Chapter Five

At this point we should pause for a tactical re-assessment of the material we have covered. We have described a process that was set into motion over a period of about twenty-five years -- a process that is remarkably profound in its implications. Any thinking person must wonder if the events just described could have really happened. Possibly only a long-time reader of the Urantia Papers could be quickly convinced that the events that I have pieced together and depicted here actually occurred.

The Urantia Papers are the best testimony of their own validity. Virtually anyone who studies them with care and an open mind must be persuaded that they are, at the very least, a unique presentation of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. For this reason, those of us who believe in the authenticity of the Urantia Papers might tend to be credulous about any plausible, consistent and documented story that would account for their depth and scope. In fact, we hunger for the details of how this life-changing volume came to be.

However, new readers may be quickly lost as the narrative unfolds if we do not explain that Dr. Sadler and those involved in the early sessions with the sleeping subject were also very perplexed by the concepts being presented to them. There is a section of History Two which is titled: "Contact Activities Preceding the Urantia Papers." It consists of three pages, and appears to have been written by Dr. Sadler and inserted in the document.¹ In contrast to many other parts of History Two, the style and content of these pages are consistent with Dr. Sadler's writing. If we grant that Dr. Sadler wrote them, he explains that the period between the first contact and the beginning of the Urantia Papers was a period of preparation and testing. He goes on to point out some of the new concepts that were presented during the preparation stage. He also states, speaking of the Contact Commission:

"We never realized how much our religious thinking had expanded until the Papers began to arrive. As the revelation progressed we came to more fully appreciate how much we had been prepared for the vast alteration of our religious beliefs by these preliminary contacts extending over a period of twenty years of pre-education."²

These three pages explain a twenty-year process of pre-education that took place "until the Papers began to arrive." This "pre-education" reference could only apply to the original four Contact Commissioners, although some historians have erroneously applied it to the Forum. As we shall see, the twenty-year pre-education period referred only to four of the members of the Contact Commission, and not at all to the Forum members.

Veteran readers of the Urantia Papers sometimes forget the immense paradigm shifts that took place in their own thinking after reading the Revelation. We sometimes refer to new concepts and thoughtlessly use words such as "Midwayers," "Thought Adjusters" and "morontial" to the confusion of new readers. We know Dr. Sadler was an ordained minister and a profoundly religious man. The pre-Urantia Paper sessions contained scientific and religious material that had considerable impact on him. To truly have some understanding of this, and to assist new readers, let's review the 16 "pre-education" initiatives the Revelators introduced to the early Contact Commission -- before the Forum came into being. These early presentations seem to have been intended to prepare the small group of mortals for even more advanced concepts. Comments in brackets were added by myself, otherwise this material is as the Contact Commissioner presented it on pages 11, 12, and 13 of History Two: "Among these numerous new ideas of cosmology and philosophy, the following may be mentioned:

"[1]. The new concept of a vast, far-flung universe." [The cosmos of the Urantia Papers exceeds anything yet postulated by science. At the time the universe was not known to be expanding. The Revelation tells us it is expanding according to a regular respiration, every one billion years it "exhales" and then "inhales" for an equal period. This notion challenges the "Big Bang" and supports the less-favored "Oscillating Universe" notion, which addresses the unanswered Big Bang scientific puzzle as to why the universe expands at precisely the rate to keep it from either flying apart or imploding.]

"[2]. Billions of other inhabited worlds.

"[3]. Introduction to the concept of scores of different and varied echelons of Universe personalities.

"[4]. Confirmation of the scientific belief in the evolutionary origin of humankind, even of an evolutionary cosmos.

"[5]. Initiation of multiple Creator Deities." [The philosophy of the Urantia Papers is purely and consistently monotheistic. However, while there is only one First Source and Center and one God, or Father of the Universe, the Father distributes himself and delegates Creator prerogatives to lesser Divine Beings of his creation.]

"[6]. Tentative testing of our theologic concepts. Patient determination of how far we might go in the direction of modifying our theologic beliefs and philosophic opinions.

