A recent series of posts on an Internet Forum got me thinking about the concept of reality in The Urantia Book. What does it mean when the book says something is real? And more important to me is the meaning of the term, unreal, as used by the book. This term is used several times and because it is unusual in our daily language I definitely wanted to get an idea on how the book utilizes it. Now I would like to make it clear that this study is based on the meaning and context of the aforementioned terms as found in The Urantia Book. My hope is to stimulate discussion centering on the interpreted meanings found exclusively in the book, and not any other text.
So, let’s get down to business. A good place to start our search for meaning is the Forward. The first definition of reality is found on page 5. In the context of discussing the difficulties of presenting concepts to us here on terra firma the author says that our comprehension of reality is “partial, relative, and shadowy.” Notice he/she did not say that we do not experience any reality. What we call real is called real by authors of the Urantia Book. This is a very consistent point throughout the work, with the exception of several of the sayings of Jesus, which I will wrestle with later on. The world around us is very real – but considered only partial, relative, and shadowy.
Papers 105 and 106 are helpful in our discussion of the nature of reality. Finite reality originates in the volitional actions of Paradise Deity (pg 1158). Supremely perfect reality descends from the heights of infinity to create the realm of the finite and also creates the possibility of evolutionary perfection. So even though we start out in a shadowy reality the finite creature and creation has the possibility of becoming perfected. But in order for that to happen we must start out in a partial reality (pg 1159). Evolutionary perfection implies an imperfect starting point from which to evolve from, but does not imply an unreal existence.
Paper 106, Universe Levels of Reality, goes on to describe different levels of finite reality. Our level of reality is called “Incomplete finites” (pg 1162). We are currently in this stage and will be until we attain Paradise. Our world will be in this stage until it becomes settled in Light and Life. The following stage we will enter is called, “Maximum finites”. It is interesting that the writer does not call this final, but also does not know what might follow this stage for universe creatures.
Among the writings that establish reality as we experience it, are suggestions that all of this is somehow unreal. To an Archangel of Nebadon the material world is “almost entirely unreal, being merely a shadow of the substance of spirit realities” (pg 498). They go on to say that the material world is very real to us, material beings. In the discussion of God the Supreme it says that as a human becomes godlier he/she become more real. And as a person turns away from God, he/she become less real (pg 1285). This unreality is really “cessation of existence”. An iniquitous person is considered unreal because that individual will become unreal when there is no hope of him/her turning towards God. Unreality is nonexistence.
In several places Jesus refers to our world as unreal. On page 1692 he refers to the natural world as “the unreal and fleeting shadow of spirit realities.” I believe that Jesus’ statements concerning the unreal are more akin to what the Archangel of Nebadon said. That compared to spiritual realities, our reality seems partial, relative, and shadowy. I do not believe that he is teaching us to regard our definition of reality as unreal. As we have already seen, there are different levels of reality and our experiences are very real to us.
Doing this word study was very helpful to me and I hope that it was of some help to you. I encourage you to look at some of these passages and make comments on the website.
God bless you,
William Whitehead
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