Appendix I: Master Universe Antecedents

Author's Introductory Comments

We tend to look at the master universe as a "going concern," as something that has been here for a long time and is going to be here for a long time. This is a very legitimate way of looking at the master universe; it is a durable creation. At its center is the stationary Isle and the universe of eternal perfection. We live on the outer edge of one of the encircling superuniverses that is slowly evolving in the direction of perfection. Out beyond us, in the outer space regions, are the new universes of the future ages - large physical creations that are being organized for the developments of the future ages. Still farther out, in the more remote regions of outer space, physical creation begins to taper off until finally there is nothing but the quietness of empty space in the outermost reaches of the master creation.

The master universe has been here for a long time and it will be here for all future eternity, but it has not always been as large as it is now. If we could go back in time, it would shrink; there would be less of it. The farther back in time we went, the less there would be of physical matter - stars and nebulae - in the outer space regions. Finally we might go so far back in past time that we would discover there was nothing at all in outer space, nothing outside of the seven superuniverses except empty space.

At that distant moment in past time even the superuniverses would be thinned out." The stars would then be fewer in number than now. We are thinking in past time about the superuniverses of long ago, back before the beginning of any physical activities in outer space. And we could think still farther back in time.

If we continue to time-travel backward in concept, the superuniverses: would continue to thin out, they would continue to shrink. We could eventually think of a point in past time when there were comparatively few stars, few nebulae in the superuniverses; when there was mostly empty space. And not too far back of that point, in remote past time, there would be nothing in the superuniverse space level which, like the (then) outer space levels, would be empty of all material creation.

So far, we have been traveling back in concept to a time before the beginning of the present universe age. We have gone back to a point in time the Urantia Papers describe as "near eternity"(256,3), and as the "dawn of time." (256,5) Have we gone back to a past time that is before the beginning of the whole master universe? The answer is, "No," but we have traveled all the way back to the eternal core of the master universe. We have gone back to a point in time where there was nothing but empty space in the regions outside of the central universe. (Only in those days it would not have been called the "central" universe; it would probably have been called "the" universe.)

And from here on, no matter how much farther back we try to reach in concept, things would always be the same; nothing would change; always there would be Paradise at the center, with Havona encircling it. No matter how far back we go this would be unchanging; this is the eternal heart, the unbeginning core of the master universe. This is the eternal Paradise-Havona system, and it has no origin in time.

The concept of the entire master universe is eternal; it is forever living in the minds of its Master Architects. These beings are superfinite, the living "blueprints" of God's whole plan for the total master creation. (351, §9)

The reality of the master universe has its roots in past eternity in the unbeginning existence of Havona. (91,7) Its first expression was Havona perfection in the First Universe Age. (152,1) Its next expression is in the Second Universe Age (the present age) when the imperfect superuniverses of time enter into relationship with the perfect central universe of eternity to constitute the grand universe of growing evolutionary perfection. (2,8-10), (4,10-11) Its final expression concerns the now uninhabited outer universes and their future relationship with the grand universe. These mobilizing physical creations of outer space are neither inhabited nor organized; they encircle the presently inhabited and organized grand universe. (2,11), (4,12), Appendix III,§3; An Inventory of the Six Space Levels)

It is our purpose in this Appendix to examine the antecedents of the master universe. We propose to begin this examination in past time when there was nothing but empty space outside of Havona. This is Havona in the First Universe Age. If we can think back to the dawn of time, then we might try to think our way still farther back, before time itself, into past eternity. We might try to visualize conditions as they could have been "before" Havona. Such ideas "before the appearance of Havona" would not be factual realities, but they could still be valid concepts. The Urantia Papers find it useful to entertain the concept of a "time" before the existence of Havona, a "time" that would be prior to the existence of the Infinite Spirit. (91,1-4), (91,8) The Urantia Papers speak of this concept of such a hypothetical past moment as "the dawn of eternity." (351,5)