"[7]. Without realizing it, over a period of twenty years, our fundamental religious views and attitudes had been considerably changed.

"[8]. We had been familiarized with such terms as the First Source and Center, Havona," [The central universe complex of seven circuits of a billion perfect worlds plus three circuits of Paradise spheres] "superuniverses, and the Supreme Being" [The evolutionary aspect of God that adventures and evolves into perfection with evolutionary beings. This concept has been postulated by modern theologians, but not presented in association with an all-knowing God] "although we had but meager ideas as to the real meaning of these terms."

"[9]. We also heard such words as Master Spirits, outer space, and Power Directors. But again, we understood little as to their meaning. We also learned about numerous orders of angels.

"[10]. We also heard about Thought Adjusters, but our concept of the meaning of the term was vague and indefinite." [A Thought Adjuster is the Fragment of God that is bestowed upon each normal human mind at the moment moral consciousness is achieved, and impinges upon the superconscious levels of thought. The sleeping subject's Thought Adjuster played a key role in the materialization of the Urantia Papers, but the human mind of the subject was not used, as we shall see.]

"[11]. We had acquired a fuzzy concept of the morontia level of existence -- but we never heard the word `morontia' until the Papers started." [The morontia level of existence is the intervening area between material and spiritual. It is to be classified as neither material nor spiritual, yet containing aspects of both. The human soul is a morontia creation that is born during our life in the flesh.]

"[12]. The Midwayers were very real to us -- we frequently talked with them during our `contacts.' We quite fully understood that Secondary Midwayers supervised these contacts." [As we shall see, the Secondary Midwayers played a key role in the materialization of the Urantia Papers. Both Primary and Secondary Midwayers are a form of celestial being just beyond the scope of human vision. They are permanent residents of our planet during its evolutionary struggle. Secondary Midwayers are immensely versatile, mobile and intelligent, and are able, under certain conditions, to manipulate matter. They can penetrate the human mind in order to communicate with a mortal's Thought Adjuster.]

"[13]. We heard about things like the Lucifer rebellion, but got little information about Adam and Eve.

"[14]. We gained the impression that there were special reasons for Jesus' bestowal but we had little or no idea as to the nature of these unrevealed reasons.

"[15]. We listened to occasional references to Jesus' life and teachings -- but they were very cautious about the introduction of any new concepts regarding Michael's Urantia Bestowal." [Jesus was the human name given to our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon, during his bestowal mission to our planet.] "Of all the Urantia Revelation, the Jesus Papers were the biggest surprise."

"[16]. While we did not hear the term `Corps of Finality' we did pick up a hazy idea that Paradise might be the destination of surviving mortals.

"Our superhuman friends thus spent upward of two decades in extending our cosmic horizons, enlarging our theologic concepts, and expanding our over-all philosophy."

This preliminary education was evidently designed for the Contact Commission and took place before the first Urantia Papers began arriving -- "in fact, in a general way, setting the stage for the subsequent initiation of the presentation of the Urantia Papers."³ We can be reasonably certain the first Paper was read to the Forum in January of 1925, as previously noted. Therefore, in pages 11, 12, and 13 of History Two we are probably reading the words of either Drs. William or Lena Sadler, or one of the Kelloggs. The most logical choice is Dr. Sadler, whose words were inserted at certain times in History Two by the Contact Commissioner who assembled that document. The hybrid nature of History Two is likely totally innocent, and reflects the desire of the anonymous author that the History not be associated with any individual Commissioner.

In addition, we may reasonably conclude that the entire Contact Commission was not provided this pre-education. Only Dr. Sadler, Dr. Lena Sadler, Wilfred Kellogg and Anna Kellogg could have received the "twenty years of pre-education." Emma L. Christensen ("Christy") did not come to the Sadler household until December of 1923, just over a year before the first Paper was read to the Forum.⁴ Bill Sadler, Jr. was not quite 16 in January of 1925. He was doubtless a precocious lad, and may have had some exposure to the early contact process, but it is self-evident that he could not have undergone "twenty years of pre-education" before he was 16.

