Paper 118 Overview: Supreme and Ultimate—Time and Space

Paper 118 explores the relationship between the Supreme and Ultimate Deities and their functions in time and space. These two experiential Deities form a crucial bridge between the beginnings and completions of all creative growth in the master universe. The Supreme, an evolutionary-experiential Deity, works with the Ultimate to provide a framework for universe progression that is both endless in extent yet continually satisfying through periodic moments of goal attainment that serve as preludes to new adventures in cosmic growth.

The paper examines several important concepts related to these Deities' functions, including the nature of time and eternity, omnipresence and ubiquity, time-space relationships, primary and secondary causation, and the operation of providence. It explains how time and space function as insulating mechanisms that allow finite creatures to coexist with the Infinite while providing a framework for growth and development. Through discussions of God's omnipotence, omniscience, and the mechanisms of universe control, the paper illuminates how Deity functions within the finite realms to guide creation toward its ultimate destiny.

The paper begins by outlining the seven natures of Deity, explaining how each represents a different aspect or level of divine reality. These range from the self-existent Father and coexistent Son to the evolutionary-experiential Supreme, the self-distributive Sevenfold, the transcendental-experiential Ultimate, and the existential-experiential Absolute. This hierarchical presentation establishes the framework for understanding how Deity functions throughout different levels of reality.

The Supreme and Ultimate together constitute the basic association of subabsolute and derived Deity, forming an experiential bridge between the beginnings and completions of all creative growth. Creative growth in the universe is described as endless yet always satisfying, providing punctuated moments of goal attainment that serve as launching points for new adventures. This pattern reflects how finite minds can conceptualize infinity through continual addition, always recognizing that each summation represents a meaningful yet temporary achievement in an endless progression.

Understanding Deity's relationship to the cosmos requires comprehending the interplay between time and eternity. While absolute Deity is eternal in nature, the Gods relate to time through their experiences in eternity. In the evolutionary universes, eternity manifests as temporal everlastingness—the everlasting now in which all events unfold in their proper sequence.

Human personality has the remarkable ability to eternalize through self-identification with the indwelling spirit and choosing to do the Father's will. This consecration of will represents a realization of eternity-reality of purpose, where the succession of moments no longer changes the creature's fundamental purpose. Time units become increasingly less important as maturity develops, allowing the self to escape the limitations of the momentary present. At the level of the infinite and absolute, the present moment contains all of the past and future, representing the eternal I AM who signifies "I WAS" and "I WILL BE" simultaneously.

The ubiquity of Deity must not be confused with the ultimacy of divine omnipresence. The Universal Father has arranged for the Supreme, Ultimate, and Absolute to coordinate and unify his time-space ubiquity with his timeless and spaceless universal and absolute presence. Deity ubiquity is often space-associated but not necessarily time-conditioned, representing God's presence throughout the universe.

As mortals progress spiritually, they progressively discern God through the ministry of God the Sevenfold, discover God the Supreme in Havona, and find him as a person on Paradise. Finaliters then attempt to know God as Ultimate. No finaliter is disturbed by uncertainties in attaining the Deity Absolute, since they encountered God the Father at the end of their supreme and ultimate ascensions. They understand that finding God the Absolute would only reveal the same God, the Paradise Father, manifesting on more infinite and universal levels.

Only through ubiquity can Deity unify time-space manifestations to make them comprehensible to finite beings. Time exists as a succession of instants, while space functions as a system of associated points. Humans uniquely perceive time through analysis and space through synthesis, coordinating these dissimilar conceptions through the integrating insight of personality, a capability unique to beings of personality status.

Things are conditioned by time, but truth exists beyond time's constraints. The more truth one knows and embodies, the more one can understand of both past and future. When truth becomes linked with fact, both time and space condition its meanings and correlate its values. Such realities of truth wedded to fact become concepts that operate within the domain of relative cosmic realities. The Supreme plays an essential role in coordinating the divine and unchanging overworld with the finite and ever-changing underworld, serving as a bridge between absolute and finite reality.

Many theological and metaphysical challenges arise when humans mislocate Deity personality and assign infinite attributes to subordinate or evolutionary forms of Deity. While there is a true First Cause, there are also numerous coordinate and subordinate causes functioning throughout the universe. The vital distinction lies in understanding that first causes produce original effects free from any previous causation, while secondary causes yield effects that exhibit inheritance from prior causation.

Causation in the finite universe operates through a three-stage process. First, static potentials inherent in the Unqualified Absolute are activated by the Deity Absolute through the actions of the Paradise Trinity. Second, these potentials are transformed into universe capacities through the Ultimacy of Deity and transcendental agencies. Third, Supreme Creators effect the time transmutations of matured potentials into experiential actuals, with all actualization of potential reality being limited by ultimate capacity for development and conditioned by time-space in the final stages of emergence.

