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The story of Van is one of the most compelling in the Papers. His name is found in 8 of the Papers (the lake named for him is found in a ninth). Van was one of the volunteers who came to our world to serve to bring civilization, culture, technology, education, and so much more to the primitive peoples found here. Here’s a link to the search engine results for his name:
Paper 50 should be reviewed to learn about the status and roles of these volunteers who hail from the Systems Headquarters. All are mortal ascenders who have traversed the Mansion Worlds and volunteer for this service before Adjuster fusion. They represent the Planetary Prince on-world and are the parents of the Primary Midwayers.
The story of Van must include the mortal Urantian hero Amadon. This is quite a tale of faith, loyalty, and the salvation of civilization on our world after the treachery and betrayal of the Planetary Prince Caligastia who joined with Lucifer’s System rebellion. The potential of mortal born minds and character is an amazing fact and that potential is Finaliter, even Agondonter. What a blessing to learn of such destiny potential…..inspiring!
67:3.8 [Part III]
Amadon is the outstanding human hero of the Lucifer rebellion. This male descendant of Andon and Fonta was one of the one hundred who contributed life plasm to the Prince’s staff, and ever since that event he had been attached to Van as his associate and human assistant. Amadon elected to stand with his chief throughout the long and trying struggle. And it was an inspiring sight to behold this child of the evolutionary races standing unmoved by the sophistries of Daligastia while throughout the seven-year struggle he and his loyal associates resisted with unyielding fortitude all of the deceptive teachings of the brilliant Caligastia.67:3.9 [Part III]
Caligastia, with a maximum of intelligence and a vast experience in universe affairs, went astray — embraced sin. Amadon, with a minimum of intelligence and utterly devoid of universe experience, remained steadfast in the service of the universe and in loyalty to his associate. Van utilized both mind and spirit in a magnificent and effective combination of intellectual determination and spiritual insight, thereby achieving an experiential level of personality realization of the highest attainable order. Mind and spirit, when fully united, are potential for the creation of superhuman values, even morontia realities.67:8.1 (761.8) The Lucifer rebellion was withstood by many courageous beings on the various worlds of Satania; but the records of Salvington portray Amadon as the outstanding character of the entire system in his glorious rejection of the flood tides of sedition and in his unswerving devotion to Van — they stood together unmoved in their loyalty to the supremacy of the invisible Father and his Son Michael.
67:8.2 (762.1) At the time of these momentous transactions I was stationed on Edentia, and I am still conscious of the exhilaration I experienced as I perused the Salvington broadcasts which told from day to day of the unbelievable steadfastness, the transcendent devotion, and the exquisite loyalty of this onetime semisavage springing from the experimental and original stock of the Andonic race.
67:8.3 (762.2) From Edentia up through Salvington and even on to Uversa, for seven long years the first inquiry of all subordinate celestial life regarding the Satania rebellion, ever and always, was: “What of Amadon of Urantia, does he still stand unmoved?”
As I said, the story of Van must include this extraordinary human being!
Yeah, but Amadon had a role model and an Adjuster; Van had neither. Amadon may have been a human hero, but Van was a superhuman hero.
Van had spiritual insight, moral steadfastness, unshakable loyalty, clear thinking, wise reasoning, logical judgment, sincere motivation, unselfish purpose, disciplined character and unquestioning devotion to God’s will. He used mind and spirit to create superhuman values (morontia realities). And he did it without an Adjuster! That is so inspiring. I know his personality had tons of experience prior to coming to this planet, but the rebellion is something he never experienced, and he excelled at recognizing the evil in it and overcoming that evil with good. He achieved a level of personality realization of the highest attainable order (67:3.9). I can’t tell you how amazing that is to me, especially without an Adjuster! None of us have room to complain about a single thing . . . just sayin’.
Thanks Bonita…I’d forgotten that! It is noted in the text that Van (and the 100) possessed mature souls and great experience for their lives here on the material world of their voluntary assignment…but no Father Fragment attended them in this service. I didn’t find any specific reasons for this temporary separation however.