These facts become important as we evaluate information about the history of the Revelation and the sources that are available to us. Dr. Lena Sadler died August 1, 1939, at the age of 64. Wilfred C. Kellogg died August 31, 1956, at the age of 75 - less than a year after the publication of The Urantia Book. Anna Bell Kellogg died February 24, 1960 at the age of 82.⁵ So, by early 1960, the only living Contact Commissioner who had the actual experience of the nearly two decades that preceded the first appearance of the Urantia Papers was Dr. Sadler. And, since (to my knowledge) neither Dr. Lena Sadler nor the Kelloggs left any writings or testimony regarding the revelation, Dr. Sadler's writings, statements and recollections of the early events are thus of great importance.

More about the early contacts - and Jesus

Among other duties, the unseen Midwayers monitor the nonmaterial, unseen activities of the spiritual realm on our planet.

"Midwayers are the guardians, the sentinels, of the worlds of space. They perform the important duties of observers for all the numerous phenomena and types of communication which are of import to the supernatural beings of the realm. They patrol the invisible spirit realm of the planet." [864 bottom, 865 top.]

Midwayers apparently were present at every contact. Evidently, there was a specific commission of Midwayers who were assigned to the Urantia revelation project. Other than these Midwayers, no two contacts were alike; every contact was entirely different from any and all that had gone before. Seldom did the original team of four Contact Commissioners meet the same visiting personality more than once. The Commission was thus provided an extensive and liberal preparatory educational training.⁶

Jesus is mentioned in the Urantia Book as early as page 30, and 19 additional times before we reach page 100. In addition, Michael is mentioned on page 8 as "Christ Michael -- Son of Man and Son of God," and 16 additional times before page 100. There are continuing references to him and his career throughout the Papers.

In the early contacts, before the Papers began to come through, there was a limited amount of discussion about the life and teachings of Jesus. Dr. Sadler speculated that the Midwayers may have been a bit "dubious about their authority in such matters." He may have based this possibility on the fact that, much later in the presentations of the Papers, the Revelatory team of Midwayers was said to have sought higher authorities to give clarification of their right to tell the enlarged and expanded story of Jesus of Nazareth and his matchlessteachings.⁷

Once more it should be noted that Dr. Sadler long believed he would find a scientific explanation to what was occurring. Even during the early Forum period of 1924-1935, he sought to remain objective, and only provisionally accepted the validity of the content of the Urantia Papers. He wrote of the early contacts:

"Those of us who attended these nocturnal vigils never suspected that we were in contact with anything supernatural."⁸

The materialization process

Along with the name of the contact personality, what little the Contact Commissioners knew of the technique of materialization was not to be discussed. However, both Dr. Sadler and Bill Sadler, Jr. could not resist speculating on the materialization technique of this epochal revelation. They may have been challenged by the philosophical difficulty in postulating that spiritual beings can simply communicate at will with humans. The intervening "distance" between the realms of matter and spirit is vast. We are told in the Urantia Papers that:

"The gap between the material and spiritual worlds is perfectly bridged by the serial association of mortal man, secondary midwayer, primary midwayer, morontia cherubim, mid-phase cherubim, and seraphim. In the personal experience of an individual mortal these diverse levels are undoubtedly more or less unified and made personally meaningful by the unobserved and mysterious operations of the divine Thought Adjuster." [425, par. 1]

and that:

" . . . since each order of midwayer can establish perfect synchrony of contact with the other, either group is thereby able to achieve practical utilization of the entire energy gamut extending from the gross physical power of the material worlds up through the transition phases of universe energies to the higher spirit-reality forces of the celestial realms." [424 bottom, 425 top.]

A complete study of the possible method of materializing the Urantia Papers is beyond the scope of this book. Interested readers are invited to examine the figures at the end of this chapter, and check the references suggested.

