We know from the revelators that our beloved blue planet is a decimal planet [58:0.1]. This means that on every tenth planet where the Life Carriers implant life, it undergoes new mechanical, chemical, and electrical mobilization patterns [57:8.8], that is, new life forms to develop possible improvements.
The Failures
Since we live in an experiential universe that is not yet perfect, failures in attempts to improve life are possible. Among the failures that have occurred on Urantia, we can mention certain bacteria and fungi. The former have changed since the earliest dawn of life and even show some degree of regression. In the case of fungi, many of them show a retrograde movement because they have lost their ability to produce chlorophyll and have become parasitic [65:2.3].
The amoeba and its protozoan cousins have remained almost unchanged since the beginning of life and are considered a failure by the Life Carriers for not having evolved [65:2.4].
Single-celled animals of primitive types associated themselves in colonies, such as the volvox, and later the jellyfish. Thousands of species appeared and disappeared during these ancient ages. All these specimens were nonprogressive. Even the fish family, animals from the evolutionary point of view, remained stationary [65:2.5].
From the fishes arose the frog and the salamander. The frog inaugurated the series of differentiations that would later culminate in the appearance of man, but it failed to progress and remains stationary today [65:2.7].
Frogs gave rise to reptiles, almost extinct today, but also to birds and mammals [65:2.8]. The kingdom of reptiles, descended from the frog family, is today represented by four surviving divisions: two nonprogressive, snakes and lizards, together with their cousins, alligators and turtles; one partially progressive, the bird family, and the fourth, the ancestors of mammals and the direct line of descent of the human species. [65:2.10].
Around 140 million years ago, mammals without placentas appeared. They represented an experimental effort to improve the mammalian types, but they ultimately proved to be a failure [60:1.11].
In the final analysis, fourteen phyla [evolutionary series of forms] appeared on Urantia, the last of which was the fish. Since the birds and mammals, no new class has developed [65:2.11].
Of the three original life implants, that of the eastern group lacked the capacity to attain the prehuman status of intelligence due to losses of the highest types of its germ plasm, so the Life Carriers manipulated the surrounding environment to circumscribe these unfit lines until they were totally eliminated [65:2.13 and 14].
One hundred and ten million years ago, under tremendous pressure from carnivorous dinosaurs, two species took refuge in the sea to survive. They represent a setback in evolution. Some lineages are stationary while others return to an earlier state, such as the sea snakes [60:2.10]. Two other lineages took refuge in the air. These flying pterosaurs failed to evolve as aerial navigators and became extinct [60:2.12].
The Accomplishments
From the frogs arose the reptiles, one of whose four branches mentioned earlier gave the ancestors of the mammals [65:2.10].
From an agile little carnivorous reptilian dinosaur with a relatively large brain arose the placental mammals. These new mammals developed rapidly in different ways to the modern forms, but also to marine types such as whales and seals, and to aerial types such as bats [65:2.12].
A great success was the chemical mechanism for the repair of injured cells and the multiplication of healthy cells [65:4.3 to 6].
Two other successes were the appearance of the Andonic race and the six Sangik races within one family [65:4.7]. The Andonic race represents the efforts of the Life Carriers to produce an early manifestation of the human will [65:4.11]. The second characteristic concerns the six races of color. Usually, they appear one by one from the prehuman forms over a long period of time, and it takes a long time for these prehumans to attain human will. On Urantia, human will has existed since the first two Andonites nearly a million years ago.
Among the accomplishments not specific to our planet, we may name the ability of plants to produce chlorophyll, and the transformation of the spore into a seed [65:6.3]. We may also point to the ability of iron to play the dual role of oxygen carrier and carbon dioxide eliminator in blood cells [65:6.4].
The Leading Thread of the Urantia Human Lineage
Of the three settlements of life 550 million years ago [58:4.2], only the central or Eurasian-African and the western including Greenland and the Americas effectively contributed to the emergence of mankind.
The primeval protoplasm [65:6.8] in the form of primitive marine algae [65:2.1] passed through a transitional form toward the border of animal life 450 million years ago [58:6.1 and 65:2.2]. Sponges are survivors of one of these types. Amoebae, a single-celled type of animal, are part of this early stage of animal life [59:1.1].
