Abstract

This essay explores the revelatory concept of the seven adjutant mind-spirits as presented in The Urantia Book, proposing that these divine mind circuits serve not only as catalysts for evolutionary consciousness but also as formative fields akin to morphogenetic templates in biology. Bridging insights from spiritual cosmology, evolutionary biology, and comparative mysticism, the author examines how the adjutants may function as layered, intelligent interfaces between biological life and spiritual development. Through the lens of purposeful overcontrol—highlighted by sudden evolutionary leaps such as the Cambrian explosion—the essay suggests that these circuits actively guide both neural complexity and spiritual receptivity. The adjutants, far from being symbolic, are posited as dynamic, toroidal-like fields that prepare planetary minds for Thought Adjuster indwelling and the emergence of soul-consciousness. Drawing parallels with Jungian archetypes, chakra systems, and intelligent design theory, the essay presents a cohesive hypothesis: that mind is not a mere byproduct of matter but a divine endowment shaping both form and destiny. The essay ultimately positions the adjutant mind-spirits as vital scaffolding for the co-creative evolution of personality, consciousness, and spiritual maturity.

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Introduction: A Map to Mental Growth

T o those who have journeyed through The Urantia Book, the adjutant mind-spirits stand as one of the more significant, yet profound, revelatory insights. For the newcomer to the revelation, think of them not as mythic abstractions but as functional field circuits of divine influence—the Creator's toolkit for shaping personality potential across the evolutionary scale of mind. These are not vague "energies" but intentional endowments, intimately woven with biological life. They connect us—each one of us—to a deeper process, a design that is more than just survival of the fittest. This essay explores how these mind-spirits may not only describe our mental-spiritual evolution but might also illuminate how forms take shape and consciousness functions—in ways that uncannily resemble what some scientists call morphogenetic fields.

Section 1: The Seven Adjutants – A Quick Orientation

Let’s start with some groundwork. The Urantia Book outlines seven adjutant mind-spirits, functioning as the beginning level of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, provided by the Creative Mother Spirit of Nebadon. Their presence animates both animal and human minds in stages of increasing complexity:

1. Intuition – The spirit of quick perception, the root of instinct and reactive awareness.
2. Understanding – Pattern recognition, the foundation of learning.
3. Courage – The drive to face challenges and the motor of action.
4. Knowledge – Rational accumulation of data and facts.
5. Counsel – Socialization and cooperative reasoning.
6. Worship – The first taste of reverence, loyalty to something higher.
7. Wisdom – The harmonizer of experience, foresight, and purpose.

The revelation describes each of these adjutants functioning as a spirit circuit, meaning they are real and localized influences, not just symbolic terms. The Urantia Book describes them as layered, like concentric fields of influence—each new adjutant adding depth without replacing what came before. For example, when the mind-spirit of understanding begins to function in an organism, it doesn’t take over the functions of intuition but rather operates in addition to it.

We might observe this kind of dual operation—intuition plus understanding—in animals that not only respond to immediate stimuli but also begin to anticipate patterns or adjust behavior based on recent experiences. Two likely examples include:

1. Raccoons – These clever mammals show remarkable problem-solving ability and spatial memory. A raccoon opening a complex latch to access food isn’t merely acting on instinct (intuition); it demonstrates understanding—the ability to interpret and act on patterns, even across time gaps. Yet, it doesn’t abandon its intuitive caution, particularly in new environments.
2. Crows (or corvids in general) – Crows not only recognize human faces and associate them with past events, but they can adapt their behavior based on remembered outcomes. When a crow avoids a previously threatening person or uses tools to reach food, we’re likely seeing a blend of intuitive reaction and a developing sense of patterned reasoning—the mind-spirit of understanding layering atop raw intuition.

While we might not be able to empirically isolate the adjutants just yet, these kinds of behaviors suggest a crossover point in animal consciousness where multiple layers of mind influence begin to cooperate.

But let’s not lose the forest for the trees. What kind of thing are these adjutants? How do they actually interface with biology and life forms?

Section 2: Morphogenetic Fields and the “Nebadonian Forms”

The Urantia Book alludes to a fascinating revelation: Nebadonian forms—these are not just physical templates, but dynamic forms of living design. And these, the revelation reveals, are within the purview of the Creative Mother Spirit, the same source of the adjutant mind-spirits. That’s not a small link.