Three final points should be made. From my perspective as a layperson, presenting the Urantia Papers in the English language was an unimaginably formidable task. They are in large part what we would call a "translation" from another language, in some cases, two other languages. In some instances a Paper had to be translated from the complex language of Uversa, which is the capital of our superuniverse of Orvonton, to that of the Local Universe of Nebadon, and finally into the linguistic and conceptual patterns of the English language. Some readers love the dialogues and conversations of Part IV because they say they contain the "actual words of Jesus." Yet, although Jesus spoke several languages, none of them was modern English. All of the previously undisclosed dialogues and conversations had to be "translated," so to speak, from their original languages and recorded in some form of symbolic imagery by the Midwayers. In a 1959 letter to Dr. Adams, Dr. Sadler disclosed:

"You must remember that the midwayers prepared a narrative that was many times larger than was finally given us as Part IV of the Urantia Book." [See Appendix B]

From this statement it seems Dr. Sadler had been informed that a preliminary "editing" process by the Midwayers took place before the materialization of the restatement of the Life and Teachings of Jesus. The Midwayers were required to use human sources when they were available, supplement and correct these with revelatory information, and then materialize the result in a seamless presentation in contemporaneous English. In addition, the Midwayers calculated dates of events during the life of Jesus to interface with a modern calendar and established the exact times of day (based upon modern chronology) for many events that had happened when no method of precise recording of time had yet been invented. Thus, in my lay opinion, we should keep in mind that the process of materializing the Papers in the English language was one of remarkable complexity.

The second point is: The Urantia Papers made use of a great amount of existing human concepts and written material. The Papers freely and clearly proclaim this in several places. Yet, to some readers, this is very disturbing. They reason that a revelation should present only new material. But this is an over-simplification of the process and purpose of an epochal revelation. The technique of epochal revelation includes synthesizing existing concepts and knowledge, recovering that which might be otherwise lost, and using new concepts and ideas only when necessary to perform the primary mission. The purpose of epochal revelation is to expand the spiritual meaning and universe implications of existing knowledge and concepts -- which in the case of the Urantia Papers required introducing a wealth of new concepts and previously unknown universe data.

Contrasted with epochal revelation is a phenomenon the Urantia Papers describe as autorevelation. [1109 par. 4] Auto-revelation is the result of the Thought Adjuster's activity in the human mind, and produces many inspiring and wonderful things, although too often otherwise "inspired" material is skewed as a result of its passage through the mortal mind. Epochal revelation, on the other hand, involves the activities of celestial personages.

"The proof that revelation is revelation is this same fact of human experience: the fact that revelation does synthesize the apparently divergent sciences of nature and the theology of religion into a consistent and logical universe philosophy, a co-ordinated and unbroken explanation of both science and religion, thus creating a harmony of mind and satisfaction of spirit which answers in human experience those questionings of the mortal mind which craves to know how the Infinite works out his will and plans in matter, with minds, and on spirit." [1106, top. ]

Epochal Revelation and existing human knowledge

To synthesize science, religion and philosophy, celestial authors of epochal revelation must draw upon, and harmonize, widely divergent existing human concepts. Matthew Block, one of a growing number of Urantian researchers, has been assembling human source documents and writings that were apparently utilized by the Revelators as raw material for the synthesizing process. The task of the Revelators is apparently to reach the evolutionary mortal mind where it is, and to then skillfully offer new information to expand humankind's grasp of universe meanings and values. Matthew shows us how ingeniously new ideas and concepts are interfaced with existing human concepts by the Revelators. His project is a work in progress which will yield important information that will require a great deal of study to fully understand and adequately evaluate. The problem is, as important as this work is, simply reducing the Urantia Papers to the component parts will not necessarily reveal their true nature -- no more than a human mind can be truly understood by devising a purelyreductionist analysis down to molecules and atoms.

