Chapter 2 – Spiritual Reality
Spirit Guides
There are two types of guides that assist us in our earthly life. The first of these are our guardian angels, the traditional angels of heaven that we are familiar with from the Bible;[1] they have real forms but do not have physical bodies and they do not have wings.[2] Other than this they are very much like us, in fact we were created just a little bit lower than them.[3] Angels have been on this planet since the times when intelligent life first appeared.
Every person has a guardian angel to watch over them but the number of mortals each angel oversees varies according to the spiritual progress each person has made. At first each angel has oversight over one thousand mortals; as individuals make spiritual progress this ratio changes, decreasing to one hundred, then to ten. Finally persons who have made the most spiritual progress each have a personal guardian angel; actually there are two of them because they always work in pairs.[4]
These guardian angels act according to the directions of their supervisors rather than upon our direct requests; they have orders independent of whatever our passing fancy might be. Our choices may make their work on our behalf easier or more difficult but they do not necessarily respond to our prayers. Any response to prayer comes from God and He may use beings other than our guardian angels to answer our prayers. Guardian angels actually do guard us but they will not interfere with any of our free will choices; our free will decisions are held sacred by all higher beings. When we do make such a free will decision, our angels will do everything possible to help us make the best use of our chosen course.[5] If it is a worthy decision they will help us all they can, if on the other hand it is unworthy, they might work with us to assist us to see the better way, arrive at a better choice.
Angels never invade our mind, they do not limit our decisions, and they will never coerce us for any reason; they respect the dignity of our personality, our personal choices. Neither angels nor any other order of universe personality have power or authority to curtail or abridge the prerogatives of human choosing.[6] Our angels will not do anything to influence our decisions but they will do all they can to help us in our moral decisions.
Our internal Thought Adjuster is the essence of our eternal nature, what we will be throughout future eternity, should we so choose. Angels are the teachers of our evolving nature, of what we are becoming as we progress Godward; after our life in the flesh angels will still be with us, and then we will be able to see them and interact with them;[7] they will be with each of us for a very long time indeed.
There is also an interesting group of helpers on our planet we have not been aware of before this revelation; they exist in a level midway between the material realm and the spirit realm. They are invisible to mortal vision and are called midway creatures or midwayers.[8] There are two types of midwayers; the first, or primary, were created during the time of our planetary prince and numbered 50,000.[9]
One of their first duties was to gather information for the planetary prince; they were able to cover great distances and observe the races and inhabitants. They were able to influence early society in places far away from their headquarters.[10] The primary midwayers are nearer to the angelic type of being, they are more spiritual in nature and they minister more to the spiritual forces on this planet. It is difficult for these beings to contact us directly.[11]
When our planetary prince went into rebellion the majority of the primary midwayers went into rebellion with him; only 9,881 remained loyal to our universe government.[12]
The other group of midway creatures is called the secondary midwayers. They were created much later and are the offspring of the descendants of Adam and Eve united with offspring from the staff of the planetary prince;[13] 1,984 secondary midway creatures were created.[14]
The secondary midwayers are more material than their primary associates and can make contact with material objects. They have some power over material things, even over the beasts of the realm.[15] They work frequently with mortals because of their more physical nature. Some of the actions in the Bible ascribed to angels were actually done by secondary midwayers, especially the deliverance of Peter.[16] Midwayers also assist our guardian angels in their work on our behalf by manipulating the environment.[17] They are a great assistance to our guardian angels in their work with us.
After the planetary rebellion 1,111 of the secondary midwayers remained loyal to truth and God’s will.[18]
After Jesus departed this world all the midwayers made their final decision for good or evil and those who sided with our fallen planetary prince have been held in confinement ever since. Those who remained loyal agreed to work together under the title The United Midwayers of Urantia and they number 10,992.[19] The work they do includes reliably delivering personal messages, make observations and communicate with the various interested supernatural beings of the realm, on rare occasions make contact with mortals, and assist the angels in their work on earth;[20] their chief work today is to work with those mortals who may be called upon to perform extraordinary service in times of need; the reserve corps of destiny.
Table of Contents Next Section
-
All references are to The Urantia Book. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph 1241.2 and Bible, John 20:12 ↑
-
1246.1 ↑
-
1248.3 ↑
-
1242.2-3 ↑
-
1246.2-3 ↑
-
1245.7 ↑
-
1245.2 ↑
-
855.1 ↑
-
855.4-6 ↑
-
865.2 ↑
-
865.3 ↑
-
863.2 ↑
-
862.5 ↑
-
862.8 ↑
-
865.4 ↑
-
865.5 and Bible, Acts 12: 3-19 ↑
-
1244.6 ↑
-
863.3 ↑
-
864.1-2 ↑
-
864.7-865.2 ↑