379 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
379 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 85 The Origins Of Worship
|
|
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
|
|
|
|
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART III: The History of Urantia
|
|
: The Origin Of Urantia Life Establishment On Urantia The Marine-life Era On
|
|
Urantia Urantia During The Early Land-life Era The Mammalian Era On Urantia The
|
|
Dawn Races Of Early Man The First Human Family The Evolutionary Races Of Color
|
|
The Overcontrol Of Evolution The Planetary Prince Of Urantia The Planetary
|
|
Rebellion The Dawn Of Civilization Primitive Human Institutions The Evolution
|
|
Of Human Government Development Of The State Government On A Neighboring Planet
|
|
The Garden Of Eden Adam And Eve The Default Of Adam And Eve The Second Garden
|
|
The Midway Creatures The Violet Race After The Days Of Adam Andite Expansion In
|
|
The Orient Andite Expansion In The Occident Development Of Modern Civilization
|
|
The Evolution Of Marriage The Marriage Institution Marriage And Family Life The
|
|
Origins Of Worship Early Evolution Of Religion The Ghost Cults Fetishes,
|
|
Charms, And Magic Sin, Sacrifice, And Atonement Shamanism--medicine Men And
|
|
Priests The Evolution Of Prayer The Later Evolution Of Religion Machiventa
|
|
Melchizedek The Melchizedek Teachings In The Orient The Melchizedek Teachings
|
|
In The Levant Yahweh--god Of The Hebrews Evolution Of The God Concept Among The
|
|
Hebrews The Melchizedek Teachings In The Occident The Social Problems Of
|
|
Religion Religion In Human Experience The Real Nature Of Religion The
|
|
Foundations Of Religious Faith The Reality Of Religious Experience Growth Of
|
|
The Trinity Concept Deity And Reality Universe Levels Of Reality Origin And
|
|
Nature Of Thought Adjusters Mission And Ministry Of Thought Adjusters Relation
|
|
Of Adjusters To Universe Creatures Relation Of Adjusters To Individual Mortals
|
|
...
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Paper 85 The Origins Of Worship
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Introduction
|
|
|
|
PRIMITIVE religion had a biologic origin, a natural evolutionary development,
|
|
aside from moral associations and apart from all spiritual influences. The
|
|
higher animals have fears but no illusions, hence no religion. Man creates his
|
|
primitive religions out of his fears and by means of his illusions.
|
|
|
|
In the evolution of the human species, worship in its primitive manifestations
|
|
appears long before the mind of man is capable of formulating the more complex
|
|
concepts of life now and in the hereafter which deserve to be called religion.
|
|
Early religion was wholly intellectual in nature and was entirely predicated on
|
|
associational circumstances. The objects of worship were altogether suggestive;
|
|
they consisted of the things of nature which were close at hand, or which
|
|
loomed large in the commonplace experience of the simple-minded primitive
|
|
Urantians.
|
|
|
|
When religion once evolved beyond nature worship, it acquired roots of spirit
|
|
origin but was nevertheless always conditioned by the social environment. As
|
|
nature worship developed, man's concepts envisioned a division of labor in the
|
|
supermortal world; there were nature spirits for lakes, trees, waterfalls,
|
|
rain, and hundreds of other ordinary terrestrial phenomena.
|
|
|
|
At one time or another mortal man has worshiped everything on the face of the
|
|
earth, including himself. He has also worshiped about everything imaginable in
|
|
the sky and beneath the surface of the earth. Primitive man feared all
|
|
manifestations of power; he worshiped every natural phenomenon he could not
|
|
comprehend. The observation of powerful natural forces, such as storms, floods,
|
|
earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, fire, heat, and cold, greatly impressed the
|
|
expanding mind of man. The inexplicable things of life are still termed "acts
|
|
of God" and "mysterious dispensations of Providence."
|
|
|
|
1. WORSHIP OF STONES AND HILLS
|
|
|
|
The first object to be worshiped by evolving man was a stone. Today the Kateri
|
|
people of southern India still worship a stone, as do numerous tribes in
|
|
northern India. Jacob slept on a stone because he venerated it; he even
|
|
anointed it. Rachel concealed a number of sacred stones in her tent.