§1.THE FIRST UNIVERSE AGE

If we stay with factual reality, no matter how far back in time we try to think, the innermost core of the master universe - the central and divine universe - is always there; it is eternal.(152,1) This pattern creation of divine perfection is just as eternal as the Infinite Spirit, the Third Person of Deity. (91,5 and 7) It eternalizes by the will of the Father-Son through the agency of the God of Action, the Infinite Spirit (91,1), who eternalizes at the same time as the appearance of this central creation. (91,5)

When we speak of Havona in the First Universe Age, what do we actually mean by this concept? This concept of the central universe is something quite unlike the story of Havona as told in the Urantia Papers. The Urantia Papers describe Havona in the present age, the Second Universe Age, and much has happened in Havona during this age. Suppose we examine the central creation as it once existed, in the First Universe Age. We might first consider the physical structure of the central universe, then examine the personality activities of First-Age Havona. (See also, Appendix VI., §3. Paradoxes in the Status of Havona.)

1-A. PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FIRST-AGE HAVONA

The best description of the physical structure of the central universe is given in (152, 3-11). Here we are given a picture of Havona simplified into three major units: the Paradise satellites, the Havona circuits, and the dark gravity bodies. How do we describe these physical creations in the First Universe Age?

(a) The three circuits of Paradise satellites. These three circuits are in the near regions of Paradise and each circuit contains seven worlds: the worlds of the Father, the worlds of the Son, and the worlds of the Spirit. (143,1) We are informed that each of these three groups of seven worlds "is differently eternalized." (143,2) This must mean they have different "origins" in eternity. It seems to be paradoxical, but we will be exploring a concept very much like this one in the next section of this Appendix. This differential of status in eternity may be symbolized by the fact that both Paradise and Havona are illuminated by the spiritual shining of the worlds of the Father and the worlds of the Son (143,3-4), but the worlds of the Spirit do not illuminate Paradise - only Havona. (143,5) As we will note (see §2. below), the Father and the Son can be considered to be somewhat more eternal than the Infinite Spirit.

The material construction of these Paradise satellites is like nothing else in creation. (143,2) The seven worlds of the Son are alike in physical nature, but each of the other 14 is unique. (ibid.) This means there are 15 different kinds of materialization completely unknown to us.

(b) The seven circuits of Havona worlds. When we think of the central creation, we are usually thinking of the seven planetary circuits of Havona in whose space paths a billion perfect spheres circle the Isle of Paradise. (152,11) All these worlds are constructed of an energy materialization called "triata." (156,4), (470,7) This is a form of physical matter, but it is not the kind we know; it is not like the physical matter from which the time-space universes are constructed. All of these billion inhabited spheres were present in First-Age Havona.

The two circuits of dark gravity bodies. These unique space bodies circle the outer edge of Havona. They are so extensive they hide it even from near-by external creations. (153,6-8), (153,8) through (154,3) Their physical construction and their physical properties are like nothing else in the master universe. (126,3) These unique materializations were present in First-Age Havona.

This is the physical picture of First-Age Havona. As far as we are informed, the Second Universe Age has produced only one change of a physical nature in Havona; in the Second Age, the power supervision of the central universe was integrated with the power supervision of the superuniverses (320,4); this involved stationing certain power centers on the worlds of the Spirit (321,2) and on the Havona circuits. (321,4) When we compare the physical Havona of "yesterday" with the physical Havona of "today," there seems to be little change; but, when personality activities are thus compared there is much that has changed.