God's omnipotence does not imply the power to do the logically impossible or self-contradictory. Within the time-space frame and from a mortal perspective, even the infinite God cannot create square circles or produce evil that is inherently good, as these would be ungodlike acts representing a contradiction in terms. Compossibility—the principle that divine power must operate within the framework of divine nature—is innate in divine power.

In the beginning, the Father creates all things, but as eternity unfolds, creatures increasingly become God's partners in realizing the finality of destiny. When humans partner with God, entering into a relationship with the Universal Father, no limitation can be placed on the future possibilities of this partnership. When a mortal fuses with the indwelling Father presence, breaking the fetters of time, they begin the eternal progression toward finding the Universal Father. God first seeks man that man may later find God, establishing the pattern of universal sonship and brotherhood.

While God is truly omnipotent (all-powerful), he is not omnificent—he does not personally perform every action in the universe. His omnipotence encompasses the power-potential of the Almighty Supreme and Supreme Being, but the volitional acts of God the Supreme are not the personal doings of the infinite God. To claim God's omnificence would disenfranchise millions of Creator Sons and countless other creative assistants who participate in universe building.

All volition in the universe is relative except for the absolute will of the Father-I AM. Human free will is limited to what is choosable—a person cannot choose to be other than human, but can choose to embark on the voyage of universe ascension because human choice and divine will coincide on this point. The act of choosing to find God and become like him represents a superfinite choice that transcends the normal boundaries of finite will, with only eternity capable of revealing whether such choices also transcend absonite limitations.

The function of Creator will and creature will operates within the limits established by the Master Architects, but this foreordination of maximum limits does not restrict the sovereignty of creature will within these boundaries. God's foreknowledge of our decisions does not diminish their freedom or genuineness, just as a mature human might accurately predict a younger person's choice without affecting the authenticity of that decision.

Even the supreme correlation of all past, present, and future choice does not invalidate their authenticity. Error in finite choosing exists only within time and within the evolving presence of the Supreme, indicating both the incompleteness of the Supreme and the range of choice immature creatures need to make contact with reality. Sin demonstrates the temporal liberty of finite will, while iniquity reveals the transient reality of all God-unidentified selfhood. Only as creatures become God-identified do they become truly real in the universes.

In time-space creations, free will operates within necessary constraints and limitations. Material-life evolution begins mechanically, becomes mind-activated, and potentially evolves to be spirit-directed. Organic evolution on inhabited worlds is physically limited by the potentials of the original physical-life implantations made by the Life Carriers.

Humans are complex living mechanisms with roots in the physical world of energy, yet they are more than machines because they possess mind and spirit. Though never able to fully escape the chemical and electrical mechanics of existence, humans can learn to subordinate this physical-life machine through the directive wisdom of experience, by consecrating the human mind to follow the spiritual urges of the indwelling Thought Adjuster. The spirit liberates while the mechanism limits the function of will, and the greatest challenge for creatures is achieving liberation from mechanical stability while establishing harmonious connection with spirit guidance.

Time and space function together as a conjoined mechanism of the master universe, serving as devices that enable finite creatures to coexist with the Infinite. These insulating media are essential for mortal existence, yet they simultaneously limit the range of finite action. Without them, no creature could function, but with them, creature actions are definitely constrained.

Mechanisms produced by higher minds liberate their creative sources while limiting the actions of subordinate intelligences. Humans do not possess unfettered free will; there are boundaries to their choices, but within these limitations, their will remains relatively sovereign. The human body, a product of supermortal creative design, can never be perfectly controlled by humans themselves. Only when ascending man, in liaison with the fused Adjuster, self-creates the mechanism for personality expression will perfect control be achieved. The grand universe functions as both mechanism and organism—a living mechanism activated by Supreme Mind and coordinated by Supreme Spirit.

Providence is not God deciding everything for us in advance, which would constitute cosmic tyranny. God loves us too much for that approach, instead granting humans relative powers of choice. Divine love is not shortsighted affection that would pamper and spoil humanity, but rather encourages growth through experience and choice. Providence operates with regard to the total and concerns the function of any being as it relates to the evolutionary growth of some total.

Providence becomes increasingly discernible as the universe mechanisms achieve precision through mind overcontrol, as creature mind reaches perfection through integration with spirit, and as the Supreme emerges to unify these universe phenomena. Most of what mortals call providential is not truly so; human judgment of these matters is handicapped by limited perspective. Providence manifests in the evolving universes and becomes more apparent as creatures develop capacity to perceive universe purpose. The love of the Father operates directly in the individual's heart, while the impersonal presence of Deity manifests regard for the whole rather than the part.