Deity has become Potential.

Perhaps we can better understand Potential Deity if we make a picture of it. Suppose we go back and think of Static Deity as a circle with a dot in the center. Display Diagram Now, let us squeeze the circle around the middle until we have something that looks like an hour-glass. Let the dot be in the center of one of the lobes of the hour-glass. Now, pull the two lobes of the hour-glass completely apart, and we have two circles; one of them has a dot in it. The circle-with-the-dot we will call Deity; it has moved away from the other circle because God decided to do this. The other circle never moved; it is named not-deity, or non-deity. It does not have will; it can respond, but does not start anything. When God moves away from this non-deity circle, he changes what he moves. God thus has qualified the circle-with-the-dot. At this point, we have used a word that has more than one meaning in English - the word "qualified." We should define it:

Qualified is, in part, defined (in Webster) as follows: (1) "Competent; fit." (2) "Having complied with conditions. (3) "Limited or modified in some way. It is in the last sense, "limited or modified in some Way," that we are using the word "qualified." What God is doing to the circle-with-the-dot is to limit it, to modify it in some manner, in contrast to the circle left behind which is not modified or qualified in any manner.

What is left behind has not changed, has not moved, is not qualified -hence is un-qualified. Since all of this is happening on the absolute level we will name the circle-which-is-left-behind, the Unqualified Absolute. This is the Absolute that is not qualified - that is not modified.

That which has moved (the circle-with-the-dot) is modified, is qualified, is changed. It is Deity as well as Absolute, so we will call it the Qualified Absolute - later to be called the Deity Absolute.

Let us not forget that we are studying Potential Deity. We have studied the development of two realities: the Qualified (Deity) Absolute and the Unqualified Absolute. We should think of them as limitless reservoirs. They contain all God's plans for the future, and he will draw on them as he makes his plans become real - as he actualizes his plans. If these plans have to do with things, with physical matter and not-personal materializations, God will draw upon the Unqualified Absolute; if these plans have to do with spirit, personal beings, and the like, then he will draw upon the Qualified (Deity) Absolute

Associative Deity

Now we are taking our next step toward the outer edge of the Zero Age and factual reality. Again a definition is in order:

Associative is defined (in Webster) as: "Tending to, inducing, or characterized by association."

Perhaps the first associative act we should note is the association of the two Absolutes - Qualified and Unqualified. It comes about something like this: since both of them come from the same original (static) Reality, they are related, and the relationship between them is quite real. We could put it this way: when the One becomes Two, then we have - One and Another. The word "and" is also a reality, and it universally links together the two Absolutes that contain all of God's plans for the future. Since this "linking up action" is universal, it has been named the "Universal Absolute." The Universal Absolute links the other two together like the middle link in a three-link chain. A good way to try to visualize the three Absolutes would be to draw three circles so that the middle one cuts a little way into the outer two; this makes a chain with three links. (See facing illustration.)

This linking-up of the three Absolutes is one of the associative relationships of eternity. We should now consider another such relationship; this is a new relationship which God enters into, and through which he becomes the Universal Father.

The pre-Father becomes the Father

Up to now, we have really been thinking of God as if be were a pre-Father. (Conceptually, we have been thinking of him as pre-God as well as pre-Father.) As we have. been thinking of him, God is the Absolute Person; as the Absolute Person, he is imprisoned by all the limitations of being absolute. He fills all of Deity - the Qualified (Deity) Absolute. He is all of Deity. There is no Deity outside of him; there is no "room" for action or maneuver. So, God sets out to produce some "room." What he does is separate himself from all Deity, just as he separated himself from all Reality when he moved the Qualified Absolute away from the Unqualified Absolute.

How does God do this? He does it by separating himself from the Absolute Person. When he separates himself from the Absolute Person, three things happen:

  • In removing himself from the Absolute Person, God causes this being to exist separate and apart from himself. He thus becomes the cause and the source of the Absolute Person.
  • If God is the "cause' and the "source" of something, and if that something is a person, then God is the father of that person; therefore, if he can be the father of the Absolute Person then God can be the father of any and all persons, and thus he becomes the "Universal" Father.
  • If God becomes the "father" of the Absolute Person, this makes that Absolute Person the Original Son of God; but he is nonetheless the Absolute Person for becoming the Son of God. It is customary to speak of this Original Son as the "Eternal Son, because all of this is happening in eternity.