1-B. PERSONALITY ACTIVITIES IN FIRST-AGE HAVONA

Havona in the First Age must have been a completely existential universe; it could have contained nothing of an (actual) experiential nature. As nearly as we can determine, the Seven Master Spirits were the first personalizations of experiential deity. (110,6) This means the Seven Master Spirits were not present in First-Age Havona; and if they were not present, then neither were all the host of creators and creatures whose origins are subsequent to the origin of the Master Spirits. With this in mind, let us explore the probable activities that may have characterized Havona in the First Universe Age:

(a) The worlds of the Father. The seven worlds of the Father were in existence and were then (as now) being administered by the Trinitized Secrets of Supremacy. (208,6) However, the activities of these worlds must have been very different as compared with now. Let us consider the First Age. What was happening on Ascendington when there were no ascenders? (147,3-5) There were no seraphim to traverse the circles of Seraphington (441,2-3) because there were no Creative Spirits or local universes in the First Age. There were no Solitary Messengers (256,3-4), neither were there any Power Directors (319,10), to be domiciled on Solitarington. (146,6) If none of the Descending Sons of God were in existence (because all of them must postdate the Master Spirits), who were the beings that were domiciled on Sonarington? (145,2) Then, as now, Divinington was undoubtedly the home of the Father fragments (144,5-6), but no Thought Adjuster had yet gone forth to indwell a human being - there were no human beings. We are informed Father-world relationships do change with the passing universe ages.(148,5) In the First Age they must have differed very greatly from the story we have been told concerning their activities in the present age. In future universe ages these relationships will undoubtedly continue to change.

(b) The worlds of the Son. We have little information about the worlds of the Son. We are told that personalities do not visit these home worlds of the "other-than-personal beings" originating in the Eternal Son. (149, §3) So far as we know, the transition from the First to the Second Age made little or no change in the activities of these spheres. But this does not mean there might not have been extensive changes; it merely signifies that we have virtually no information about the worlds of the Son.

(c) The worlds of the Spirit. When we look at the activities of the worlds of the Spirit and compare the First with the Second Age, there are great differences. These seven worlds are now the executive abodes of the Master Spirits (150,2-6); each is the administrative clearinghouse for one of the superuniverses; each world is presided over by one of the Seven Supreme Executives. (198,§1) But, in the First Age there were no Master Spirits (110,6), (203,2), (287,5); neither were there any Supreme Executives, because these beings were created by the Paradise Trinity according to the specifications of the Master Spirits (198,1); nor were there any superuniverses that would require administrative co-ordination. We are sure that these seven worlds of the Spirit were filled with activities germane to the affairs of the First Universe Age. But what were these activities? We do not know - the entire discussion of these worlds in the Urantia Papers pertains to the affairs of the present Age.

(d) The seven Havona circuits. In the First Age the billion eternal worlds of Havona, with their eternal natives, were all in existence. (157,2-3), (221,4-5) Each of these billion spheres was (and still is) under the perpetual rule of an Eternal of Days. (208,6) The seven circuits of Havona were physically organized, then as now, but there were no Circuit Spirits (287,5); neither were there any Power Centers in the divine universe. (321,4)

When we examine First-Age Havona we are looking at flawless existential perfection, and it is unlikely that there could have been any kind of evolutionary progression on the part of the Havona natives. (157,6-9), (221,6) It seems unlikely that growth of an evolutionary nature could have appeared in Havona until well after the beginning of the Second Age, perhaps not until the actual arrival of Grandfanda. In the First Age there was no two-way progression of superuniverse ascenders and Paradise descenders in Havona. This two-way processional was started by an event that occurred sometime after the beginning of the Second Age: the arrival of Grandfanda, the first mortal ascender to reach the central creation. (270,3-6), (291,1)

Many personalities now active in Havona were not present in the First Universe Age. Among them are the following: Graduate Guides (271,2-7), Havona Servitals (273,11), secondary supernaphim (287,4), and tertiary supernaphim. (287,6) In fact, almost every type of being, about which we have been told, was missing from the seven circuits of Havona in the First Age-except the Eternals of Days and the Havona natives. In the First Universe Age, the central universe lacked those things and beings that have since been introduced as a result of its becoming a nuclear creation in relation to the seven (cytoplasmic) superuniverses. First-Age Havona had no external relationships because there was nothing but empty space external to it; it had relationships only within itself and relationships pointing inward towards Paradise.

