Paper 55 Overview: The Spheres of Light and Life

The age of light and life represents the final evolutionary attainment of worlds in time and space, achieved after passing through numerous planetary ages including the pre- and post-Planetary Prince ages, the post-Adamic age, post-Magisterial Son age, and postbestowal Son age. This culminating achievement is facilitated by Trinity Teacher Sons and their progressive revelations of divine truth and cosmic wisdom, with assistance from Brilliant Evening Stars and sometimes Melchizedeks. The era continues indefinitely on inhabited worlds, with each advancing stage potentially divided into dispensations by Magisterial Sons, though these judicial actions don't fundamentally modify planetary evolution.

There are seven distinct stages in the development of the era of light and life on evolutionary worlds, progressing from the planetary stage through system, constellation, local universe, minor sector, major sector, and finally the superuniverse stage. The values of any stage may be attained by any world regardless of the development of other worlds or superplanetary administration levels, allowing independent progress for each sphere according to its unique evolutionary path.

The age of light and life represents the final evolutionary achievement for a world of time and space. This settled status is reached after an inhabited world progresses through successive planetary ages—the pre- and post-Planetary Prince ages, the post-Adamic age, the post-Magisterial Son age, and the postbestowal Son age. This culminating achievement is made possible through the ministry of successive planetary missions of Trinity Teacher Sons who provide ever-advancing revelations of divine truth and cosmic wisdom. In establishing this final planetary age, the Teacher Sons are always assisted by the Brilliant Evening Stars and sometimes by the Melchizedeks.

Once inaugurated by the Teacher Sons at the conclusion of their final planetary mission, the era of light and life continues indefinitely on inhabited worlds. Each advancing stage of settled status may be divided into a succession of dispensations by the judicial actions of the Magisterial Sons, but these actions are purely technical and don't fundamentally change planetary progress. Only planets in the main superuniverse circuits are guaranteed continuous survival, but worlds settled in light and life are believed to continue throughout all future time. There are seven distinct stages in the development of the era of light and life on evolutionary worlds.

The presence of a morontia temple at a planet's capital marks its advancement into the settled ages of light and life. The Teacher Sons, before departing at the conclusion of their terminal mission, inaugurate this final evolutionary epoch with a ceremony described as "the holy temple comes down upon earth," attended by the Paradise bestowal Son who proclaims the Planetary Prince as the new Planetary Sovereign with expanded authority. This ceremony represents a significant planetary milestone, with the System Sovereign present to confirm these pronouncements and establish a new planetary order.

The morontia temple contains three distinct parts: at the center is the sanctuary of the Paradise bestowal Son; on the right sits the former Planetary Prince, now Planetary Sovereign; and on the left is the seat of the chief of finaliters attached to the planet. These temples aren't physically transported from the system headquarters but are constructed according to architectural plans created at the system capital and built by Morontia Power Supervisors and Master Physical Controllers. These impressive edifices seat approximately 300,000 spectators and serve special planetary functions including communications with higher authorities, visualization ceremonies revealing spirit beings, silent cosmic contemplation, graduation exercises for schools of cosmic philosophy, and recognition of outstanding planetary service.

On worlds existing in the final era of light and life, natural physical death is no longer inevitable for most advanced evolutionary beings. Instead, they experience direct translation from physical life to morontia existence through the fusion of their immortal soul with their indwelling Thought Adjuster. This experience of translation increases in frequency as planetary evolution progresses, with approximately one quarter of mortals exempt from natural death by the time of the Teacher Sons' terminal mission.

As planets advance further into the era of light and life, midway creatures or their associates can sense when a mortal is approaching soul-Adjuster union and notify the destiny guardians, who then inform the finaliter group supervising that mortal. The Planetary Sovereign then summons the individual to resign all planetary duties and proceed to the inner temple to await morontia transit. During this profound ceremony, family, friends, and colleagues gather around the fusion candidate in the morontia temple, protected by celestial beings from the energies of the "life flash" that transforms the mortal from physical existence to morontia life. These beautiful ceremonies replace the somber funerals of earlier epochs, becoming occasions of supreme joy and profound satisfaction for all involved.

During the age of light and life, worlds prosper under the fatherly rule of the Planetary Sovereign. Normal worlds typically progress with one language, one religion, and on most spheres, one race. Though this age represents remarkable advancement, it remains imperfect—well-appointed hospitals still exist to care for accidental injuries and the inevitable conditions of old age. Disease has not been entirely conquered, nor have all animals been completely subdued, yet compared to primitive human times, these worlds resemble paradise on earth.

Human government continues to function throughout this period of relative progress and perfection. On one world in its first stage of light and life, every adult worker contributed ten percent of their income to the public treasury, allocated in specific proportions: three percent for truth promotion (science, education, and philosophy), three percent for beauty (play, social leisure, and art), three percent for goodness (social service, altruism, and religion), and one percent for insurance against work incapacity due to accidents, disease, old age, or disasters. Natural resources were administered as social possessions, and the highest honor granted to citizens was the "order of supreme service," awarded to those who distinguished themselves in supermaterial discovery or planetary social service.

