Paper 11 Overview: The Eternal Isle of Paradise

Paradise stands as the eternal nucleus of the universe of universes, functioning as the dwelling place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine associates. This central Isle represents the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in the master universe, simultaneously existing as both a material sphere and a spiritual abode. The trinitarian nature of Paradise manifests in its material beauty through physical perfection, its grandeur through the intellectual achievements and mind development of its inhabitants, and its glory through the infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—the light of life. This cosmic synthesis of material substance, intellectual being, and spiritual reality transcends the comprehension of finite mortal minds.

The Isle of Paradise exists as an absolute phenomenon without chronological beginning, persisting from eternity with neither records nor traditions regarding its origin. It serves numerous administrative functions for the universal realms but primarily exists for creatures as the dwelling place of Deity. The Universal Father's personal presence resides at the very center of Paradise's upper surface, immediately encompassed by the Eternal Son's personal presence, both enveloped by the Infinite Spirit's unspeakable glory. Theoretically, spiritually qualified individuals with proper guidance could navigate through universe upon universe, eventually standing before the central shining spiritual glory of the Universal Father at the convergence point of all personality, material gravity, and spiritual gravity circuits from the ends of creation.

Paradise constitutes the eternal center of the universe of universes and serves as the abiding place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle represents the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in the master universe, existing simultaneously as a material sphere and a spiritual abode. All intelligent creation originating from the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes, necessitating that the absolute controlling center also possess material, literal properties. The revelator emphatically reiterates that spirit things and spiritual beings possess genuine reality, not merely conceptual abstractions.

The material beauty of Paradise manifests through the magnificence of its physical perfection, while its grandeur is exhibited through the superb intellectual accomplishments and mind development of its inhabitants. The central Isle's glory shines forth through its infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—described as the light of life. However, the depths of spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent ensemble transcend the comprehension capabilities of finite minds inhabiting material vessels. The glory and spiritual splendor of this divine abode remain impossible for mortal comprehension to grasp fully. Paradise exists from eternity; neither records nor traditions regarding the origin of this nuclear Isle of Light and Life persist anywhere in the cosmos.

On upper Paradise, three grand spheres of activity exist: the Deity presence, the Most Holy Sphere, and the Holy Area. The personal presence of the Universal Father resides at the very center of Paradise's upper surface, immediately surrounded by the personal presence of the Eternal Son, while both are invested by the unspeakable glory of the Infinite Spirit. God dwells, has always dwelt, and will everlastingly dwell in this same central and eternal abode. Throughout eternity, the Universal Father maintains this cosmic focalization, spiritual personalization, and geographical residence at the universal center.

All beings comprehend the direct course to pursue to locate the Universal Father. Mortals cannot comprehend much about the divine residence due to its remoteness and the immensity of intervening space, but those capable of comprehending the meaning of these enormous distances know God's location and residence with the same certainty and literalness as one knows the geographical locations of planetary cities. With adequate time, means of passage, spiritual qualifications, and necessary guidance, individuals could be piloted through universe upon universe, journeying inward through starry realms until standing before the central spiritual radiance of the Universal Father. The Father's presence at this central location remains constant; should he move, universal pandemonium would ensue, as universal gravity lines from creation's ends converge in him. Whether tracing personality circuits, material gravity, cosmic force, spiritual gravity, Paradise Sons, or mind circuits—all paths lead directly to the Father's presence at creation's center, from which flow the flood-streams of life, energy, and personality to all universes.

The Father is always found at this central location, serving as the convergence point for all universal lines of gravity from creation's extremities. From this residential center emanate the universal lines of spirit, material, mind, and personality circuits. The Father's dwelling place functions as the cosmic orientation point for all existence, with his presence serving simultaneously as the source and destination of all energy-matter, spirit, mind, and personality in the cosmos. This divinely established pattern enables the infinite and absolute Source and Center to express himself through relative and evolving creation, maintaining direct connection with all beings in all worlds through the personality circuit while simultaneously upholding creation through the constant gravity pull that maintains cosmic equilibrium throughout all realized existence.