Been studying Papers 50 – The Planetary Princes, 66 – The Planetary Prince of Urantia, and 68 – The Dawn of Civilization prior to a more specific study on Van personally.
It is amazing to me how critical the role of the corporeal staff is on every mortal world and how distinct is each world’s challenge to deliver civilization and spiritual light to the primitive and barbaric humans found on each world who are barely elevated into tribes with primitive tools for hunting and warfare, belligerent toward each other where family and home are barely considered and cooperation with one another is primarily for survival. Into such worlds come the Prince and his staff, including the corporeal volunteers.
These ones are tasked with demonstrating and teaching the highest ideals and ideas for the transformation of a whole world, slowly over great time frames, elevating by evolutionary engagement and example, over thousands of generations of humanity, each generation with greater progress delivered, radiantly outward, to those people who willingly desire and request participation in this great cause as taught and exemplified by these one time residents of and pre-fusion ascending mortals from the System capitals who volunteered to return to such primitive conditions for the upliftment of another mortal world in the System of their origin, at the very beginning of civilizing and bringing personal religion to savages.
What a tale! What a challenge! Such fortitude and patience filled with obstacles, uncertainties, disappointments, and failures!
A note on Van….he was the Supreme Court Chief Justice who ruled on any and all issues requiring judicious consideration and resolution on Urantia and served with honor and distinction with his other staff members assigned and their human associates and helpers. The entire staffs of the Courts and Revealed Revelation remained loyal to Michael and the Father (as did another 20 corporeal volunteers and their human associates, and many of the Primary Midwayers and Seraphic helpers), as Lucifer lured Caligastia and Dalagastia into wickedness, betrayal, and rebellion .
Looking forward to more study on this. I found this and it relates to the Planetary Mortal Epochs, much of which is in the hands of the Prince’s staff, but this is abbreviated and encapsulating:
50:5.3 (576.6) Under the benign rule of a Planetary Prince, augmented by the Material Sons and punctuated by the periodic missions of the Paradise Sons, the mortal races on an average world of time and space will successively pass through the following seven developmental epochs:
50:5.4 (576.7) 1. The nutrition epoch. The prehuman creatures and the dawn races of primitive man are chiefly concerned with food problems. These evolving beings spend their waking hours either in seeking food or in fighting, offensively or defensively. The food quest is paramount in the minds of these early ancestors of subsequent civilization.
50:5.5 (576.8) 2. The security age. Just as soon as the primitive hunter can spare any time from the search for food, he turns this leisure to augmenting his security. More and more attention is devoted to the technique of war. Homes are fortified, and the clans are solidified by mutual fear and by the inculcation of hate for foreign groups. Self-preservation is a pursuit which always follows self-maintenance.
50:5.6 (577.1) 3. The material-comfort era. After food problems have been partially solved and some degree of security has been attained, the additional leisure is utilized to promote personal comfort. Luxury vies with necessity in occupying the center of the stage of human activities. Such an age is all too often characterized by tyranny, intolerance, gluttony, and drunkenness. The weaker elements of the races incline towards excesses and brutality. Gradually these pleasure-seeking weaklings are subjugated by the more strong and truth-loving elements of the advancing civilization.
50:5.7 (577.2) 4. The quest for knowledge and wisdom. Food, security, pleasure, and leisure provide the foundation for the development of culture and the spread of knowledge. The effort to execute knowledge results in wisdom, and when a culture has learned how to profit and improve by experience, civilization has really arrived. Food, security, and material comfort still dominate society, but many forward-looking individuals are hungering for knowledge and thirsting for wisdom. Every child is provided an opportunity to learn by doing; education is the watchword of these ages.
50:5.8 (577.3) 5. The epoch of philosophy and brotherhood. When mortals learn to think and begin to profit by experience, they become philosophical — they start out to reason within themselves and to exercise discriminative judgment. The society of this age becomes ethical, and the mortals of such an era are truly becoming moral beings. Wise moral beings are capable of establishing human brotherhood on such a progressing world. Ethical and moral beings can learn how to live in accordance with the golden rule.