David Kantor is a highly regarded scholar and historian, and a member of the Executive Committee of the General Council of The Urantia Book Fellowship. David made this observation:

"The real mechanism for assembling the Revelation on a conceptual level has yet to be discovered and described by scholars. I think Matthew's work is a start. I am reminded of the quote on page 1105: `(Religion) consists not in the discovery of new facts or in the finding of a unique experience, but rather in the discovery of new and spiritual meanings in facts already well known to mankind.' The `source materials' being discovered and evaluated by Matthew Block and others indicate that the Revelators not only used the linguistic constructs of the English language to communicate with us, but they used the `conceptual' vocabulary reflected in the best of our religious, philosophic and scientific writing as well. These studies are still in a very early stage of development but will likely change our understanding of the origins of the Urantia Papers in profound and fundamental ways."

Kristen Maaherra has probably studied the human sources of the Urantia Papers and their structure as intensely as anyone. She has uncovered many fascinating clues, including the use of what she calls "once words" (words that are only included once in the million words of the text), hyphenated words, italicized words, and other elements that relate somehow to the immensely complex and baffling whole. The work on the structure and conceptual methods that produced the Papers goes on, and will doubtless continue for many years into the future.

However, I suspect that no logical argument could convince a closed-minded doubter that the synthesis of new information with existing information is precisely one of the goals that the Urantia Papers tell us epochal revelation seeks to achieve. For the new reader, I will give one example of this process and let each individual decide. There is a passage in the Urantia Papers that is said to be a virtual paraphrased version of a message by Bertrand Russell, purportedly delivered to a college graduating class before the Urantia Papers were published. It is ponderous, negative, and seems to ring of typical intellectual existential orientation:

"To the unbelieving materialist, man is simply an evolutionary accident. His hopes of survival are strung on a figment of mortal imagination; his fears, loves, longings, and beliefs are but the reaction of the incidental juxtaposition of certain lifeless atoms of matter. No display of energy nor expression of trust can carry him beyond the grave. The devotional labors and inspirational genius of the best of men are doomed to be extinguished by death, the long and lonely night of eternal oblivion and soul extinction. Nameless despair is man's only reward for living and toiling under the temporal sun of mortal existence. Each day of life slowly and surely tightens the grasp of a pitiless doom which a hostile and relentless universe of matter has decreed shall be the crowning insult to everything in human desire which is beautiful, noble, lofty, and good." [1118, par. 1]

Now consider the positive counter-argument that appears in the Urantia Papers on the page prior to the comments above. This rebuttal may be from some human writing that has been long lost to us, and is being restored to us by the Revelators. Or, as I believe at this point, it may be completely original and wonderfully inspired. In any case, it could hardly be more appropriate:

"[True] Religion assures man that, in following the gleam of righteousness discernible in his soul, he is thereby identifying himself with the plan of the Infinite and the purpose of the Eternal. Such a liberated soul immediately begins to feel at home in this new universe, his universe.

"When you experience such a transformation of faith, you are no longer a slavish part of the mathematical cosmos but rather a liberated volitional son of the Universal Father. No longer is such a liberated son fighting alone against the inexorable doom of the termination of temporal existence; no longer does he combat all nature, with the odds hopelessly against him; no longer is he staggered by the paralyzing fear that, perchance, he has put his trust in a hopeless phantasm or pinned his faith to a fanciful error.

"Now, rather, are the sons of God enlisted together in fighting the battle of reality's triumph over the partial shadows of existence. At last all creatures become conscious of the fact that God and all the divine hosts of a well-nigh limitless universe are on their side in the supernal struggle to attain eternity of life and divinity of status. Such faith-liberated sons have certainly enlisted in the struggles of time on the side of the supreme forces and divine personalities of eternity; even the stars in their courses are now doing battle for them; at last they gaze upon the universe from within, from God's viewpoint, and all is transformed from the uncertainties of material isolation to the sureties of eternal spiritual progression. Even time itself becomes but the shadow of eternity cast by Paradise realities upon the moving panoply of space." [1117, par. 1-3]

This is revelation, and it speaks for itself beyond any rhetoric or argument I could add. One grasps this or one does not. This is but one example among countless others of the power of the Revelation to transcend the common parameters of human creative thought. For myself and other Urantians who have experienced the Urantia Papers for many years, and who have long enjoyed the spiritual richness and challenging insights of the Revelation, there is simply no room to doubt its authenticity.