|
|
|
|
Stones first impressed early man as being out of the ordinary because of the
|
|
manner in which they would so suddenly appear on the surface of a cultivated
|
|
field or pasture. Men failed to take into account either erosion or the results
|
|
of the overturning of soil. Stones also greatly impressed early peoples because
|
|
of their frequent resemblance to animals. The attention of civilized man is
|
|
arrested by numerous stone formations in the mountains which so much resemble
|
|
the faces of animals and even men. But the most profound influence was exerted
|
|
by meteoric stones which primitive humans beheld hurtling through the
|
|
atmosphere in flaming grandeur. The shooting star was awesome to early man, and
|
|
he easily
|
|
|
|
top of page - 945
|
|
|
|
believed that such blazing streaks marked the passage of a spirit on its way to
|
|
earth. No wonder men were led to worship such phenomena, especially when they
|
|
subsequently discovered the meteors. And this led to greater reverence for all
|
|
other stones. In Bengal many worship a meteor which fell to earth in A.D. 1880.
|
|
|
|
All ancient clans and tribes had their sacred stones, and most modern peoples
|
|
manifest a degree of veneration for certain types of stones--their jewels. A
|
|
group of five stones was reverenced in India; in Greece it was a cluster of
|
|
thirty; among the red men it was usually a circle of stones. The Romans always
|
|
threw a stone into the air when invoking Jupiter. In India even to this day a
|
|
stone can be used as a witness. In some regions a stone may be employed as a
|
|
talisman of the law, and by its prestige an offender can be haled into court.
|
|
But simple mortals do not always identify Deity with an object of reverent
|
|
ceremony. Such fetishes are many times mere symbols of the real object of
|
|
worship.
|
|
|
|
The ancients had a peculiar regard for holes in stones. Such porous rocks were
|
|
supposed to be unusually efficacious in curing diseases. Ears were not
|
|
perforated to carry stones, but the stones were put in to keep the ear holes
|
|
open. Even in modern times superstitious persons make holes in coins. In Africa
|
|
the natives make much ado over their fetish stones. In fact, among all backward
|
|
tribes and peoples stones are still held in superstitious veneration. Stone
|
|
worship is even now widespread over the world. The tombstone is a surviving
|
|
symbol of images and idols which were carved in stone in connection with
|
|
beliefs in ghosts and the spirits of departed fellow beings.
|
|
|
|
Hill worship followed stone worship, and the first hills to be venerated were
|
|
large stone formations. It presently became the custom to believe that the gods
|
|
inhabited the mountains, so that high elevations of land were worshiped for
|
|
this additional reason. As time passed, certain mountains were associated with
|
|
certain gods and therefore became holy. The ignorant and superstitious
|
|
aborigines believed that caves led to the underworld, with its evil spirits and
|
|
demons, in contrast with the mountains, which were identified with the later
|
|
evolving concepts of good spirits and deities.
|
|
|
|
2. WORSHIP OF PLANTS AND TREES
|
|
|
|
Plants were first feared and then worshiped because of the intoxicating liquors
|
|
which were derived therefrom. Primitive man believed that intoxication rendered
|
|
one divine. There was supposed to be something unusual and sacred about such an
|
|
experience. Even in modern times alcohol is known as "spirits."
|
|
|
|
Early man looked upon sprouting grain with dread and superstitious awe. The
|
|
Apostle Paul was not the first to draw profound spiritual lessons from, and
|
|
predicate religious beliefs on, the sprouting grain.
|
|
|
|
The cults of tree worship are among the oldest religious groups. All early
|
|
marriages were held under the trees, and when women desired children, they
|
|
would sometimes be found out in the forest affectionately embracing a sturdy
|
|
oak. Many plants and trees were venerated because of their real or fancied
|
|
medicinal powers. The savage believed that all chemical effects were due to the
|
|
direct activity of supernatural forces.
|
|
|
|
Ideas about tree spirits varied greatly among different tribes and races. Some
|
|
trees were indwelt by kindly spirits; others harbored the deceptive and cruel.
|
|
The Finns believed that most trees were occupied by kind spirits. The Swiss
|
|
long mistrusted the trees, believing they contained tricky spirits. The
|
|
inhabitants of
|
|
|
|
top of page - 946
|
|
|
|
India and eastern Russia regard the tree spirits as being cruel. The
|
|
Patagonians still worship trees, as did the early Semites. Long after the
|
|
Hebrews ceased tree worship, they continued to venerate their various deities
|
|
in the groves. Except in China, there once existed a universal cult of the tree
|
|
of life.