Let me connect two passages that point to how I see what the revelation is attempting the reader to draw from these seemingly difficult concepts to get one’s head around. The first passage points to patterns as maybe overly self-evident. Many ignore the concept as their impact on our thinking about life.

When we look around at the world—at people, animals, even atoms—we start to notice something: everything has a pattern. Not just in how it looks, but in how it behaves and how it stays what it is. A tree grows in a certain shape, a person develops a personality that feels consistent over time, and even galaxies swirl in predictable ways. But where do these patterns come from? Are they just accidents of physics and biology, or is there something deeper organizing them? The Urantia Book, specifically a superuniverse Divine Counselor setting the stage in the Foreword, suggests that pattern—especially the kind that gives rise to identity—isn’t just built into energy or matter. It comes from a higher coordination, something more intentional. Here's how he explains it:

0:6.12 (10.4) In contrast to the aspect of the total, pattern discloses the individual aspect of energy and of personality. Personality or identity forms are patterns resultant from energy (physical, spiritual, or mindal) but are not inherent therein. That quality of energy or of personality by virtue of which pattern is caused to appear may be attributed to God—Deity—to Paradise force endowment, to the coexistence of personality and power. (Italics mine)

This passage is telling us that patterns are what make something or someone unique, and that these patterns come from energy—but they aren’t in the energy itself. Energy (whether it’s physical like electricity, or spiritual like love, or mental like thought) is raw potential. But when that energy gets shaped into something recognizable—like a person’s personality or a tree’s shape—that shape or identity is a pattern. These patterns don’t just happen on their own. The passage is saying that the power to make these patterns show up in the first place comes from a higher source—God, or Deity, or Paradise.

In modern science or thinking, we often take patterns for granted. We assume that because they’re everywhere, we don’t need to ask why they exist or how they form. This passage says: “Hold on. Pattern isn’t just an automatic result of energy flowing. Pattern needs something more—it needs intention, coordination, even personality.” So rather than treating pattern as something self-evident or automatic (like gravity or cause-and-effect), the authors are saying we should reflect more deeply on it. Pattern reveals something personal, something divine, and that’s worth paying attention to.

So, patterns—whether in atoms or humans—result from energy but they’re not just built into it by default. Something greater organizes it. This is key to understanding the Urantia Book cosmology in my opinion.

It also says that personality and power working together make pattern possible.

Here’s where things get really interesting: the concept of morphogenetic fields, introduced in what some call “fringe biology”—that is, an emerging but still controversial line of thought that challenges conventional genetics—proposes that form arises not only from genetic code but from invisible, formative fields that organize matter into living structure. While not widely accepted in mainstream biology, this idea has gained interest among researchers exploring the limits of epigenetics, embryology, and even quantum biology. The adjutants, although mostly called circuits by the revelation, may well be such fields—living mind fields—but with divine origin. The fact that they are circuits, per the revelators, suggests spatially coherent fields of influence. And if they are spatial fields, they must have structure—perhaps toroidal, like magnetic fields or the circulatory flows seen in galaxies, suns, and even atoms.

But let me take a step back to explain how the revelation provides some basic scaffolding that supports this line of thinking.

In discussing The Inhabited Worlds, a Melchizedek of the Jerusem School of Planetary Administration writes:

49:1.3 (560.2) All the worlds of a local system disclose unmistakable physical kinship; nevertheless, each planet has its own scale of life, no two worlds being exactly alike in plant and animal endowment. These planetary variations in the system life types result from the decisions of the Life Carriers. But these beings are neither capricious nor whimsical; the universes are conducted in accordance with law and order. The laws of Nebadon are the divine mandates of Salvington, and the evolutionary order of life in Satania is in consonance with the evolutionary pattern of Nebadon. (Italics mine)

While “overcontrol” today often implies excessive or stifling regulation, in earlier 20th-century administrative and systems contexts, the term carried a more neutral—or even positive—meaning, referring to intentional safeguards, redundant controls, or tightly coordinated mechanisms designed to ensure reliability in complex operations.

