P497:1, 44:0.1 Among the courtesy colonies of the various
divisional and universe headquarters worlds may be found the unique order of
composite personalities denominated the celestial artisans. These beings are the
master artists and artisans of the morontia and lower spirit realms. They are
the spirits and semispirits who are engaged in morontia embellishment and in
spiritual beautification. Such artisans are distributed throughout the grand
universe -- on the headquarters worlds of the universes, the constellations, and
systems, as well as on all spheres settled in light and life; but their chief
realm of activity is in the constellations.
P497:2, 44:0.2 Though their work may be almost incomprehensible to the material mind, it should be understood that the morontia and spirit worlds are not without their high arts and supernal cultures.
P497:3, 44:0.3 The celestial artisans are not created as such;
they are a selected and recruited corps of beings composed of certain teacher
personalities native to the central universe and their volunteer pupils drawn
from the ascending mortals and numerous other celestial groups. The original
teaching corps of these artisans was sometime assigned by the Infinite Spirit in
collaboration with the Master Spirits and consisted of numerous Heaven
instructors. With such a nucleus to start with, there has developed through the
ages this brilliant body of skillful workers in spirit and morontia affairs.
P497:4, 44:0.4 Any morontia personality or spirit entity is
eligible for admission to the corps of the celestial artisans.
P497:5, 44:0.5 All celestial artisans are commissioned in the following seven major divisions of activity by the central corps of morontia supervisors functioning on the headquarters world of each local universe:
1. Celestial Musicians.
2. Heavenly Reproducers.
3. Divine Builders.
4. Thought Recorders.
5. Energy Manipulators.
6. Designers and Embellishers.
7. Harmony Workers.
P498:4, 44:0.6 The original teachers of these seven groups all
hailed from the perfect worlds of Heaven, and Heaven contains the patterns, the
pattern studies, for all phases and forms of spirit artistry. While it is a
gigantic task to undertake to transfer these arts of Heaven to the worlds of
space, the celestial artisans have improved in technique and execution from age
to age. As in all other phases of the ascending career those who are most
advanced in any line of endeavor are required constantly to impart their
superior knowledge and skill to their less favored fellows.
P498:5, 44:0.7 You will first begin to glimpse these
transplanted arts of Heaven, and their beauty and your appreciation of their
beauty will heighten and brighten until you stand and behold the inspiring
masterpieces of the supernal artists of the spirit realms.
P498:6, 44:0.8 All these activities of the morontia and spirit
worlds are real. To spirit beings the spirit world is a reality. To us the
material world is the more unreal. The higher forms of spirits freely pass
through ordinary matter. High spirits are reactive to nothing material excepting
certain of the basic energies. To material beings the spirit world is more or
less unreal; to spirit beings the material world is almost entirely unreal,
being merely a shadow of the substance of spirit realities.
P498:7, 44:0.9 We discern how these material structures appear
by viewing a spirit counterpart presented to our minds by one of our attending
energy transformers. This material building is not exactly real to a spirit
being, but it is, of course, very real and very serviceable to material mortals.
P498:8, 44:0.10 There are certain types of beings who are
capable of discerning the reality of the creatures of both the spirit and the
material worlds. The angels of time and space are endowed with the ability to
discern both spirit and material beings as also are the ascending mortals
subsequent to deliverance from the life in the flesh. After attainment of the
higher spirit levels the ascenders are able to recognize material, morontia, and
spirit realities.
P498:9, 44:0.11 Never in your long ascendancy will you lose the
power to recognize your associates of former existences. Always, as you ascend
inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and
fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of
experience. Each new translation or resurrection will add one more group of
spirit beings to your vision range without in the least depriving you of the
ability to recognize your friends and fellows of former estates.
P498:10, 44:0.12 All this is made possible in the experience of
ascending mortals by the action of the indwelling Thought Adjusters. Through
their retention of the duplicates of your entire life's experiences, you are
assured of never losing any true attribute you once had; and these Adjusters are
going through with you, as a part of you, in reality, as you.