As mortal observers begin to glimpse the enormousness of the material universe discernible from their astronomical location and space position within starry systems, it becomes evident that such a tremendous material universe must possess an adequate and worthy capital. This headquarters must maintain commensurate dignity with the infinitude of the universal Ruler who oversees the vast creation of material realms and living beings. In form, Paradise differs fundamentally from inhabited space bodies; rather than being spherical, it is definitively ellipsoid, being one-sixth longer in the north-south diameter than in the east-west diameter. The central Isle is essentially flat, with the distance from upper to nether surface measuring one-tenth of the east-west diameter.

These dimensional differences, combined with Paradise's stationary status and the greater outward pressure of force-energy at the Isle's north end, facilitate the establishment of absolute direction in the master universe. The central Isle is geographically divided into three domains of activity: Upper Paradise, Peripheral Paradise, and Nether Paradise. The surface occupied with personality activities is designated as the upper side, and the opposite surface as the nether side. Paradise's periphery accommodates activities that are neither strictly personal nor nonpersonal. The Trinity appears to dominate the personal or upper plane, while the Unqualified Absolute governs the nether or impersonal plane. Though the Unqualified Absolute cannot be conceptualized as a person, its functional space presence focuses on nether Paradise.

The eternal Isle consists of a single materialization form—stationary systems of reality—composed of a homogeneous organization of space potency called absolutum, a Paradise source material that is neither dead nor alive, representing the original nonspiritual expression of the First Source and Center. The First Source and Center appears to have concentrated all absolute potential for cosmic reality in Paradise as part of his self-liberation technique from infinity limitations, facilitating subinfinite, time-space creation. Paradise exists without time and has no location in space; roughly speaking, space originates just below nether Paradise while time originates just above upper Paradise. Time, as mortals understand it, is not a feature of Paradise existence, though its inhabitants remain fully conscious of nontime sequence of events. Motion is not inherent on Paradise but volitional, and concepts of distance have meaning only as applied to relative locations on Paradise, making its areas absolute and serviceable beyond mortal comprehension.

On upper Paradise, three grand spheres of activity exist: the Deity presence, the Most Holy Sphere, and the Holy Area. The vast region immediately surrounding the Deities' presence is designated as the Most Holy Sphere, reserved exclusively for worship functions, trinitization, and high spiritual attainment. No material structures or purely intellectual creations exist in this zone—such entities could not manifest there. It remains futile for the revelator to attempt portraying to the human mind the divine nature and beauteous grandeur of Paradise's Most Holy Sphere. This realm exists as wholly spiritual, and material beings would perceive it as essentially nonexistent due to their contrary natures.

While physical materializations are absent from the Most Holy area, abundant souvenirs of material days exist in the Holy Land sectors, with even more present in the reminiscent historic areas of peripheral Paradise. The Holy Area—the outlying or residential region—is divided into seven concentric zones. Paradise is sometimes called "the Father's House" as his eternal residence, and these seven zones are often designated "the Father's Paradise mansions." The inner or first zone is occupied by Paradise Citizens and Havona natives dwelling on Paradise. The second zone constitutes the residential area for natives of the seven superuniverses of time and space. This second zone is partially subdivided into seven immense divisions, each exclusively dedicated to the welfare and advancement of personalities from a single superuniverse, though these facilities vastly exceed the requirements of the current seven superuniverses.

Each of Paradise's seven sectors subdivides into residential units suitable for lodging headquarters of one billion glorified individual working groups. One thousand units constitute a division; one hundred thousand divisions equal one congregation; ten million congregations form an assembly; one billion assemblies create one grand unit. This ascending series continues through the second grand unit, third, and so on to the seventh grand unit. Seven grand units compose a master unit, and seven master units constitute a superior unit, with the ascending series expanding by sevens through superior, supersuperior, celestial, supercelestial, to supreme units. Despite this staggering number of residential designations, they occupy considerably less than one percent of the Holy Land's assigned area, leaving abundant space for those journeying inward, even for those who will not commence the Paradise climb until the eternal future.

