PARADISE is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding
place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their
divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic
organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe. Paradise is a
material sphere as well as a spiritual abode. All of the intelligent creation
of the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes; hence must the
absolute controlling center also be material, literal. And again it should be
reiterated that spirit things and spiritual beings are real.11:0.2 The material beauty of Paradise consists in
the magnificence of its physical perfection; the grandeur of the Isle of God is
exhibited in the superb intellectual accomplishments and mind development of
its inhabitants; the glory of the central Isle is shown forth in the infinite
endowment of divine spirit personality — the light of life. But the depths of
the spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent ensemble are utterly
beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of material creatures. The glory
and spiritual splendor of the divine abode are impossible of mortal
comprehension. And Paradise is from eternity; there are neither records nor
traditions respecting the origin of this nuclear Isle of Light and Life.
1. The Divine Residence
11:1.1 Paradise serves many purposes in the
administration of the universal realms, but to creature beings it exists
primarily as the dwelling place of Deity. The personal presence of the
Universal Father is resident at the very center of the upper surface of this
well-nigh circular, but not spherical, abode of the Deities. This Paradise
presence of the Universal Father is immediately surrounded by the personal
presence of the Eternal Son, while they are both invested by the unspeakable
glory of the Infinite Spirit.
(118.4) 11:1.2 God dwells, has dwelt, and everlastingly
will dwell in this same central and eternal abode. We have always found him
there and always will. The Universal Father is cosmically focalized,
spiritually personalized, and geographically resident at this center of the
universe of universes.
(118.5) 11:1.3 We all know the direct course to pursue to
find the Universal Father. You are not able to comprehend much about the divine
residence because of its remoteness from you and the immensity of the
intervening space, but those who are able to comprehend the meaning of these
enormous distances know God’s location and residence just as certainly and
literally as you know the location of New York, London, Rome, or Singapore,
cities definitely and geographically located on Urantia. If you were an
intelligent navigator, equipped with ship, maps, and compass, you could readily
find these cities. Likewise, if you had the time and means of passage, were
spiritually qualified, and had the necessary guidance, you could be piloted
through universe upon universe and from circuit to circuit, ever journeying
inward through the starry realms, until at last you would stand before the
central shining of the spiritual glory of the Universal Father. Provided with
all the necessities for the journey, it is just as possible to find the
personal presence of God at the center of all things as to find distant cities
on your own planet. That you have not visited these places in no way disproves
their reality or actual existence. That so few of the universe creatures have
found God on Paradise in no way disproves either the reality of his existence
or the actuality of his spiritual person at the center of all things.
(119.1) 11:1.4 The Father is always to be found at this
central location. Did he move, universal pandemonium would be precipitated, for
there converge in him at this residential center the universal lines of gravity
from the ends of creation. Whether we trace the personality circuit back
through the universes or follow the ascending personalities as they journey
inward to the Father; whether we trace the lines of material gravity to nether
Paradise or follow the insurging cycles of cosmic force; whether we trace the
lines of spiritual gravity to the Eternal Son or follow the inward processional
of the Paradise Sons of God; whether we trace out the mind circuits or follow the
trillions upon trillions of celestial beings who spring from the Infinite
Spirit — by any of these observations or by all of them we are led directly
back to the Father’s presence, to his central abode. Here is God personally,
literally, and actually present. And from his infinite being there flow the
flood-streams of life, energy, and personality to all universes.