P499:3, 44:1.1 With the limited range of mortal hearing, you
can hardly conceive of morontia melodies. There is even a material range of
beautiful sound unrecognized by the human sense of hearing, not to mention the
inconceivable scope of morontia and spirit harmony. Spirit melodies are not
material sound waves but spirit pulsations received by the spirits of celestial
personalities. There is a vastness of range and a soul of expression, as well as
grandeur of execution, associated with the melody of the spheres, that are
wholly beyond human comprehension. Enraptured beings are held in sublime ecstasy
while the melody of the realm rolled in upon the spirit energy of the celestial
circuits. These marvelous melodies can be broadcast to the uttermost parts of a
universe.
P499:4, 44:1.2 The celestial musicians are occupied with the
production of celestial harmony by the manipulation of the following spirit
forces:
P500:1, 44:1.3 There are numerous different modes of sound,
color, and energy manipulation, techniques analogous to the human employment of
musical instruments. Our ensembles of dancing undoubtedly represent a crude and
grotesque attempt of material creatures to approach the celestial harmony of
being placement and personality arrangement. The other five forms of morontia
melody are unrecognized by the sensory mechanism of material bodies.
P500:2, 44:1.4 Harmony, the music of the seven levels of
melodious association, is the one universal code of spirit communication.
P500:3, 44:1.5 Appreciation of music on Earth is both physical
and spiritual; and our musicians have done much to elevate musical taste from
the barbarous monotony of our early ancestors to the higher levels of sound
appreciation. The majorities react to music so largely with the material muscles
and so slightly with the mind and spirit; but there has been a steady
improvement in musical appreciation for more than thirty-five thousand years.
P500:4, 44:1.6 Tuneful syncopation represents a transition from
the musical monotony of primitive man to the expressionful harmony and
meaningful melodies of our later-day musicians. These earlier types of rhythm
stimulate the reaction of the music-loving sense without entailing the exertion
of the higher intellectual powers of harmony appreciation and thus more
generally appeal to immature or spiritually indolent individuals.
P500:5, 44:1.7 The best music of Earth is just a fleeting echo
of the magnificent strains heard by the celestial associates of our musicians,
who left but snatches of these harmonies of morontia forces on record as the
musical melodies of sound harmonics. Spirit-morontia music not infrequently
employs all seven modes of expression and reproduction, so that the human mind
is tremendously handicapped in any attempt to reduce these melodies of the
higher spheres to mere notes of musical sound. Such an effort would be something
like endeavoring to reproduce the strains of a great orchestra by means of a
single musical instrument.
P500:6, 44:1.8 It is literally true, "melody has power a
whole world to transform." Forever, music will remain the universal
language of men, angels, and spirits. Harmony is the speech of Heaven.
P500:7, 44:2.1 Mortal man can hardly hope for more than a meager and distorted concept of the functions of the heavenly reproducers. The spirit-morontia world has a thousand and one things of supreme value, things worthy of reproduction but unknown on Earth, experiences that belong in the category of the activities which have hardly "entered into the mind of man," those realities which God has in waiting for those who survive the life in the flesh.
P501:1, 44:2.2 There are seven groups of the heavenly reproducers by the following classification:
P501:2, 44:2.3 1. The singers -- harmonists who reiterate the specific harmonies of the past and interpret the melodies of the present. But all of this is effected on the morontia level.
P501:3, 44:2.4 2. The color workers -- those artists of light and shade you might call sketchers and painters, artists who preserve passing scenes and transient episodes for future morontia enjoyment.
P501:4, 44:2.5 3. The light picturizers -- the makers of the real semispirit-phenomena preservations of which motion pictures would be a very crude illustration.
P501:5, 44:2.6 4. The historic pageanteers -- those who dramatically reproduce the crucial events of universe records and history.
P501:6, 44:2.7 5. The prophetic artists -- those who project the meanings of history into the future.
P501:7, 44:2.8 6. The life-story tellers -- those who perpetuate the meaning and significance of life experience. The projection of present personal experiences into future attainment values.
P501:8, 44:2.9 7. The administrative enactors -- those who depict the significance of governmental philosophy and administrative technique, the celestial dramatists of sovereignty.