1-C. AN INVENTORY OF FIRST-AGE EXISTENCES

We have considered in some detail the activities that were taking place in First-Age Havona. What else was in existence? Let us take inventory of everything having actual existence in the First Universe Age:

(a) The Three Persons of Deity. The Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit were all present in the First Age. (1157,2)

(b) The Paradise Trinity was in existence. The Trinity comes into being with the appearance of the Infinite Spirit, and this means the Trinity is coexistent with the central universe. (90,7)

(c) The Three Absolutes were also in existence. These are the Absolutes of Potentiality - Deity, Universal, and Unqualified. (1157,2)

(d) The Isle of Paradise was in existence (1157,2), together with some (but probably not all) of the numerous orders of the Paradise Citizens. (222,6) The transcendentalers must also have been present (350,5), together with their governing corps - the Architects of the Master Universe. (351,3)

(e) The central universe. As we have noted above, Havona and its eternal inhabitants were present in the First Universe Age.

All of these realities are eternal The Paradise Deities and Trinity, the three Absolutes, the Paradise Isle with its citizens, and Havona with its natives - all of these beings, entities, and creations are existential, and constitute the inventory of the original - the eternal core of the master universe and of Total Reality. If we were to attempt to think our way back of this, we would be departing from factual reality. Nevertheless, it would still be possible to entertain valid concepts about those things and beings that are conceptually (if not factually) antecedent to the eternal existences of the First Universe Age.

§2. SOURCE RELATIONSHIPS IN ETERNITY

There are degrees of source relationship between eternal realities that are paradoxical when viewed from our time perspective. We are prone to say, "If these eternal realities had come into existence in time, then that which is Source must be older than that which is Derived." If we could entertain the concept of a Zero Age - an age prior to the First Universe Age - then we would have a perspective from which we might attempt to analyze certain of these relationships. (The concept of a Zero Age is the concept of a state of affairs prior to the existence of the Spirit, Havona, and the Trinity.) In making a comparison of that which is Source with that which is Derived, we encounter three degrees of source relationship between eternal realities:

(a) If the Infinite Spirit and the central universe are eternal (91,7), then it logically follows that

(b) The Original Son and the Isle of Paradise are more eternal -eternaler - because the Original Son is coancestral (with the Father) of the Infinite Spirit (90,3), and because the Father-Son union (which produced the Spirit and Havona) took place in the presence of Paradise. (98,1) The Isle of Paradise is also the Source of that which materialized as the central universe. (91,2) And, carrying this line of reasoning one step farther, it logically follows that if the Son and Paradise may be thought of as being eternaler, then -

(c) The Universal Father is most eternal - eternalist - since he is the Father of the Eternal Son (73,1) and the Source of eternal Paradise. (127,1)

This line of reasoning starts with the concept of "eternal," which would be the equivalent of the First Age. It then introduces the concept of "eternaler," which would be comparable to the Zero Age. Then we have the concept of "eternalist," which would equivalate to the idea of a "pre-zero concept." And, if we can imagine a "pre-zero concept" perhaps we can think at least one step behind that idea, perhaps we can reach the concept of "before prezero." Let us now examine the concept of the hypothetical Zero Age, and then go back into past eternity just as far as imagination will take us.

§3. THE ZERO AGE

We might try to improve our concept of the Zero Age by otherwise naming it "the first pre-universe age." As we enter this hypothetical age we are leaving factual reality behind us, but we are not separating ourselves from valid concept. As we take inventory of the contents of the Zero Age, we should first make note of the absence of the Paradise Trinity, the Infinite Spirit, and the central universe. The Zero Age concept is pre-Spirit, hence pre-Havona; and, without the Spirit, there is no Trinity. In the Zero Age we find the following realities:

(a) The Universal Father. God has achieved dual expression of himself (127,1), but not trinity expression. He has bestowed the absolute and unqualified spirit personality upon the Eternal Son (109,3), (109,6), (111,4-6), and he has expressed his non-deity nature in the co-ordinate appearance of the Isle of Paradise. (127,1)

(b) The Eternal Son. The Original Son is in existence, but has not yet functioned. The first functional act of the Son is in collaboration with the Father, and this results in the appearance of the Spirit (90,3) and Havona, thus terminating the Zero Age and inaugurating the First Universe Age.

