A gift of Revelation
100 Years of Revelation
An Historic Perspective
(Taken from the 50th Anniversary Commemorative History Draft of Urantia Foundation)
About one hundred years ago, the first contact was being made with the men and women who would help bring the fifth epochal revelation of truth to our world Urantia. This development represented centuries of preparation and planning on the part of the superhuman government of Urantia. From the first contact, when the human partners had no knowledge of the project that would unfold in their midst, to the present global association of students of the revelation, is but a short span of time, barely a nanosecond in universe history.
The story of this marvelous revelation of truth to our world is just beginning! The purpose of this commemorative history is to inform and inspire readers everywhere so that they may love and serve God, and one another, by living the truths of the fifth epochal revelation. As we contemplate the first hundred years of revelatory experience, we would do well to reflect on the nature of revelation. God is constantly revealing truth:
Truth is always a revelation: autorevelation when it emerges as the result of the work of the indwelling Adjuster; epochal revelation when it is presented by the function of some other celestial agency, group, or personality. (The Urantia Book, p. 1109, par. 4)
Revelation as an epochal phenomenon is periodic; as a personal human experience it is continuous. (p. 1107, par. 2)
The men and women who fostered the Urantia revelation in its infancy were truth seekers, men and women who sought God in the avenues of faith of their day. As the historical records say, they came “from all walks of life.” The notion of contact with a superhuman planetary government was new to them. They were true pioneers. They were also average men and women of their day, living and serving in normal, ordinary ways. And yet, through their quiet years of labor, without fanfare, came an epochal revelation.
On page 1007 of The Urantia Book, we read:
Revelation is evolutionary, but always progressive. Down through the ages of a world’s history, the revelations of religion are ever-expanding and successively more enlightening. . . .
There have been many events of religious revelation but only five of epochal significance. . . . (par. 1 and 4)
Our four previous epochal revelations conform to the divine plan of progressive development for a world of mortal habitation (p. 589, par. 1), and form the foundation upon which this latest revelation was built (p. 1007-8):
1. The Dalamatian Teachings – 500,000 years ago, the era of the Planetary Prince was established to uplift primitive tribes and establish a permanent world headquarters (p. 741). Unfortunately, the Prince and the majority of his staff participated in the local system rebellion, sending our world into great confusion and retrogression (p. 754). When our world became quarantined because of the rebellion, a Vorondadek Son was stationed on Urantia as an observer for the Most Highs of Edentia, the headquarters of our constellation (p. 491, par. 13).
2. The Edenic Teachings – 40,000 years ago, the era of Adam and Eve began with the purpose of uplifting our planet culturally and biologically (p. 821). This mission, through the error of impatience—a desire to see more rapid results—ended in default, and biologic upliftment was thwarted and other potential benefits were lost(p. 839). The Melchizedek Receivers assisted this mission and serve as overseers of local affairs on Urantia, acting as emergency Sons when necessary (p. 388-389; p. 844, par. 1).
3. Melchizedek of Salem – 4,000 years ago, the bestowal and incarnation of a Melchizedek emergency Son, Machiventa, was successful in sustaining the concept of one God in order to prepare the way for the bestowal of our Creator Son. Melchizedek departed after less than 100 years because his followers were beginning “to reverence him unduly” (p. 1022, par. 3). Machiventa is bestowed with the title and responsibility of Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia (p. 1025, p. 3).
4. Jesus of Nazareth – 2,000 years ago witnessed the terminal bestowal phase and the incarnation of the Creator Son of the universe of Nebadon, Christ Michael as Jesus. He is still changing the world and the universe with his revelation of God the Universal Father and the spiritual family of all God’s creatures, although by his crucifixion we became known as “the World of the Cross.” (p. 1319). Michael carries among his universe titles that of Planetary Prince of Urantia, and has promised someday to return. (p. 1918, par. 6; p. 1919, par. 1)
Having been isolated from the universe for over 200,000 years since the rebellion, our world, an experimental planet, has thus followed an irregular and difficult path. We may conclude from such a history that epochal revelation on Urantia is not an easy task for either our unseen benefactors or their human associates. The early leaders of the Urantia movement were told that a revelation in book form is unique, the only one of its kind in all Nebadon. We may rejoice in the great demonstration of God’s love for us and for our world that these epochal revelations represent.
The limitations of epochal revelation are experienced by the revelators through the laws of revelation, and by humans in their language and capacity for receptivity (p. 1, par. 2; p. 27, par. 1). The cosmology of the Urantia Papers is not inspired (p. 1109, par. 4). We are reminded that no revelation short of attaining God the Father on Paradise is complete (p. 1008, par. 2). Yet in spite of human errors and imperfections, the downreach of God through epochal revelation continues unbroken from one epoch to another:
Your planet is a member of an enormous cosmos; you belong to a well-nigh infinite family of worlds, but your sphere is just as precisely administered and just as lovingly fostered as if it were the only inhabited world in all existence. (p. 183, par. 1)
Our fifth and latest epochal revelation is The Urantia Book, the purpose of which is “to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception” (p. 1, par. 2). The revelation of God and all his creations expands our concept of the cosmos and awareness of our “supreme obligations and duties” (p. 1301, par. 2) as cosmic citizens of the universe; “it enfranchises the believer as a son of God, a citizen of a new and meaningful universe” (p. 1117, par. 2). We:
. . . can consciously augment Adjuster harmony by: . . . Joyful acceptance of cosmic citizenship—honest recognition of your progressive obligations to the Supreme Being, awareness of the interdependence of evolutionary man and evolving Deity. This is the birth of cosmic morality and the dawning of universal Duty. (p. 1206, par. 4 and 8)
Enhanced spiritual perception would uplift all mankind to the high level of consciousness that Jesus demonstrated in his life on Urantia.
Religious revelation is essential to the realization of brotherhood on Urantia. While Jesus has shown the way to the immediate attainment of spiritual brotherhood, the realization of social brotherhood on your world depends much on . . . personal transformations and planetary adjustments. . . .
