Civilization

Civilization is a racial acquirement;it is not biologically inherent; thus the children of each succeeding generation must be taught anew about the world he lives in. Dalmatia for 300,000 years taught the tribes cooperation and thus the social order prevailed among these tribes. The blue man profited most by these early social teachings, the red man to some extent, and the black man least of all. In more recent times the yellow race and the white race have presented the most advanced social development on Urantia. Primitive man was not a social or brotherly being. But the early races learned by sad experience that in union there is strength. Association early on became the price of survival. It has become man’s insurance against violent death, while the premiums are paid by submission to society’s numerous laws and regulations. Primitive human beings early learned that groups are vastly greater and stronger than the mere sum of their individual units. And so society was born, not of mere association of numbers, but rather as the organization of intelligent cooperators. And it is only because of the enhancement of survival value in association that Man’s many blunders thus far have failed to stop or destroy human civilization.

Civilized society is the result of man’s early efforts to overcome his dislike of isolation. Thus does the whole social body push on slowly toward the goal of destiny–extinction or survival–depending on whether that goal is self-maintenance or self-gratification. Self-maintenance originates society; while excessive self-gratification destroys civilization. Society is concerned with self-perpetuation, self-maintenance, and self-gratification, but human self-realization is worthy of becoming the immediate goal of many cultural groups. Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family. The family was the first successful peace group, the man and woman learning how to adjust their antagonisms and teaching peace to their children. The function of marriage in evolution is the insurance of race survival, not merely the realization of personal happiness. Self-maintenance and self-perpetuation are the real objects of the home. Self-maintenance builds society; unbridled self-gratification unfailingly destroys civilzation. I think we can put Russian President Putin in this category. Even if Ukraine wins the war, he has destroyed so many cities it will take years to rebuild.

THE SOCIALIZING INFLUENCE OF GHOST FEAR. Primitive desires produced the original society, but ghost fear held it together and imparted an extrahuman aspect to its existance. Common fear was plentiful, but ghost fear was a sublime form of terror. Probably the greatest single factor in the evolution of society was the ghost dream. Most dreams were disturbing to primitive man, but the ghost dream actually terrorized early humans, driving these superstitious people together for mutual protection against the vague and unseen imaginary dangers of the spirit world. The ghost dream was one of the earliest appearing differences between animal and human types of mind. The dread of the departed spirits of the dead brought to light a new and amazing form of fear, an appalling and powerful terror, which contributed to the transition from loosely organized social orders into the more disciplined and controlled primitive groups of ancient times. This ghost fear still persists in the 21st Century. Also, this ghost fear prepared humans for the fear of the Lord. Many people still see the Father as a punishing God instead of the loving God he really is. The reason for this is because they take their ideas from the Old Testament. Yahweh was a punishing, malevolent, genocidal, jealous and unforgiving god, who probably was one of the Anunnaki. There are all kinds of reasons for this view. My money is on Enlil, the Commander of the Air and Space. With fear of the Lord among Jews and Christians, there came a longing for the Lord, a reaching for the Lord, a hunger so keen that some went into monasteries to contemplate the Lord to the exclusion of everything else. I was talking to Jesus for a few weeks and he was talking back, but suddenly I realized that I was probably deluded. But it was spooky, because what he said sometimes was something I hadn’t thought of.