(c) The Isle of Paradise. Paradise is present; the eternal Isle comes into existence as the repercussion and the antithesis of the Father's action which personalizes the Son. (127,1) But Paradise has yet to function as the Source of all subsequent physical creation. Outside of Paradise there are no universes; there is no space - only midspace (not-space). (See Appendix II., §1. Space Bestowal of Paradise, and Appendix II, §2. Paradise Bestowal of Space Potency.)

(d) The Deity Absolute is present - but are we using the proper name here? Perhaps a better designation would be the "Qualified Absolute," or the "Conditioned Absolute." The Zero Age is pre-trinity in concept, and in a pre-trinity situation the Father has not yet achieved complete escape from diffusion throughout Total Deity. (6,3), (108,1), (111,6)

(e) The Unqualified Absolute is also present, but this presence would be quite different from the later space-presence and space-function of the Unqualified in the subsequent universe ages. In the first place, there is probably no space at this concept point in past eternity; secondly, there could hardly be any space potency. (Appendix II, §1. Space Bestowal of Paradise, and Appendix II, §2. The Paradise Bestowal of Space Potency)

(f) The Universal Absolute is present as the co-ordinator of the Deity and the Unqualified Absolutes. (15,1), (15,5) However, the Universal Absolute could have had no actual and active function in equalizing the cosmic tensions produced by the coexistence of absolute and of subabsolute realities. (15,3) In the Zero Age, as we conceive it, there could have been no subabsolute realities. Or could there have been?

This, then, is the inventory of absolute realities in the Zero Age. Can we be sure, however, that no subabsolute reality is actually present in this age? This is moot. Let us look at the Zero Age a little more closely:

Were the Master Architects present? The traditions of Paradise hold that the senior Architect, the Paradise Architect, and the three Havona Architects contributed to the planning of Havona. (351,6) If this is correct, then at least these four Architects must have been present in the Zero Age. There is a further statement to the effect that the 28,012th Architect failed to absonitize because he would have transcended the upper limits of absonity. (352,3) Since the Paradise Architect is the senior Architect and functions at the "upper limit of absonity," therefore, he could have been, not the first-eventuated Architect but the 28,011th eventuation, the last (and highest) possible Architect. This line of reasoning does suggest that the entire corps of 28,011 Architects were present in the Zero Age. If the Master Architects were present, then subabsolute reality was present.

Reversibility of sequence. The fact that the sequence of the appearance of the Architects seems to be just as logical in one direction as in the opposite direction, suggests that we may be dealing with non-temporal sequence. The relationship between the Son and the Father presents a similar paradox: If the Eternal Son is the "unqualified spirit personality" of which the Father divested himself (109,6), then, in a certain sense, the Son is antecedent to the Father, Again we encounter what appears to be a nontemporal sequence. And we are informed that time, as we understand it, is not a part of life on Paradise, although those who are native to the eternal Isle are well aware of "non-time sequence of events." (120,4)

Were time and space present? We think not. Quite possibly the midspace zones would have filled all regions outside of Paradise. (124,3) Time and space could not have been factually present (Appendix II, §1. Space Bestowal of Paradise and, Appendix II, §3. Time Bestowals of Paradise); but, if the Architects of the Master Universe were in existence, then time and space could have been conceptually present in the absonite minds of the transcendental Architects.

Were the Paradise Citizens present? If the Havona natives are eternal," then it would appear reasonable to assume the Paradise Citizens are "eternaler." Even if this were the case, we know this designation could not apply to all of the "more than three thousand orders" of these citizens, because the last of these groups was personalized at the time of the Trinity mandate which organized the superuniverses (222,6), and this must have been in the "dawn" of the Second Universe Age.