In a broader, more speculative sense, “overcontrol” might also suggest the possibility that evolution itself—far from being entirely random or laissez-faire—operates under layers of unseen coordination, with built-in redundancies or directive pressures that ensure the emergence of certain forms or outcomes. While neither science nor revelation has fully unveiled how evolution functionally unfolds, both leave room for the idea that life’s vast diversity of forms may be subtly overcontrolled by intelligent patterning rather than left to chance alone.^[ref]

I’ve speculated before^[ref] that toroidal structures are a fundamental organizing form for many things in our earthly environment and may be in the entire universe. If that’s true, then the adjutant mind-spirits may function like nested toroidal fields—each one encompassing the next, evolving through levels of consciousness while grounding those changes in form and energy. The evolution of personality and the shape of the brain might not be a duality of separate processes as they seem to many they should be.

One final thought and passage by a Life Carrier of Nebadon who was resident on Urantia when the papers were formulated and who is credited with authorship of paper 65: The Overcontrol of Evolution before going on to some examples and further rationalization.

65:0.7 (730.7) It is the integrated functioning of the Life Carriers, the physical controllers, and the spirit adjutants that conditions the course of organic evolution on the inhabited worlds. And this is why evolution—on Urantia or elsewhere—is always purposeful and never accidental.

This passage should ignite a cacophony of thought in anyone even lightly acquainted with the roles of the Life Carriers, physical controllers, and spirit adjutants. It’s not subtle—it’s full-on revelation. We’re being told outright that evolution is purposeful, not accidental, and that it unfolds under the integrated functioning of mindal, material, and energetic influences. This coordination is not merely supportive; it’s directive. The implications are staggering. It suggests that evolution is more than just an accumulation of successful mutations filtered by environmental pressure—it’s a process that operates within a multi-layered framework of intelligent guidance, much like a symphony conducted from multiple vantage points.

So, what does that mean for our assumptions about incremental growth in general? Is it really as self-evident and linear as physical causality suggests? Or does evolutionary progress—particularly the emergence of complex forms—require something akin to a cosmic GPS, keeping the process from backsliding and gently nudging it toward certain outcomes? And that raises a deeper philosophical question: What constitutes a “positive direction” in evolution? From a revelatory standpoint, it’s not just survival or adaptation—it’s the progressive emergence of consciousness, mind receptivity, and eventually, the capacity for a soul.

This perspective sets the stage for what comes next: the astonishing suddenness with which new forms have appeared in the fossil record. If evolution truly operates under layered overcontrol, then we should expect to see moments where that guidance becomes unmistakably visible—where biological leaps occur too quickly and too cleanly to be chalked up to random mutation alone. The Cambrian explosion^[ref] is one such moment, and it summons our full attention.

Section 3: “Suddenly” – The Cambrian Clue

Let’s now bring in a pivotal clue from The Urantia Book that isn’t easily dismissed: the word “suddenly.” It appears in the text describing the Cambrian explosion —one of the most dramatic bursts of life diversity in Earth’s history. This is not casual language; "suddenly" is, in fact, the most italicized word in the entire text. The revelators are waving a flag here; we should pay attention.

Father Martin Hilbert, a Catholic theologian, attempts to reconcile theology and intelligent design by anchoring his argument in the Cambrian explosion, asserting that evolution is not purely random but directed.^[ref] In The Urantia Book, this concept is echoed through the term overcontrol. Hilbert points to the absence of intermediate forms—particularly for major anatomical innovations like the spinal column—and argues that such developments represent not a slow accumulation of random mutations, but a sudden leap. He proposes that this leap was guided by informational blueprints that material science has not yet identified or understood.

Fossil evidence strongly supports this idea of a rapid emergence. The Cambrian explosion reveals a geological moment in which a vast array of complex body plans—such as bilateral symmetry, eyes, circulatory systems, and articulated limbs—appeared with little or no transitional precursors. This phenomenon is not characterized by a lack of data, but rather by the sheer absence of intermediate fossils, a fact that continues to puzzle evolutionary biologists. For readers of the Urantia revelation, however, this "gap" aligns with a larger cosmological framework in which mindal influence can act as a formative bridge between material form and spiritual purpose. The leap is not random—it is orchestrated.