50:5.9 (577.4) 6. The age of spiritual striving. When evolving mortals have passed through the physical, intellectual, and social stages of development, sooner or later they attain those levels of personal insight which impel them to seek for spiritual satisfactions and cosmic understandings. Religion is completing the ascent from the emotional domains of fear and superstition to the high levels of cosmic wisdom and personal spiritual experience. Education aspires to the attainment of meanings, and culture grasps at cosmic relationships and true values. Such evolving mortals are genuinely cultured, truly educated, and exquisitely God-knowing.
50:5.10 (577.5) 7. The era of light and life. This is the flowering of the successive ages of physical security, intellectual expansion, social culture, and spiritual achievement. These human accomplishments are now blended, associated, and co-ordinated in cosmic unity and unselfish service. Within the limitations of finite nature and material endowments there are no bounds set upon the possibilities of evolutionary attainment by the advancing generations who successively live upon these supernal and settled worlds of time and space.
50:5.11 (577.6) After serving their spheres through successive dispensations of world history and the progressing epochs of planetary progress, the Planetary Princes are elevated to the position of Planetary Sovereigns upon the inauguration of the era of light and life.
Van and all the corporeal staff had loyally administered the affairs and their duties related to their mission following the will and direction of Caligastia, the Planetary Prince, for some 300,000 years. Then this:
1. The Caligastia Betrayal
67:1.1 (754.2) For three hundred thousand years Caligastia had been in charge of Urantia when Satan, Lucifer’s assistant, made one of his periodic inspection calls. And when Satan arrived on the planet, his appearance in no way resembled your caricatures of his nefarious majesty. He was, and still is, a Lanonandek Son of great brilliance. “And no marvel, for Satan himself is a brilliant creature of light.”67:1.2 (754.3) In the course of this inspection Satan informed Caligastia of Lucifer’s then proposed “Declaration of Liberty,” and as we now know, the Prince agreed to betray the planet upon the announcement of the rebellion. The loyal universe personalities look with peculiar disdain upon Prince Caligastia because of this premeditated betrayal of trust. The Creator Son voiced this contempt when he said: “You are like your leader, Lucifer, and you have sinfully perpetuated his iniquity. He was a falsifier from the beginning of his self-exaltation because he abode not in the truth.”
67:2.1 (755.3) Shortly after Satan’s inspection and when the planetary administration was on the eve of the realization of great things on Urantia, one day, midwinter of the northern continents, Caligastia held a prolonged conference with his associate, Daligastia, after which the latter called the ten councils of Urantia in session extraordinary. This assembly was opened with the statement that Prince Caligastia was about to proclaim himself absolute sovereign of Urantia and demanded that all administrative groups abdicate by resigning all of their functions and powers into the hands of Daligastia as trustee, pending the reorganization of the planetary government and the subsequent redistribution of these offices of administrative authority.
67:2.2 (755.4) The presentation of this astounding demand was followed by the masterly appeal of Van, chairman of the supreme council of co-ordination. This distinguished administrator and able jurist branded the proposed course of Caligastia as an act bordering on planetary rebellion and appealed to his conferees to abstain from all participation until an appeal could be taken to Lucifer, the System Sovereign of Satania; and he won the support of the entire staff. Accordingly, appeal was taken to Jerusem, and forthwith came back the orders designating Caligastia as supreme sovereign on Urantia and commanding absolute and unquestioning allegiance to his mandates. And it was in reply to this amazing message that the noble Van made his memorable address of seven hours’ length in which he formally drew his indictment of Daligastia, Caligastia, and Lucifer as standing in contempt of the sovereignty of the universe of Nebadon; and he appealed to the Most Highs of Edentia for support and confirmation.
Me here: The “masterly appeal of Van”, Urantia’s Chief Justice of the Planetary Supreme Court, appeals first to the System HG which, of course, was rejected by the leader and originator of the rebellion – Lucifer, System Sovereign. Then Van made his appeal to the next level of System/Constellation courts – the Supreme Court of Edentia – the Most Highs who rule in the kingdoms of local creation as is their jurisdiction. All according to protocols, policies, and procedures of the Constellation and System administrative management and rule of law and justice and Van’s impeccable discernment and actions coincided with Gabriel’s own appeals and representation of Michael’s will in the matter.