|
|
|
|
The belief that water or precious metals beneath the earth's surface can be
|
|
detected by a wooden divining rod is a relic of the ancient tree cults. The
|
|
Maypole, the Christmas tree, and the superstitious practice of rapping on wood
|
|
perpetuate certain of the ancient customs of tree worship and the later-day
|
|
tree cults.
|
|
|
|
Many of these earliest forms of nature veneration became blended with the later
|
|
evolving techniques of worship, but the earliest mind-adjutant-activated types
|
|
of worship were functioning long before the newly awakening religious nature of
|
|
mankind became fully responsive to the stimulus of spiritual influences.
|
|
|
|
3. THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS
|
|
|
|
Primitive man had a peculiar and fellow feeling for the higher animals. His
|
|
ancestors had lived with them and even mated with them. In southern Asia it was
|
|
early believed that the souls of men came back to earth in animal form. This
|
|
belief was a survival of the still earlier practice of worshiping animals.
|
|
|
|
Early men revered the animals for their power and their cunning. They thought
|
|
the keen scent and the farseeing eyes of certain creatures betokened spirit
|
|
guidance. The animals have all been worshiped by one race or another at one
|
|
time or another. Among such objects of worship were creatures that were
|
|
regarded as half human and half animal, such as centaurs and mermaids.
|
|
|
|
The Hebrews worshiped serpents down to the days of King Hezekiah, and the
|
|
Hindus still maintain friendly relations with their house snakes. The Chinese
|
|
worship of the dragon is a survival of the snake cults. The wisdom of the
|
|
serpent was a symbol of Greek medicine and is still employed as an emblem by
|
|
modern physicians. The art of snake charming has been handed down from the days
|
|
of the female shamans of the snake love cult, who, as the result of daily snake
|
|
bites, became immune, in fact, became genuine venom addicts and could not get
|
|
along without this poison.
|
|
|
|
The worship of insects and other animals was promoted by a later
|
|
misinterpretation of the golden rule--doing to others (every form of life) as
|
|
you would be done by. The ancients once believed that all winds were produced
|
|
by the wings of birds and therefore both feared and worshiped all winged
|
|
creatures. The early Nordics thought that eclipses were caused by a wolf that
|
|
devoured a portion of the sun or moon. The Hindus often show Vishnu with a
|
|
horse's head. Many times an animal symbol stands for a forgotten god or a
|
|
vanished cult. Early in evolutionary religion the lamb became the typical
|
|
sacrificial animal and the dove the symbol of peace and love.
|
|
|
|
In religion, symbolism may be either good or bad just to the extent that the
|
|
symbol does or does not displace the original worshipful idea. And symbolism
|
|
must not be confused with direct idolatry wherein the material object is
|
|
directly and actually worshiped.
|
|
|
|
4. WORSHIP OF THE ELEMENTS
|
|
|
|
Mankind has worshiped earth, air, water, and fire. The primitive races
|
|
venerated springs and worshiped rivers. Even now in Mongolia there flourishes
|
|
an
|
|
|
|
top of page - 947
|
|
|
|
influential river cult. Baptism became a religious ceremonial in Babylon, and
|
|
the Greeks practiced the annual ritual bath. It was easy for the ancients to
|
|
imagine that the spirits dwelt in the bubbling springs, gushing fountains,
|
|
flowing rivers, and raging torrents. Moving waters vividly impressed these
|
|
simple minds with beliefs of spirit animation and supernatural power. Sometimes
|
|
a drowning man would be refused succor for fear of offending some river god.
|
|
|
|
Many things and numerous events have functioned as religious stimuli to
|
|
different peoples in different ages. A rainbow is yet worshiped by many of the
|
|
hill tribes of India. In both India and Africa the rainbow is thought to be a
|
|
gigantic celestial snake; Hebrews and Christians regard it as "the bow of
|
|
promise." Likewise, influences regarded as beneficent in one part of the world
|
|
may be looked upon as malignant in other regions. The east wind is a god in
|
|
South America, for it brings rain; in India it is a devil because it brings
|
|
dust and causes drought. The ancient Bedouins believed that a nature spirit
|
|
produced the sand whirls, and even in the times of Moses belief in nature
|
|
spirits was strong enough to insure their perpetuation in Hebrew theology as
|
|
angels of fire, water, and air.
|
|
|
|
Clouds, rain, and hail have all been feared and worshiped by numerous primitive
|
|
tribes and by many of the early nature cults. Windstorms with thunder and
|
|
lightning overawed early man. He was so impressed with these elemental
|
|
disturbances that thunder was regarded as the voice of an angry god. The
|
|
worship of fire and the fear of lightning were linked together and were
|
|
widespread among many early groups.
