Paper 50 Overview: The Planetary Princes

Planetary Princes are specialized Lanonandek Sons who rule over evolving inhabited worlds. They are assigned to planets after the Life Carriers have established life and developed intelligent beings. These princes serve as the administrative heads of their assigned worlds and represent the closest approach of the Eternal Son to the creatures of time and space.

The Planetary Princes organize and administer their worlds with the help of a staff consisting of higher beings and ascending mortals. Their mission is to prepare primitive worlds for the arrival of the Material Sons who will later improve the biological quality of planetary life. They guide planets through the early stages of civilization, despite the risk of rebellion that comes with their relative isolation.

Planetary Princes belong to the order of Lanonandek Sons but are considered a distinct group because of their specialized service. They are certified by the Melchizedeks as secondary Lanonandeks and then assigned to the reserves of their order on the constellation headquarters. The System Sovereign sends a Planetary Prince to rule a planet when the Life Carriers request an administrator for a world where they have established intelligent evolutionary beings.

The Planetary Prince represents the closest personalized approach that the Eternal Son of Paradise can make to the lowly creatures of time and space. He is the sole representative of complete divinity on a newly inhabited world, coming from the Creator Son and the Divine Minister. The prince is surrounded by a loyal corps of helpers who assist in the administration of these new worlds.

Because they often work alone, Planetary Princes face many challenges in staying true to their divine mission. In the Nebadon universe, some princes have rebelled against higher authority. Despite these challenges, most Planetary Princes successfully organize and administer their inhabited worlds, which helps prepare planets for the arrival of the Material Sons and later the Paradise Sons of God.

All Planetary Princes are under Gabriel's administrative jurisdiction and the direct authority of the System Sovereigns. These world rulers may seek counsel from the Melchizedeks (their former instructors) and can also receive advice from a council of twenty-four beings from bestowal worlds of their system. The rule of early evolutionary planets is largely autocratic, with the prince organizing specialized groups of assistants.

The staff of a world ruler includes personalities of the Infinite Spirit and higher evolved beings from other worlds. This staff usually starts with about one thousand helpers and can grow to one hundred thousand as the planet progresses. Each planet has tribunals of justice presided over by staff members, with a focus on fatherly and discretionary judgment, though higher courts exist for appeals of more complex matters.

When going to a young world, a Planetary Prince usually takes a group of volunteer ascending beings from the local system headquarters. These helpers form a connecting link between the prince and the world races. The prince of Urantia, Caligastia, had one hundred such helpers who served as advisers and assisted with early race improvement.

These volunteer assistants are citizens of a system capital whose Thought Adjusters remain at their home world while they temporarily return to a material state. The Life Carriers provide these volunteers with new physical bodies that are exempt from ordinary diseases but can still suffer mechanical accidents. This corporeal staff usually leaves the planet when the Material Sons arrive, passing their duties to their offspring or superior native volunteers.

The prince's corporeal staff organizes planetary schools where the best members of evolutionary races learn better ways to live. These schools are located at the material headquarters of the planet. The physical work of establishing headquarters cities is performed by the corporeal staff, with these early settlements featuring simple mineral embellishment and relatively advanced material construction.

In these headquarters settlements, human habitations were given plenty of land. Time at the schools was divided equally between physical labor, social activities, educational learning, vocational training, and spiritual culture. Though the Planetary Prince is not visible to mortal beings, these schools of culture effectively spread civilization. On Urantia, these educational plans were progressing well until Caligastia joined the Lucifer rebellion, bringing everything to a sudden end.

Loyal Planetary Princes stay permanently attached to their assigned worlds. Their work helps develop planetary civilization independently of the missions of higher Sons. While civilization varies greatly between planets, all evolutionary worlds progress through certain well-defined developmental stages under the guidance of their princes.

Under good leadership, mortal races pass through seven developmental epochs: the nutrition epoch (focused on food), the security age (concerned with safety and war), the material-comfort era (pursuing luxury and pleasure), the quest for knowledge and wisdom (valuing education), the epoch of philosophy and brotherhood (developing ethics and morality), the age of spiritual striving (seeking cosmic understanding), and finally the era of light and life (achieving the harmonious blending of all human accomplishments).

Urantia's isolation makes it difficult to share many details about neighboring worlds in the Satania system. The development of civilization on Urantia has not differed greatly from other isolated worlds, but compared to loyal worlds, your planet is confused and behind in intellectual and spiritual progress. Even ideal evolutionary worlds require struggle, effort, and decision to acquire survival values.

Cultural development requires quality of mind, as superior intellect will seek noble culture while inferior minds reject even the highest culture when it is offered to them. The spiritual ban on Satania worlds for two hundred thousand years following the Lucifer rebellion has created lasting handicaps. Urantia continues its irregular path due to both a rebellious Planetary Prince and a defaulting Material Son, challenges that even Christ Michael's bestowal did not immediately resolve.

Although Urantia and other isolated worlds might seem unfortunate without the beneficial presence of superhuman leaders, this isolation gives their races a unique opportunity to develop faith and confidence in cosmic reliability without material proof. Mortal creatures from worlds quarantined because of rebellion often receive special assignments where unquestioned faith and confidence are essential.

On Jerusem, ascenders from isolated worlds live in their own residential area and are known as "agondonters," meaning creatures who can believe without seeing and triumph over difficulties when alone. This grouping continues throughout their universe ascension and reappears when they reach Paradise. Their rewards throughout the Paradise career reflect their unique efforts and experiences, contributing to the versatility of the finaliters' ultimate performances.