Page:The Urantia Book, 1st Edition.djvu/383

Rh 6 and 7. The Secret of Greatness and the Soul of Goodness. The ascending pilgrims having awakened to the import of time, the way is prepared for the realization of the solemnity of trust and for the appreciation of the sanctity of service. While these are the moral elements of greatness, there are also secrets of greatness. When the spiritual tests of greatness are applied, the moral elements are not disregarded, but the quality of unselfishness revealed in disinterested labor for the welfare of one's earthly fellows, particularly worthy beings in need and in distress, that is the real measure of planetary greatness. And the manifestation of greatness on a world like Urantia is the exhibition of self-control. The great man is not he who "takes a city" or "overthrows a nation," but rather "he who subdues his own tongue."

Greatness is synonymous with divinity. God is supremely great and good. Greatness and goodness simply cannot be divorced. They are forever made one in God. This truth is literally and strikingly illustrated by the reflective interdependence of the Secret of Greatness and the Soul of Goodness, for neither can function without the other. In reflecting other qualities of divinity, the superuniverse seconaphim can and do act alone, but the reflective estimates of greatness and of goodness appear to be inseparable. Hence, on any world, in any universe, must these reflectors of greatness and of goodness work together, always showing a dual and mutually dependent report of every being upon whom they focalize. Greatness cannot be estimated without knowing the content of goodness, while goodness cannot be portrayed without exhibiting its inherent and divine greatness.

The estimate of greatness varies from sphere to sphere. To be great is to be Godlike. And since the quality of greatness is wholly determined by the content of goodness, it follows that, even in your present human estate, if you can through grace become good, you are thereby becoming great. The more steadfastly you behold, and the more persistently you pursue, the concepts of divine goodness, the more certainly will you grow in greatness, in true magnitude of genuine survival character.

The seconaphim have their origin and headquarters on the capitals of the superuniverses, but with their liaison fellows they range from the shores of Paradise to the evolutionary worlds of space. They serve as valued assistants to the members of the deliberative assemblies of the supergovernments and are of great help to the courtesy colonies of Uversa: the star students, millennial tourists, celestial observers, and a host of others, including the ascendant beings in waiting for Havona transport. The Ancients of Days take pleasure in assigning certain of the primary seconaphim to assist the ascending creatures domiciled on the four hundred ninety study worlds surrounding Uversa, and here also do many of the secondary and tertiary orders serve as teachers. These Uversa satellites are the finishing schools of the universes of time, presenting the preparatory course for the seven-circuited university of Havona.

Of the three orders of seconaphim, the tertiary group, attached to the ascendant authorities, minister most extensively to the ascending creatures of time. You will on occasion meet them soon after your departure from Urantia, though you will not freely make use of their services until you reach the tarrying worlds of