Paper 75 Overview: The Default of Adam and Eve

After a century of effort on Urantia, Adam saw minimal progress beyond Eden's borders, with race betterment seeming far in the future. The situation appeared so desperate that Adam considered alternative approaches not included in the original divine plans. He frequently shared these concerns with Eve as they struggled with the seemingly hopeless state of their world.

The Adamic mission on rebellion-scarred and isolated Urantia presented a formidable challenge, with Adam and Eve quickly recognizing the complexity of their planetary assignment. When they attempted to address the critical task of eliminating defective genetic strains from humanity, they found themselves completely stymied with no apparent solution. Cut off from their superiors on Jerusem and Edentia, they faced new complications daily with no one to consult.

Under normal circumstances, the first task of a Planetary Adam and Eve would be coordinating and blending the races, but on Urantia this seemed nearly impossible. They found themselves on a sphere wholly unprepared for the concept of human brotherhood, with people living in spiritual darkness and hundreds of local dialects instead of a single language. Rather than promoting religious unity, they had to start by teaching the most basic religious beliefs to the inhabitants, facing obstacles that seemed insurmountable.

Caligastia frequently visited the Garden for conferences with Adam and Eve, but they firmly rejected all his suggestions for compromise and shortcuts. Having witnessed the results of rebellion, they remained immune to his insinuations, and even their children were unaffected by Daligastia's overtures. Neither Caligastia nor his associates had power to influence anyone against their will or persuade Adam's children to do wrong.

When the fallen Prince's persistent efforts with Adam failed, he decided to try a strategic approach against Eve instead. Caligastia concluded that his only hope for success lay in cleverly employing suitable persons from the upper levels of the Nodite groups, descendants of his former staff associates. He carefully prepared his plans to ensnare the mother of the violet race, focusing on Eve's potential vulnerability.

When Serapatatia's father died, he assumed leadership of the western confederation of Nodite tribes—a brilliant descendant of the former Dalamatian health commission chief. After visiting Eden several times and becoming impressed with Adam's mission, Serapatatia announced his intention to establish an affiliation with the Garden's work. Adam was greatly encouraged when the majority of these powerful and intelligent neighbors joined in support of his world improvement program.

Serapatatia became one of Adam's most capable lieutenants, completely honest and sincere in his activities, never aware he was being used by Caligastia. He eventually proposed to Eve that while waiting for the violet race to multiply, they could immediately help struggling tribes by producing a child of mixed heritage who would powerfully connect the Nodites to Eden. After five years of secret planning, Eve agreed to meet with Cano, a magnificent specimen of the Nodite race, and ultimately consented to this enterprise without realizing the gravity of her actions.

The celestial life of the planet stirred as Adam sensed something was wrong, asking Eve to speak privately with him in the Garden. For the first time, Adam learned of the long-developing plan to accelerate world improvement by simultaneously pursuing two directions: the divine plan alongside the Serapatatia enterprise. As they communed in the moonlit Garden, "the voice in the Garden" reproved them for disobeying their covenant and the Melchizedeks' instructions.

Eve had consented to participate in combining good and evil practices, despite repeated warnings from the archangel guardian about yielding to Caligastia's suggestions. Although her project with Cano was conceived with sincerity and the highest motives for world welfare, it constituted evil because it departed from the right way of the divine plan. When Eve met with Cano, she found him physically attractive and was convinced by his promises of increased knowledge of human affairs that would complement her understanding of Adamic nature.

Eve's disillusionment after realizing her mistake was truly heartbreaking, while Adam felt only compassion for his erring mate. In his despair over their failure, Adam deliberately sought out Laotta, a brilliant Nodite woman who headed the western Garden schools, and knowingly committed the same error as Eve. He was not deceived but consciously chose to share Eve's fate, unable to bear the thought of continuing on Urantia without her.

When the Garden inhabitants learned what had happened to Eve, they became uncontrollable with anger. They declared war on the nearby Nodite settlement, completely destroying it with not a single survivor, including Cano. Upon realizing the consequences of events, Serapatatia was overcome with fear and remorse, drowning himself the next day. Adam wandered in solitude for thirty days before returning home to begin planning their future course of action, while his innocent children suffered greatly from the incomprehensible tragedy that had befallen them.

When Adam learned that Nodites were marching toward Eden, he sought counsel from the Melchizedeks, who refused to advise him directly but promised their cooperation with whatever course he chose. Adam recognized that he and Eve had failed, though he still didn't understand their personal status or future fate. After an all-night conference with approximately 1,200 loyal followers, Adam and his group departed Eden at noon, choosing to leave the first garden to the Nodites without resistance rather than engage in war.

The Edenic caravan was halted on their third day of travel by the arrival of seraphic transports from Jerusem. For the first time, Adam and Eve learned what would happen to their children—those who had reached the age of choice (twenty years) could decide whether to remain with their parents or become wards of the Most Highs of Norlatiadek. About two-thirds of these children chose to go to Edentia, while the remaining third stayed with their parents, creating a sorrowful parting for the family as they prepared to find a new home.

During the caravan's halt, Gabriel appeared to pronounce judgment: Adam and Eve had violated their covenant as planetary trustees. Despite their sense of guilt, they were greatly relieved to learn that their judges on Salvington had cleared them of charges of "contempt of the universe government," finding them not guilty of rebellion. They were informed that they had degraded themselves to the status of mortals and must henceforth live as ordinary men and women of Urantia.

Adam and Eve had maintained immortality through intellectual association with the Spirit's mind-gravity circuit, but their default severed this vital connection. Additionally, as Material Sons, they depended on a dual circulatory system—one from their physical nature and another from superenergy stored in the tree of life. When access to this energy source was denied after their default, they became subject to the same physical limitations and eventual death as other Urantia mortals.

Adam and Eve did indeed fall from their elevated status of material sonship to the lowly position of mortal humans, but this was not the "fall of man" as commonly understood. Rather than degrading humanity, the human race has benefited enormously from the limited contribution that Adam and his descendants made to the Urantia races. The world's superior populations now contain inheritance factors from four separate sources: Andonite, Sangik, Nodite, and Adamic.

Adam should not be viewed as bringing a curse upon humanity; despite his failure to fully implement the divine plan, his contribution significantly advanced civilization on Urantia. Adam and Eve carried on in Eden for 117 years before Eve's impatience and Adam's errors in judgment led them to deviate from the ordained way, bringing disaster upon themselves and slowing the developmental progress of the entire planet. While Eden was a real place and its civilization genuinely destroyed, the dream of a golden age remains just a myth.