This is the beginning of the divine fraternity of the eternal Persons of Deity which is soon to be completed by the appearance of the Third Person - the Infinite Spirit.

Existential, Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis

We have used four unusual words in the caption to this section; they will bear defining before we go on with the study:

Existential is a word especially used in the Papers. It means something eternal, without a beginning or an ending. There is no time at which it did not exist. An existential being has full knowledge before any experience. God is existential. Hence the word "existential" is used as the opposite of- Experiential. This word designates beings and things that have origins. It also designates all beings that can grow by experience. Even some existential realities can have experiential growth to higher levels. Other realities are wholly (experiential; man is wholly experiential in his growth.)

Now, for the other three terms which are borrowed from the philosopher Hegel, who made much of them. We will use them several times in our study.

Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, are, in part, defined (in Webster) as follows: 'With Hegel (thesis is) the proposition or conception representing the first stage of developing thought, contrasting with the second stage, or antithesis which negates the thesis, and with the third stage, or synthesis in which thesis and antithesis are brought together."

Thesis, then, is a proposition, a statement, a presentation. Antithesis (which would be better understood if it were written "anti-thesis") is something that is different from, contrastive to, and stimulative of, the thesis -but not necessarily antagonistic to the thesis. Synthesis is the bringing together of the two into a mutually expanded and harmonious whole. This is a three-step process, and we will see it develop more than once in our study of the master universe.

Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis of Potential Reality. We have seen this three-step process in operation, but we did not apply our new terms to it. When God moved the Qualified Absolute away from Total Infinity he expressed himself in this movement thus constituting this (Qualified) Absolute the first expression of his will-to-action - his first thesis. That which remained behind was unmoved and not-qualified, and thus became the antithesis of what God had purposed. The Qualified (Deity) Absolute appears to be God's first potential thesis; the residual Absolute, the Unqualified Absolute, appears to be the first potential antithesis. When the two are linked together (unified) by the Universal Absolute, this constitutes the first synthesis.

Thesis and Antithesis of Actual Reality

Let us go back to the "time" when God is separating himself from the Absolute Person, and is becoming the Father of that Absolute Person - who thereby becomes his Original Son; at this same time, God the Father constructs the Absolute Machine -the Isle of Paradise. He apparently builds it for the same reason that we build machines, to do something (relatively) mechanical and repetitive. The Isle of Paradise is designed to be the physical center and controller of the physical universes. The Eternal Son is the spiritual center and controller of the spiritual creation. The Son is personal and spiritual; he is the (actual) Deity thesis. Paradise is neither personal nor spiritual; it is the (actual) non-deity antithesis of the Son. Here we have a situation that is quite like the one involving the Absolutes, the main difference being that the Absolutes are potential while the Son and Paradise are actual. We have seen that God synthesized the two Absolutes in, and by, the Universal Absolute.

If we did not know better, we might expect that he would do the same thing with the Son and Paradise. But God is not mechanical, and this did not happen. The unpredictable happened.

Thesis upon thesis of Deity Reality

God does not synthesize Paradise and the Son, the actuality of the not-spiritual and the spiritual. What he does is unify all (actual) Deity Reality, starting with himself and the Son. In so uniting, the Father-Son produces a Third Being who will forever be the perfect expression, not of either one, but of both - the Conjoined Action of the Father-Son. This is the origin of the God of Action, the Infinite Spirit. In a way, this is a superimposition of thesis upon thesis. If the Son is now the (actual) Deity thesis, then the Father has become the pre-thesis of Deity, and the Spirit appears as the conjoint thesis of (actual) Deity. Their union (in the Trinity) expresses the undivided thesis of existential and actual Deity.

