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Urantia Book Paper 73 The Garden Of Eden
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART III: The History of Urantia
: The Origin Of Urantia Life Establishment On Urantia The Marine-life Era On
Urantia Urantia During The Early Land-life Era The Mammalian Era On Urantia The
Dawn Races Of Early Man The First Human Family The Evolutionary Races Of Color
The Overcontrol Of Evolution The Planetary Prince Of Urantia The Planetary
Rebellion The Dawn Of Civilization Primitive Human Institutions The Evolution
Of Human Government Development Of The State Government On A Neighboring Planet
The Garden Of Eden Adam And Eve The Default Of Adam And Eve The Second Garden
The Midway Creatures The Violet Race After The Days Of Adam Andite Expansion In
The Orient Andite Expansion In The Occident Development Of Modern Civilization
The Evolution Of Marriage The Marriage Institution Marriage And Family Life The
Origins Of Worship Early Evolution Of Religion The Ghost Cults Fetishes,
Charms, And Magic Sin, Sacrifice, And Atonement Shamanism--medicine Men And
Priests The Evolution Of Prayer The Later Evolution Of Religion Machiventa
Melchizedek The Melchizedek Teachings In The Orient The Melchizedek Teachings
In The Levant Yahweh--god Of The Hebrews Evolution Of The God Concept Among The
Hebrews The Melchizedek Teachings In The Occident The Social Problems Of
Religion Religion In Human Experience The Real Nature Of Religion The
Foundations Of Religious Faith The Reality Of Religious Experience Growth Of
The Trinity Concept Deity And Reality Universe Levels Of Reality Origin And
Nature Of Thought Adjusters Mission And Ministry Of Thought Adjusters Relation
Of Adjusters To Universe Creatures Relation Of Adjusters To Individual Mortals
...
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Paper 73 The Garden Of Eden
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Introduction
THE cultural decadence and spiritual poverty resulting from the Caligastia
downfall and consequent social confusion had little effect on the physical or
biologic status of the Urantia peoples. Organic evolution proceeded apace,
quite regardless of the cultural and moral setback which so swiftly followed
the disaffection of Caligastia and Daligastia. And there came a time in the
planetary history, almost forty thousand years ago, when the Life Carriers on
duty took note that, from a purely biologic standpoint, the developmental
progress of the Urantia races was nearing its apex. The Melchizedek receivers,
concurring in this opinion, readily agreed to join the Life Carriers in a
petition to the Most Highs of Edentia asking that Urantia be inspected with a
view to authorizing the dispatch of biologic uplifters, a Material Son and
Daughter.
This request was addressed to the Most Highs of Edentia because they had
exercised direct jurisdiction over many of Urantia's affairs ever since
Caligastia's downfall and the temporary vacation of authority on Jerusem.
Tabamantia, sovereign supervisor of the series of decimal or experimental
worlds, came to inspect the planet and, after his survey of racial progress,
duly recommended that Urantia be granted Material Sons. In a little less than
one hundred years from the time of this inspection, Adam and Eve, a Material
Son and Daughter of the local system, arrived and began the difficult task of
attempting to untangle the confused affairs of a planet retarded by rebellion
and resting under the ban of spiritual isolation.
1. THE NODITES AND THE AMADONITES
On a normal planet the arrival of the Material Son would ordinarily herald the
approach of a great age of invention, material progress, and intellectual
enlightenment. The post-Adamic era is the great scientific age of most worlds,
but not so on Urantia. Though the planet was peopled by races physically fit,
the tribes languished in the depths of savagery and moral stagnation.
Ten thousand years after the rebellion practically all the gains of the
Prince's administration had been effaced; the races of the world were little
better off than if this misguided Son had never come to Urantia. Only among the
Nodites and the Amadonites was there persistence of the traditions of Dalamatia
and the culture of the Planetary Prince.
The Nodites were the descendants of the rebel members of the Prince's staff,
their name deriving from their first leader, Nod, onetime chairman of the
Dalamatia commission on industry and trade. The Amadonites were the descendants
of those Andonites who chose to remain loyal with Van and Amadon.