§4. THE PRE-ZERO CONCEPT

We might think of the Pre-Zero concept as "the second pre-universe age." In this concept we are departing still farther from factual reality. Nevertheless, let us again take inventory of what is in existence; but first, we should make note of the absence of the Eternal Son and the Isle of Paradise. In the Pre-Zero concept we find the following realities:

(a) The Qualified Absolute, Total Deity, Here it would hardly be proper to use the designation "Universal Father" as the name of this pre-Father reality of near-Total Deity. (6,2-3) It is not that God the Father is non-existent, it is rather that this concept visualizes him as pre-Father. (111,4) God is existent as the Absolute Personality and, as such, is diffused throughout Total Deity. (108,1-3)

It is through divestment of this Absolute Personality (which becomes the Eternal Son) (109,3) and through union with the Son in the trinitization of the Spirit (90,3), that the Volitional Principle of Deity, the "existence of the possibility of self-will" (1153,3), becomes the Universal Father; and, in the Paradise Trinity escapes from diffusion throughout Total Deity. (6,3) And, by the subtraction of the Trinity from Total Deity, there is left an infinite residue as the Deity Absolute (and the Universal Absolute) of all future ages.

(b) The Unqualified Absolute is present because the free will of deity has caused Total Reality to become separated into that which is deified and that which is not deified. The Qualified Absolute has become separated from total non-deity, thus constituting the latter the Unqualified Absolute - the Unconditioned Absolute. (14,9), (6,2)

(c) The Universal Absolute is also present and is functionally equalizing the tension which is produced by the separation of Total Reality into the deified and the undeified. (14,9), (6,2)

We should remember that this Pre-Zero concept is not a factual reality. (111,4) Even the preceding concept of the Zero Age is not a factual reality; but both are useful thinking tools and, as such, both are valid concepts. Even a further projection of our thinking to "before Pre-Zero" could still be valid as a concept.

§5. BEFORE PRE-ZERO

We can take at least one more step in the exploration of the "historic past" of past eternity; we can make an effort to visualize a concept that is Before Pre-Zero, a hypothetical "third pre-universe age." The Urantia Papers do provide us with such a starting point; they refer to it as the "hypothetical static moment of eternity." (1153,3) Here we encounter a concept that presents a state of affairs prior to the separation of the deified and the non deified. But, even in this primal concept the Urantia Papers do not validate monism - "The doctrine that there is only one kind of substance or ultimate reality." (Webster) The Urantia Papers do not validate the concept of absolute uniformity at the very beginning of all things. The Urantia Papers insist that this concept of past-eternal reality must include the potential (the possibility for the expression) of self-will. (6,2), (1152, §1), (1152, §2)

Before Pre-Zero we entertain a primal concept that is pre-potential - a concept of that which exists before potentials have even appeared. This must be the first level of the function of Total Deity - the static level. (2,5) This is the "quiet moment," the moment in which deity is "self-contained and self-existent." (ibid.) The presence of the possibility of self-will at this eternally distant moment is proved by the fact that potentials were segregated and did develop out of the static condition, and by the further fact that these potentials have ever since been actualizing by associative, creative, and evolutionary techniques.

But this static condition is more than a valid concept. This static condition is also a factual reality: Total Deity still continues to function on the static level. The continuing existence of the static level of Total Reality is pointed out in the Urantia Papers in the discussion of The Infinity (1154,2), and in the discussion of the Universal One of Infinity. (1155,4) Therefore, at the conclusion of our analysis of past eternity we encounter more than valid concept, we encounter factual reality: The past-eternal is also the present-eternal, and the present-eternal is also the future-eternal.

§6. FOOTNOTE: REVERSIBLE SEQUENCE IN ETERNITY

In our exploration of the antecedents of the master universe we have followed the conventional sequence of events that is several times presented in the Urantia Papers. (6,2-3), (1154,3-4) In this narrative the pre-Father emerges from the Absolute, leaving as residue the Unqualified Absolute, and then unifies the emerged presence of Total Deity (Qualified Absolute) with the Unqualified by the action of the Universal Absolute. The pre-Father then gives dual expression to Paradise and the Eternal Son; and now as the Father, joins with the Son to trinitize the Spirit; unites with the Son and Spirit as the Trinity; and replaces his former presence in Total Deity with the presence of the Paradise Trinity.