The non-synthesis of Actual Reality

If we had not been told about this, we might have expected that God would have synthesized the spirit Son with not-spirit Paradise. This would have produced a balanced situation. Actuals (Eternal Son, Paradise, and Infinite Spirit) would have been synthesized just like Potentials (Unqualified Absolute, Universal Absolute, and Deity [Qualified] Absolute). We could not have foretold that God would unite himself with the Son, in the Spirit, and as the Trinity. (This produces an artistic asymmetry that stands in contrast to a mathematical, or a mechanical, symmetrical balance. It is the difference between putting a dot in the exact center of a rectangle, and locating- it somewhat off-center. God as an artist, evidently takes precedence over God as an engineer.)

When God does unify a part of Actual Reality, he causes this association to include Deity only. He does not synthesize all Actual Reality, he limits this unification to Actual Deity Reality. God leaves Paradise out. Since Paradise is left out of this existential synthesis, it presents a problem for all of God's later appearing associates and subordinates of experiential status. (See Appendix XXII, § 2. Why does Power-Personality Synthesis Take Place?)

And now, at last, we have reached the "dawn" of eternity at the close of the Zero Age, and the beginning of factual reality in the First Age of the master universe - the age of Havona.

( For general references to the Papers in support of this Prologue, see Appendix I, Master Universe Antecedents.)

Third Prologue: The First Universe Age

The first real universe age is the age of Havona. We might logically begin our study of the master universe at this point, except for one small technicality - Havona never was created. If this statement seems unreasonable and it does appear as though eternal Havona actually was created, then we would ask the one unanswerable question, "When?"

Later we will find it convenient to look at Havona as a real creation, but at this point let us be very technical, and classify it as a precreation.

The Dawn of Eternity -- The Beginning of the First Age

Go back for a moment to the close of the Zero Age and take an inventory. We have the three Absolutes (Deity, Unqualified, and Universal) linked together; these are the infinite reservoirs that contain all of God's plans for the future. This means they are potentials. They are often designated the Absolutes of Potentiality.

What existed in the way of actuals? There are just three actualities: The Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Isle of Paradise. In other words, there are two existential Deities and a physical base from which they can take action. This inventory is quite important to our study, so we will repeat it: At the end of the Zero Age there are two existential Deities, plus a base of operations. This is all there is of actualized reality.

Trinitization at the dawn of the First Age

We have used a new term, "trinitization," and we should define it before going on with the study. Trinitization has a special meaning in the Papers. As we are using it here it means a "once only" act of creation - "limited trinitization." The trinitizing partners Put everything they have into this action; they produce a being equal to themselves, and they become united in some manner. This type of trinitization cannot be repeated. (See Appendix VIII, § 2. Trinitizing Techniques.)

What is it that ends the Zero Age and begins the First Age? The action that begins the age of Havona is a Deity-trinitizing act on the part of the two existential Deities. This produces some immediate additions to, and changes in, the inventory of actualized reality:

(a) The Father and the Son unite as the Father-Son.
(b) The Infinite Spirit appears as their Deity equal.
(c) The central universe of Havona makes its appearance.
(d) The Father, Son, and Spirit unite as the Paradise Trinity.

In the dawn of the First Age we now have: the Three Absolutes of Potentiality, the Three Persons of Deity, Paradise and the central universe, and the Trinity. These realities are all precreative; none of them ever had a real beginning; each one is eternal - absolutely eternal.

(At this juncture, Paradise bestowed on the Unqualified Absolute the potential of all the uncreated physical universes of the future. In our previous discussions of the Unqualified Absolute we have assumed that this has taken place. See Appendix II, § 2. Relationship of Paradise and the Unqualified Absolute)

An Inventory of Existential (Eternal) Realities

We took inventory of what was in existence in the "twilight" of the closing of the Zero Age, and it would be a good idea to repeat this process in the "dawn" of the First Age. In taking this inventory, it will be helpful to classify the Seven Absolute Realities - the Seven Absolutes of Infinity -under three main headings. There are several ways in which this classification can be made. The most helpful and informative seems to be the following:

(a) The Absolute Original - God, the Universal Father
(b) The Absolute Actuals - the Son, Paradise, and the Spirit
(c) The Absolute Potentials - Deity, Unqualified, and Universal

On the summary facing this page such a classification has been made. This classification emphasizes a certain functional relationship which underlies all growth and change. All of the post-Havona creation (and evolution) of things and beings has come into existence, in the presence of the Original, as Reality has been transferred from the Potential to the Actual.

