The British Study Edition of the Urantia Papers

intelligent inhabitants. The dead suns are not, as a rule, suited to life; they are usually too far away from a living, blazing sun, and further, they are altogether too massive; gravity is tremendous at the surface.

^15:6.15 In your superuniverse not one cool planet in 40 is habitable by beings of your order. And, of course, the superheated suns and the frigid outlying worlds are unfit to harbour higher life. In your solar system only three planets are at present suited to harbour life. Urantia, in size, density, and location, is in many respects ideal for human habitation.

^15:6.16 The laws of physical-energy behaviour are basically universal, but local influences have much to do with the physical conditions which prevail on individual planets and in local systems. An almost endless variety of creature life and other living manifestations characterizes the countless worlds of space. There are, however, certain points of similarity in a group of worlds associated in a given system, while there also is a universe pattern of intelligent life. There are physical relationships among those planetary systems which belong to the same physical circuit, and which closely follow each other in the endless swing around the circle of universes.

7. THE ARCHITECTURAL SPHERES

^15:7.1 While each superuniverse government presides near the centre of the evolutionary universes of its space segment, it occupies a world made to order and is peopled by accredited personalities. These headquarters worlds are architectural spheres, space bodies specifically constructed for their special purpose. While sharing the light of near-by suns, these spheres are independently lighted and heated. Each has a sun which gives forth light without heat, like the satellites of Paradise, while each is supplied with heat by the circulation of certain energy currents near the surface of the sphere. These headquarters worlds belong to one of the greater systems situated near the astronomical centre of their respective superuniverses.

^15:7.2 ¶ Time is standardized on the headquarters of the superuniverses. The standard day of the superuniverse of Orvonton is equal to almost 30 days of Urantia time, and the Orvonton year equals 100 standard days. This Uversa year is standard in the 7^th superuniverse, and it is 22 minutes short of 3,000 days of Urantia time, about 8.2 of your years.

^15:7.3 ¶ The headquarters worlds of the seven superuniverses partake of the nature and grandeur of Paradise, their central pattern of perfection. In reality, all headquarters worlds are paradisiacal. They are indeed heavenly abodes, and they increase in material size, morontia beauty, and spirit glory from Jerusem to the central Isle. And all the satellites of these headquarters worlds are also architectural spheres.

^15:7.4 The various headquarters worlds are provided with every phase of material and spiritual creation. All kinds of material, morontial, and spiritual beings are at home on these rendezvous worlds of the universes. As mortal creatures ascend the universe, passing from the material to the spiritual realms, they never lose their appreciation for, and enjoyment of, their former levels of existence.

^15:7.5 ¶ Jerusem, the headquarters of your local system of Satania, has its seven worlds of transition culture, each of which is encircled by seven satellites, among which are the seven mansion worlds of morontia detention, man’s first postmortal residence. As the term heaven has been used on Urantia, it has sometimes meant these seven mansion worlds, the first mansion world being denominated the first heaven, and so on to the seventh.

^15:7.6 ¶ Edentia, the headquarters of your constellation of Norlatiadek, has its 70 satellites of socializing culture and training, on which ascenders sojourn upon the completion of the Jerusem regime of personality mobilization, unification, and realization.

^15:7.7 ¶ Salvington, the capital of Nebadon, your local universe, is surrounded by 10 university clusters of 49 spheres each. Hereon is man spiritualized following his constellation socialization.

^15:7.8 ¶ Uminor the third, the headquarters of your minor sector, Ensa, is surrounded by the seven spheres of the higher physical studies of the ascendant life.

^15:7.9 ¶ Umajor the fifth, the headquarters of your major sector, Splandon, is surrounded by the 70 spheres of the advancing intellectual training of the superuniverse.

^15:7.10 ¶ Uversa, the headquarters of Orvonton, your superuniverse, is immediately surrounded by the 7 higher universities of advanced spiritual training for ascending will creatures. Each of these 7 clusters of wonder spheres consists of 70 specialized worlds containing thousands upon thousands of replete institutions and organizations devoted to universe training and spirit culture wherein the pilgrims of time are re-educated and re-examined preparatory to their long flight to Havona. The arriving pilgrims of time are always received on these associated worlds, but the departing graduates are always dispatched for Havona direct from the shores of Uversa.

^15:7.11 Uversa is the spiritual and administrative headquarters for approximately one trillion inhabited or inhabitable worlds. The glory, grandeur, and perfection of the Orvonton capital surpass any of the wonders of the time-space creations.

^15:7.12 ¶ If all the projected local universes and their component parts were established, there would be slightly less than 5?10¹¹ architectural worlds in the seven superuniverses.

8. ENERGY CONTROL AND REGULATION

^15:8.1 The headquarters spheres of the superuniverses are so constructed that they are able to function as efficient power-energy regulators for their various sectors, serving as focal points for the directionization of energy to their component local universes. They exert a powerful influence over the balance and control of the physical energies circulating through organized space.

^15:8.2 Further regulative functions are performed by the superuniverse power centres and physical controllers, living and semiliving intelligent entities constituted for this express purpose. These power centres and controllers are difficult of understanding; the lower orders are not volitional, they do not possess will, they do not choose, their functions are very intelligent but apparently automatic and inherent in their highly specialized organization. The power centres and physical controllers of the superuniverses assume direction and partial control of the 30 energy systems which comprise the gravita domain. The physical-energy circuits administered by the power centres of Uversa require a little over 968,000,000 years to complete the encirclement of the superuniverse.

^15:8.3 ¶ Evolving energy has substance; it has weight, although weight is always relative, depending on revolutionary velocity, mass, and antigravity. Mass in matter tends to retard velocity in energy[2]; and the anywhere-present velocity of energy represents: the initial endowment of velocity, minus retardation by mass encountered in transit, plus the regulatory function of the living energy controllers of the superuniverse and the physical influence of near-by highly heated or heavily charged bodies.

^15:8.4 The universal plan for the maintenance of equilibrium between matter and energy necessitates the everlasting making and unmaking of the lesser material units. The Universe Power Directors have the ability to condense and detain, or to expand and liberate, varying quantities of energy.

^15:8.5 Given a sufficient duration of retarding influence, gravity would eventually convert all energy into matter were it not for two factors: First, because of the antigravity influences of the energy controllers, and second, because organized matter tends to disintegrate under certain conditions found in very hot stars and under certain peculiar conditions in space near highly energized cold bodies of condensed matter.

^15:8.6 When mass becomes overaggregated and threatens to unbalance energy, to deplete the physical power circuits, the physical controllers intervene unless gravity’s own further tendency to overmaterialize energy is defeated by the occurrence of a collision among the dead giants of space, thus in an instant completely dissipating the cumulative collections of gravity. In these collisional episodes enormous masses of matter are suddenly converted into the rarest form of energy, and the struggle for universal equilibrium is begun