The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above, thus augmenting moral insight while enhancing the soul capacity of every mortal to understand and love every other mortal. (“Urantia’s Post Bestowal Age,” p. 597-598)
One of the most vital narratives placed on record to provide illumination by the United Brotherhood of Urantia Midwayers is the life and teachings of Jesus (p. 1332, par. 1):
The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers. (p. 2086, par. 2)
The fifth epochal revelation is intended to enlighten and uplift Urantia for the next 1,000 years (p. 330, par. 2). The early leaders were given The Urantia Book well in advance of its worldwide mission, to prepare translations and train leaders and teachers:
All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael, unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with the religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus. (p. 1041, par. 5)
“That which the world needs most to know is: Men are the sons of God, and through faith they can actually realize, and daily experience, this ennobling truth.” (p. 2052, par. 4)
Our mission lies before us. The dawn of a new age begins. As we reflect on our past and take stock of the present, we can seek the wisdom to guide us in the future. Let us make our contribution to the Supreme, in preparation for the next orders of Sonship on our world. Although The Urantia Book does not tell us exactly what the next order will be, we are told that our future certainly includes Magisterial (Avonal Sons) and Trinity Teacher Sons (Daynal Sons). Our next order of Sonship could even be a Trinity Teacher Son accompanied by Magisterial Sons and a Corps of Trinity Teacher Sons (p. 1025, par. 4; p. 230, par. 7, p. 231, par. 6). These promises give us hope. We have every reason to see a bright future for Urantia, filled with spiritual illumination:
A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment. (p. 2082, par. 6)
The Early Days–1900 to 1955
Urantia Foundation was created on January 11, 1950, about fifty years after the small group of men and women who later became members of the Contact Commission began to work together. They eventually included in the revelatory process a group known as the Forum. The Contact Commission shared information about the history of the Urantia Papers with the Forum.
The history provided here is based on facts that have been documented by firsthand sources. Urantia Foundation is engaged in ongoing research to provide a factual history of the progress of the fifth epochal revelation on our world. This history is therefore, a never-ending process which will expand as time goes on.
In a sense, the first “Golden Anniversary” occurred when the plates for printing The Urantia Book were readied and Urantia Foundation was created. This event signaled the Contact Commission and the Forum that their long cherished hopes would come to pass. The long awaited first printing of The Urantia Book was published in their lifetimes, on October 12, 1955. The organized dissemination of the teachings began. Urantia Brotherhood was founded. Some of these early pioneers waited almost fifty years to see the fruits of their labors!
The early days of our history can be divided into three parts:
1. Preliminary contacts–1900 to 1924
2. Presentation and development of the Urantia Papers–1925 to 1942; and
3. Organizational development in preparation for the publication of The Urantia Book and dissemination of the teachings–1942 to 1955.
There is some overlap in these last two periods because planning for the organizations began in the 1930s. The final reading of the Urantia Papers with questions from the Forum was completed in 1942.
Most of the men and women who served in this period, gave their lives to this work without human recognition. We do not even know many of their names. All of them, including their leaders, thought and hoped that their names would never be associated with The Urantia Book. They wanted the emphasis to be on the revelation itself, and the revelators carefully instructed them to do nothing that would detract from the revelation. Although the identities of some of these early leaders are known, this narrative is written without names, in respect for the spirit in which they served.
Preliminary Contacts–1900 to 1924
The story of the Urantia Papers begins sometime in the first decade of the twentieth century. Two medical doctors, a husband and wife, in general practice in the Chicago area, began seeing a patient who was having unusual experiences in his sleep. In the beginning, the doctors investigated this case from a strictly medical and scientific point of view. As interesting as the case was, the husband, a surgeon and psychiatrist, said the patient came to them in the most ordinary way, having been brought to them by his family.
During this time, they were able to bring in others to consult in the investigation. The psychiatrist and his colleagues during this same period were also engaged in exposing false phenomena of mediumship and spiritualism popular at the time. The doctor explained that they had “considerable experience in the investigation of psychic phenomena.”
The doctor said that he and his wife, and their colleagues, “early arrived at the conclusion that the phenomena connected with the personality . . . was in no way similar to any other well-known type of psychic performance—such as hypnotism, automatic writing, clairvoyance, trances, spirit mediumship, telepathy, or double personality.” He further added, “it should be made clear that the antecedents of the Urantia Papers were in no way associated with so-called spiritualism—with its séances and supposed communication with the spirits of departed human beings.”
Many years later, this individual through whom the Urantia Papers were communicated became known as the “contact personality” but his identity was never revealed. The Urantia Book identifies the subject as male (p. 1208, par. 6 to p. 1209). Although the doctors were able to rule out the subject’s own mind as the source of the material, they were never able to explain fully the phenomena. They did determine that the subject was unconscious throughout each episode and relatively unconcerned. The subject’s health was not adversely affected by his experiences. He in fact felt relieved and better for each effort. A Contact Commissioner later emphasized that his relative lack of concern about the phenomena did not mean he was not interested in the project.
The doctor described these preliminary contacts as a time in which “we were introduced to many new and, to us, somewhat strange concepts of the universe of universes and as concerned man and his life on earth.” These “new ideas of cosmology and philosophy” included “a new concept of a far-flung cosmos, millions of other inhabited worlds, and introduction to scores of different and varied echelons of celestial personalities.” Numerous theologic concepts were presented, including terms such as First Source and Center, Havona, superuniverses, the Supreme Being, and Thought Adjusters.
“The midwayers,” an order of personalities midway between humans and angels (p. 864-865), “were very real to us,” he wrote. “We frequently talked with them during our varied ‘contacts.’ We quite fully understood that the secondary midwayers supervised the contacts.” He continued, “We gained the impression that there were special reasons for Jesus’ bestowal on Urantia . . . . [and] listened to occasional references to Jesus’ life and teachings. . . . While we did not hear the term ‘Corps of The Finality,’ we did pick up a hazy idea that Paradise might be the destination of surviving mortals.” He concluded, “Our superhuman friends thus spent upward of two decades in extending our cosmic horizons, enlarging our theologic concepts, and expanding our overall philosophy.”
“We never realized,” he explained, “how much our religious thinking had been expanded until the Papers began to arrive. As the Revelation progressed we came to more fully appreciate how we had been prepared for the vast alteration of our religious beliefs by these preliminary contacts extending over a period of twenty years of pre-education.”