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"Amadonite" is more of a cultural and religious designation than a racial term;
racially considered the Amadonites were essentially Andonites. "Nodite" is both
a cultural and racial term, for the Nodites themselves constituted the eighth
race of Urantia.
There existed a traditional enmity between the Nodites and the Amadonites. This
feud was constantly coming to the surface whenever the offspring of these two
groups would try to engage in some common enterprise. Even later, in the
affairs of Eden, it was exceedingly difficult for them to work together in
peace.
Shortly after the destruction of Dalamatia the followers of Nod became divided
into three major groups. The central group remained in the immediate vicinity
of their original home near the headwaters of the Persian Gulf. The eastern
group migrated to the highland regions of Elam just east of the Euphrates
valley. The western group was situated on the northeastern Syrian shores of the
Mediterranean and in adjacent territory.
These Nodites had freely mated with the Sangik races and had left behind an
able progeny. And some of the descendants of the rebellious Dalamatians
subsequently joined Van and his loyal followers in the lands north of
Mesopotamia. Here, in the vicinity of Lake Van and the southern Caspian Sea
region, the Nodites mingled and mixed with the Amadonites, and they were
numbered among the "mighty men of old."
Prior to the arrival of Adam and Eve these groups--Nodites and Amadonites--were
the most advanced and cultured races on earth.
2. PLANNING FOR THE GARDEN
For almost one hundred years prior to Tabamantia's inspection, Van and his
associates, from their highland headquarters of world ethics and culture, had
been preaching the advent of a promised Son of God, a racial uplifter, a
teacher of truth, and the worthy successor of the traitorous Caligastia. Though
the majority of the world's inhabitants of those days exhibited little or no
interest in such a prediction, those who were in immediate contact with Van and
Amadon took such teaching seriously and began to plan for the actual reception
of the promised Son.
Van told his nearest associates the story of the Material Sons on Jerusem; what
he had known of them before ever he came to Urantia. He well knew that these
Adamic Sons always lived in simple but charming garden homes and proposed,
eighty-three years before the arrival of Adam and Eve, that they devote
themselves to the proclamation of their advent and to the preparation of a
garden home for their reception.
From their highland headquarters and from sixty-one far-scattered settlements,
Van and Amadon recruited a corps of over three thousand willing and
enthusiastic workers who, in solemn assembly, dedicated themselves to this
mission of preparing for the promised--at least expected--Son.
Van divided his volunteers into one hundred companies with a captain over each
and an associate who served on his personal staff as a liaison officer, keeping
Amadon as his own associate. These commissions all began in earnest their
preliminary work, and the committee on location for the Garden sallied forth in
search of the ideal spot.
Although Caligastia and Daligastia had been deprived of much of their power for
evil, they did everything possible to frustrate and hamper the work
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of preparing the Garden. But their evil machinations were largely offset by the
faithful activities of the almost ten thousand loyal midway creatures who so
tirelessly labored to advance the enterprise.
3. THE GARDEN SITE
The committee on location was absent for almost three years. It reported
favorably concerning three possible locations: The first was an island in the
Persian Gulf; the second, the river location subsequently occupied as the
second garden; the third, a long narrow peninsula--almost an island--projecting
westward from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The committee almost unanimously favored the third selection. This site was
chosen, and two years were occupied in transferring the world's cultural
headquarters, including the tree of life, to this Mediterranean peninsula. All
but a single group of the peninsula dwellers peaceably vacated when Van and his
company arrived.
This Mediterranean peninsula had a salubrious climate and an equable
temperature; this stabilized weather was due to the encircling mountains and to
the fact that this area was virtually an island in an inland sea. While it
rained copiously on the surrounding highlands, it seldom rained in Eden proper.
But each night, from the extensive network of artificial irrigation channels, a
"mist would go up" to refresh the vegetation of the Garden.
The coast line of this land mass was considerably elevated, and the neck
connecting with the mainland was only twenty-seven miles wide at the narrowest
point. The great river that watered the Garden came down from the higher lands
of the peninsula and flowed east through the peninsular neck to the mainland
and thence across the lowlands of Mesopotamia to the sea beyond. It was fed by
four tributaries which took origin in the coastal hills of the Edenic
peninsula, and these are the "four heads" of the river which "went out of
Eden," and which later became confused with the branches of the rivers
surrounding the second garden.
