The Urantia Book
PAPER 85
THE ORIGINS OF WORSHIP
Presented by a Brilliant Evening Star of Nebadon.
85:0.1 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.
85:0.2 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.
85:0.3 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.
85:0.4 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
85:1.1 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.
85:1.2 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 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.
85:1.3 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.
85:1.4 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.
85:1.5 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
85:2.1 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."
85:2.2 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.
85:2.3 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.
85:2.4 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 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.
85:2.5 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.
85:2.6 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
85:3.1 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.
85:3.2 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.
85:3.3 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.
85:3.4 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.
85:3.5 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
85:4.1 Mankind has worshiped earth, air,
water, and fire. The primitive races venerated springs and
worshiped rivers. Even now in Mongolia there flourishes an
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.
85:4.2 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.
85:4.3 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.
85:4.4 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
85:5.1 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.
85:5.2 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.
85:5.3 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 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
85:6.1 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.
85:6.2 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.
85:6.3 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.
85:6.4 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.
85:6.5 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
85:7.1 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.
85:7.2 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.
85:7.3 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 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.
85:7.4
Presented by a Brilliant Evening Star of Nebadon.