The doctor referred to this time as “our apprenticeship training for subsequent service in association with the presentation of the Urantia Papers.” He concluded that, “. . . during these early years, our unseen friends were engaged in a thoroughgoing testing of the contact personality, rehearsing the technique of communication, selecting the Contact Commissioners —in fact, in a general way—setting the stage for the subsequent presentation of the Urantia Papers.”
The Plan for the Urantia Papers Announced–1924
This period of preliminary contact continued until 1924 when celestial Revelatory Commission formally established the Contact Commission to oversee the project of the Urantia Papers and the publication of The Urantia Book. On February 11, 1924, Machiventa Melchizedek announced to the contact group the plan to initiate the Urantia Papers. This was the first time the Contact Commission learned of the project, although the Revelatory Commission had been planning The Urantia Book since the Middle Ages.
Aside from the patient, the Contact Commission consisted of five related people: the two physicians, her sister and brother-in-law, and the adopted daughter of the physicians. When the doctor’s wife died in 1939, their son took her place. Thus the Contact Commission functioned as a group of five until the organizations were established and The Urantia Book was published. As individuals, they functioned as Contact Commissioners for the rest of their earthly lives.
Once the project of the Papers began, no consultants were allowed to participate. From then on, only the Contact Commission worked closely and directly with the Revelatory Commission through the human subject through whom the Urantia Papers and other communications came. Each Commissioner had functions and roles to perform in addition to their general function as “contact personalities.” The physicians were leaders of the Commission, the sister and brother-in-law assisted them with various administrative tasks, the son specialized in teaching and organizational development, and the adopted daughter was the stenographer and typist of the material transmitted through the subject–the Urantia Papers and other communications–once the project of The Urantia Book began.
In December 1924, a group that came be to be known as the Forum began to participate in the process. This group had been meeting at the home of the physicians for almost two years, since January 1923. Both physicians were well-versed public speakers on the subjects of health and religion, and the group started when the wife invited family, friends, and former patients to meet informally at their home on Sunday afternoons to discuss various topics. In the course of delivering a series of talks, the psychiatrist mentioned an exception to cases of delusion or fraud in psychic phenomena, which intrigued the group.
The doctor reported, “The group manifested . . . a great interest in the case. It was while those informal discussions were going on from week to week that the challenge came to us suggesting that if we would ask more serious questions, we might get information of value to all mankind.” In addition to this suggestion from the revelators, “it was at about this time that the group began to be called the Forum.”
The Contact Commissioners told the Forum about the challenge issued by the revelators and so the doctor invited them “to join us in the preparation of questions.” Said the doctor, “We decided to start out with questions pertaining to the origin of the cosmos, Deity, creation, and such other subjects as were far beyond the present-day knowledge of all humankind.” On the following Sunday “several hundred questions were brought in. We sorted out these questions, discarding duplicates, and in a general way, clarifying them,” he explained.
“Shortly thereafter, the first Urantia Paper appeared in answer to these questions,” he continued. “From first to last, when Papers appeared, the questions disappeared. This was the procedure followed for the many years of the reception of the Urantia Papers. No questions, no Papers.”
Presentation and Development of the Papers–1925 to 1942
The first Paper was read to the Forum on January 18, 1925. The Forum continued to ask questions. Fifty-seven Papers were received by this method from 1925 to 1929. During this period, the revelators instructed the Contact Commissioners to make the Forum a “closed group”— requiring each member to sign a pledge of secrecy and to discuss the Papers and all matters pertaining thereto with only those persons who were members of the Forum.” The Contact Commission had been sworn to secrecy concerning the identity of the human subject. Charter membership in the Forum numbered thirty.
Meetings were held every Sunday afternoon from three to five o’clock. Attendance was taken. Papers were read aloud by a leader and then discussed by the group. Said the doctor, “We would read a Paper on Sunday afternoon and the following Sunday, the new questions would be presented.” The Contact Commissioners were charged with the responsibility of gathering up the questions. They also had the responsibility of comparing the typewritten text with the original handwritten manuscript. From the beginning, the Contact Commissioners were custodians of the manuscript, keeping a “carbon copy of the typewritten Papers in a fireproof vault.” The Forum read typewritten copies; they never saw the handwritten manuscript. None of the handwritten or typewritten material was retained after the publication of The Urantia Book. “Only the Contact Commissioners attended ‘contacts’ and received written communications through the contact personality.”
The doctor explained, regarding the technique by which the communication of information transferred from the revelators themselves through various links to the final handwritten form, that “all of our observations and investigations utterly failed to reveal the technique of reducing messages to writing.” The original Papers were handwritten, although even the Contact Commissioners never understood the process by which they came to be handwritten. Thus there were many unanswered questions about the details of transmissions, even among the contact group.
One of the reasons the revelators gave to the Contact Commission and the Forum for remaining silent about many of their experiences were the “unknown features” of the process. The doctor explained:
There is much connected with the appearance of the Urantia Papers which no human being fully understands. There are numerous missing links in our understanding of how this revelation came to appear in written English. If any one of us should tell anyone all he really knows about the technique and methods employed throughout the years of our getting this revelation, such a narration would satisfy no one—there are too many missing links.
He further stated:
The main reason for not revealing the identity of the ‘contact personality’ is that the Celestial revelators do not want any human being—any human name—ever to be associated with The Urantia Book. They want this revelation to stand on its own declarations and teachings.
They are determined that future generations shall have The Urantia Book wholly free from all mortal connection–they do not want a Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Luther, Calvin, or Wesley. The book does not even bear the imprint of the printer who brought the book into being.
The Contact Commissioners and Forum members noted that few of the authors of the Papers used their own names, only their order of being.
Then, as now, every reader must determine the validity of the revelation with his or her own inner experience of truth. “. . . revelation is validated only by human experience” (p. 1106, par. 5). Said the doctor, “. . .you could appreciate a good poem—even if you did not know the author. Likewise, you could enjoy a symphony even if you were ignorant of the composer.”