Then came the 7 years of conflict, both on Urantia and throughout the System, whereby and during, every creature and mind was given opportunity to decide for themselves whether to follow the rebel leadership or to stand firm against rebellion and the Lucifer’s declaration and manifesto declaring himself God, denying the Universal Father, and claiming Michael’s indifference and impotence.
Gabriel’s loyalty was a certainty as Michael’s first born Son and Chief Executive of the entire Local Universe of Nebadon, always faithfully representing the mind, will, and voice of Nebadon’s Creator Son. But Van? And Amadon? They exemplify the power of faith, trust, and loyalty by those who began life as material born creatures of the lowliest of origins.
Early in the 7 Crucial Years of soul searching and the exposure of loyalists and rebels, the Tree of Life was saved for Van’s Loyalists:
67:3.3 (756.4) The traitorous Prince marshaled the disloyal midway creatures and other groups of rebel personalities and organized them to execute his bidding, while Van assembled the loyal midwayers and other faithful groups and began the great battle for the salvation of the planetary staff and other marooned celestial personalities.
67:3.4 (756.5) During the times of this struggle the loyalists dwelt in an unwalled and poorly protected settlement a few miles to the east of Dalamatia, but their dwellings were guarded day and night by the alert and ever-watchful loyal midway creatures, and they had possession of the priceless tree of life.
67:3.5 (756.6) Upon the outbreak of rebellion, loyal cherubim and seraphim, with the aid of three faithful midwayers, assumed the custody of the tree of life and permitted only the forty loyalists of the staff and their associated modified mortals to partake of the fruit and leaves of this energy plant. There were fifty-six of these modified Andonite associates of the staff, sixteen of the Andonite attendants of the disloyal staff refusing to go into rebellion with their masters.
67:3.6 (756.7) Throughout the seven crucial years of the Caligastia rebellion, Van was wholly devoted to the work of ministry to his loyal army of men, midwayers, and angels. The spiritual insight and moral steadfastness which enabled Van to maintain such an unshakable attitude of loyalty to the universe government was the product of clear thinking, wise reasoning, logical judgment, sincere motivation, unselfish purpose, intelligent loyalty, experiential memory, disciplined character, and the unquestioning dedication of his personality to the doing of the will of the Father in Paradise.
Me here: And now begins the extraordinary tale of the Loyalists and Van and Amadon’s great odyssey to preserve civilization and perpetuate its progress until such time as the next planetary phase of celestial leadership should arrive – the Material Son and Daughter, Adam and Eve.
We shall read of this adventure of Van the Steadfast and his loyal assistant, Amadon during these trying days to come, next!
