5. MORTALS OF TIME AND SPACE

  ^40:5.1UB Mortals represent the last link in the chain of those beings who are called sons of God. The personal touch of the Original and Eternal Son passes on down through a series of decreasingly divine and increasingly human personalizations until there arrives a being much like yourselves, one you can see, hear, and touch. And then you are made spiritually aware of the great truth which your faith may grasp -- sonship with the eternal God!

  ^40:5.2 Likewise does the Original and Infinite Spirit, by a long series of decreasingly divine and increasingly human orders, draw nearer and nearer to the struggling creatures of the realms, reaching the limit of expression in the angels -- than whom you were created but a little lower -- who personally guard and guide you in the life journey of the mortal career of time.

  ^40:5.3 God the Father does not, cannot, thus downstep himself to make such near personal contact with the almost limitless number of ascending creatures throughout the universe of universes. But the Father is not deprived of personal contact with his lowly creatures; you are not without the divine presence. Although God the Father cannot be with you by direct personality manifestation, he is in you and of you in the identity of the indwelling Thought Adjusters, the divine Monitors. Thus does the Father, who is the farthest from you in personality and in spirit, draw the nearest to you in the personality circuit and in the spirit touch of inner communion with the very souls of his mortal sons and daughters.

  ^40:5.4 Spirit identification constitutes the secret of personal survival and determines the destiny of spiritual ascension. And since the Thought Adjusters are the only spirits of fusion potential to be identified with man during the life in the flesh, the mortals of time and space are primarily classified in accordance with their relation to these divine gifts, the indwelling Mystery Monitors. This classification is as follows:

1. Mortals of the transient or experiential Adjuster sojourn.

2. Mortals of the non-Adjuster-fusion types.

3. Mortals of Adjuster-fusion potential.

  ^40:5.5 Series one -- mortals of the transient or experiential Adjuster sojourn. This series designation is temporary for any evolving planet, being used during the early stages of all inhabited worlds except those of the second series.

  ^40:5.6 Mortals of series one inhabit the worlds of space during the earlier epochs of the evolution of mankind and embrace the most primitive types of human minds. On many worlds like pre-Adamic Urantia great numbers of the higher and more advanced types of primitive men acquire survival capacity but fail to attain Adjuster fusion. For ages upon ages, before man's ascent to the level of higher spiritual volition, the Adjusters occupy the minds of these struggling creatures during their short lives in the flesh, and the moment such will creatures are indwelt by Adjusters, the group guardian angels begin to function. While these mortals of the first series do not have personal guardians, they do have group custodians.

  ^40:5.7 An experiential Adjuster remains with a primitive human being throughout his entire lifetime in the flesh. The Adjusters contribute much to the advancement of primitive men but are unable to form eternal unions with such mortals. This transient ministry of the Adjusters accomplishes two things: First, they gain valuable and actual experience in the nature and working of the evolutionary intellect, an experience which will be invaluable in connection with later contacts on other worlds with beings of higher development. Second, the transient sojourn of the Adjusters contributes much towards preparing their mortal subjects for possible subsequent Spirit fusion. All God-seeking souls of this type achieve eternal life through the spiritual embrace of the Mother Spirit of the local universe, thus becoming ascending mortals of the local universe regime. Many persons from pre-Adamic Urantia were thus advanced to the mansion worlds of Satania.

  ^40:5.8 The Gods who ordained that mortal man should climb to higher levels of spiritual intelligence through long ages of evolutionary trials and tribulations, take note of his status and needs at every stage of the ascent; and always are they divinely fair and just, even charmingly merciful, in the final judgments of these struggling mortals of the early days of the evolving races.

  ^40:5.9 Series two -- mortals of the non-Adjuster-fusion types. These are specialized types of human beings who are not able to effect eternal union with their indwelling Adjusters. Type classification among the one-, two-, and three-brained races is not a factor in Adjuster fusion; all such mortals are akin, but these non-Adjuster-fusion types are a wholly different and markedly modified order of will creatures. Many of the nonbreathers belong to this series, and there are numerous other groups who do not ordinarily fuse with Adjusters.