This, then, is an inventory of eternal (and existential) Reality so far as concerns the Seven Absolutes of Infinity. We must take account of the Paradise Trinity and the central universe of Havona, they are also existential and eternal.

For references to the Papers, see:

The Existential Trinity

What is a trinity?

A trinity is something new in our study. It is deity, but it is not personality. We know that the Paradise Trinity is the Deity union of Father, Son, and Spirit. We probably think of this Trinity rather loosely, more or less like three persons working together but it is not three persons at all. The Trinity is something real, in and of itself, something that exists separate and apart from the three persons.

We might think of the Paradise Trinity as a corporation that is organized by the Three Persons of Deity. If we were to give this enterprise a corporate name we could name it "Undivided Deity, Incorporated." This corporation has three directors: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. When they meet as directors that is the corporation, and when they act in this capacity that is the function of the corporation - the Trinity.

When the three directors meet personally, socially, or informally, that is the meeting of three personalities, and it is not the Trinity. Any one, or two, or all three, might do business (as persons) with the corporation, but they would be doing business as persons with the legal entity of their own corporation.

(Here again, we should remember that while the Deities are continuously sitting as directors in the trinity union, at the same time they are apart from the Trinity and working as persons, either individually or together. They do not go from one activity to another; they do all these things at the same time, and they do them all of the time. Absolute Deity, even Ultimate Deity, is not limited by either time or space.)

A comparison of functions

We can see the difference between personal deity and trinity most clearly if we stop to consider the personal attitudes of the Deities in contrast to their collective function in the Trinity: the Father has a personal attitude of love for his creatures; the Son is the source of mercy, and mercy is love applied; the Spirit is the fountainhead of ministry, and ministry is mercy in action. In contrast to all of this, one of the important functions of the Paradise Trinity is justice administration; this is the collective and impersonal attitude of the Deities. justice administration is something very different from the personal attitudes of love, mercy, and ministry. (See Appendix X, § 2. The Nature of Trinity.)

Why is a trinity?

Why not have just three persons of Deity who can work with each other, or not, as they choose? In other words, why not have just a partnership? Why bother with a corporation? Why have a trinity?

Apparently Deity really is indivisible. There can be a three-ness only so long as there is also a one-ness. By having a trinity, God is able to keep the unity of deity - the one-ness - and, at the same time enjoy the association of two other equal beings. (just suppose God had no one to talk to, no one who really understood him. )

It appears likely that Deity is so indivisible it could never be divided, and actually never was at any point in time or eternity. We are about to consider a series of happenings that have been grouped together under the heading, "God's escape from Infinity." We would suggest that all of these happenings are events that took place at the same "time." In other words, God could separate himself from Total Deity (the Deity Absolute) only by replacing his undivided (pre-Father) Deity presence with the undivided Deity presence of the Paradise Trinity. As he is removing his (pre-Father) Deity presence, he is replacing it with the Trinity presence. while he is doing this, he is also becoming the Father of the Son; and with the Son, the and Spirit he is uniting in the Paradise Trinity. (See Appendix VIII, §2. Trinitizing Techniques, especially the discussion of "The Original Trinitization.")

God's escape from infinity

Let us go back in our study, back near the beginning, back to where God is separating (qualifying) Deity from not-Deity (the unqualified). In doing this he is escaping from a situation in which he fills Total Reality -- Infinity. We started with a picture of one circle, squeezed it into an hour-glass, then separated the two lobes to form two circles, one of which had a dot in it. This circle with the dot is our symbol for Deity, and the dot is the symbol for God's will. At this point in the study God actually fills all of this second circle; he fills Total Deity - he is Total Deity. He has escaped from filling Total Reality, but he is still spread over all Total Deity. Now, when God separates himself from the SON and they produce the Spirit, then:

(a) He personally escapes from the situation in which be fills Total Deity.
(b) He is able to enjoy the association of two other equal beings.(Three is a minimum social group.)
(c) At the same time, in the Trinity, the Three Deities retain the one-ness that still fills and dominates Total Deity.
(d) But the three personal Deities, as persons, are not the Trinity; each now has an existence as an individual that is independent of their corporative union in the Trinity.