Two striking examples illustrate this suddenness. First, the appearance of trilobites—complex arthropods with compound eyes and segmented bodies—emerged almost fully formed in the fossil record, with no clear evolutionary ancestors. Their advanced visual systems and hardened exoskeletons appear abruptly, defying expectations of gradual adaptation. Second, the evolution of the notochord, a precursor to the vertebral spine in early chordates, represents a profound structural innovation. Creatures like Pikaia show up in Cambrian strata with a notochord already present, yet paleontologists have found no fossil trail leading to its step-by-step development. These examples fulfill the “suddenly” criterion described in the revelation and provide compelling physical evidence that invites further reflection—not only about evolution’s mechanics but about its coordination.

What if the adjutant mind-spirits play a key role in those leaps?

What if new levels of consciousness—say, the arrival of the spirit of worship or wisdom—require new neural architectures to express them? And what if the morphogenetic field of that adjutant precedes and guides the physical development, calling forth new forms as consciousness becomes capable of new divine partnership?

Section 4: The Adjutants and Planetary Mind Evolution

The adjutant mind-spirits are not only personal circuits; they are planetary tools—scaffolding for evolving consciousness on a world scale. Each inhabited planet, according to The Urantia Book, receives a unique pattern of life from the Life Carriers, tailored to local conditions and the intended trajectory of evolutionary development. The adjutants serve as the interface between this biologically seeded life and the larger mind ministry of the local universe. Their operation ensures that as organisms develop greater neural complexity, they also become capable of receiving greater spiritual influence through the developmental progress of mind. In this sense, planetary evolution is not just about survival of the fittest—it’s about survival of the spiritually receptive.

Over time, as the next higher adjutants begin functioning in a species, the planetary mind undergoes gradual but profound shifts. At first, the influence of the adjutants of understanding, courage, knowledge, and counsel fosters increasingly complex behaviors—such as problem-solving, rudimentary planning, group cooperation, and social learning. Species begin to show signs of basic empathy, memory of past interactions, and the capacity for group strategy. Parental care becomes more intentional. Group hunting becomes more coordinated. There are glimmers of emotional loyalty and emerging self-regulation. These are not ethical behaviors in the human sense, but they hint at the scaffolding upon which ethics can one day be built. As the spirit of worship and, eventually, the spirit of wisdom begins to operate, something new arises: self-awareness, reverence for the unseen, and curiosity about the meaning behind existence. These are the seeds of altruism, moral reasoning, and eventually, spirituality. From these roots grow tribal bonds, rituals, myths, and, finally, the rudiments of civilization itself. Thus, the adjutants act not only as individual mind uplifters but also as collective evolutionary triggers that shape planetary destiny.

Section 5: From Fields to Fragments – Adjutants, Thought Adjusters, and the Growth of the Soul

While the adjutant mind-spirits animate biological minds and guide the growth of personality from the bottom up, another influence—the Thought Adjuster—creates and then guides soul development from the top down. The adjutants could be likened to scaffolding around the growing soul, stimulating receptivity to truth, beauty, and goodness through lived experience. The moment a human becomes spiritually aware and morally conscious enough to choose eternal survival, the Thought Adjuster arrives, beginning the co-creative project of soul-making. We are told that the arrival is catalyzed by the individual’s first moral choice.

108:2.1 (1186.8) Though the Adjusters volunteer for service as soon as the personality forecasts have been relayed to Divinington, they are not actually assigned until the human subjects make their first moral personality decision. The first moral choice of the human child is automatically indicated in the seventh mind-adjutant and registers instantly, by way of the local universe Creative Spirit, over the universal mind-gravity circuit of the Conjoint Actor in the presence of the Master Spirit of superuniverse jurisdiction, who forthwith dispatches this intelligence to Divinington. Adjusters reach their human subjects on Urantia, on the average, just prior to the sixth birthday. In the present generation it is running five years, ten months, and four days; that is, on the 2,134th day of terrestrial life.

Even Jesus experienced this event.

123:2.1 (1357.5) In something more than a year after the return to Nazareth the boy Jesus arrived at the age of his first personal and wholehearted moral decision; and there came to abide with him a Thought Adjuster, a divine gift of the Paradise Father, which had aforetime served with Machiventa Melchizedek, thus gaining the experience of functioning in connection with the incarnation of a supermortal being living in the likeness of mortal flesh. This event occurred on February 11, 2 b.c. Jesus was no more aware of the coming of the divine Monitor than are the millions upon millions of other children who, before and since that day, have likewise received these Thought Adjusters to indwell their minds and work for the ultimate spiritualization of these minds and the eternal survival of their evolving immortal souls.