  ^40:5.10 Like series number one, each member of this group enjoys the ministry of a single Adjuster during lifetime in the flesh. During temporal life these Adjusters do everything for their subjects of temporary indwelling that is done on other worlds where the mortals are of fusion potential. The mortals of this second series are often indwelt by virgin Adjusters, but the higher human types are often in liaison with masterful and experienced Monitors.

  ^40:5.11 In the ascendant plan for upstepping the animal-origin creatures, these beings enjoy the same devoted service of the Sons of God as is extended to the Urantia type of mortals. Seraphic co-operation with Adjusters on the nonfusion planets is just as fully provided as on the worlds of fusion potential; the guardians of destiny minister on such spheres just as on Urantia and similarly function at the time of mortal survival, at which time the surviving soul becomes Spirit fused.

  ^40:5.12 When you encounter these modified mortal types on the mansion worlds, you will find no difficulty in communicating with them. There they speak the same system language but by a modified technique. These beings are identical with your order of creature life in spirit and personality manifestations, differing only in certain physical features and in the fact that they are nonfusible with Thought Adjusters.

  ^40:5.13 As to just why this type of creature is never able to fuse with the Adjusters of the Universal Father, I am unable to say. Some of us incline to the belief that the Life Carriers, in their efforts to formulate beings capable of maintaining existence in an unusual planetary environment, are confronted with the necessity of making such radical modifications in the universe plan of intelligent will creatures that it becomes inherently impossible to bring about permanent union with the Adjusters. Often have we asked: Is this an intended or an unintended part of the ascension plan? but we have not found the answer.

  ^40:5.14 Series three -- mortals of Adjuster-fusion potential. All Father-fused mortals are of animal origin, just like the Urantia races. They embrace mortals of the one-brained, two-brained, and three-brained types of Adjuster-fusion potential. Urantians are of the intermediate or two-brained type, being in many ways humanly superior to the one-brained groups but definitely limited in comparison with the three-brained orders. These three types of physical-brain endowment are not factors in Adjuster bestowal, in seraphic service, or in any other phase of spirit ministry. The intellectual and spiritual differential between the three brain types characterizes individuals who are otherwise quite alike in mind endowment and spiritual potential, being greatest in the temporal life and tending to diminish as the mansion worlds are traversed one by one. From the system headquarters on, the progression of these three types is the same, and their eventual Paradise destiny is identical.

  ^40:5.15 The unnumbered series. These narratives cannot possibly embrace all of the fascinating variations in the evolutionary worlds. You know that every tenth world is a decimal or experimental planet, but you know nothing of the other variables that punctuate the processional of the evolutionary spheres. There are differences too numerous to narrate even between the revealed orders of living creatures as between planets of the same group, but this presentation makes clear the essential differences in relation to the ascension career. And the ascension career is the most important factor in any consideration of the mortals of time and space.

  ^40:5.16 As to the chances of mortal survival, let it be made forever clear: All souls of every possible phase of mortal existence will survive provided they manifest willingness to co-operate with their indwelling Adjusters and exhibit a desire to find God and to attain divine perfection, even though these desires be but the first faint flickers of the primitive comprehension of that "true light which lights every man who comes into the world."

6. THE FAITH SONS OF GOD

  ^40:6.1 The mortal races stand as the representatives of the lowest order of intelligent and personal creation. You mortals are divinely beloved, and every one of you may choose to accept the certain destiny of a glorious experience, but you are not yet by nature of the divine order; you are wholly mortal. You will be reckoned as ascending sons the instant fusion takes place, but the status of the mortals of time and space is that of faith sons prior to the event of the final amalgamation of the surviving mortal soul with some type of eternal and immortal spirit.