The Forum Expands
From time to time, new members were added to the Forum. There was “considerable turnover” as people moved away, and members’ friends and family were invited to join. The doctor said:
As time passed, this group became a cosmopolitan gathering consisting of professional men and women—doctors, lawyers, dentists, ministers, teachers—together with individuals from all walks of life: farmers, housewives, secretaries, office workers, and common laborers.
After being interviewed by the officers, new members signed the same pledge that was signed by the original charter members. This pledge read:
We acknowledge our pledge of secrecy, renewing our promise not to discuss the Urantia Revelations or their subject matter with any one save active Forum members, and to take no notes of such matter as is read or discussed at the public sessions, or to make copies or notes of what we personally read.
Until the publication of The Urantia Book in 1955, the Urantia Papers could only be read at the office-residence of the doctor and his wife, carefully supervised by the Contact Commission.
After the first group of Papers had been received, the Revelatory Commission suggested that since the group could now ask more intelligent questions, the superhuman agencies and personalities responsible for transmitting the 57 Papers would expand the Papers in accordance with new questions. The first three parts of The Urantia Book, 119 Papers, were completed in 1934 and 1935, the dates given in The Urantia Book (p. 648, 1319). The Jesus Papers, undated in The Urantia Book, were delivered in 1935 with the input of questions from the Forum.
There was a delay of about one year in reception of the Jesus Papers–Part IV of The Urantia Book–while the midwayers waited for an answer to their petition for permission from universe courts to publish this new narration of Jesus’ life. The Uversa court ruling not only assured them they “were not in contempt of court, but also granted them a mandate to perform this service and admonishing any and all persons connected therewith to refrain from interfering with, or in any way hindering, the execution of such an undertaking.” The Forum asked questions about the Jesus Papers from 1935 to 1942, following the same procedure as they had for the preceding Papers.
As noted by the doctor, and as indicated in The Urantia Book, the authorship of each part of The Urantia Book is different. The first three parts were written by many different orders of universe personalities, coordinated by two different commissions.
The “Foreword” and “Part I: The Central and Superuniverses” were sponsored by a Uversa Corps of Superuniverse Personalities, acting by Authority of the Orvonton Ancients of Days, directed by an Orvonton Divine Counselor (p. 17, par. 3; p. 19). “Part II: The Local Universe” (p. 355 to 648) and “Part III: The History of Urantia” were written by a Corps of Local Universe Personalities acting by authority of Gabriel of Salvington, directed by Mantutia Melchizedek (p. 649 to 1319). Part IV was written by a “commission of twelve Urantia midwayers acting under the supervision of a Melchizedek revelatory director,” with “the basis of” the narrative “supplied by a secondary midwayer” (p. 1321). Regardless of any variances in authorship, method, or timing of presentation, all 196 Papers were presented for questions from the Forum.
The doctors explained that “After receiving these 196 Papers, we were told that the ‘Revelatory Commission’ would be pleased to have us go over the Papers once more and ask questions concerning ‘Clarifications of Concepts’ and the ‘Removal of Ambiguities.’” The third reading was completed in 1942, with “only minor changes” in the Papers.
The last meeting of the Forum, as a “genetic group,” asking questions and helping to develop the Papers, was held on May 31st, 1942. During the initial period of the reception of the 196 Papers, ending in 1935, upwards of 300 different persons participated in asking these “genetic questions.” During the entire official existence of the Forum, from 1925 to 1942, seventeen years, a total of 486 people participated. The Forum continued as a study group until the organization of the First Urantia Society in 1956.
The ten year period, 1925 to 1935, in which the 196 Papers were first received, was an adventure of questioning and discovery. Forum participants “could hardly wait” for the next meeting, the next installment. They questioned everything. Although they provisionally accepted the value of the Papers, even the psychiatrist himself was not thoroughly convinced of their validity until 1935, when the Paper on the twelve apostles was presented. He said, “I’m a psychiatrist and I think I know my business, but this Paper is a real blow to my pride. If I had a half dozen psychiatrists to help me and years to prepare it, I was convinced that I couldn’t fabricate a Paper with this ring of genuineness and insight. So I said to myself, ‘I don’t really know what it is, but I do know that it’s the highest quality of philosophical-religious material that I have ever read.’”
“The Seventy” Formed in 1939
A group of seventy dedicated students of the Papers formed a Wednesday evening class on April 3, 1939, which continued until the publication of The Urantia Book. They participated in more intensive study of the Papers than the format of the Sunday meetings provided. An informal group had been meeting on Wednesday evenings for two or three years, when some members of the Forum “thought the time had come when we should form a class to engage in more serious and systematic study of the Urantia Papers. This project was presented to the Forum, and when those who wished to join such a group were counted, it was found that just 70 persons desired to enter upon this study.”
During these years, until the summer of 1956, when the “School of Urantia Brotherhood” was formed, the Seventy enrolled 107 students. “The Seventy carried on its work of study, thesis writing, and practice teaching for 17 years. During this period eight written communications were given to the Seventy by the Seraphim of Progress attached to the Superhuman Planetary Government of Urantia.”
The doctor explained that “During the years prior to the publication of the book, the Contact Commissioners received many communications and directives in writing.” He reported that “Almost all of these messages had a notation at the bottom of the last page which read: ‘To be destroyed by fire not later than the appearance of the Urantia Papers in print.’ It was the design of our unseen friends to prevent the appearance of an ‘Urantia Apocrypha’ subsequent to the publication of The Urantia Book.”
Plans for Copyright, Printing, and Organization
During the reading of the Papers, there was much activity related to the plans to publish The Urantia Book. The 1924 announcement of The Urantia Book project led people in a general way to think about book publication. At various points in this process, specific directions were given to the Contact Commission and conveyed by them to the Forum.
As custodians of the manuscript of the Urantia Papers, the Contact Commission was responsible for securing the copyright of The Urantia Book. The Contact Commission made inquiries to the copyright office of the United States in 1932 and proceeded with the necessary steps to copyright The Urantia Book internationally.
Planning for the organizations that would be needed when The Urantia Book was published was another task that consumed considerable time. All plans were shared with the Forum. They participated and discussed ideas along with the Contact Commissioners.