P501:9, 44:2.10 Very often and effectively the heavenly reproducers collaborate with the reversion directors in combining memory recapitulation with certain forms of mind rest and personality diversion. Before the morontia conclaves and spirit assemblies these reproducers sometimes associate themselves in tremendous dramatic spectacles representative of the purpose of such gatherings.
P501:10, 44:2.11 The higher intellectual teachers and the transition ministers freely and effectively utilize these various groups of reproducers in their morontia educational activities. But not all of their efforts are devoted to transient illustration; much, very much, of their work is of a permanent nature and will forever remain as a legacy to all future time. So versatile are these artisans that, when they function en masse, they are able to re-enact an age, and in collaboration with the seraphic ministers they can actually portray the eternal values of the spirit world to the mortal seers of time.
P501:11, 44:3.1 There are cities "whose builder and maker is God." In spirit counterpart we have all that you mortals are familiar with and inexpressibly more. We have homes, spirit comforts, and morontia necessities. For every material satisfaction which humans are capable of enjoying, we have thousands of spiritual realities that serve to enrich and enlarge our existence. The divine builders function in seven groups:
P502:1, 44:3.2 1. The home designers and builders -- those who construct and remodel the abodes assigned to individuals and working groups. These morontia and spirit domiciles are real. They would be invisible to your short-range vision, but they are very real and beautiful to us. To a certain extent, all spirit beings may share with the builders certain details of the planning and creation of their morontia or spirit abodes. These homes are fitted up and embellished in accordance with the needs of the morontia or of the spirit creatures who are to inhabit them. There is abundant variety and ample opportunity for individual expression in all these constructions.
P502:2, 44:3.3 2. The vocation builders -- those who function in designing and assembling the abodes of the regular and routine workers of the spirit and morontia realms. These builders are comparable to those who construct the Earth workshops and other industrial plants. The transition worlds have a necessary economy of mutual ministry and specialized division of labor. We do not all do everything; there is diversity of function among morontia beings and evolving spirits, and these vocation builders not only build better workshops but also contribute to the vocational enhancement of the worker.
P502:3, 44:3.4 3. The play builders. Enormous edifices are utilized during the seasons of rest, what mortals would call recreation and, in a certain sense, play. Provision is made for a suitable setting for the reversion directors, the humorists of the morontia worlds, those transition spheres whereon takes place the training of ascendant beings but recently removed from the evolutionary planets. Even the higher spirits engage in a certain form of reminiscent humor during their periods of spiritual recharging.
P502:4, 44:3.5 4. The worship builders -- the experienced architects of the spirit and the morontia temples. All the worlds of mortal ascent have temples of worship, and they are the most exquisite creations of the morontia realms and the spirit spheres.
P502:5, 44:3.6 5. The education builders -- those who build the headquarters of morontia training and advanced spirit learning. Always is the way open to acquire more knowledge, to gain additional information respecting one's present and future work as well as universal cultural knowledge, information designed to make ascending mortals more intelligent and effective citizens of the morontia and spirit worlds.
P502:6, 44:3.7 6. Morontia planners -- those who build for the co-ordinate association of all the personalities of all realms as they are at any one time present on any one sphere. These planners collaborate with the Morontia Power Supervisors to enrich the co-ordination of the progressive morontia life.
P502:7, 44:3.8 7. The public builders -- the artisans
who plan and construct the designated places of assembly other than those of
worship. Great and magnificent are the places of common assembly.
P502:8, 44:3.9 While neither these structures nor their
embellishment would be exactly real to the sensory comprehension of material
mortals, they are very real to us. You would be unable to see these temples
could you be there in the flesh; nevertheless, all of these supermaterial
creations are actually there, and we clearly discern them and just as fully
enjoy them.
P503:1, 44:4.1 These artisans are devoted to the preservation and reproduction of the superior thought of the realms, and they function in seven groups:
P503:2, 44:4.2 1. Thought preservers. These are the
artisans dedicated to the preservation of the higher thought of the realms. On
the morontia worlds they truly treasure the gems of mentation; thought recorders
preserve such noble ideas.
P503:3, 44:4.3 In the central universe there is little need of
a language; there exists perfect and well-nigh complete understanding. A chance
meeting on Paradise reveals more of mutual understanding than could be
communicated by a mortal language in a thousand years.