  ^40:6.2 It is a solemn and supernal fact that such lowly and material creatures as Urantia human beings are the sons of God, faith children of the Highest. "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God." "As many as received him, to them gave he the power to recognize that they are the sons of God." While "it does not yet appear what you shall be," even now "you are the faith sons of God"; "for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, whereby you cry, `our Father.'" Spoke the prophet of old in the name of the eternal God: "Even to them will I give in my house a place and a name better than sons; I will give them an everlasting name, one that shall not be cut off." "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts."

  ^40:6.3 All evolutionary worlds of mortal habitation harbor these faith sons of God, sons of grace and mercy, mortal beings belonging to the divine family and accordingly called the sons of God. Urantia mortals are entitled to regard themselves as being the sons of God because:

  ^40:6.4 1. You are sons of spiritual promise, faith sons; you have accepted the status of sonship. You believe in the reality of your sonship, and thus does your sonship with God become eternally real.

  ^40:6.5 2. A Creator Son of God became one of you; he is your elder brother in fact; and if in spirit you become truly related brothers of Christ, the victorious Michael, then in spirit must you also be sons of that Father which you have in common -- even the Universal Father of all.

  ^40:6.6 3. You are sons because the spirit of a Son has been poured out upon you, has been freely and certainly bestowed upon all Urantia races. This spirit ever draws you toward the divine Son, who is its source, and toward the Paradise Father, who is the source of that divine Son.

  ^40:6.7 4. Of his divine free-willness, the Universal Father has given you your creature personalities. You have been endowed with a measure of that divine spontaneity of freewill action which God shares with all who may become his sons.

  ^40:6.8 5. There dwells within you a fragment of the Universal Father, and you are thus directly related to the divine Father of all the Sons of God on all the worlds of space.

4. EVOLUTIONARY WILL CREATURES

  ^49:4.1UB There are great differences between the mortals of the different worlds, even among those belonging to the same intellectual and physical types, but all mortals of will dignity are erect animals, bipeds.

  ^49:4.2 There are six basic evolutionary races: three primary -- red, yellow, and blue; and three secondary -- orange, green, and indigo. Most inhabited worlds have all of these races, but many of the three-brained planets harbor only the three primary types. Some local systems also have only these three races.

  ^49:4.3 The average special physical-sense endowment of human beings is twelve, though the special senses of the three-brained mortals are extended slightly beyond those of the one- and two-brained types; they can see and hear considerably more than the Urantia races.

  ^49:4.4 Young are usually born singly, multiple births being the exception, and the family life is fairly uniform on all types of planets. Sex equality prevails on all advanced worlds; male and female are equal in mind endowment and spiritual status. We do not regard a planet as having emerged from barbarism so long as one sex seeks to tyrannize over the other. This feature of creature experience is always greatly improved after the arrival of a Material Son and Daughter.

  ^49:4.5 Seasons and temperature variations occur on all sunlighted and sun-heated planets. Agriculture is universal on all atmospheric worlds; tilling the soil is the one pursuit that is common to the advancing races of all such planets.

  ^49:4.6 Mortals all have the same general struggles with microscopic foes in their early days, such as you now experience on Urantia, though perhaps not so extensive. The length of life varies on the different planets from twenty-five years on the primitive worlds to near five hundred on the more advanced and older spheres.

  ^49:4.7 Human beings are all gregarious, both tribal and racial. These group segregations are inherent in their origin and constitution. Such tendencies can be modified only by advancing civilization and by gradual spiritualization. The social, economic, and governmental problems of the inhabited worlds vary in accordance with the age of the planets and the degree to which they have been influenced by the successive sojourns of the divine Sons.

  ^49:4.8 Mind is the bestowal of the Infinite Spirit and functions quite the same in diverse environments. The mind of mortals is akin, regardless of certain structural and chemical differences which characterize the physical natures of the will creatures of the local systems. Regardless of personal or physical planetary differences, the mental life of all these various orders of mortals is very similar, and their immediate careers after death are very much alike.