The mountains surrounding the Garden abounded in precious stones and metals,
though these received very little attention. The dominant idea was to be the
glorification of horticulture and the exaltation of agriculture.
The site chosen for the Garden was probably the most beautiful spot of its kind
in all the world, and the climate was then ideal. Nowhere else was there a
location which could have lent itself so perfectly to becoming such a paradise
of botanic expression. In this rendezvous the cream of the civilization of
Urantia was forgathering. Without and beyond, the world lay in darkness,
ignorance, and savagery. Eden was the one bright spot on Urantia; it was
naturally a dream of loveliness, and it soon became a poem of exquisite and
perfected landscape glory.
4. ESTABLISHING THE GARDEN
When Material Sons, the biologic uplifters, begin their sojourn on an
evolutionary world, their place of abode is often called the Garden of Eden
because it is characterized by the floral beauty and the botanic grandeur of
Edentia, the constellation capital. Van well knew of these customs and
accordingly provided that the entire peninsula be given over to the Garden.
Pasturage and animal husbandry were projected for the adjoining mainland. Of
animal life, only the
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birds and the various domesticated species were to be found in the park. Van's
instructions were that Eden was to be a garden, and only a garden. No animals
were ever slaughtered within its precincts. All flesh eaten by the Garden
workers throughout all the years of construction was brought in from the herds
maintained under guard on the mainland.
The first task was the building of the brick wall across the neck of the
peninsula. This once completed, the real work of landscape beautification and
home building could proceed unhindered.
A zoological garden was created by building a smaller wall just outside the
main wall; the intervening space, occupied by all manner of wild beasts, served
as an additional defense against hostile attacks. This menagerie was organized
in twelve grand divisions, and walled paths led between these groups to the
twelve gates of the Garden, the river and its adjacent pastures occupying the
central area.
In the preparation of the Garden only volunteer laborers were employed; no
hirelings were ever used. They cultivated the Garden and tended their herds for
support; contributions of food were also received from near-by believers. And
this great enterprise was carried through to completion in spite of the
difficulties attendant upon the confused status of the world during these
troublous times.
But it was a cause for great disappointment when Van, not knowing how soon the
expected Son and Daughter might come, suggested that the younger generation
also be trained in the work of carrying on the enterprise in case their arrival
should be delayed. This seemed like an admission of lack of faith on Van's part
and made considerable trouble, caused many desertions; but Van went forward
with his plan of preparedness, meantime filling the places of the deserters
with younger volunteers.
5. THE GARDEN HOME
At the center of the Edenic peninsula was the exquisite stone temple of the
Universal Father, the sacred shrine of the Garden. To the north the
administrative headquarters was established; to the south were built the homes
for the workers and their families; to the west was provided the allotment of
ground for the proposed schools of the educational system of the expected Son,
while in the "east of Eden" were built the domiciles intended for the promised
Son and his immediate offspring. The architectural plans for Eden provided
homes and abundant land for one million human beings.
At the time of Adam's arrival, though the Garden was only one-fourth finished,
it had thousands of miles of irrigation ditches and more than twelve thousand
miles of paved paths and roads. There were a trifle over five thousand brick
buildings in the various sectors, and the trees and plants were almost beyond
number. Seven was the largest number of houses composing any one cluster in the
park. And though the structures of the Garden were simple, they were most
artistic. The roads and paths were well built, and the landscaping was
exquisite.
The sanitary arrangements of the Garden were far in advance of anything that
had been attempted theretofore on Urantia. The drinking water of Eden was kept
wholesome by the strict observance of the sanitary regulations designed to
conserve its purity. During these early times much trouble came about from
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neglect of these rules, but Van gradually impressed upon his associates the
importance of allowing nothing to fall into the water supply of the Garden.