On another topic, a poster questioned who was loyal and who a traitor/rebel on Urantia and throughout the System, and how such distinction might be determined. While researching reflectivity, I discovered several such ways:
28:5.19 [Part I]
7. The Discerner of Spirits. A special liaison exists between the counselors and advisers of the second Havona circle and these reflective angels. They are the only seconaphim attached to the Universal Censors but are probably the most uniquely specialized of all their fellows. Regardless of the source or channel of information, no matter how meager the evidence at hand, when it is subjected to their reflective scrutiny, these discerners will forthwith inform us as to the true motive, the actual purpose, and the real nature of its origin. I marvel at the superb functioning of these angels, who so unerringly reflect the actual moral and spiritual character of any individual concerned in a focal exposure.28:6.13 [Part I]
4. The Solemnity of Trust. Trust is the crucial test of will creatures. Trustworthiness is the true measure of self-mastery, character. These seconaphim accomplish a double purpose in the economy of the superuniverses: They portray to all will creatures the sense of the obligation, sacredness, and solemnity of trust. At the same time they unerringly reflect to the governing authorities the exact trustworthiness of any candidate for confidence or trust.9:7.1 [Part I]
The Conjoint Actor is able to co-ordinate all levels of universe actuality in such manner as to make possible the simultaneous recognition of the mental, the material, and the spiritual. This is the phenomenon of universe reflectivity, that unique and inexplicable power to see, hear, sense, and know all things as they transpire throughout a superuniverse, and to focalize, by reflectivity, all this information and knowledge at any desired point. The action of reflectivity is shown in perfection on each of the headquarters worlds of the seven superuniverses. It is also operative throughout all sectors of the superuniverses and within the boundaries of the local universes. Reflectivity finally focalizes on Paradise.32:4.8 (363.6) We can see and understand the mechanism whereby the Sons enjoy intimate and complete knowledge regarding the universes of their jurisdiction; but we cannot fully comprehend the methods whereby God is so fully and personally conversant with the details of the universe of universes, although we at least can recognize the avenue whereby the Universal Father can receive information regarding, and manifest his presence to, the beings of his immense creation. Through the personality circuit the Father is cognizant — has personal knowledge — of all the thoughts and acts of all the beings in all the systems of all the universes of all creation. Though we cannot fully grasp this technique of God’s communion with his children, we can be strengthened in the assurance that the “Lord knows his children,” and that of each one of us “he takes note where we were born.”
It is obvious by the text, that rebellion began in the mind of Lucifer, the System Sovereign and was brought to Urantia and other worlds in our System by Lucifer’s treachery and declaration of False Liberty in his Manifesto. For seven years every mind had ample time to determine for themselves by free will and experiential wisdom which ‘side’ they would declare allegiance – Michael and God or Lucifer and his associates in rebellion against Michael. The above text gives ample evidence as to the truth discernment and loyalty measurement applied to determine the status and sincerity of every being and mind!
I think that next we will begin to follow the long history of Van and Amadon. By the way, the loyal corporeal staff was recalled to the System HQ for reunion with their God Fragment for continuation of their ascension adventure. Van and Amadon and the loyal mortals of the realm and the loyal midwayers and angels now carry on the plans for civilization in great isolation requiring loyalty, faith, courage, and so much more!
67:3.5 (756.6) Upon the outbreak of rebellion, loyal cherubim and seraphim, with the aid of three faithful midwayers, assumed the custody of the tree of life and permitted only the forty loyalists of the staff and their associated modified mortals to partake of the fruit and leaves of this energy plant. There were fifty-six of these modified Andonite associates of the staff, sixteen of the Andonite attendants of the disloyal staff refusing to go into rebellion with their masters.That’s pretty extraordinary, sixteen unsung heroes. What a tale they all must have!Yes…quite a tale!!
Papers 68-72 are a presentation of our world’s struggle to reclaim the ministry success of the Prince’s staff in formulating civilization among the earliest primitive humans on Urantia. The evolutionary progression of humanity is an important study for our understanding or how we got to where we are today….and where we go from here.
Paper 73 takes up the personal stories of Van and Amadon related to that reclamation story referenced above.
73:1.2 (821.5) 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.
73:1.3 (821.6) 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. “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.
73:1.5 (822.2) 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.
73:1.6 (822.3) 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.”
73:1.7 (822.4) Prior to the arrival of Adam and Eve these groups — Nodites and Amadonites — were the most advanced and cultured races on earth.
Me: This then was the very center of civilization prior to the Garden and became the epicenter of the great Andite adventures of the globalization of civilization to come.
The story of Van (and Amadon) is a tale of over 150,000 years long….that’s about 7,500 generations of mortal borns (by comparison, figuring 20 or so years between generations, it has been but 100 generations since the days of Jesus). That’s a long, long time. Van and Amadon were the only beings who could benefit from the Tree of Life which they preserved for the anticipated Garden to come.