Initially, one organization was envisioned by the Contact Commission. It soon became clear that two separate functions were necessary—one autocratic, to safeguard and publish The Urantia Book, and one democratic, to foster the socialization of the Urantia teachings. It was seen that both organizations could be united by goals and purpose, but they would be separate in origin and function. A foundation was planned for the purpose of publishing The Urantia Book, and a fraternal organization was planned to lead in disseminating the teachings. The revelators supplied this concept, approved human plans as they developed, and gave specific instructions regarding some features of implementation, just as they did regarding the publication of The Urantia Book.
The Contact Commissioners created the first draft of the constitution for Urantia Brotherhood in 1937 and presented a revised draft to the Forum for the first time in 1939. The first draft of the Declaration of Trust Creating Urantia Foundation was formulated at the same time.
An exciting step forward occurred in 1941 when a contract was entered into for the typesetting of The Urantia Book. The typing and checking of the manuscript was an ongoing process of monumental proportions. One of the Contact Commissioners typed the text at least three times, up to five times, before publication. Typing The Urantia Book was hard enough, but finding and eliminating errors in the production process was an even more onerous task. For over a decade, the Contact Commission and Forum were constantly looking for errors in the printed text as it compared to the original written record, so determined were they to publish the Papers exactly as the revelators had written them. Even after publication, the relatively few and minor technical errors found were corrected only with approval of the remaining Contact Commissioners, until the death of the last Commissioner in 1982.
Fund-raising also began in the 1930s. The doctor’s wife collected twenty thousand dollars for the publication before she died in August 1939. These funds were used to set type and prepare plates for the printing of The Urantia Book.
By direction of the revelators, a Table of Contents for The Urantia Book was written by the Contact Commissioners. When the doctor offered to write an introduction for The Urantia Book, the revelators replied, “How could a candle light the way for a powerful beacon of light?” The Revelatory Commission made it clear at this time that The Urantia Book was to be published free from human encumbrances of any of kind.
Reflection on this period reveals that the development of the revelation was a true evolutionary partnership with God–mortals, angels, and Sons of God. While the Revelatory Commission did provide some specific guidance, many decisions and much work was required of their human partners. They worked hard at developing questions as the Papers “came through.” They studied organizations and the technical aspects of publishing, printing, and copyright law. They exercised their own thinking and creativity in making plans and decisions, ever guided by their Adjusters and other spiritual influences. These plans were submitted to the revelators for critique and approval.
The Contact Commissioners and Forum members studied and taught to prepare for the outreach efforts they hoped would begin in their lifetimes. Every step of the way they were aware of the precious free will choice accorded mortal man and thankful to our unseen friends and indwelling Spirit:
“The act is ours, the consequences, God’s.” (p. 556, par. 13; p. 1286, par. 3)
Organizational Development–1942 to 1955
“Much social closeness” arose in this group. They met for summer picnics and often traveled and socialized together. They were becoming a family. Several generations of families were now participating in the Forum as a study group. They continued to abide strictly by their pledge of confidentiality regarding the Urantia Papers. As one Forum member from this era, later a Trustee of Urantia Foundation explained, “We understood the reasons for it.”
Forum members helped with the reading of galley proofs of The Urantia Book. They could read the Papers individually on the premises of 533 Diversey Parkway in Chicago, always supervised by a Contact Commissioner. Many interesting theses were written by “the Seventy.” Plans for the organizations continued to develop through the 1940s and early 1950s. The Contact Commission and the Forum worked as volunteers for the entire span of time it took to receive the Papers and develop The Urantia Book. They held demanding jobs and had busy family lives, working on the Urantia revelation in their spare time. The Revelatory Commission made it clear that they did not want anyone to profit materially from the revelation, and no one did. In fact, these volunteers spent their own time and money to carry on the work.
Correspondence was maintained with Forum members who moved away. A group in Los Angeles led by former Forumites, unable to read the Papers, studied comparative religion instead to prepare for the eventual publication of The Urantia Book.
The group did have divergent views on some subjects and discussed differing opinions on the problems confronting them, but they were generally cooperative and respectful in resolving conflict. The most serious conflict occurred in 1942, just before the official Forum ended, when a newcomer to the group raised questions about the proposed organizations and about some of the content of The Urantia Book. Although there are varying accounts of this conflict, the Forum meetings continued uninterrupted, and all individuals were welcome to continue meeting with the group after the issue was resolved.
The revelators continued to guide the group during this period, advising in 1946 that we cannot expect widespread acceptance of the Urantia revelation until 90% of the followers attain unity of purpose, just as there will not be peace in the world until 90% of the nations want peace. Unity was often a theme of the counsel given by the revelators to the Contact Commission and shared with the Forum.
Some of the most often quoted advice from the revelators was their guidance about “idealists and ideists” with regard to the wisdom of organizational development:
Some idealists will join you but they will later go off in their own way just like Abner and they will do a good work, and you will wish them well because you have an organization which prevents anyone from being restricted or inhibited; therefore we will bid Godspeed to all idealists who will not have an organization.
You might consider asking an idealist if he thinks The Urantia Book should be copyrighted or just trust to the Spirit of Truth to take care of that? Do not argue with idealists on their level. Be patient until they get halfway down the landing, where they can be more practical. Idealists are just like the rest of us the moment they go down one flight of stairs, but remember, when they talk to you from their level, do not argue with them. . . . When this book is once published, if the idealists control it, they would provide no organization and soon a lot of selfish people would start to make a name out of it . . . . Marry idealism to egotism and you have a fatal combination.
Abner was an idealist, a wonderful man. He loved the truth. Paul was an ideist. He had ideas, and it was a great pity they did not work together; then they would have had a religion for the Orient and a better religion for the Occident. If idealists and ideists could work together, it would save a lot of time and lives. An idealist is an impractical thinker. An ideist is a practical thinker.
Regarding Abner and Paul: One refused to have an organization; he was impractical. The other (Paul) built an organization and he knew he was building in a practical way. We can love Abner but we must respect Paul. Abner failed. Paul’s cause lived. . . .
Be patient with an idealist; patience will do a great deal for them. As far as possible in dealing with them, see if you cannot win them to a greater body of truth. Expose them to the truth and many you will carry along with you. . . . You are going to have a lot of them come along now. Some ideists but mostly idealists.