Before the later establishment of a sewage-disposal system the Edenites
practiced the scrupulous burial of all waste or decomposing material. Amadon's
inspectors made their rounds each day in search for possible causes of
sickness. Urantians did not again awaken to the importance of the prevention of
human diseases until the later times of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Before the disruption of the Adamic regime a covered brick-conduit disposal
system had been constructed which ran beneath the walls and emptied into the
river of Eden almost a mile beyond the outer or lesser wall of the Garden.
By the time of Adam's arrival most of the plants of that section of the world
were growing in Eden. Already had many of the fruits, cereals, and nuts been
greatly improved. Many modern vegetables and cereals were first cultivated
here, but scores of varieties of food plants were subsequently lost to the
world.
About five per cent of the Garden was under high artificial cultivation,
fifteen per cent partially cultivated, the remainder being left in a more or
less natural state pending the arrival of Adam, it being thought best to finish
the park in accordance with his ideas.
And so was the Garden of Eden made ready for the reception of the promised Adam
and his consort. And this Garden would have done honor to a world under
perfected administration and normal control. Adam and Eve were well pleased
with the general plan of Eden, though they made many changes in the furnishings
of their own personal dwelling.
Although the work of embellishment was hardly finished at the time of Adam's
arrival, the place was already a gem of botanic beauty; and during the early
days of his sojourn in Eden the whole Garden took on new form and assumed new
proportions of beauty and grandeur. Never before this time nor after has
Urantia harbored such a beautiful and replete exhibition of horticulture and
agriculture.
6. THE TREE OF LIFE
In the center of the Garden temple Van planted the long-guarded tree of life,
whose leaves were for the "healing of the nations," and whose fruit had so long
sustained him on earth. Van well knew that Adam and Eve would also be dependent
on this gift of Edentia for their life maintenance after they once appeared on
Urantia in material form.
The Material Sons on the system capitals do not require the tree of life for
sustenance. Only in the planetary repersonalization are they dependent on this
adjunct to physical immortality.
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. When the Most Highs of Edentia approved the commission of Caligastia
as Planetary Prince of Urantia and those of the one hundred Jerusem citizens as
his administrative staff, they sent to the planet, by the Melchizedeks, a shrub
of Edentia, and this plant grew to be the tree of life on Urantia. This form of
nonintelligent life is native to the constellation headquarters spheres, being
also found on the headquarters worlds of the local and superuniverses as well
as on the Havona spheres, but not on the system capitals.
top of page - 826
This superplant stored up certain space-energies which were antidotal to the
age-producing elements of animal existence. The fruit of the tree of life was
like a superchemical storage battery, mysteriously releasing the life-extension
force of the universe when eaten. This form of sustenance was wholly useless to
the ordinary evolutionary beings on Urantia, but specifically it was
serviceable to the one hundred materialized members of Caligastia's staff and
to the one hundred modified Andonites who had contributed of their life plasm
to the Prince's staff, and who, in return, were made possessors of that
complement of life which made it possible for them to utilize the fruit of the
tree of life for an indefinite extension of their otherwise mortal existence.
During the days of the Prince's rule the tree was growing from the earth in the
central and circular courtyard of the Father's temple. Upon the outbreak of the
rebellion it was regrown from the central core by Van and his associates in
their temporary camp. This Edentia shrub was subsequently taken to their
highland retreat, where it served both Van and Amadon for more than one hundred
and fifty thousand years.
When Van and his associates made ready the Garden for Adam and Eve, they
transplanted the Edentia tree to the Garden of Eden, where, once again, it grew
in a central, circular courtyard of another temple to the Father. And Adam and
Eve periodically partook of its fruit for the maintenance of their dual form of
physical life.
When the plans of the Material Son went astray, Adam and his family were not
permitted to carry the core of the tree away from the Garden. When the Nodites
invaded Eden, they were told that they would become as "gods if they partook of
the fruit of the tree." Much to their surprise they found it unguarded. They
ate freely of the fruit for years, but it did nothing for them; they were all
material mortals of the realm; they lacked that endowment which acted as a
complement to the fruit of the tree. They became enraged at their inability to
benefit from the tree of life, and in connection with one of their internal
wars, the temple and the tree were both destroyed by fire; only the stone wall
stood until the Garden was subsequently submerged. This was the second temple
of the Father to perish.