P503:4, 44:4.4 The ability to translate thought into language in the morontia and spirit spheres is beyond mortal comprehension. Our rate of reducing thought to a permanent record can be so speeded up by the expert recorders that the equivalent of over half a million words, or thought symbols, can be registered in one minute of Earth time. These universe languages are far more replete than the speech of the evolving worlds. The concept symbols of Earth embrace more than a billion characters, although the basic alphabet contains only seventy symbols.
P503:5, 44:4.5 2. Concept recorders. This second group of recorders are concerned with the preservation of concept pictures, idea patterns. This is a form of permanent recording unknown on the material realms, and by this method one could gain more knowledge in one hour of your time than you could gain in one hundred years of perusing ordinary written language.
P503:6, 44:4.6 3. Ideograph recorders. They have the equivalent of both your written and spoken word, but in preserving thought, they usually employ concept picturization and ideograph techniques. Those who preserve ideographs are able to improve one thousandfold upon the work of the concept recorders.
P503:7, 44:4.7 4. Promoters of oratory. These groups of
recorders are occupied with the task of preserving thought for reproduction by
oratory. Your way of comprehending these transactions is to pause and consider
the technique of your disordered and garbled dream life -- how you can in a few
seconds traverse years of experience in these fantasies of the night season.
P503:8, 44:4.8 The oratory of the spirit world is one of the
rare treats which await you who have heard only the crude and stumbling orations
of Earth. There is harmony of music and euphony of expression in the orations
that are inspiring beyond description. These burning concepts are like gems of
beauty in diadems of glory.
P504:1, 44:4.9 5. The broadcast directors. The
broadcasts of Paradise and the local universes are under the general supervision
of this group of thought conservers. They serve as censors and editors as well
as coordinators of the broadcast material, making a universe adaptation of all
Paradise broadcasts and adapting and translating the broadcasts into the
individual tongues of the local universes.
P504:2, 44:4.10 The local universe broadcasts must also be
modified for reception by the systems and the individual planets. The
transmittal of these space reports is carefully supervised, and there is always
a back registry to insure the proper reception of every report on every world in
a given circuit. These broadcast directors are technically expert in the
utilization of the currents of space for all purposes of intelligence
communication.
P504:3, 44:4.11 6. The rhythm recorders. Earthlings would undoubtedly denominate these artisans poets, although their work is very different from, and almost infinitely transcends, your poetic productions. Rhythm is less exhausting to both morontia and spirit beings, and so an effort is frequently made to increase efficiency, as well as to augment pleasure, by executing numerous functions in rhythmic form.
P504:4, 44:4.12 7. The morontia recorders. It is hard to depict to the material mind the function of this important group of thought recorders assigned to the work of preserving the ensemble pictures of the various groupings of morontia affairs and spirit transactions; crudely illustrated, they are the group photographers of the transition worlds. They save for the future the vital scenes and associations of these progressive epochs, preserving them in the archives of the morontia halls of records.
P504:6, 44:5.2 1. Physical-energy manipulators. The physical-energy manipulators serve for long periods with the power directors and are experts in the manipulation and control of many phases of physical energy. They are conversant with the three basic currents and the thirty subsidiary energy segregations of the superuniverses. These beings are of inestimable assistance to the Morontia Power Supervisors of the transition worlds. They are the persistent students of the cosmic projections of Paradise.
P504:7, 44:5.3 2. Mind-energy manipulators. These are the experts of intercommunication between morontia and other types of intelligent beings. This form of communication between mortals is practically nonexistent on Earth. These are the specialists who promote the ability of the ascending morontia beings to communicate with one another, and their work embraces numerous unique adventures in intellect liaison that are far beyond my power to portray to the material mind. These artisans are the keen students of the mind circuits of the Infinite Spirit.
P505:1, 44:5.4 3. Spiritual-energy manipulators. The manipulators of spiritual energy are an intriguing group. Spiritual energy acts in accordance with established laws, just as does physical energy. That is, spirit force, when studied, yields dependable deductions and can be precisely dealt with, even as can the physical energies. There are just as certain and reliable laws in the spirit world as obtain in the material realms.