The adjutants remain active throughout mortal life, helping to integrate the material, morontial, and spiritual into a coherent identity. The adjutant mind-spirits are functionally antecedent to, and preparatory for, the enwrapping of the Holy Spirit around the individual.^[ref] The adjutant mind-spirits are endowments.^[ref] They are not a product of evolution, but are responsive to and functional with the organism’s innate brain capacity.

It is my belief that in this aspect of the adjutants they function like formative mind fields—akin to morphogenetic fields—not just for the shaping of personality but for laying down the initial frameworks of moral insight, spiritual curiosity, and value recognition. These fields do not arise from the mortal intellect alone, but act upon the native neurological potential of the individual, stimulating the early perception of cosmic meaning and value. The top two adjutants—Worship and Wisdom—appear uniquely capable of synchronizing with cosmic mind influences, but only if the brain has evolved enough to support that level of mindal resonance. Thus, the development of consciousness is not just a matter of growing intellect but of reaching a threshold of neural receptivity that allows these spiritual circuits to operate fully. In this way, the adjutants may serve as dynamic mind fields that cultivate and shape the soul’s early environment until the Thought Adjuster arrives and begins constructing the morontia self.

It is this seamless integration of bottom-up experiential mind and top-down spiritual presence that makes human beings uniquely poised for eternal ascension.

Section 6: East Meets West – Adjutants, Chakras, and Archetypes

This dual-role perspective finds further reinforcement when we consider arguments put forth by proponents of intelligent design, including Fr. Martin Hilbert. He and others in the ID community have drawn attention to specific physical features in living organisms whose functional complexity and statistical improbability raise serious questions about the sufficiency of undirected natural selection. These include structures such as the human eye—remarkably precise in its ability to focus, adapt, and interpret visual stimuli, despite its seemingly backward anatomical design—and the opposable thumb, which enables advanced tool use, gesture-based communication, and fine motor coordination, all of which are foundational to civilizational development.

Hilbert argues that the extreme improbability of such intricate features arising through random mutation and selection alone implies the involvement of informational guidance—or what the Urantia Book might call overcontrol. From this view, such physical developments do not merely serve mechanical utility but appear preconditioned to support higher mindal functioning. In other words, they may have arisen not just because they conferred a survival advantage but because they prepared the organism to become a conscious participant in a higher cosmic plan. The adjutants, then, may operate in tandem with these intelligently guided physical developments, supplying the mindal frameworks that allow such complex forms to be used in increasingly meaningful, purposeful ways.

When viewed through the comparative lens of world spiritual traditions, the adjutant mind-spirits bear resemblance to other systems that map human consciousness. In the East, the chakra system describes centers of energy and awareness within the body that correspond to emotional, mental, and spiritual states. While not exact analogs, the adjutants and chakras both describe a layered ascent of consciousness—from base instinct and survival to spiritual awakening. In the West, Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious also echoes the work of the adjutants. Archetypes—universal patterns of thought and behavior—may well represent the cultural and psychic residue of adjutant circuits in action across generations. While The Urantia Book doesn’t directly reference these systems, it affirms the idea that adjutant mind is structured, developmental, and in humans, connects to higher realities; and specifically, to the Holy Spirit and Cosmic Mind.

In this way of thinking, the adjutants appear to serve a dual role—but not as a duality. They operate both as templates for biological development and as catalysts for personal and civilizational evolution. On one level, they shape the neurological and physiological readiness of organisms to express more complex behavior and receive higher forms of mindal influence. For example, the transition to bipedalism may not have been merely a physical adaptation but also a coordinated development aligned with the adjutants’ capacity to support advanced neural integration and social interaction. On another level, they act as wellsprings of intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth, stimulating the ascent of consciousness toward personality unification and spiritual maturity. The adjutants thus reveal a unifying architecture—organizing the physical and mental environment to allow for the emergence of beings capable of receiving and responding to divine presence. In this light, they are not just stepping-stones toward enlightenment but active agents in the unfolding of Nebadon’s evolutionary teleology.

Section 7: Interfaces of Mind – From Animal Intellect to Morontia Insight

Each adjutant mind-spirit functions as an interface—a transitional domain between the biological brain and higher forms of mind ministry. On the most basic level, they animate instinctive and reflexive behavior. On the highest, they prepare the mind for the emergence of the morontia self—the intermediate phase between material and spiritual consciousness. In this way, they prepare the ground for the evolving partnership between human will and divine indwelling.

