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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:The_eye_of_all_ur60.jpg|right|frame]] 86:5.1 The nonmaterial part of man has been variously termed [[ghost]], [[spirit]], shade, phantom, specter, and latterly [[soul]]. The soul was early man's [[dream]] double; it was in every way exactly like the [[mortal]] himself except that it was not [[responsive]] to [[touch]]. The [[belief]] in dream doubles led directly to the notion that all [[things]] animate and inanimate had souls as well as men. This [[concept]] tended long to perpetuate the [[nature]]-spirit [[beliefs]]; the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimos Eskimos] still conceive that [[everything]] in nature has a [[spirit]]. 86:5.2 The [[ghost]] [[soul]] could be heard and seen, but not [[touched]]. [[Gradually]] the [[dream]] life of the [[race]] so [[developed]] and expanded the [[activities]] of this evolving spirit world that [[death]] was finally regarded as "giving up the ghost."[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Genesis#Chapter_.8] All [[primitive]] [[tribes]], except those little above [[animals]], have [[developed]] some [[concept]] of the [[soul]]. As [[civilization]] advances, this [[superstitious]] [[concept]] of the soul is destroyed, and man is wholly dependent on [[revelation]] and [[personal]] [[religious]] [[experience]] for his new [[idea]] of the soul as the joint creation of the [[God]]-knowing [[mortal]] [[mind]] and its indwelling [[divine]] spirit, the [[Thought Adjuster]]. 86:5.3 Early mortals usually failed to differentiate the [[concepts]] of an [[indwelling spirit]] and a [[soul]] of [[evolutionary]] [[nature]]. The [[savage]] was much [[confused]] as to whether the [[ghost]] soul was [[native]] to the [[body]] or was an external [[agency]] in [[possession]] of the body. The [[absence]] of [[reasoned]] [[thought]] in the [[presence]] of [[perplexity]] [[explains]] the gross inconsistencies of the savage view of [[souls]], [[ghosts]], and [[spirits]]. 86:5.4 The [[soul]] was [[thought]] of as being related to the [[body]] as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume perfume] to the flower. The [[ancients]] believed that the soul could leave the body in various ways, as in: *1. Ordinary and transient fainting. *2. [[Sleeping]], natural [[dreaming]]. *3. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma Coma] and [[unconsciousness]] associated with [[disease]] and [[accidents]]. *4. [[Death]], permanent departure. 86:5.5 The [[savage]] looked upon sneezing as an [[abortive]] attempt of the [[soul]] to [[escape]] from the [[body]]. Being [[awake]] and on guard, the body was able to thwart the soul's attempted escape. Later on, sneezing was always accompanied by some [[religious]] [[expression]], such as "God bless you!" 86:5.6 Early in [[evolution]] [[sleep]] was regarded as proving that the [[ghost]] soul could be [[absent]] from the [[body]], and it was believed that it could be called back by speaking or shouting the sleeper's [[name]]. In other forms of [[unconsciousness]] the [[soul]] was thought to be farther away, perhaps trying to [[escape]] for good—impending [[death]]. [[Dreams]] were looked upon as the [[experiences]] of the [[soul]] during [[sleep]] while temporarily absent from the [[body]]. The savage believes his [[dreams]] to be just as real as any part of his [[waking]] [[experience]]. The [[ancients]] made a [[practice]] of awaking sleepers [[gradually]] so that the [[soul]] might have time to get back into the [[body]]. 86:5.7 All down through the ages men have stood in [[awe]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparitional_experience apparitions] of the [[night]] [[season]], and the [[Hebrews]] were no exception. They truly believed that [[God]] spoke to them in [[dreams]], despite the injunctions of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses Moses] against this [[idea]]. And Moses was right, for ordinary dreams are not the [[methods]] employed by the [[personalities]] of the [[spiritual]] world when they seek to communicate with [[material]] [[beings]]. 86:5.8 The [[ancients]] believed that [[souls]] could enter [[animals]] or even inanimate objects. This culminated in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf werewolf] [[ideas]] of [[animal]] identification. A [[person]] could be a [[law]]-abiding [[citizen]] by day, but when he fell asleep, his [[soul]] could enter a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf wolf] or some other [[animal]] to prowl about on nocturnal depredations. 86:5.9 [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN Primitive men] [[thought]] that the [[soul]] was [[associated]] with the [[breath]], and that its [[qualities]] could be imparted or transferred by the breath. The [[brave]] chief would breathe upon the newborn [[child]], thereby imparting [[courage]]. Among early [[Christians]] the [[ceremony]] of [[bestowing]] the [[Holy Spirit]] was accompanied by breathing on the [[candidates]]. Said the Psalmist: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Psalms#Psalm_33] It was long the [[custom]] of the eldest son to try to catch the last [[breath]] of his dying [[father]]. 86:5.10 The [[shadow]] came, later on, to be feared and [[revered]] equally with the [[breath]]. The [[reflection]] of oneself in the [[water]] was also sometimes looked upon as [[proof]] of the double [[self]], and [[mirrors]] were regarded with [[superstitious]] [[awe]]. Even now many civilized [[persons]] turn the mirror to the wall in the [[event]] of [[death]]. Some backward [[tribes]] still believe that the making of pictures, drawings, models, or images removes all or a part of the [[soul]] from the [[body]]; hence such are forbidden. 86:5.11 The [[soul]] was generally [[thought]] of as being identified with the [[breath]], but it was also located by various peoples in the head, hair, [[heart]], liver, blood, and fat. The "crying out of Abel's blood from the ground"[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Genesis#Chapter_.4] is [[expressive]] of the onetime [[belief]] in the [[presence]] of the [[ghost]] in the blood. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semites Semites] taught that the [[soul]] resided in the bodily fat, and among many the eating of [[animal]] fat was [[taboo]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_hunting Head hunting] was a [[method]] of capturing an enemy's [[soul]], as was scalping. In recent times the eyes have been regarded as the [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_Luke#Chapter_11 windows of the soul]. 86:5.12 Those who held the [[doctrine]] of three or four souls believed that the loss of one soul meant discomfort, two illness, [[three]] [[death]]. One soul lived in the [[breath]], one in the head, one in the hair, one in the [[heart]]. The sick were advised to stroll about in the open [[air]] with the [[hope]] of recapturing their strayed souls. The greatest of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man medicine men] were supposed to exchange the sick soul of a diseased person for a new one, the "new [[birth]]." 86:5.13 The [[children]] of [https://hubpages.com/hub/The-early-pharoahs-of-Ancient-Egypt Badanan] [[developed]] a belief in two souls, the [[breath]] and the [[shadow]]. The early [[Nodite]] races regarded man as consisting of two [[persons]], [[soul]] and [[body]]. This [[philosophy]] of [[human]] [[existence]] was later [[reflected]] in the [[Greek]] [[viewpoint]]. The [[Greeks]] themselves believed in three souls; the vegetative resided in the stomach, the animal in the heart, the [[intellectual]] in the head. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimos Eskimos] believe that man has three parts: [[body]], [[soul]], and [[name]]. <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_86 Go to Paper 86]</center> <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center> [[Category:Paper 86 - Early Evolution of Religion]] [[Category: Soul]] [[Category: Poltergeist]] [[Category: Superstition]] [[Category: Evolution]] [[Category: Anthropology/TeaM]]

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