|
|
|
|
Fire was mixed up with magic in the minds of primitive fear-ridden mortals. A
|
|
devotee of magic will vividly remember one positive chance result in the
|
|
practice of his magic formulas, while he nonchalantly forgets a score of
|
|
negative results, out-and-out failures. Fire reverence reached its height in
|
|
Persia, where it long persisted. Some tribes worshiped fire as a deity itself;
|
|
others revered it as the flaming symbol of the purifying and purging spirit of
|
|
their venerated deities. Vestal virgins were charged with the duty of watching
|
|
sacred fires, and in the twentieth century candles still burn as a part of the
|
|
ritual of many religious services.
|
|
|
|
5. WORSHIP OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES
|
|
|
|
The worship of rocks, hills, trees, and animals naturally developed up through
|
|
fearful veneration of the elements to the deification of the sun, moon, and
|
|
stars. In India and elsewhere the stars were regarded as the glorified souls of
|
|
great men who had departed from the life in the flesh. The Chaldean star
|
|
cultists considered themselves to be the children of the sky father and the
|
|
earth mother.
|
|
|
|
Moon worship preceded sun worship. Veneration of the moon was at its height
|
|
during the hunting era, while sun worship became the chief religious ceremony
|
|
of the subsequent agricultural ages. Solar worship first took extensive root in
|
|
India, and there it persisted the longest. In Persia sun veneration gave rise
|
|
to the later Mithraic cult. Among many peoples the sun was regarded as the
|
|
ancestor of their kings. The Chaldeans put the sun in the center of "the seven
|
|
circles of the universe." Later civilizations honored the sun by giving its
|
|
name to the first day of the week.
|
|
|
|
The sun god was supposed to be the mystic father of the virgin-born sons of
|
|
destiny who ever and anon were thought to be bestowed as saviors upon favored
|
|
races. These supernatural infants were always put adrift upon some sacred river
|
|
|
|
top of page - 948
|
|
|
|
to be rescued in an extraordinary manner, after which they would grow up to
|
|
become miraculous personalities and the deliverers of their peoples.
|
|
|
|
6. WORSHIP OF MAN
|
|
|
|
Having worshiped everything else on the face of the earth and in the heavens
|
|
above, man has not hesitated to honor himself with such adoration. The
|
|
simple-minded savage makes no clear distinction between beasts, men, and gods.
|
|
|
|
Early man regarded all unusual persons as superhuman, and he so feared such
|
|
beings as to hold them in reverential awe; to some degree he literally
|
|
worshiped them. Even having twins was regarded as being either very lucky or
|
|
very unlucky. Lunatics, epileptics, and the feeble-minded were often worshiped
|
|
by their normal-minded fellows, who believed that such abnormal beings were
|
|
indwelt by the gods. Priests, kings, and prophets were worshiped; the holy men
|
|
of old were looked upon as inspired by the deities.
|
|
|
|
Tribal chiefs died and were deified. Later, distinguished souls passed on and
|
|
were sainted. Unaided evolution never originated gods higher than the
|
|
glorified, exalted, and evolved spirits of deceased humans. In early evolution
|
|
religion creates its own gods. In the course of revelation the Gods formulate
|
|
religion. Evolutionary religion creates its gods in the image and likeness of
|
|
mortal man; revelatory religion seeks to evolve and transform mortal man into
|
|
the image and likeness of God.
|
|
|
|
The ghost gods, who are of supposed human origin, should be distinguished from
|
|
the nature gods, for nature worship did evolve a pantheon--nature spirits
|
|
elevated to the position of gods. The nature cults continued to develop along
|
|
with the later appearing ghost cults, and each exerted an influence upon the
|
|
other. Many religious systems embraced a dual concept of deity, nature gods and
|
|
ghost gods; in some theologies these concepts are confusingly intertwined, as
|
|
is illustrated by Thor, a ghost hero who was also master of the lightning.
|
|
|
|
But the worship of man by man reached its height when temporal rulers commanded
|
|
such veneration from their subjects and, in substantiation of such demands,
|
|
claimed to have descended from deity.