P505:2, 44:5.5 4. The compound manipulators. This is the adventurous group of well-trained beings who are dedicated to the functional association of the three original phases of divine energy manifested throughout the universes as physical, mindal, and spiritual energies. These are the keen personalities who are in reality seeking to discover the universe presence of God the Supreme, for in this Deity personality there must occur the experiential unification of all grand universe divinity. And to a certain extent, these artisans have in recent times met with some success.
P505:3, 44:5.6 5. The transport advisers. This corps of technical advisers to the transport seraphim is most proficient in collaborating with the star students in working out routings and in otherwise assisting the chiefs of transport on the worlds of space. They are the traffic supervisors of the spheres and are present on all inhabited planets.
P505:4, 44:5.7 6. The experts of communication. Twelve technicians of interplanetary and interuniverse communication, likewise, serve Earth. These long-experienced beings are expert in the knowledge of the laws of transmittal and interference as applied to the communications of the realms. This corps is concerned with all forms of space messages except those of Gravity and Solitary Messengers.
P505:5, 44:5.8 7. The teachers of rest. Divine rest is
associated with the technique of spiritual-energy intake. Morontia and spirit
energy must be replenished just as certainly as physical energy in order to
recuperate depleting energies.
P506:3, 44:6.2 This corps, while embracing over one thousand subdivisions of activity, is grouped under the following seven major heads:
P506:4, 44:6.3 1. The craftworkers of color. These are they who make the ten thousand color tones of spirit reflection peal forth their exquisite messages of harmonious beauty. Aside from color perception there is nothing in human experience to which these activities may be compared.
P506:5, 44:6.4 2. The sound designers. Spirit waves of diverse identity and morontia appreciation are depicted by these designers of what you would call sound. These impulses are in reality the superb reflections of the naked and glorious spirit-souls of the celestial hosts.
P506:6, 44:6.5 3. The emotion designers. These enhancers and conservators of feeling are those who preserve the sentiments of morontia and the emotions of divinity for the study and edification of the children of time and for the inspiration and beautification of morontia progressors and advancing spirits.
P506:7, 44:6.6 4. The artists of odor. This comparison of supernal spirit activities to the physical recognition of chemical odors is, indeed, unfortunate, but Earth mortals could hardly recognize this ministry by any other name. These artisans create their varied symphonies for the edification and delight of the advancing children of light. We have nothing on Earth to which this type of spiritual grandeur can be even remotely compared.
P506:8, 44:6.7 5. The presence embellishers. These artisans are not occupied with the arts of self-adornment or the technique of creature beautification. They are devoted to the production of multitudinous and joyous reactions in individual morontia and spirit creatures by dramatizing the significance of relationship through the positional values assigned to different morontia and spirit orders in the composite ensembles of these diversified beings. These artists arrange supermaterial beings, as you would live musical notes, odors, sights, and then blend them into the anthems of glory.
P506:9, 44:6.8 6. The taste designers. They are improvers of morontia taste, and they also endeavor to increase the appreciation of beauty through the sharpening of the evolving spirit senses.
P507:1, 44:6.9 7. The morontia synthesizers. These are the master craftsmen who, when all others have made their respective contributions, then add the culminating and finishing touches to the morontia ensemble, thus achieving an inspiring portrayal of the divinely beautiful, an enduring inspiration to spirit beings and their morontia associates. It is hard to conceive of the artistic glories and aesthetic beauties of the morontia and spirit worlds.
P507:2, 44:7.1 These artists are not concerned with music, painting, or anything similar. They are occupied with the manipulation and organization of specialized forces and energies which are present in the spirit world, but which are not recognized by mortals.
P507:3, 44:7.2 Beauty, rhythm, and harmony are intellectually
associated and spiritually akin. Truth, fact, and relationship are
intellectually inseparable and associated with the philosophic concepts of
beauty. Goodness, righteousness, and justice are philosophically interrelated
and spiritually bound up together with living truth and divine beauty.