The central Isle terminates abruptly at the periphery, though its enormous size renders this terminal angle relatively indiscernible within any circumscribed area. Paradise's peripheral surface partially accommodates landing and dispatching fields for various spirit personalities. Since nonpervaded-space zones nearly impinge upon the periphery, all personality transports destined for Paradise land in these regions, as neither upper nor nether Paradise is approachable by transport supernaphim or other space traversers.

The Seven Master Spirits maintain personal power and authority seats on the seven Spirit spheres, which circle Paradise in space between the Son's shining orbs and Havona worlds' inner circuit. However, they establish force-focal headquarters on the Paradise periphery. Here, the slowly circulating presences of the Seven Supreme Power Directors indicate the location of seven flash stations for certain Paradise energies proceeding to the seven superuniverses. On peripheral Paradise exist enormous historic and prophetic exhibit areas assigned to the Creator Sons, dedicated to the local universes of time and space. Precisely seven trillion historic reservations are currently established or in reserve, though these arrangements collectively occupy only about four percent of the peripheral area thus designated.

The revelator infers these vast reserves belong to creations sometime to be situated beyond the borders of the present known and inhabited seven superuniverses. The portion of Paradise designated for existing universes' use is currently occupied between one and four percent, while the area assigned to these activities is at least one million times what is actually required for such purposes. Paradise's size sufficiently accommodates the activities of an almost infinite creation. Any further attempt to visualize Paradise's glories would prove futile; mortals must wait and ascend while waiting, for truly, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the mind of mortal man, the things which the Universal Father has prepared for those who survive the life in the flesh on the worlds of time and space."

Concerning nether Paradise, only revealed information is known, as personalities do not sojourn there. It has no connection whatsoever with spirit intelligences' affairs, nor does the Deity Absolute function there. All physical-energy and cosmic-force circuits originate on nether Paradise, which is constituted as follows: directly underneath the Trinity's location, in nether Paradise's central portion, lies the unknown and unrevealed Zone of Infinity, immediately surrounded by an unnamed area. Occupying the outer margins of the under surface is a region primarily concerned with space potency and force-energy, whose activities cannot be identified with any triunity's known functions, though the primordial force-charge of space appears to be focalized in this area.

This force center consists of three concentric elliptical zones: the innermost focuses on Paradise's force-energy activities; the outermost may possibly be identified with the Unqualified Absolute's functions; however, uncertainty persists regarding the mid-zone's space functions. The inner zone acts as a gigantic heart whose pulsations direct currents to physical space's outermost borders, directing and modifying force-energies rather than driving them. The reality pressure-presence of this primal force registers significantly greater at Paradise center's north end than in southern regions. The mother force of space appears to flow in at the south and out at the north through some unknown circulatory system concerned with this basic force-energy form's diffusion. While not responsive to observable physical gravity, these forces remain always obedient to Paradise gravity.

The mid-zone immediately surrounds this area, appearing static except for three activity cycles of expansion and contraction in various directions. The outer zone constitutes the largest and most active belt of unidentified space potential, hosting unimagined activities and serving as the central circuit point for emanations proceeding spaceward in every direction beyond the master universe. This space presence is entirely impersonal, yet indirectly responsive to the Trinity's will. All force and energy forms seem encircuited, circulating throughout universes and returning by definite routes. With the activated zone of the Unqualified Absolute's emanations, there appears either outgoing or incoming—never both simultaneously. This outer zone pulsates in agelong cycles of gigantic proportions, with space-force emanations being universal and extending throughout all pervadable space.

Space respiration represents a cosmic mechanism whose actual operation remains unknown to universal observers; they merely observe that all space alternately contracts and expands in cycles lasting slightly more than one billion Urantia years each. This respiration affects both the horizontal extension of pervaded space and the vertical extensions of unpervaded space in the vast reservoirs above and below Paradise. When attempting to conceptualize these space reservoirs' volume outlines, one might envision an hourglass configuration with converging elements that flow through transmuting regulation channels.