This is the story of a magnificent break for liberty. God starts out so completely alone and so utterly infinite, that he finds it difficult to do anything. He fills everything; there is nothing but God, and no room for anything except God - so he begins to make some room. (It is one thing to say "in God all things consist." It is quite something else to say, "All things consist of God.") He moves away from a part of Total Reality, Infinity, leaving it unqualified - the Unqualified Absolute. That which moves away is the Qualified Absolute - Total Deity. He manages to withdraw, as a person, from Total Deity. This withdrawal he accomplishes by separating himself from the Absolute Person who becomes the Son, then by uniting with the Son in trinitizing the Spirit, and finally by consummating the Deity-union of all three in the Paradise Trinity. The Trinity union restores the original unity of undivided Deity as it was before God became the Father of the Eternal Son. Deity remains undivided in the Trinity, notwithstanding there are now Three Persons of Deity.

The Paradise Trinity enables God to be personally free from the limitations of being absolute and infinite, while retaining and maintaining the absolute unity of Deity. As the Trinity, the three Deities are still One; and as One, they still dominate Total Deity; and through Total Deity, they still dominate and control Total (infinite) Reality. Only by virtue of the Trinity could God enjoy the personality association of the Son and the Spirit, still maintain the absolute indivisibility of Deity, and retain the actual working control of Total Deity and of Total Reality.

(For a more detailed analysis of trinity, and references to the Papers, see Appendix X, § 2. The Nature of Trinity; and Appendix X, § 6. The Gestalt of a Trinity.)

The Paradise Trinity as the Eternal Thesis

When we view the Trinity in conjunction with perfect Havona we are looking at the existential thesis of perfection. Havona is an expression of Paradise-potential in actuality. The Trinity and the personal Deities of Paradise are the source of the divine ideal of perfection that is the final goal of all evolutionary growth on all subabsolute levels - finite or absonite. Here again, we encounter some terms that should re-defined:

Finite reality is time-space reality. It is the kind of reality with which we are familiar. Post-Havona finite reality is experiential (not existential) and such finites have origins in time; they may be future-eternals, but never past-eternals.

Absonite reality is something new; it is introduced in the Papers. It is the "middle reality" between finite and absolute. This reality is sometimes called "transcendental." It transcends time and space but does not ignore them. (See Appendix XV, § 6; The Meanings of the Word "Absonite.")

Absolute reality is timeless and spaceless. Absolutes are not even conscious of time or space. A good illustration of this (with regard to timelessness) is the Adjuster that indwelt Jesus. The Adjuster stated he was completely unaware of the reality of time. [136:5.1] (1516, par.4) The absolute level is eternal and existential. Some absolute realties are also experiential; the Deity Absolute is one of these - existential and experiential.

The Paradise Trinity functions on all three levels of reality and seems to initiate activities on each level. The Trinity (and Deities) of Paradise give origin to those personalities who come out into time and space and start the whole evolutionary process. The administration of the central universe and of the superuniverses is of Trinity origin.

While the Father and Son produced the central creation in and through the Spirit, the net result is that all three Deities are the source of Havona. This makes the divine universe a Trinity-origin "creation."

The Uniqueness of Havona

The last item in our inventory of existential and eternal realities is Havona, the central and divine universe. Havona is, by far, the most interesting part of the master universe. It is so unique; it is so difficult to classify. (See Appendix I, § 1. The First Universe Age; and Appendix VI, § 3. Paradoxes in the Status of Havona.) Display diagram: Simplified Chart of the Central Universe

At the very beginning of this prologue, we considered the paradoxical fact that eternal Havona was never actually created. Yet, for all practical intents and purposes, we think of the "central creation"; and it functions as a true creation at the present time - in the Second Age. In the First Age Havona was entirely alone, it was an isolated universe; in fact it was completely isolated because there was nothing but empty space outside of it. In those remote times it had no external relationships, only relationships within itself and inwardly toward Paradise.