The third and final point is this: It cannot be over-emphasized that the Thought Adjuster of the human subject was necessary for this process to work, but not the human mind itself. The Thought Adjuster's activities do impinge upon the superconscious levels of the human mind, but do so (with rare exceptions) without the conscious awareness of the human subject.

The Thought Adjuster of the sleeping subject -- along with the Secondary Midwayers -- were the final links in the complex materialization process of this epochal revelation and its insertion into the evolutionary mainstream. On evolutionary worlds, Thought Adjusters are always associated with a human host under these revelational circumstances. Thus, the sleeping subject was a necessary (though indirect) component in the intricate chain of procedures.

Why so complex a methodology? Most theologians would agree with Chapter Four's premise that certain rules seem to govern the way revelation is presented upon the planet. Angels are not permitted to "miraculously" plunk down a revelation into the laps of mortal beings. When Clyde Bedell handed me my first Urantia Book in 1968, he informed me it had been authored by celestial beings and no one knew exactly how it came about. This was a major turn-off for me, until he added: "But that is the worst reason to believe anything. Read it, and see if it resonates with you. Evaluate this book solely on its content."

It could be argued that the personality of Jesus of Nazareth, whose life and teachings were also an epochal revelation, was in effect "plunked down" by means of his bestowal birth upon our planet. But note that Jesus could have won the world easily by simply exercising his seeming miraculous powers fully. He could have simply "walked on air" over the Temple had he chosen to do so, and overwhelmed the doubts of virtually every civilized mortal on the planet. But such works and wonders also would have been the least noble reason to believe in the Master, and Jesus never tired of teaching this principle to the apostles. Apparent miracles have compelling appeal to the immature personality, but they do not eliminate the need for personal spiritual progress. We each must work for our spiritual bread, just as we work for our material bread.

How were the Urantia Papers materialized? No one knows. On the next few pages we present some references from the Urantia Papers and additional speculations related to the question of materialization. Philosophers who oppose the concept of revelation have long pointed out the problems associated with how the spiritual realm could interface with the material realm. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the clues provided in the Urantia Papers is the fact that this question, which very few people know exists, is addressed so completely. The idea of an intervening morontia realm that blends material and spiritual and interfaces with both realms, is unique to the Urantia Papers.

In the next chapter the Jesus Papers arrive as we resume the historical events and sequences by which the Urantia Papers were materialized.

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Footnotes

^1. Dr. Sadler is known to have begun, but never completed, a history of his own. These pages may be from that document. It is possible Dr. Sadler delegated the history project to Christy.

^2. HISTORY TWO, [prepared by a Contact Commissioner], undated, pages 2-4. Note that a "twenty year pre-education process" would set the date for the first contact all the way back to 1904-5. This of course would support the belief that the process began much earlier than Dr. Sadler stated in The Mind at Mischief. [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^3. HISTORY TWO, [prepared by a Contact Commissioner], undated, page 2. [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^4. URANTIA BROTHERHOOD BULLETIN, Special Memorial Issue, Spring 1982, page 1.

^5. URANTIA, THE GREAT CULT MYSTERY by Martin Gardner was the source for the exact dates of death of the various Commissioners. Gardner is a good researcher of factual material such as dates. However, Gardner's book is, in the author's opinion, non-objective, inconsistent, relies upon mixed premises, and is bluntly prejudiced against the Revelation. Any religious belief could be attacked and ridiculed by means of the unfortunate techniques Mr. Gardner used to attack the Urantia Papers. Also see Chapter Seven, endnote 4.

^6. HISTORY TWO, [prepared by a Contact Commissioner], undated, page 4. [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^7. IBID., page 4.

^8. IBID., page 4.

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