The Revelatory Commission also provided guidance about copyright and trademark. In 1942, the Revelatory Commission advised the Contact Commission:
You have not done enough to protect your name (this means the name Urantia). Make it very safe for one generation so the name cannot be pre-empted. In a common-law trust you hold the name. You also do it in a corporation. A corporation has status in law. You also do it in copyright. You must carefully register it with the division of government that I have looked into, that controls trade relations. Trademark, and then you are protected in common law connected with a volunteer association such as you are planning in the Urantia Brotherhood. In all those ways you must safeguard the name. This is one of your most important duties. In 50, 75, or 100 years the name will be fairly safe. You safeguard it for a generation and it will largely take care of itself.
World War II became a factor as to when The Urantia Book would be published. Communications from the celestials included commentary on the war, much of it time-bound and informal, part of the many messages that would be destroyed when no longer useful. This statement, a promise from the Melchizedeks, was retained: “The Master’s teachings at Urmia will sometime prevail. Urantia Brotherhood of men will someday begin. Whether it requires a decade or a century, we will prevail against the forces of retrogression and enslavement . . . . most of all we crave to foster a spiritual awakening of your fellow mortals.”
The Publication Mandate
Eventually, the Contact Commissioners received permission to publish. As the doctor puts it, “At long last, permission to publish the Urantia Papers was granted. The Introduction to this mandate reads:
We regard The Urantia Book as a feature of the progressive evolution of human society. It is not germane to the spectacular episode of epochal revolution, even though it may apparently be timed to appear in the wake of one such revolution in human society. The Urantia Book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. That will be the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness. When the chaos of the present confusion has passed, it will be more readily possible to formulate the cosmos of a new and improved era of human relationships. And it is for this better order of affairs on earth that The Urantia Book has been made ready.
But the publication of the book has not been postponed to that (possibly) somewhat remote date. An early publication of the book has been provided so that it may be in hand for the training of leaders and teachers. Its presence is also required to engage the attention of persons of means who may be thus led to provide funds for translation into other languages.
The doctor states that “Upon receipt of these instructions, the Contact Commissioners entered upon the task of publishing The Urantia Book and preparation of plans for its distribution.” He further states, “The Papers were published just as we received them. The Contact Commissioners had no editorial authority. Our job was limited to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.”
Urantia Foundation Created–1950
The plates of The Urantia Book constituted the basis for the formation of Urantia Foundation. This Foundation, a charitable trust organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, was created on January 11, 1950. The first Board of Trustees, appointed for life, consisted of three men and two women.
The Declaration of Trust Creating URANTIA Foundation was recorded in the Recorder’s Office of Cook County on January 26, 1950. The Principal Object of the Declaration of Trust reads:
The object for which this Foundation is created is the promotion, improvement, and expansion among the peoples of the world of the comprehension and understanding of Cosmology and the relation of the planet on which we live to the Universe, of the genesis and destiny of Man and his relation to God, and of the true teachings of Jesus Christ; and for the inculcation and encouragement of the realization and appreciation of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man—in order to increase and enhance the comfort, happiness, and well being of man, as an individual and as a member of society, through the fostering of a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology which are commensurate with Man’s intellectual and cultural development.
The Concordant Objects are as follows:
The concordant objects for which the Foundation is created are to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book and to disseminate the principles, teachings, and doctrines of The Urantia Book.
The Duties of the Trustees include:
1. Preservation of the text of The Urantia Book;
2. Effecting the Principal Object;
3. Preservation and control of reproduction of The Urantia Book and any translation thereof; and
4. Dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book.
One of the first duties of the Board was to see if contributions could be considered tax-exempt. A letter asking for publication funds was drafted. Urantia Foundation opened a bank account on October 9, 1950. Its first office was located at 333 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The first appeal for funds for printing The Urantia Book was issued on October 25, 1950.
One of the wealthy members of the Forum desired to contribute fifty thousand dollars for the publication of The Urantia Book. The revelators “circumvented” this “by instruction” because “it was best to give all parties concerned an opportunity to contribute to the publication fund.” Accordingly, an appeal was made for $50,000 to defray the expense of printing ten thousand copies. The response was immediate and successful.
Urantia Brotherhood’s “Extraordinary Trust”
The Contact Commission read the “Articles for Urantia Brotherhood Constitution” to the Seventy in November 1950. The organizational outline was presented to the Seventy a month later.
A communication was delivered by a Melchizedek serving as the Personal Regent of the Planetary Prince, our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon, concerning the “extraordinary trust” he placed in our human hands. This message was sobering to the Seventy and to the Forum, who also heard the message:
I have great personal interest in your group and deep affection for you as individuals. I commend your loyalty, but I am somewhat amazed at your relative indifference to the importance of the mission which has been entrusted to your hands. Your group of Seventy may seem to show more interest because you are selected and because you are under more or less discipline. But the majority of your Forum shock me by their lack of enthusiasm. . . . I admonish you to be alert to the importance of the extraordinary trust which has been placed in your hands.
And this trust remains with us even today.
Planetary Government Rulings–1951 to 1952
In November 1951, the Contact Commission read to the Forum the following instructions from the Personal Regent of the Planetary Prince of Urantia, Michael of Nebadon, which is only a portion of the original text:
I desire to inform you concerning certain decisions and rulings formulated by the planetary government which pertain to the affairs of The Urantia Book and the ensuing Urantia Brotherhood. Today, I am calling into being a supreme planetary conclave to signalize my creation of the Supreme Court of Urantia. I have recently had a meeting with all persons and groups concerned with the Urantia revelation. As a result of this Conference, I have made certain decisions and am handing down the following rulings:
1. For five hundred years, from February 11, 1935, the overall welfare and direction of The Urantia Book is placed in the hands of the Seraphim of Progress
2. The immediate fostering of the Urantia revelation—from decade to decade—(at least for the next one hundred years) will be entrusted to the Seraphim of the Churches. I have instructed this group to create a special commission to carry on this work.
3. The human aspects of The Urantia Book will be placed in the hands of the Trustees of Urantia Foundation, subject to the advisory suggestions and veto powers of the Revelatory Commission of the United Midwayers of Urantia.