As the universes of pervaded space's horizontal extension expand, the unpervaded space's vertical extension reservoirs contract, and vice versa. A confluence of pervaded and unpervaded space exists just beneath nether Paradise, where both space types flow through channels that transform pervadable space into nonpervadable space and vice versa during the cosmos's contraction and expansion cycles. "Unpervaded" space indicates space unpervaded by forces, energies, powers, and presences known to exist in pervaded space. Uncertainty remains whether vertical (reservoir) space is eternally destined to function as horizontal (universe) space's equipoise; researchers cannot determine whether a creative intent exists concerning unpervaded space. Very little is known about space reservoirs, merely that they exist and apparently counterbalance the universe of universes' space-expansion-contraction cycles.

Space respiration cycles extend in each phase for slightly more than one billion Urantia years. During one phase, universes expand; during the next, they contract. Pervaded space now approaches the expanding phase's mid-point, while unpervaded space nears the contracting phase's mid-point. The outermost limits of both space extensions are theoretically now approximately equidistant from Paradise. The unpervaded-space reservoirs currently extend vertically above upper Paradise and below nether Paradise just as far as pervaded space extends horizontally outward from peripheral Paradise to and even beyond the fourth outer space level. For one billion Urantia years, space reservoirs contract while the master universe and all horizontal space's force activities expand. It thus requires slightly over two billion Urantia years to complete the entire expansion-contraction cycle, establishing a cosmic rhythm that contributes to the stability of the master universe.

Space does not exist on any Paradise surface; looking directly upward from Paradise's upper surface would reveal only unpervaded space either entering or exiting—currently entering. Space makes no contact with Paradise; only quiescent midspace zones directly touch the central Isle. Paradise functions as the motionless nucleus of relatively quiescent zones between pervaded and unpervaded space. Geographically, these zones appear as a relative Paradise extension, though some motion likely exists within them. Very little is known about them, but observation indicates these zones of lessened space motion separate pervaded and unpervaded space, similar to zones that once existed between pervaded space levels but are now less quiescent.

A vertical cross-section of total space would resemble a Maltese cross, with horizontal arms representing pervaded (universe) space and vertical arms representing unpervaded (reservoir) space. The areas between the four arms would separate them somewhat as midspace zones separate pervaded and unpervaded space. These quiescent midspace zones grow progressively larger at greater distances from Paradise, eventually encompassing the borders of all space and completely encapsulating both the space reservoirs and the entire horizontal extension of pervaded space. Space is neither a subabsolute condition within the Unqualified Absolute nor its presence; neither is it the Ultimate's function. Space represents a Paradise bestowal, and the grand universe's space and outer regions are believed to be actually pervaded by the Unqualified Absolute's ancestral space potency.

From near approach to peripheral Paradise, pervaded space extends horizontally outward through the fourth space level and beyond the master universe's periphery, though its extent remains unknown. Visualizing a finite but inconceivably large V-shaped plane situated at right angles to both Paradise's upper and lower surfaces, with its point nearly tangent to peripheral Paradise, and then imagining this plane in elliptical revolution around Paradise would roughly outline pervaded space's volume. Horizontal space has both upper and lower limits relative to any given location, and these limits draw increasingly farther apart at greater distances from Paradise; space thickens somewhat faster than the plane of creation—the universes. A space level functions as an elliptical region of motion surrounded by relative motionlessness, creating a curved space path of lessened resistance followed by cosmic force and emergent energy as they eternally circle around Paradise Isle. This alternate zoning of the master universe, combined with galaxies' alternate clockwise and counterclockwise flow, stabilizes physical gravity and prevents gravity pressure accentuation that could cause disruptive activities.