And now must all flesh on Urantia take the natural course of life and death.
Adam, Eve, their children, and their children's children, together with their
associates, all perished in the course of time, thus becoming subject to the
ascension scheme of the local universe wherein mansion world resurrection
follows material death.
7. THE FATE OF EDEN
After the first garden was vacated by Adam, it was occupied variously by the
Nodites, Cutites, and the Suntites. It later became the dwelling place of the
northern Nodites who opposed co-operation with the Adamites. The peninsula had
been overrun by these lower-grade Nodites for almost four thousand years after
Adam left the Garden when, in connection with the violent activity of the
surrounding volcanoes and the submergence of the Sicilian land bridge to
Africa, the eastern floor of the Mediterranean Sea sank, carrying down beneath
the waters the whole of the Edenic peninsula. Concomitant with this vast
submergence the coast line of the eastern Mediterranean was greatly elevated.
And this
top of page - 827
was the end of the most beautiful natural creation that Urantia has ever
harbored. The sinking was not sudden, several hundred years being required
completely to submerge the entire peninsula.
We cannot regard this disappearance of the Garden as being in any way a result
of the miscarriage of the divine plans or as a result of the mistakes of Adam
and Eve. We do not regard the submergence of Eden as anything but a natural
occurrence, but it does seem to us that the sinking of the Garden was timed to
occur at just about the date of the accumulation of the reserves of the violet
race for undertaking the work of rehabilitating the world peoples.
The Melchizedeks counseled Adam not to initiate the program of racial uplift
and blending until his own family had numbered one-half million. It was never
intended that the Garden should be the permanent home of the Adamites. They
were to become emissaries of a new life to all the world; they were to mobilize
for unselfish bestowal upon the needy races of earth.
The instructions given Adam by the Melchizedeks implied that he was to
establish racial, continental, and divisional headquarters to be in charge of
his immediate sons and daughters, while he and Eve were to divide their time
among these various world capitals as advisers and co-ordinators of the
world-wide ministry of biologic uplift, intellectual advancement, and moral
rehabilitation.
[Presented by Solonia, the seraphic "voice in the Garden."]
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART III: The History of Urantia
: The Origin Of Urantia Life Establishment On Urantia The Marine-life Era On
Urantia Urantia During The Early Land-life Era The Mammalian Era On Urantia The
Dawn Races Of Early Man The First Human Family The Evolutionary Races Of Color
The Overcontrol Of Evolution The Planetary Prince Of Urantia The Planetary
Rebellion The Dawn Of Civilization Primitive Human Institutions The Evolution
Of Human Government Development Of The State Government On A Neighboring Planet
The Garden Of Eden Adam And Eve The Default Of Adam And Eve The Second Garden
The Midway Creatures The Violet Race After The Days Of Adam Andite Expansion In
The Orient Andite Expansion In The Occident Development Of Modern Civilization
The Evolution Of Marriage The Marriage Institution Marriage And Family Life The
Origins Of Worship Early Evolution Of Religion The Ghost Cults Fetishes,
Charms, And Magic Sin, Sacrifice, And Atonement Shamanism--medicine Men And
Priests The Evolution Of Prayer The Later Evolution Of Religion Machiventa
Melchizedek The Melchizedek Teachings In The Orient The Melchizedek Teachings
In The Levant Yahweh--god Of The Hebrews Evolution Of The God Concept Among The
Hebrews The Melchizedek Teachings In The Occident The Social Problems Of
Religion Religion In Human Experience The Real Nature Of Religion The
Foundations Of Religious Faith The Reality Of Religious Experience Growth Of
The Trinity Concept Deity And Reality Universe Levels Of Reality Origin And
Nature Of Thought Adjusters Mission And Ministry Of Thought Adjusters Relation
Of Adjusters To Universe Creatures Relation Of Adjusters To Individual Mortals
The Adjuster And The Soul Personality Survival Seraphic Guardians Of Destiny
Seraphic Planetary Government The Supreme Being The Almighty Supreme God The
Supreme Supreme And Ultimate--time And Space The Bestowals Of Christ Michael
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