4. For the time being, mediation between the overall and superhuman supervision of this Commission and the directly human functioning of the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation shall be vested in the Midwayer Commission, the successor of the original Urantia Revelatory Commission. The Commission shall continue to function as advisor to both the Seraphic Overseers and the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation, but their veto powers shall extend only to the decisions and acts of the human Trustees.
5. In the absence of Midwayer intervention after February 11, 1954, the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation shall proceed in accordance with their own judgment.
The last communication received by the Contact Commission as a formally constituted body was received on August 21, 1952. The surviving text reads:
This communication represents my ruling up to this date respecting your Forum, the Seventy, The Urantia Book, the Urantia Foundation, and the proposed Urantia Brotherhood.
1. Your Forum shall continue under the supervision of the Contact Commission as directed June 24, 1933.
2. The Urantia Brotherhood. The plan of organization (constitution) as it exists on this date is hereby provisionally approved for the inauguration of Urantia Brotherhood. The plan provides for its own subsequent amendation.
3. The Starting of the Brotherhood. The launching of the Brotherhood shall be left to the decisions of the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation. They shall act personally—unofficially—and no record of such action shall appear in the transactions of the Urantia Foundation. They shall assume all and full responsibility for the organization and inauguration of the Urantia Brotherhood.
4. The Urantia Book. By mandate of the Supreme Court of Urantia . . . the full custody of The Urantia Book has been placed in my hands. I now make the following rulings:
a. I, and I alone, will direct the time of the publication of The Urantia Book.
b. If I do not provide such instructions on or before January 1, 1955, then the Trustees of Urantia Foundation should proceed with plans for publication in accordance with their own judgment.
c. I approve of your plan to publish the Index of The Urantia Book in a separate volume.
5. The Seventy. This is a project which will terminate with the launching of the Brotherhood. I would continue the present supervision. If for any reason this supervision should be terminated, I direct the Trustees of the Urantia Foundation, acting unofficially, to appoint a new leader to act pending the inauguration of the Urantia Brotherhood.
I share in your aspirations, concur in your longings, minister to your shortcomings, and wholeheartedly bless your undertakings.
Having not heard from the Revelatory Commission again, after January 1, 1955, the Contact Commission, the Seventy, and the Forum took the approved steps to fully activate their successor organizations–Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood–as directed by the revelators, described above.
Plans for Publication and Dissemination
The Contact Commission received considerable guidance about the dissemination of The Urantia Book. “It was inevitable that some sort of fraternal organization would grow out of the teachings of The Urantia Book,” wrote the doctor. “All interested persons could see that the Urantia teachings were opposed to the sectarianism of Christian believers. It was clear that it was not the purpose of the Urantia revelation to start a new church.”
Among the guidance they received were reminders that “. . . the best government in the world is that which governs least, that the true purpose of government is to prevent government, and that that government which prevents the most government is the best because it leaves the individual free—permits him his liberties and inalienable rights—but prevents predatory groups from interfering with these liberties. . . . When people are all spirit-led they won’t need any more government than they have on Havona” (See also p. 803, par. 6).
The preamble to the Urantia Brotherhood Constitution and more of the Constitution was read to the Seventy in December 1951. The preamble states:
Inasmuch as it is our most solemn conviction that the comfort, happiness, and well-being of Man will be enhanced by the creation of an organization devoted to the purposes hereinafter expressed and inasmuch as it is our considered judgment that the purposes hereinafter expressed may best be accomplished through the mutual assistance and association of a body of people working together for a common cause, we do hereby unite together as a voluntary association and fellowship under the name of Urantia Brotherhood, and we do hereby adopt and establish this Constitution of Urantia Brotherhood.
Article II of the original Urantia Brotherhood Constitution—Purpose begins, “The purposes of Urantia Brotherhood are the study and dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book; . . .” This clause is followed by a passage that is word-for-word the same as the Principal Object of the Urantia Foundation, thus uniting the two organizations in purpose.
The following guidance from the revelators, the rest of the text of the Publication Mandate, was read to the Forum in 1951:
You who dedicate your lives to the service of the book and the Brotherhood can little realize the import of your doings. You will doubtless live and die without fully realizing that you are participating in the birth of a new age of religion on this world.
The future is not open to your mortal comprehension, but you will do well to diligently study the order, plan, and methods of progression as they were enacted in the earth life of Michael when the Word was made flesh. You are becoming actors in an ensuing episode when the Word is made Book. Great is the difference in these dispensations of religion, but many are the lessons which can be learned from a study of the former age.
You must again study the times of Jesus on earth. You must carefully take note of how the kingdom of heaven was inaugurated in the world. Did it evolve slowly and unfold naturally? Or did it come with sudden show of force and with spectacular exhibition of power? Was it evolutionary or revolutionary?
You must learn to possess your souls in patience. You are in association with a revelation of truth which is a part of the natural evolution of religion on this world. Overrapid growth would be suicidal. The Book is being given to those who are ready for it long before the day of its worldwide mission. Thousands of study groups must be brought into existence and the book must be translated into many tongues. Thus will the book be in readiness when the battle for man’s liberty is finally won and the world is once more made safe for the religion of Jesus and the freedom of mankind.
Urantia Brotherhood Founded–1955
On January 1, 1955, a full five years after the founding of Urantia Foundation, the authority for the functions of the Foundation was assumed by the Trustees when they met to proceed with plans to publish The Urantia Book. They announced their “Declaration of Intention to Print The Urantia Book” on the following day, immediately following the formation of Urantia Brotherhood. On February 11, 1955, formal arrangements were made for the production of The Urantia Book.
On January 2, 1955, “a group of persons who believed the teachings of the book and who were interested in their proclamation, assembled in Chicago and completed the organization of Urantia Brotherhood, a voluntary and fraternal organization of Urantia believers,” wrote the doctor. “This group composed the charter membership of the Urantia Brotherhood and there were 36 in number.”
As one of the charter members remembers the day: “At twelve o’clock there was a meeting of 36 people in the Forum room for the purpose of organizing the Urantia Brotherhood. First, Doctor read a communication directing how it should be done,” she said. Then, she reported, “. . . each one of the 36 were called up to the front to sign the constitution. After elections, the meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer, and the deed was done. Believe me, it was the most thrilling thing! We were all very much impressed—some were crying and I was shaking like a leaf. We’ve waited so long, and it just seemed hardly possible.”