Gravity's inescapable pull effectively grips all worlds across all universes in space, representing the all-powerful grasp of Paradise's physical presence—the omnipotent strand upon which gleaming stars, blazing suns, and whirling spheres are strung. The center of absolute material gravity is Paradise Isle, complemented by dark gravity bodies encircling Havona and equilibrated by space reservoirs. All known emanations from nether Paradise invariably respond to the central gravity pull operating upon the endless circuits of the master universe's elliptical space levels. Every form of cosmic reality exhibits the bend of ages, the circle's trend, and the great ellipse's swing, demonstrating universal adherence to Paradise gravity patterns.

Space itself is nonresponsive to gravity but functions as an equilibrant; without the space cushion, explosive action would jerk surrounding space bodies. Pervaded space exerts an antigravity influence upon physical gravity, capable of neutralizing gravity action though not delaying it. Absolute gravity is Paradise gravity, while local gravity pertains to energy or matter's electrical stage, operating wherever suitable materialization has occurred. The numerous forms of cosmic force, physical energy, universe power, and materializations reveal three general stages of response to Paradise gravity: Pregravity Stages (Force), the first step in space potency's individuation into cosmic force; Gravity Stages (Energy), wherein Paradise force organizers' action produces energy systems responsive to Paradise gravity; and Postgravity Stages (Universe Power), wherein energy-matter discloses response to linear gravity control.

Space potency remains unaffected by gravitation, representing Paradise's primal endowment rather than an actual reality level. It encompasses all absolute influences and potentials emanating from Paradise and constituting the Unqualified Absolute's space presence. Paradise serves as infinity's pattern; the God of Action activates that pattern. Paradise represents infinity's material fulcrum; the Third Source and Center's agencies are the intelligence levers motivating the material level and injecting spontaneity into physical creation. The Unqualified Absolute functions as the revealer, regulator, and repository of Paradise-sourced energy-matter. Its universal presence seems equivalent to a potential infinity of gravity extension, an elastic tension of Paradise presence explaining why everything draws inward toward Paradise. This concept helps comprehend why gravity always acts preferentially in the plane perpendicular to mass, a phenomenon indicating Paradise's differential dimensions and the surrounding creations.

Paradise stands unique as both the realm of primal origin and the final destiny goal for all spirit personalities. Though not all lower spirit beings from local universes are immediately destined for Paradise, it nevertheless remains the goal of desire for all supermaterial personalities. Paradise is the geographic center of infinity; it exists outside universal creation, not even constituting a real part of the eternal Havona universe. Though commonly referred to as belonging to the divine universe, Paradise truly represents an eternal and exclusive existence, serving simultaneously as the foundation for material reality and the destination for spiritual ascension.

In eternity's past, when the Universal Father gave infinite personality expression of his spirit self in the Eternal Son, he simultaneously revealed his nonpersonal self's infinity potential as Paradise. Nonpersonal and nonspiritual Paradise appears to have been the inevitable repercussion to the Father's will and act that eternalized the Original Son. The tension between the personal and nonpersonal, spiritual and nonspiritual, in the face of the Father and Son's will to action, gave existence to the Conjoint Actor and the central universe of material worlds and spiritual beings. When reality differentiates into the personal and nonpersonal (Eternal Son and Paradise), it becomes inappropriate to call nonpersonal elements "Deity" without qualification. Paradise is not ancestral to any being or living entity; it functions as the absolute of patterns, while Havona exhibits these potentials in actuality.

God's residence is central and eternal, glorious and ideal, serving as the pattern for all universe headquarters worlds. Paradise is the universal headquarters for all personality activities and the source-center of all force-space and energy manifestations. Everything that has been, now is, or will be, has come, now comes, or will come forth from this central abiding place of the eternal Gods. For mortals, the most significant aspect of eternal Paradise is that it constitutes the real and far-distant destiny of the immortal souls of God's mortal sons—the ascending creatures of evolutionary worlds. Every God-knowing mortal who has embarked upon the Father's will-doing career has begun the long Paradise trail of divinity pursuit and perfection attainment. When such an animal-origin being stands before the Gods on Paradise, having ascended from space's lowly spheres, such achievement represents a spiritual transformation bordering on supremacy's limits, demonstrating the infinite grace and mercy of the Universal Father in the salvation plan for his material children.