Havona is also difficult to classify in terms of the levels of functional reality; it is neither finite nor absonite - nor is it absolute. Beings exist and things are happening in Havona on each of these three functional levels. Because of this, it is almost impossible to put the central universe in a specific category. It is a creation that was never created; the creatures that live in Havona were never created. It is finite in space, just so large and no larger; but it is much more than finite when we consider what is going on in the affairs of its billion perfect worlds.

Havona is really something of everything. It is the "pattern universe" which God created, and it probably has the capacity to serve as a pattern creation for any local universe, for the seven superuniverses, for the whole master universe, or for anything else that might develop beyond the master creation.

The Architects of the Master Universe

Before we leave the study of the First Age we should consider a rather unusual group of beings - the Architects of the Master Universe. These beings are not created, they are "eventuated." This is a new word and it should be defined:

Eventuated has a special meaning in the Papers. It is a word that describes how someone is brought into being, like the word "created," but eventuated does not mean created. It does mean some sort of initiating act that is pre-time, precreative, or of eternity status. We are informed that God, as a person, creates; as a superperson, eventuates. Absonite beings, the Transcendentalers, are not created - they are eventuated. (See Appendix VIII, § 3, Techniques of Eventuation)

These "eventuated" Master Architects are present in the First Age. There is even a possibility they were present before the First Age (Appendix I, § 3. The Zero Age.), but we may be quite sure they are present and functional in the First Age. The Master Architects are not finite, neither are they absolute - they are absonite beings - which is to say they are Transcendentalers.

The Architects are not creators, neither are they creatures. They seem to be almost like living and intelligent blueprints, or architect's plans, of the master universe - personifying God's plan for the entire master creation. The Architects begin their work in the post-Havona creations long before anyone else is on the scene of action, getting the space-stage ready for new developments, and all of this work is in process long before the creators and the administrators of these post-Havona universes make their appearance. They are organized for service in seven corps, all in accordance with the geographic plans of the cosmos, the plan of Paradise and the master universe - the Central Isle and the six concentric space levels.

(See Appendix III, Space Levels of the Master Universe; and Appendix XV, Master Architects and Transcendentalers.)

Summary: A Three-way Classification of the Seven Absolutes of Infinity

I. The Absolute Original. Since we are going to divide Reality between Actual and Potential, we immediately encounter the problem of how to classify God himself. He started it all, so (in a way) he is before either Actuals or Potentials. For this reason, it seems best to place him in a class all by himself:

(1) God, The Universal Father. He is truly infinite: he is the Source of all sources and the Center of all centers; all Reality (and especially personality) comes from him.

II. The Absolute Actuals. These are sometimes called the Absolutes of Actuality. They are classified as "actual" because they are fully and factually in existence, and their universal gravity circuits control everything else that is actual.

(2) The Eternal Son. The Absolute Person, the source and center of all things spiritual; universal and absolute spirit-gravity is centered in him.
(3) The Isle of Paradise. The Absolute Machine, the source and center of all things physical,- it is the center of universal and absolute material gravity.
(4) The Infinite Spirit. The God of Action, the Father-Son in action; the source and center of mind: universal and absolute mind-gravity centers in him.

III. The Absolute Potentials. These are sometimes called the Absolutes of Potentiality. They are called "potential" because they are limitless reservoirs. They provide the "room" and the "stuff" out of which all of the post-Havona persons and universes have been created.

(5) The Deity (Qualified) Absolute. This is the potential, the reservoir out of which emerge all new beings and other realities that are spiritual and divine.
(6) The Unqualified Absolute. This is the non-deity (not-deity) reservoir out of which emerge all of the physical energies that are organized into the new material universes - the nebulae, stars, and planets of space.
(7) The Universal Absolute. This is the Absolute that links the other two together. This Absolute is a part of the Reality that is classified as Deity, and has to do with keeping everything in balance.

(See Appendix VII, Sec. 1. The Sources of Growth: Original, Actual, and Potential.)