“The original 36 Founders became the General Council which was designed to govern the Brotherhood for its first nine years,” the doctor reported. “Thereafter,” he said, “the Brotherhood would be ordered by the action of a Triennial Delegate Assembly composed of delegates from the various Urantia Societies.”
As was also written of those times, “The social organization of Urantia Brotherhood is not to be confused with the kingdom of heaven or the spiritual brotherhood of men. It is a human organization, a human association of religionists. ‘There is no such thing as a chosen people’” (p. 1488, par. 2).
On March 7, 1955, the newly-elected president of Urantia Brotherhood, also a Contact Commissioner, distributed a memorandum addressed to the Executive Committee of Urantia Brotherhood, with copies to each committee secretary’s notebook. This memorandum summarized much of the guidance from the revelators concerning organization. It was entitled “Some Problems Confronting a New Religious Organization.” Excerpts have been used in this history. Among other guidance, the members were told:
When people come to you about The Urantia Book and the Urantia Brotherhood and tell you that since the Thought Adjusters are here and indwell everyone and the Spirit of Truth has been poured out upon all flesh, therefore, it isn’t necessary to have an organization, we will have in the English speaking world alone fifty other organizations springing up who will all claim the right to use the name ‘Urantia’, each one claiming to be the ‘only true and original’ Urantia Brotherhood.
Not since the gospel of Jesus has there appeared on earth such a dynamic nucleus about which could be built so many organizations and which would attract so many differently motivated men—good, bad, and indifferent.
We must create an organization whose major purpose is to prevent other organizations, and, therefore, the most benign. Create an organization which will organize the least and thereby prevent all other organizations. . . . We have an organization to allow as much liberty as possible. That organization is best that coordinates most while it organizes least.
On May 2, 1955, he prepared a memorandum for the Executive Committee consisting of material adapted from “certain wise comments and advice.” The first part was entitled “Past and Present Tests.” It was also read to the Forum:
If our first test was the endurance of delay, the second test was that of unity. (emphasis ours) We are still undergoing this test. . . . Our particular mission is to function effectively through this transitional period which is witnessing the materialization of the book and which will lead to those future times when the social activities of Urantia believers will begin to function in the more formal organization of the Brotherhood. To do this effectively we must meet the test of trust and confidence. . . . We must make sure that all short circuits of doubt and suspicion are avoided. In this manner may we keep our group influence intact.
The second part of this memorandum was entitled “Our Baptism of Joys and Sorrows”:
We have been called to do a great work and ours is the transcendent privilege of presenting the Papers to the peoples of our strife-torn world.
Supercilious scientists will ridicule us and some may even charge us with collusion and fraud. Well-meaning religionists will condemn us as enemies of the Christian religion and will accuse us of defaming Christ himself.
Thousands of spiritually hungry souls will bless us for the message of the book, and thousands of others will condemn us for disturbing their theologic complacence.
Are we ready for the baptism of joys and sorrows which will certainly attend upon the early distribution of The Urantia Book?
Many strange isms and queer groups will seek to attach themselves to The Urantia Book and its far-flung influence. Our most trying experiences will be with such groups who will so loudly acclaim their belief in the teachings of the book and who will so persistently seek to attach themselves to the movement. Great wisdom will be required to guard the Urantia Brotherhood from the distracting and distorting influence of these multifarious groups and from equally distracting and disturbing individuals, some well-intentioned and some sinister, who will strive to become a part of the authentic constituency of the Urantia Movement.
We can really forecast very little about the reaction of the present generation to the teachings of The Urantia Book. But we can greatly lessen our persecution and ridicule by a reasonable exercise of foresight and wisdom. Our troubles will be greatly lessened if we avoid all discussion of the origin of the book. We should be determined to know but one thing—the soul-surviving message of the book.
Thus Urantia Brotherhood began to operate almost nine months before the publication of The Urantia Book.
Publication of The Urantia Book–October 12, 1955
On Wednesday, October 12, 1955, the “momentous transaction took place—the publication of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.” The first copies of The Urantia Book were published under international copyright.
Word circulated immediately that the first Books had been delivered to 533 Diversey Parkway. Members of the Forum rushed to obtain copies of The Urantia Books that awaited them at last, eager to share them with friends and family who until this moment did not know about the revelation. Appointments were interrupted, overseas telephone calls were made: the great day had finally arrived!
Children of Forum members remember this day with great affection—the first time their parents brought home The Urantia Book. Many received their first copies that very day. Some were relieved to know their relatives had been involved in a project of such noble purpose, having wondered all these years what they were doing on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. Although Forum family members attended the open social gatherings, only the Forum members read the Papers or knew of their existence until this day.
It was said of this time:
Many years of waiting were over for the Forum members. At last they could read The Urantia Book anywhere and anytime they chose. The day made a lasting impression on many people. It has been described by those present as a “thrilling” and “awesome” moment.
Another said, “I still remember men excitedly leaving the building with boxes of books carried on their heads.” One woman recalls mixed feelings, including “sadness.” She said, “I felt that an era was ending and none of us knew what we were facing.”
Until the time of its publication, The Urantia Book had been under the direct guidance of the Revelatory Commission. While the interest of the celestial overseers in the project certainly continued, the special contact maintained during the early years no longer existed. A new day had indeed arrived. The Urantia ship sailed out of its safe harbor to the adventures waiting on unknown shores and seas.
How would these Urantia pioneers navigate this new territory? From their years of preparation, they knew that the indwelling spirit of the Universal Father himself would guide them:
Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain. (p. 1217, par. 4)
And they knew the Spirit of Truth, the gift of our Bestowal Son, Christ Michael, has been poured out upon all flesh:
Having started out on the way of life everlasting, having accepted the assignment and received your orders to advance, do not fear the dangers of human forgetfulness and mortal inconstancy, do not be troubled with doubts or fears of failure or by perplexing confusion, do not falter and question your status and standing, for in every dark hour, at every crossroad in the forward struggle, the Spirit of Truth will always speak, saying, “This is the way.” (p. 383, par. 2)