For example, the spirit of courage pushes a being not only to survive but to aspire. The spirit of counsel initiates cooperation. The spirit of worship gives rise not just to ritual but to loyalty, awe, and communion. These influences establish foundational capacities through which higher forms of thought, emotion, and identity may grow.

In discussing the nature of the soul, a Solitary Messenger from the Superuniverse of Orvonton distinguishes between the material mind, the higher or cosmic mind, and the evolving soul, which midwayers refer to as the “mid-mind.”.

111:2.8 (1218.6) The midway creatures have long denominated this evolving soul of man the mid-mind in contradistinction to the lower or material mind and the higher or cosmic mind. This mid-mind is really a morontia phenomenon since it exists in the realm between the material and the spiritual. The potential of such a morontia evolution is inherent in the two universal urges of mind: the impulse of the finite mind of the creature to know God and attain the divinity of the Creator, and the impulse of the infinite mind of the Creator to know man and attain the experience of the creature.

This Messenger affirms that the material mind must evolve through the progressive ministry of the seven adjutant mind-spirits. It is through this process that the material (personal) self becomes capable of choosing to cooperate with the indwelling Thought Adjuster in creating and nurturing the morontia self—the evolutionary and potentially immortal soul.

Most profoundly, the Messenger explains that the soul arises from the relationship between material mind and divine spirit—conveying a value and meaning not found in either alone. It is the emergent result of that sacred partnership.

A deeper exploration of the soul’s destiny lies beyond the scope of this essay. My intent has been to offer a hypothesis, grounded in the revelation, that the adjutant mind-spirits serve a dual function: they operate as physical morphogenetic fields, akin to those theorized by Rupert Sheldrake, and simultaneously as formative mind fields. These fields not only condition the evolution of biological forms but also guide the spiritual progression of the material mind—the loom upon which the Thought Adjuster weaves the soul.

The morontia mind, which begins to take shape after death (and perhaps even dimly foreshadowed in deep spiritual experience), builds upon these seven foundational circuits. In this way, the adjutants are both anchors and launchpads—grounding us in this life while preparing us for the next.

Section 8: Conclusion – A Framework for Reflective Integration

From their earliest stirrings in animal instinct to their crowning function in the wisdom of spiritually awakened humans, the adjutant mind-spirits serve as the Creator’s intelligent scaffolding for evolutionary life. They not only bridge biology and spirit but provide the conditions for the emergence of meaning, value, and personality across an ascending scale of being.

By suggesting that the adjutants operate as morphogenetic and mindal fields—guiding both physical form and spiritual function—we gain a powerful conceptual bridge between revelation and speculation, science and faith, observation and cosmology. This vision proposes that life does not simply evolve through blind mechanisms but through layered influences of overcontrol: purpose-driven, divinely managed, and intelligently orchestrated.

This essay has sought to explore that possibility—not as dogma, but as a reasoned reflection on the remarkable coherence between The Urantia Book’s teachings and some of the most provocative ideas emerging in biology, psychology, and metaphysics. In doing so, it invites both seasoned readers and thoughtful newcomers to consider: What if mind is not merely an emergent property of brain, but a formative field in its own right—a divine endowment with the power to shape destiny?

As we continue to ponder this interplay of energy, mind, and spirit, we may begin to glimpse a larger truth: that evolution is not just a material process, but a spiritual invitation—an unfolding story of consciousness, love, and partnership with the divine.

Each adjutant mind-spirit functions as a kind of interface—a transition zone between the biological brain and higher forms of mind ministry. On one end, they animate the animal level of instinct and response. On the other, they create space for the morontia mind to emerge—the intermediate mind phase between mortal and spiritual existence. The adjutants prepare the ground. For example, the spirit of courage pushes a being not only to survive but to aspire; the spirit of worship gives rise not just to ritual but to loyalty, awe, and communion. The morontia mind, which begins to take shape after death (and perhaps even dimly foreshadowed in deep spiritual experience), builds upon these seven foundational circuits. In this way, the adjutants are both anchors and launchpads—grounding us in this life while preparing us for the next

// Bob Debold 1st draft April 7, 2025