  ^49:4.9 But mortal mind without immortal spirit cannot survive. The mind of man is mortal; only the bestowed spirit is immortal. Survival is dependent on spiritualization by the ministry of the Adjuster -- on the birth and evolution of the immortal soul; at least, there must not have developed an antagonism towards the Adjuster's mission of effecting the spiritual transformation of the material mind.

5. THE PLANETARY SERIES OF MORTALS

  ^49:5.1 It will be somewhat difficult to make an adequate portrayal of the planetary series of mortals because you know so little about them, and because there are so many variations. Mortal creatures may, however, be studied from numerous viewpoints, among which are the following:

1. Adjustment to planetary environment.

2. Brain-type series.

3. Spirit-reception series.

4. Planetary-mortal epochs.

5. Creature-kinship serials.

6. Adjuster-fusion series.

7. Techniques of terrestrial escape.

  ^49:5.2 The inhabited spheres of the seven superuniverses are peopled with mortals who simultaneously classify in some one or more categories of each of these seven generalized classes of evolutionary creature life. But even these general classifications make no provision for such beings as midsoniters nor for certain other forms of intelligent life. The inhabited worlds, as they have been presented in these narratives, are peopled with evolutionary mortal creatures, but there are other life forms.

  ^49:5.3 1. Adjustment to planetary environment. There are three general groups of inhabited worlds from the standpoint of the adjustment of creature life to the planetary environment: the normal adjustment group, the radical adjustment group, and the experimental group.

  ^49:5.4 Normal adjustments to planetary conditions follow the general physical patterns previously considered. The worlds of the nonbreathers typify the radical or extreme adjustment, but other types are also included in this group. Experimental worlds are usually ideally adapted to the typical life forms, and on these decimal planets the Life Carriers attempt to produce beneficial variations in the standard life designs. Since your world is an experimental planet, it differs markedly from its sister spheres in Satania; many forms of life have appeared on Urantia that are not found elsewhere; likewise are many common species absent from your planet.

  ^49:5.5 In the universe of Nebadon, all the life-modification worlds are serially linked together and constitute a special domain of universe affairs which is given attention by designated administrators; and all of these experimental worlds are periodically inspected by a corps of universe directors whose chief is the veteran finaliter known in Satania as Tabamantia.

  ^49:5.6 2. Brain-type series. The one physical uniformity of mortals is the brain and nervous system; nevertheless, there are three basic organizations of the brain mechanism: the one-, the two-, and the three-brained types. Urantians are of the two-brained type, somewhat more imaginative, adventurous, and philosophical than the one-brained mortals but somewhat less spiritual, ethical, and worshipful than the three-brained orders. These brain differences characterize even the prehuman animal existences.

  ^49:5.7 From the two-hemisphere type of the Urantian cerebral cortex you can, by analogy, grasp something of the one-brained type. The third brain of the three-brained orders is best conceived as an evolvement of your lower or rudimentary form of brain, which is developed to the point where it functions chiefly in control of physical activities, leaving the two superior brains free for higher engagements: one for intellectual functions and the other for the spiritual-counterparting activities of the Thought Adjuster.

  ^49:5.8 While the terrestrial attainments of the one-brained races are slightly limited in comparison with the two-brained orders, the older planets of the three-brained group exhibit civilizations that would astound Urantians, and which would somewhat shame yours by comparison. In mechanical development and material civilization, even in intellectual progress, the two-brained mortal worlds are able to equal the three-brained spheres. But in the higher control of mind and development of intellectual and spiritual reciprocation, you are somewhat inferior.

  ^49:5.9 All such comparative estimates concerning the intellectual progress or the spiritual attainments of any world or group of worlds should in fairness recognize planetary age; much, very much, depends on age, the help of the biologic uplifters, and the subsequent missions of the various orders of the divine Sons.