P507:4, 44:7.3 Cosmic concepts of true philosophy, the
portrayal of celestial artistry, or the mortal attempt to depict the human
recognition of divine beauty can never be truly satisfying if such attempted
creature progression is un-unified. These expressions of the divine urge within
the evolving creature may be intellectually true, emotionally beautiful, and
spiritually good; but the real soul of expression is absent unless these
realities of truth, meanings of beauty, and values of goodness are unified in
the life experience of the artisan, the scientist, or the philosopher.
P507:5, 44:7.4 These divine qualities are perfectly and
absolutely unified in God. And every God-knowing man possesses the potential of
unlimited self-expression on ever-progressive levels of unified self-realization
by the technique of the never-ending achievement of Godlikeness -- the
experiential blending in the evolutionary experience of eternal truth, universal
beauty, and divine goodness.
P507:6, 44:8.1 Although celestial artisans do not personally
work on material planets, such as Earth, they do come, from time to time, from
the headquarters of the system to proffer help to the naturally gifted
individuals of the mortal races. When thus assigned, these artisans temporarily
work under the supervision of the planetary angels of progress. These hosts
co-operate with these artisans in attempting to assist those mortal artists who
possess inherent endowments, and who also possess Adjusters of special and
previous experience.
P507:7, 44:8.2 There are three possible sources of special
human ability: At the bottom always there exists the natural or inherent
aptitude. Special ability is never an arbitrary gift of God; there is always an
ancestral foundation for every outstanding talent. In addition to this natural
ability, or rather supplemental thereto, there may be contributed the leadings
of the Thought Adjuster in those individuals whose indwelling Adjusters may have
had actual and bona fide experiences along such lines on other worlds and in
other mortal creatures. In those cases where both the human mind and the
indwelling Adjuster are unusually skillful, the spirit artisans may be delegated
to act as harmonizers of these talents and otherwise to assist and inspire these
mortals to seek for ever-perfecting ideals and to attempt their enhanced
portrayal for the edification of the realm.
P508:1, 44:8.3 There is no caste in the ranks of spirit
artisans. No matter how lowly your origin, if you have ability and the gift of
expression, you will gain adequate recognition and receive due appreciation as
you ascend upward in the scale of morontia experience and spiritual attainment.
There can be no handicap of human heredity or deprivation of mortal environment
that the morontia career will not fully compensate and wholly remove. And all
such satisfactions of artistic achievement and expressionful self-realization
will be effected by your own personal efforts in progressive advancement. At
last the aspirations of evolutionary mediocrity may be realized. While God does
not arbitrarily bestow talents and ability upon the children of time, He does
provide for the attainment of the satisfaction of all their noble longings and
for the gratification of all human hunger for supernal self-expression.
P508:2, 44:8.4 But every human being should remember: Many
ambitions to excel which tantalize mortals in the flesh will not persist with
these same mortals in the morontia and spirit careers. The ascending morontians
learn to socialize their former purely selfish longings and egoistic ambitions.
Nevertheless, those things which you so earnestly longed to do on earth and
which circumstances so persistently denied you, if, after acquiring true mota
insight in the morontia career, you still desire to do, then will you most
certainly be granted every opportunity fully to satisfy your long-cherished
desires.
P508:3, 44:8.5 Before ascending mortals leave the local
universe to embark upon their spirit careers, they will be satiated respecting
every intellectual, artistic, and social longing or true ambition which ever
characterized their mortal or morontia planes of existence. This is the
achievement of equality of the satisfaction of self-expression and
self-realization but not the attainment of identical experiential status nor the
complete obliteration of characteristic individuality in skill, technique, and
expression. But the new spirit differential of personal experiential attainment
will not become thus leveled off and equalized until after you have finished the
last circle of the Heaven career. And then will the Paradise residents be
confronted with the necessity of adjusting to that absonite differential of
personal experience which can be leveled off only by the group attainment of the
ultimate of creature status -- the seventh-stage-spirit destiny of the mortal
finaliters.
P508:4, 44:8.6 And this is the story of the celestial artisans, that cosmopolitan body of exquisite workers who do so much to glorify the architectural spheres with the artistic portrayals of the divine beauty of the Paradise Creators.