|
|
|
|
7. THE ADJUTANTS OF WORSHIP AND WISDOM
|
|
|
|
Nature worship may seem to have arisen naturally and spontaneously in the minds
|
|
of primitive men and women, and so it did; but there was operating all this
|
|
time in these same primitive minds the sixth adjutant spirit, which had been
|
|
bestowed upon these peoples as a directing influence of this phase of human
|
|
evolution. And this spirit was constantly stimulating the worship urge of the
|
|
human species, no matter how primitive its first manifestations might be. The
|
|
spirit of worship gave definite origin to the human impulse to worship,
|
|
notwithstanding that animal fear motivated the expression of worshipfulness,
|
|
and that its early practice became centered upon objects of nature.
|
|
|
|
You must remember that feeling, not thinking, was the guiding and controlling
|
|
influence in all evolutionary development. To the primitive mind there is
|
|
little difference between fearing, shunning, honoring, and worshiping.
|
|
|
|
When the worship urge is admonished and directed by wisdom--meditative and
|
|
experiential thinking--it then begins to develop into the phenomenon of real
|
|
religion. When the seventh adjutant spirit, the spirit of wisdom, achieves
|
|
effective
|
|
|
|
top of page - 949
|
|
|
|
ministration, then in worship man begins to turn away from nature and natural
|
|
objects to the God of nature and to the eternal Creator of all things natural.
|
|
|
|
[Presented by a Brilliant Evening Star of Nebadon.]
|
|
|
|
top of page - 950
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART III: The History of Urantia
|
|
: The Origin Of Urantia Life Establishment On Urantia The Marine-life Era On
|
|
Urantia Urantia During The Early Land-life Era The Mammalian Era On Urantia The
|
|
Dawn Races Of Early Man The First Human Family The Evolutionary Races Of Color
|
|
The Overcontrol Of Evolution The Planetary Prince Of Urantia The Planetary
|
|
Rebellion The Dawn Of Civilization Primitive Human Institutions The Evolution
|
|
Of Human Government Development Of The State Government On A Neighboring Planet
|
|
The Garden Of Eden Adam And Eve The Default Of Adam And Eve The Second Garden
|
|
The Midway Creatures The Violet Race After The Days Of Adam Andite Expansion In
|
|
The Orient Andite Expansion In The Occident Development Of Modern Civilization
|
|
The Evolution Of Marriage The Marriage Institution Marriage And Family Life The
|
|
Origins Of Worship Early Evolution Of Religion The Ghost Cults Fetishes,
|
|
Charms, And Magic Sin, Sacrifice, And Atonement Shamanism--medicine Men And
|
|
Priests The Evolution Of Prayer The Later Evolution Of Religion Machiventa
|
|
Melchizedek The Melchizedek Teachings In The Orient The Melchizedek Teachings
|
|
In The Levant Yahweh--god Of The Hebrews Evolution Of The God Concept Among The
|
|
Hebrews The Melchizedek Teachings In The Occident The Social Problems Of
|
|
Religion Religion In Human Experience The Real Nature Of Religion The
|
|
Foundations Of Religious Faith The Reality Of Religious Experience Growth Of
|
|
The Trinity Concept Deity And Reality Universe Levels Of Reality Origin And
|
|
Nature Of Thought Adjusters Mission And Ministry Of Thought Adjusters Relation
|
|
Of Adjusters To Universe Creatures Relation Of Adjusters To Individual Mortals
|
|
The Adjuster And The Soul Personality Survival Seraphic Guardians Of Destiny
|
|
Seraphic Planetary Government The Supreme Being The Almighty Supreme God The
|
|
Supreme Supreme And Ultimate--time And Space The Bestowals Of Christ Michael
|
|
|
|
������������������������������������������������������������������������������Ŀ
|
|
� // � � � � �
|
|
� Marriage And � Early � Urantia Book � Search � SiteMap! �
|
|
� Fa... � Evolution... � PA... � � �
|
|
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
|
|
//
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
������������������������������������������������������������������������������Ŀ
|
|
� � � � � � � SPIRITWEB ORG (info@spiritweb.org), � �
|
|
� � � � � � � http://www.spiritweb.org � �
|
|
� � � � � � � Webmaster <webmaster@spiritweb.org> � �
|
|
� � � � � � � � �
|
|
� � � � � � � ONLINE SINCE 1993. MAINTAINED IN SWITZERLAND. � �
|
|
� � � � � � � DISTRIBUTED TO CALIFORNIA, SPAIN, ITALY, SOUTH AFRICA, � �
|
|
� � � � � � � AUSTRALIA � �
|
|
� � � � � � � � �
|
|
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
|