Paper 58 Overview: Life Establishment on Urantia

Paper 58 describes how life was established on earth approximately 550 million years ago after careful preparation and study by the Life Carriers. These specialized beings created and implanted life in three separate marine locations once the physical conditions of the planet had evolved to support their specific life patterns. The paper details the geological, atmospheric, and spatial conditions that were necessary for life to begin and flourish on our world.

The narrative follows the planetary development from pre-life conditions through the emergence of primitive marine vegetation and later animal life. It explains how continental drift affected evolution, how the transition from plant to animal life occurred, and how the fossil record preserves this ancient history. Throughout the account, the paper emphasizes that life on earth is unique and was specially designed for this world, following a deliberate plan rather than random chance.

In the Satania system, Urantia is identified as one of only sixty-one "decimal planets" where Life Carriers are permitted to modify standard universe life patterns through experimentation. While most inhabited worlds are populated according to established techniques, these special planets allow the Life Carriers greater flexibility in their implantation strategies to potentially improve standard universe types of living beings.

Six hundred million years ago, a commission of Life Carriers arrived from Jerusem to study earth's physical conditions in preparation for their 606th life-implementation project in the Satania system. This marked their sixtieth opportunity to introduce modifications to the standard Nebadon life designs. They needed to confirm that the planet had developed sufficiently to support their planned salt-based life pattern, as all animal and vegetable life on Urantia depends on functioning within a suitable salt solution.

The Life Carriers recognized that the ideal conditions for marine life implantation include numerous inland seas and extensive shorelines with shallow waters and sheltered bays. After their initial survey, they returned to Jerusem to await further continental breakup that would create more ideal conditions for their work. The mild, equable climate and carbon-rich atmosphere of these ancient shorelines would eventually provide the perfect environment for primitive plant life to transition from sea to land, though the high carbon dioxide levels would have made it impossible for animals or humans to survive at this stage.

The planet's atmosphere serves as a crucial filter, allowing only about one two-billionth of the sun's total light emanation to reach the earth's surface. Beyond visible light, the atmosphere processes multiple forms of solar energy that impact the planet. A particularly important feature is the ozone layer, approximately ten miles above earth's surface, which absorbs dangerous ultraviolet radiation while permitting beneficial rays to pass through, demonstrating remarkable precision in its protective function.

The atmosphere exhibits specialized layers with distinct properties and functions. The troposphere, extending five to six miles upward, contains our weather systems. Above this lies the stratosphere, a region of constant temperature remaining at approximately 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit for about forty miles of altitude. The temperature then increases dramatically, reaching 1200°F at the level of auroral displays, where oxygen becomes ionized. This complex atmospheric structure facilitates various phenomena, including auroral displays related to sunspot activity and the transmission of radio broadcasts through the ionospheric layers.

During the early universe materialization, space contained vast hydrogen clouds that served as the cosmic laboratories for energy and matter formation. These enormous dust clusters, similar to those still observed in remote space regions today, provided the building blocks for many celestial bodies. Various forms of radiant energy emerged during atom building and dissolution processes, including a type of space-energy unknown on Urantia.

The short space rays generated in these cosmic laboratories carry energy charges four hundred times greater than other forms of radiant energy in organized space. Their output can be modified by temperature fluctuations, gravity changes, and electronic pressures. While these powerful energy currents flow through space and affect many cosmic phenomena, the life forms implanted by the Life Carriers were designed to be fully resistant to these rays, ensuring that life could survive and evolve despite the intense energy environment of space.

The Life Carriers emphasize that while they transported and established life on Urantia, they did not bring it from elsewhere. Earth's life forms were uniquely formulated for this specific planet, making Urantia's life patterns distinct from all other worlds in the Satania system and the Nebadon universe. Approximately 550 million years ago, the Life Carriers returned to Urantia and, working with spiritual powers and superphysical forces, initiated the original life patterns in three simultaneous marine implantations.

By 500 million years ago, primitive marine vegetation had become well established across the planet. The continents were beginning their gradual drift, with Greenland and the Americas moving westward while Africa shifted slightly south, creating the Mediterranean basin. The Life Carriers had strategically planted primitive life in sheltered tropical bays along the east-west continental division, anticipating that as the land masses separated, each would carry these life forms with it in the warm-water seas, thereby ensuring life would spread globally despite the eventual separation of the continents by large oceans.

The earth's composition plays a crucial role in planetary stability and continental movement. The core has become as dense as steel under enormous pressure of about 25,000 tons per square inch, generating intense heat. Surrounding this core is the outer crust, approximately forty miles thick, which rests upon a molten sea of basalt. This mobile layer of lava tends to flow to equalize shifting planetary pressures, helping to stabilize the earth's surface and prevent more severe earthquake activity.

The density differences between continental land masses and ocean floors explain why continents remain elevated above sea level. The continents, composed largely of lighter granite, float upon denser basalt that forms the ocean beds. This difference in weight and composition creates pressure differentials of approximately 20,000 pounds per square inch at the continental edges versus 5,000 pounds at the ocean floor. These uneven pressures cause the continents to gradually slide toward the ocean basins in the ongoing process of continental drift, which has been reshaping earth's surface for billions of years.

Around 450 million years ago, a remarkable metamorphosis occurred as life evolved from vegetable to animal forms. This transformation took place in the sheltered tropical bays and lagoons along the extensive shorelines of the separating continents. The progression unfolded through numerous transitional stages, evidence of which can still be observed today in organisms like slime molds that defy clear classification as either plants or animals.

The emergence of new species occurred not through gradual accumulation of small variations but through sudden appearances of new orders of life. These genetic mutations were entirely natural biological processes without supernatural intervention. As oceans contracted and salt content increased, marine organisms evolved sophisticated mechanisms to regulate the saltiness of their body fluids. This adaptation process continues today, as plants and animals constantly adjust to environmental changes, with only those organisms capable of achieving cosmic unity persisting through the ages while others disappear.

The ancient rock formations from the Proterozoic era preserve the fossil record of earth's earliest life forms. These stratified layers, sometimes reaching miles in thickness, contain the remnants of primitive vegetation and early marine organisms. While not always visible at the surface, these ancient rock systems underlie approximately one-eighth of the current land area and provide critical insights into earth's biological past.

These primordial rock layers are particularly accessible in regions like the Canadian Shield, the Adirondack Mountains, around Lake Superior, and in the Grand Canyon. In these locations, the geological history has been dramatically preserved through processes of upheaval, volcanic activity, and water submergence. The St. Croix valley of Wisconsin offers a remarkable example, displaying evidence of 127 successive lava flows alternating with water submergence. These ancient rock pages tell the story of earth's early development, revealing how primitive life gradually spread throughout the shallow seas and how the foundations for all subsequent life were established.