As inhabited worlds progress through successive stages of settled existence, they experience remarkable advancement under the wise administration of the volunteer Corps of the Finality—Paradise ascenders who return to minister to their mortal siblings. These finaliters begin their genuine participation in planetary affairs when the morontia temple appears, marking a significant transition in world governance. After the formal inauguration of the planetary ministry of the Corps of the Finality, most celestial hosts withdraw, though seraphic guardians continue their personal ministry to progressing mortals, increasing in numbers as more humans reach higher levels of attainment.

The first stage of light and life features administration by three rulers: the Planetary Sovereign (advised by a Trinity Teacher Son), the chief of the planetary corps of finaliters, and Adam and Eve functioning jointly as unifiers of the dual leadership. Exalted and liberated midway creatures serve as interpreters for the seraphic guardians and finaliters, having been promoted to advanced planetary status by the Trinity Teacher Sons. As planets progress through subsequent stages, new orders of liaison ministers gradually replace the midwayers, with the seventh stage witnessing the arrival of the first absonite ministers from Paradise serving in place of certain universe creatures.

Mortal creatures living on troubled, evil-dominated, self-seeking worlds like Urantia can scarcely conceive of the physical perfection, intellectual attainment, and spiritual development that characterize the advanced epochs of evolution on sinless spheres. These advanced stages represent the culmination of evolutionary material development, where poverty and social inequality have virtually disappeared. Degeneracy has vanished, mental illness has practically ceased to exist, and feeble-mindedness occurs only rarely.

The economic, social, and administrative status of these worlds functions at a high and perfected level where science, art, and industry flourish within a smoothly operating mechanism of material, intellectual, and cultural achievement. War has become merely historical, armies and police forces no longer exist, and government gradually disappears as self-control makes human laws obsolete. Educational institutions have vastly improved, focusing on mind training and soul expansion, while art centers achieve exquisite quality and musical organizations reach superb performance levels. The temples of worship, with their associated schools of philosophy and experiential religion, become magnificent creations of beauty and grandeur, fostering a refreshingly simple lifestyle that coordinates mechanical development with intellectual attainment and spiritual achievement.

As worlds advance into the settled status of light and life, society becomes increasingly peaceful while individuals maintain their independence and family devotion alongside growing altruism and fraternity. Though still mortal beings who continue to breathe, eat, sleep, and drink, these citizens represent the flowering of evolutionary races—a sublime foreshadowing of the divine worlds of the Paradise ascent rather than heaven itself. On normal worlds, the biological fitness of the mortal race reached high levels during post-Adamic epochs, and throughout the settled eras, physical evolution continues with extended vision and hearing capacities.

Population numbers stabilize, with reproduction regulated according to planetary requirements and hereditary qualities. Mortals are divided into five to ten groups, with lower groups permitted to produce only half as many children as higher groups, ensuring continued improvement through selective reproduction of superior social, philosophical, cosmic, and spiritual qualities. The Adjusters continue to indwell these mortals, and adjutant mind-spirits remain active during embryonic and prespiritual developmental stages. By the fourth stage of light and life, advanced mortals experience considerable conscious contact with the Master Spirit of their superuniverse, while more than half the human population achieves translation to the morontia state from among the living rather than experiencing physical death.

This initial epoch extends from the appearance of the morontia temple at the new planetary headquarters until the time when the entire system achieves settlement in light and life. The age begins when Trinity Teacher Sons complete their successive world missions and the Planetary Prince is elevated to Planetary Sovereign by mandate and personal presence of the Paradise bestowal Son. Simultaneously, the finaliters begin their active participation in planetary affairs, establishing a new governance structure and helping guide the world's continuing evolution.

To outward appearances, the actual rulers of such a world settled in light and life are the Material Son and Daughter, the Planetary Adam and Eve, while the finaliters remain invisible and the Prince-Sovereign can only be seen when in the morontia temple. This arrangement has given prestige to the concept of kings and queens throughout the universe realms, as these visible rulers act on behalf of higher but invisible authorities. The settled age continues until every inhabited planet in the system attains the era of stabilization, and when the youngest world has experienced such settledness for one millennium of system time, the entire system enters stabilized status and transitions to the system epoch of light and life.

When an entire system becomes settled in life, a new form of government emerges. The Planetary Sovereigns become members of the system conclave, a new administrative body that holds supreme authority subject only to the veto of the Constellation Fathers. A system legislative assembly is constituted on the headquarters world with each planet sending ten representatives. Courts are established on the system capitals, with appeals directed only to the universe headquarters.