This sequence of events starts with the Absolutes of Potentiality -Deity (Qualified), Universal, and Unqualified - and leads to the appearance of the Absolutes of Actuality - the Son, Paradise, and the Spirit. But this sequence could be reversed. If we draw upon two other sources in the Urantia Papers (13,6), (15,7), it is possible to tell the entire story in reverse - except that God remains as the First Cause in both of the narratives. As an illustration of the reversibility of sequence in eternity relationships, it will be profitable to narrate this contrastive story.

An alternate story of origins. This narrative begins with a consideration of the inevitability of the Paradise Trinity. (15,7) The Trinity is believed to be inescapable when the Universal Father elects to express himself in two original phases - personal and non-personal - and when he then elects to cause these two actualized realities to be co-ordinated by mind. This sequence of events starts with God as the original reality, then portrays the Eternal Son and the Isle of Paradise - personal and non-personal reality - as appearing in step two. We are informed elsewhere (127,1) that the Father's expression of his spiritual self in the Eternal Son is complemented by the revelation of his non-personal self in the eternal Isle.

So far in our story we have passed through two stages: In the first stage, we have the concept of God as a solitary being; in the second stage, he has achieved a dual and opposite expression of himself. He has expressed himself spiritually and personally in the Son and has expressed himself non-spiritually and non-personally in Paradise. No wonder it is impossible to tell the difference between the spirit of the Son and the energy of Paradise, except by giving them different names. (471,4-5) Both come from too near the Source of all Reality to be otherwise distinguishable. (638,4)

In the third step of this unfolding sequence of events, God chooses to coordinate the dual realities of the personal and the non-personal by mind. (15,7), (638,5) This brings into existence the God of Mind, the Infinite Spirit. This third step, the appearance of the Infinite Spirit and the eventuation of the Paradise Trinity, leads immediately to the fourth: the appearance of Havona. Here we have a story of the origins of Reality that starts with actualities and proceeds to the full appearance of Deity, Paradise, Trinity, and Havona, without any consideration (so far) of potentialities.

Going back to the sequence suggested in the Urantia Papers (13,6), we find these events are recapitulated as follows: God expresses himself jointly with the Son, through the God of Action (the Infinite Spirit) in the production of the central universe. And, having done this, God then separates "...his Havona presence from the potentials of infinity." At this moment, at this dawning of the First Universe Age, God has expressed himself (with his Son and through their Spirit) in Havona; outside of Havona, God has not yet expressed himself.

Concerning his presence outside of Havona, God proceeds to conceal his non-spiritual potential (via Paradise) in the space presence of the Unqualified Absolute. At the same time, he enshrouds his unrevealed divinity potential (via the Eternal Son?) in the Deity Absolute. He then unifies these two absolutes in and by the Universal Absolute. But the Universal Absolute is something more than the unifier of the Deity and the Unqualified Absolutes: God has also hidden something of himself in this Absolute, for we are instructed (ibid.) that "....the Universal Absolute is the unrevealed infinity-unity of the Paradise Father."

(It is the writer's personal belief that the Infinite (6,5) is cosmically concealed and divinely hidden behind the presence and the function of the Universal Absolute.)

Now we have told the story of the beginning of all things in reverse, and it still makes good sense. We have established the fact that the story of the Origin of Reality can be told by starting with Potentials and ending with Actuals, or it can be told just as well by starting with Actuals and ending with Potentials. But there could hardly be any factual "time sequence" in either of these narratives, and this must be why the story can be told in either sequence and still make sense. There may be "concept sequence" but there could hardly be "factual sequence" in the story of the unfolding of events in past eternity.