The ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ may be a figure of speech, a symbolic designation covering a multitude of human experiences, but the ‘tree of life’ was not a myth; it was real and for a long time was present on Urantia.
Quote from The URANTIA Book, 0825:08
The Caligastia one hundred were corporeal beings but really superhuman. They arrived on Urantia as adults given bodies designed to be immortal. “There circulated through their material forms the antidotal complements of the life currents of the system” (0745:02), “derived from the fruit of the tree of life, a shrub of Edentia which was sent to Urantia by the Most Highs of Norlatiadek at the time of Caligastia’s arrival” (0745:03). To maintain immortality the Caligastia one hundred were required to eat the fruit of this tree, the same condition as would be required of Adam and Eve, who would be our next revelation, a full epoch later.
Remember again the geography of the heavens. We live on a world in a system (Satania, which will have 1,000 inhabited worlds), part of a constellation (Norlatiadek, which has 100 systems), part of a local universe (Nebadon, which has 100 constellations). Our superuniverse, the seventh of seven, will comprise 100,000 local universes—one trillion inhabited worlds!
Jerusem is the headquarters world of our system of Satania.
Edentia is the headquarters world of our constellation of Norlatiadek.
Salvington is the headquarters world of our local universe of Nebadon.
Uversa is the headquarters world of our superuniverse of Orvonton.
We are resurrected in our system, on the first of seven mansion worlds, and these seven receiving worlds will be our “first heaven.” Graduating from the mansion worlds we gain citizenship on Jerusem, which will be our “second heaven.” Up one level, at our constellation, the headquarters world of Edentia will be our “third heaven.” Up another level, at our local universe, the headquarters world of Salvington will be our “fourth heaven.” Up to the next level, but still a creation of time and space, at our superuniverse, the headquarters world of Uversa will be our “fifth heaven.”
And at the heart of our “sixth heaven”—our central universe of Havona, consisting of one billion perfect eternal worlds—will be “the stationary Isle of Paradise, the geographic center of infinity and the dwelling place of the eternal God” (0001:05), our “seventh heaven.”
Because the nativity of our celestials is crucial to our understanding, I have emphasized this ascending sequence, system-constellation-local universe, delineating the geography of our local universe. As always, the truth resonates and adds a dimension to our understanding. It is curious, for instance, that the tree of life grew from a “shrub of Edentia” native to our constellation, but not to our system.
Our original “Garden of Eden” was named in honor of the surpassing beauty of the gardens of Edentia. Our plants need water, and there is a glorious and astonishing fact I want to share. There is water, the very same water we have here on our world, on the headquarters worlds of both our system and constellation. No wonder we are fascinated with water!
Ernest Clement
I was floored, too, when I first started reading
The URANTIA Book.
But just feel the orderly immensity of the universe!
Who knew??
And now on to more surprises: “Part 11—The Andonite Contributors.” Click Block 4 below, or you may return to the >> Table of Essays.