Four hundred million years ago the first multicellular animals appeared, the trilobites dominating the underwater world [59:1.4] shared by various crustaceans, their modern successors [59:2.10].
The arthropods, or crustaceans, were the ancestors of the first vertebrates [59:4.10]. Two of these evolved into what became the fishes, true vertebrates, about 250 million years ago [59:4.9]. From these arthropods came amphibians about 210 million years ago, which invaded the land. Among them were the frogs [59:5.6].
About 170 million years ago, pre-reptilian frogs appeared in Africa [59:6.8]. Then, 140 million years ago, true reptiles appeared [60:1.9]. Fifty million years ago, placental mammals appeared in North America, descending from a reptile ancestor, a small carnivorous dinosaur [61:1.2]. Thirty million years ago, in western North America, the ancestors of the ancient lemurs appeared [61:2.10]. These early lemur ancestors migrated across the Bering Bridge and along the southwestern coast of Asia, where they intermingled with the lineages of the central life group [62:1 and 65:2.15].
One million five hundred thousand years ago, the mammalian precursors of man arose from the descendants of the ancient lemurs [61:6.1 and 62:2]. Within their seventieth generation a new group sprang up, the intermediate mammals [61:6.1 and 62:3]. In their third vital mutation, these gave rise to the primates [61:6.1 and 62:4]. From the higher primates came the first two primitive human beings about 1 million years ago [61:6.1 and 62:5]. Then, 500,000 years ago, the six colored races emerged from the Andonic race [61:7.4 and 64:5-6]. To these seven human races must be added the Nodite [67:4.2 and 73:1] and Adamic [74:6.2] races. This is a quick summary of the thread leading to the appearance of man.
The Determinant that Reveals Failure or Success
For the Life Carriers, success or failure is a matter of one question: has the mechanism concerned adapted to its natural environment in a stable and viable manner while retaining its evolutionary power to adapt? An original gift of adaptation is included in every living organism; if this gift is lost, that organism will prove to be a failure [65:6.2]. With the climate changes we have recently experienced, many forms of life have already disappeared or are about to do so! The study of our planet’s history reveals more than one extinction of life mainly due to climatic changes.
Is the Fifth Epochal Revelation a Test?
Since we are a decimal planet, where new ideas can be tried to improve life for other planets, could it be possible that the fifth epochal revelation is also a test? Usually, on all normal planets in the course of physical, intellectual, and spiritual evolution, the revelation of the truth about the universe, its cosmology and the celestial hierarchy are proclaimed gradually within the progress of its cultural, social and religious advancement of its inhabitants’ (see Paper 52). So, since we are a very backward planet on the normal course of things, giving us this fifth revelation, which presents all or nearly all that the normal worlds have access to as they advance into the age of light and life, might be one more attempt by our revelators to see how we fare with all this knowledge! If it turns out that beings as primitive as we are, will manage to cope acceptably in the coming age, perhaps this knowledge will be spread more liberally to other spheres populating the cosmos!
Our planet has already benefited from more than one intervention outside the universal norms. In addition to being a decimal sphere [36:2.15]; we have had a peculiar nature of life patterns [65:7.3]; we have had a Melchizedek administration before the arrival of a Planetary Prince; then, the return of the Melchizedek administration after the failure of the Prince’s mission [67:6. 5]; again, the same scenario is repeated after the failure of the Adam and Eve mission, we were entitled to the return of the Melchizedek administration [75:5.8 and 93:0. 2]; we had an emergency mission with Machiventa Melchizedek [93:1.3]; in the sixth century B.C., an exceptional coordination of spiritual nature provided Urantia with an unusual presentation of religious truth in multiple forms [94:6. 1]; we had a bestowal Son long before the established normal order [see Paper 52]; we benefit from the administration of the group of twenty-four with its governor, present on Urantia [114:3.5]; finally, we have received The Urantia Book. Clearly, our planet is an excellent candidate for experimenting with new ways of expressing divinity!
Could it be that the great interest in studying our planetary history by cosmic students is linked, in addition to the bestowal of Michael of Nebadon, to these multiple departures from the generally accepted rule and the means undertaken to bring our poor blue planet back on the right path?
I leave you to meditate on this question!