  ^49:5.10 While the three-brained peoples are capable of a slightly higher planetary evolution than either the one- or two-brained orders, all have the same type of life plasm and carry on planetary activities in very similar ways, much as do human beings on Urantia. These three types of mortals are distributed throughout the worlds of the local systems. In the majority of cases planetary conditions had very little to do with the decisions of the Life Carriers to project these varied orders of mortals on the different worlds; it is a prerogative of the Life Carriers thus to plan and execute.

  ^49:5.11 These three orders stand on an equal footing in the ascension career. Each must traverse the same intellectual scale of development, and each must master the same spiritual tests of progression. The system administration and the constellation overcontrol of these different worlds are uniformly free from discrimination; even the regimes of the Planetary Princes are identical.

  ^49:5.12 3. Spirit-reception series. There are three groups of mind design as related to contact with spirit affairs. This classification does not refer to the one-, two-, and three-brained orders of mortals; it refers primarily to gland chemistry, more particularly to the organization of certain glands comparable to the pituitary bodies. The races on some worlds have one gland, on others two, as do Urantians, while on still other spheres the races have three of these unique bodies. The inherent imagination and spiritual receptivity is definitely influenced by this differential chemical endowment.

  ^49:5.13 Of the spirit-reception types, sixty-five per cent are of the second group, like the Urantia races. Twelve per cent are of the first type, naturally less receptive, while twenty-three per cent are more spiritually inclined during terrestrial life. But such distinctions do not survive natural death; all of these racial differences pertain only to the life in the flesh.

  ^49:5.14 4. Planetary-mortal epochs. This classification recognizes the succession of temporal dispensations as they affect man's terrestrial status and his reception of celestial ministry.

  ^49:5.15 Life is initiated on the planets by the Life Carriers, who watch over its development until sometime after the evolutionary appearance of mortal man. Before the Life Carriers leave a planet, they duly install a Planetary Prince as ruler of the realm. With this ruler there arrives a full quota of subordinate auxiliaries and ministering helpers, and the first adjudication of the living and the dead is simultaneous with his arrival.

  ^49:5.16 With the emergence of human groupings, this Planetary Prince arrives to inaugurate human civilization and to focalize human society. Your world of confusion is no criterion of the early days of the reign of the Planetary Princes, for it was near the beginning of such an administration on Urantia that your Planetary Prince, Caligastia, cast his lot with the rebellion of the System Sovereign, Lucifer. Your planet has pursued a stormy course ever since.

  ^49:5.17 On a normal evolutionary world, racial progress attains its natural biologic peak during the regime of the Planetary Prince, and shortly thereafter the System Sovereign dispatches a Material Son and Daughter to that planet. These imported beings are of service as biologic uplifters; their default on Urantia further complicated your planetary history.

  ^49:5.18 When the intellectual and ethical progress of a human race has reached the limits of evolutionary development, there comes an Avonal Son of Paradise on a magisterial mission; and later on, when the spiritual status of such a world is nearing its limit of natural attainment, the planet is visited by a Paradise bestowal Son. The chief mission of a bestowal Son is to establish the planetary status, release the Spirit of Truth for planetary function, and thus effect the universal coming of the Thought Adjusters.

  ^49:5.19 Here, again, Urantia deviates: There has never been a magisterial mission on your world, neither was your bestowal Son of the Avonal order; your planet enjoyed the signal honor of becoming the mortal home planet of the Sovereign Son, Michael of Nebadon.

  ^49:5.20 As a result of the ministry of all the successive orders of divine sonship, the inhabited worlds and their advancing races begin to approach the apex of planetary evolution. Such worlds now become ripe for the culminating mission, the arrival of the Trinity Teacher Sons. This epoch of the Teacher Sons is the vestibule to the final planetary age -- evolutionary utopia -- the age of light and life.

  ^49:5.21 This classification of human beings will receive particular attention in a succeeding paper.