During this stage, the Assigned Sentinel, representing the superuniverse Supreme Executive, becomes the volunteer adviser to the system supreme court and presiding officer of the new legislative assembly. After the entire system becomes settled in light and life, the System Sovereigns serve permanently rather than rotating as in earlier ages, though assistant sovereigns continue to change according to established patterns. For the first time, midsoniters come from the universe headquarters worlds to serve as counselors to legislative assemblies and advisers to adjudicational tribunals, helping inculcate new mota meanings alongside the finaliters. The Teacher Sons become voluntary collaborators with the finaliters, and the mansion worlds are repurposed as even the broader constellation continues to evolve.

The unification of a whole constellation of settled systems brings significant redistribution of executive authority and additional readjustments to universe administration. While every inhabited world continues to advance, this stage especially features reorganization at the constellation headquarters, with substantial modification of relationships to both system supervision and local universe government. Many constellation and universe activities transfer to system capitals, and representatives of the superuniverse establish new and more intimate relationships with planetary, system, and universe rulers.

When a constellation attains settlement in light, the legislative function ceases, replaced by the house of System Sovereigns presided over by the Most Highs. This administrative group now deals directly with the superuniverse government regarding Havona and Paradise relationships, though the constellation maintains its previous relationship with the local universe. As ages pass, the Constellation Fathers assume increasing responsibility for administration and supervision functions previously centered at the universe headquarters. By the sixth stage of stabilization, these unified constellations achieve near-complete autonomy, and entrance into the seventh stage would witness the elevation of these rulers to the true dignity signified by their title, the Most Highs.

When a universe becomes settled in light and life, it quickly enters the established superuniverse circuits, and the Ancients of Days proclaim the formation of the supreme council of unlimited authority. This new governing body consists of one hundred Faithfuls of Days presided over by the Union of Days, and their first act acknowledges the continued sovereignty of the Master Creator Son. The universe administration under Gabriel and the Father Melchizedek remains unchanged, with the new council focusing primarily on the novel problems and conditions arising from the advanced status of light and life.

Significant administrative changes include the Associate Inspector mobilizing all Assigned Sentinels to form the stabilization corps of the local universe and requesting the Father Melchizedek to share in its supervision. A corps of Inspired Trinity Spirits is assigned to the service of the Union of Days, while the local universe Mother Spirit develops new liaison relationships with the Master Spirit of the superuniverse, and Gabriel establishes direct contact with the Ancients of Days. During this epoch, the Trinity Teacher Sons become volunteer advisers to Planetary Sovereigns, Constellation Fathers, and System Sovereigns, eventually being removed from local creation jurisdiction to serve the supreme council of unlimited authority as the finaliter corps acknowledges the jurisdiction of extra-Paradise authority for the first time.

Minor and major sectors of the superuniverse don't directly figure in the plan of being settled in light and life, as this evolutionary progression primarily concerns the local universe as a unit. A superuniverse reaches settlement in light and life only when all its component local universes achieve such perfection, yet none of the seven superuniverses has approached this level of development. The minor sector age appears exclusively concerned with physical status and the coordinated settling of one hundred associated local universes in established superuniverse circuits, with apparently only the power centers and their associates involved in these material realignments.

Regarding the major sector age, we can only speculate since none have witnessed such an event. We postulate that these sectors' stabilization would involve certain new intellectual levels of attainment, possibly advanced achievements in the supreme realization of cosmic wisdom. Despite these administrative mechanisms and governmental techniques, neither a universe nor a superuniverse can limit the evolutionary development or spiritual progress of an individual inhabited planet or mortal. In some older universes, we find worlds in the fifth and sixth stages of light and life—some even extended into the seventh epoch—whose local systems are not yet fully settled, demonstrating that environmental limitations cannot thwart individual mortal achievement, as evidenced by Jesus of Nazareth who personally achieved light and life status over nineteen hundred years ago on Urantia.

We cannot positively predict what would occur when a superuniverse became settled in light because such an event has never actually happened. Based on Melchizedek teachings, which have never been contradicted, we infer that sweeping changes would transform the entire organization and administration of every unit of the creations of time and space, from inhabited worlds to superuniverse headquarters. It is widely believed that large numbers of otherwise unattached creature-trinitized sons would gather at the headquarters and divisional capitals of settled superuniverses, possibly in preparation for the arrival of outer-spacers journeying toward Havona and Paradise.

If a superuniverse were to achieve settlement in light and life, we believe the currently advisory Unqualified Supervisors of the Supreme would become the high administrative body on the superuniverse headquarters world. These personalities can directly contact the absonite administrators who would become active in the settled superuniverse. Though these Unqualified Supervisors have long served as advisers in advanced evolutionary units, they only assume administrative responsibilities when the Supreme Being's authority becomes sovereign. These supervisors represent the personalization of time-space supremacy and function only as supreme unifiers, possibly involved in the technique of universe reflectivity. The grand universe becoming entirely settled in light and life would undoubtedly be the most profound occurrence since the appearance of the central universe, potentially including the emergence of the Supreme Being as the experiential sovereign of perfected creations.