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89:1.1 [[Observance]] of a [[taboo]] was man's [[effort]] to dodge ill [[luck]], to keep from offending the spirit [[ghosts]] by the avoidance of something. The taboos were at first nonreligious, but they early acquired [[ghost]] or spirit [[sanction]], and when thus reinforced, they became lawmakers and [[institution]] builders. The [[taboo]] is the [[source]] of [[ceremonial]] [[standards]] and the [[ancestor]] of [[primitive]][[ self-control]]. It was the earliest form of societal regulation and for a long time the only one; it is still a basic [[unit]] of the [[social]] regulative [[structure]].
89:1.2 The [[respect]] which these prohibitions commanded in the [[mind]] of the savage exactly equaled his [[fear]] of the [[powers]] who were supposed to enforce them. [[Taboos]] first arose because of [[chance]] [[experience]] with ill [[luck]]; later they were proposed by chiefs and [[shamans]]—[[fetish]] men who were [[thought]] to be directed by a spirit [[ghost]], even by a [[god]]. The fear of spirit retribution is so great in the [[mind]] of a primitive that he sometimes dies of fright when he has violated a [[taboo]], and this dramatic [[episode]] enormously strengthens the hold of the [[taboo]] on the [[minds]] of the [[survivors]].
89:1.3 Among the earliest prohibitions were restrictions on the appropriation of [[women]] and other [[property]]. As [[religion]] began to play a larger part in the [[evolution]] of the [[taboo]], the article resting under ban was regarded as unclean, subsequently as unholy. The [[records]] of the [[Hebrews]] are full of the mention of [[things]] clean and unclean, [[holy]] and unholy, but their beliefs along these lines were far less cumbersome and extensive than were those of many other peoples.
89:1.4 The [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:7._LIFE_IN_DALAMATIA seven commandments of Dalamatia] and [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_74#74:7._LIFE_IN_THE_GARDEN Eden], as well as the [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Exodus#Chapter_.34 ten injunctions of the Hebrews], were definite [[taboos]], all [[expressed]] in the same [[negative]] form as were the most [[ancient]] prohibitions. But these newer codes were truly emancipating in that they took the place of thousands of pre-existent [[taboos]]. And more than this, these later commandments definitely promised something in return for [[obedience]].
89:1.5 The early [[food]] [[taboos]] originated in [[fetishism]] and [[totemism]]. The swine was [[sacred]] to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia Phoenicians], the cow to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu Hindus]. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt Egyptian] taboo on pork has been perpetuated by the [[Hebraic]] and [[Islamic]] faiths. A variant of the food taboo was the belief that a [[pregnant]] [[woman]] could think so much about a certain [[food]] that the child, when born, would be the [[echo]] of that food. Such viands would be taboo to the child.
89:1.6 [[Methods]] of eating soon became taboo, and so originated [[ancient]] and [[modern]] table [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette etiquette]. [[Caste]] systems and [[social]] levels are vestigial remnants of olden prohibitions. The [[taboos]] were highly effective in [[organizing]] [[society]], but they were terribly burdensome; the negative-ban system not only maintained useful and constructive regulations but also obsolete, outworn, and useless taboos.
89:1.7 There would, however, be no [[civilized]] [[society]] to sit in [[criticism]] upon [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN primitive man] except for these far-flung and multifarious [[taboos]], and the taboo would never have endured but for the upholding [[sanctions]] of primitive [[religion]]. Many of the [[essential]] factors in man's [[evolution]] have been highly expensive, have cost vast treasure in [[effort]], [[sacrifice]], and self-denial, but these achievements of [[self-control]] were the real rungs on which man climbed civilization's [[ascending]] ladder.
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_89 Go to Paper 89]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 89 - Sin, Sacrifice, and Atonement]]
89:1.1 [[Observance]] of a [[taboo]] was man's [[effort]] to dodge ill [[luck]], to keep from offending the spirit [[ghosts]] by the avoidance of something. The taboos were at first nonreligious, but they early acquired [[ghost]] or spirit [[sanction]], and when thus reinforced, they became lawmakers and [[institution]] builders. The [[taboo]] is the [[source]] of [[ceremonial]] [[standards]] and the [[ancestor]] of [[primitive]][[ self-control]]. It was the earliest form of societal regulation and for a long time the only one; it is still a basic [[unit]] of the [[social]] regulative [[structure]].
89:1.2 The [[respect]] which these prohibitions commanded in the [[mind]] of the savage exactly equaled his [[fear]] of the [[powers]] who were supposed to enforce them. [[Taboos]] first arose because of [[chance]] [[experience]] with ill [[luck]]; later they were proposed by chiefs and [[shamans]]—[[fetish]] men who were [[thought]] to be directed by a spirit [[ghost]], even by a [[god]]. The fear of spirit retribution is so great in the [[mind]] of a primitive that he sometimes dies of fright when he has violated a [[taboo]], and this dramatic [[episode]] enormously strengthens the hold of the [[taboo]] on the [[minds]] of the [[survivors]].
89:1.3 Among the earliest prohibitions were restrictions on the appropriation of [[women]] and other [[property]]. As [[religion]] began to play a larger part in the [[evolution]] of the [[taboo]], the article resting under ban was regarded as unclean, subsequently as unholy. The [[records]] of the [[Hebrews]] are full of the mention of [[things]] clean and unclean, [[holy]] and unholy, but their beliefs along these lines were far less cumbersome and extensive than were those of many other peoples.
89:1.4 The [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_66#66:7._LIFE_IN_DALAMATIA seven commandments of Dalamatia] and [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_74#74:7._LIFE_IN_THE_GARDEN Eden], as well as the [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Exodus#Chapter_.34 ten injunctions of the Hebrews], were definite [[taboos]], all [[expressed]] in the same [[negative]] form as were the most [[ancient]] prohibitions. But these newer codes were truly emancipating in that they took the place of thousands of pre-existent [[taboos]]. And more than this, these later commandments definitely promised something in return for [[obedience]].
89:1.5 The early [[food]] [[taboos]] originated in [[fetishism]] and [[totemism]]. The swine was [[sacred]] to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia Phoenicians], the cow to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu Hindus]. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt Egyptian] taboo on pork has been perpetuated by the [[Hebraic]] and [[Islamic]] faiths. A variant of the food taboo was the belief that a [[pregnant]] [[woman]] could think so much about a certain [[food]] that the child, when born, would be the [[echo]] of that food. Such viands would be taboo to the child.
89:1.6 [[Methods]] of eating soon became taboo, and so originated [[ancient]] and [[modern]] table [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette etiquette]. [[Caste]] systems and [[social]] levels are vestigial remnants of olden prohibitions. The [[taboos]] were highly effective in [[organizing]] [[society]], but they were terribly burdensome; the negative-ban system not only maintained useful and constructive regulations but also obsolete, outworn, and useless taboos.
89:1.7 There would, however, be no [[civilized]] [[society]] to sit in [[criticism]] upon [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN primitive man] except for these far-flung and multifarious [[taboos]], and the taboo would never have endured but for the upholding [[sanctions]] of primitive [[religion]]. Many of the [[essential]] factors in man's [[evolution]] have been highly expensive, have cost vast treasure in [[effort]], [[sacrifice]], and self-denial, but these achievements of [[self-control]] were the real rungs on which man climbed civilization's [[ascending]] ladder.
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_89 Go to Paper 89]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 89 - Sin, Sacrifice, and Atonement]]