We are told they worked on perfecting a local language, based on Amadon’s native Andonic tongue, including a 24 letter alphabet – Adam and Eve learned this language prior to their arrival on Urantia, and it was indeed the local language of the Garden too – the future language of all Edenic culture to come. We are also informed that this was the world center of civilization preservation and perpetuation, by the leadership and direction of the 12 Melchizedek Receivers, and Van’s followers established a highland stronghold and culture with dozens of nearby centers of allies and fellow believers in the One God – this being between the shores of Lake Van and Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey of today. This area will remain central to Urantia’s story and the Andite migrations to come much later. This is the home ground for the later, legendary “mighty men of old”.
As the time to build the Garden drew close, Van recruited over 3,000 volunteers from 61 nearby loyal and friendly settlements to locate the ideal place for the Garden and begin construction. The Garden…is another story.
77:4.11
Some of the early associates of Van subsequently settled about the shores of the lake which still bears his name, and their traditions grew up about this locality. Ararat became their sacred mountain, having much the same meaning to later-day Vanites that Sinai had to the Hebrews. Ten thousand years ago the Vanite ancestors of the Assyrians taught that their moral law of seven commandments had been given to Van by the Gods upon Mount Ararat. They firmly believed that Van and his associate Amadon were taken alive from the planet while they were up on the mountain engaged in worship.78:3.4
From about 30,000 to 10,000 B.C. epoch-making racial mixtures were taking place throughout southwestern Asia. The highland inhabitants of Turkestan were a virile and vigorous people. To the northwest of India much of the culture of the days of Van persisted. Still to the north of these settlements the best of the early Andonites had been preserved. And both of these superior races of culture and character were absorbed by the northward-moving Adamites. This amalgamation led to the adoption of many new ideas; it facilitated the progress of civilization and greatly advanced all phases of art, science, and social culture.93:7.2
The descendants of Adamson, clustered about the shores of the lake of Van, were willing listeners to the Hittite teachers of the Salem cult. From this onetime Andite center, teachers were dispatched to the remote regions of both Europe and Asia. Salem missionaries penetrated all Europe, even to the British Isles. One group went by way of the Faroes to the Andonites of Iceland, while another traversed China and reached the Japanese of the eastern islands. The lives and experiences of the men and women who ventured forth from Salem, Mesopotamia, and Lake Van to enlighten the tribes of the Eastern Hemisphere present a heroic chapter in the annals of the human race.Me: In many ways it can be said that the cultural influence of Van and Amadon’s lives most profoundly affected our world from the time of the Prince’s treachery up to today! Hope I’m not the only history buff here!
78:4.6
These Andites were adventurous; they had roving dispositions. An increase of either Sangik or Andonite stock tended to stabilize them. But even so, their later descendants never stopped until they had circumnavigated the globe and discovered the last remote continent.78:5.3
The civilization of Turkestan was constantly being revived and refreshed by the newcomers from Mesopotamia, especially by the later Andite cavalrymen. The so-called Aryan mother tongue was in process of formation in the highlands of Turkestan; it was a blend of the Andonic dialect of that region with the language of the Adamsonites and later Andites. Many modern languages are derived from this early speech of these central Asian tribes who conquered Europe, India, and the upper stretches of the Mesopotamian plains. This ancient language gave the Occidental tongues all of that similarity which is called Aryan.78:5.5
The Andites not only migrated to Europe but to northern China and India, while many groups penetrated to the ends of the earth as missionaries, teachers, and traders. They contributed considerably to the northern groups of the Saharan Sangik peoples. But only a few teachers and traders ever penetrated farther south in Africa than the headwaters of the Nile. Later on, mixed Andites and Egyptians followed down both the east and west coasts of Africa well below the equator, but they did not reach Madagascar.78:5.8
The migratory conquests of the Andites continued on down to their final dispersions, from 8000 to 6000 B.C. As they poured out of Mesopotamia, they continuously depleted the biologic reserves of their homelands while markedly strengthening the surrounding peoples. And to every nation to which they journeyed, they contributed humor, art, adventure, music, and manufacture. They were skillful domesticators of animals and expert agriculturists. For the time being, at least, their presence usually improved the religious beliefs and moral practices of the older races. And so the culture of Mesopotamia quietly spread out over Europe, India, China, northern Africa, and the Pacific Islands.
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