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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame 91:0.1 Prayer, as an agency of religion, evolved from previous nonreligious monologue and [[dia...'
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91:0.1 [[Prayer]], as an [[agency]] of [[religion]], evolved from previous nonreligious monologue and [[dialogue]] [[expressions]]. With the [[attainment]] of [[self-consciousness]] by [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN primitive man] there occurred the [[inevitable]] corollary of [[other]]-[[consciousness]], the [[dual]] [[potential]] of [[social]] [[response]] and [[God]] [[recognition]].

91:0.2 The earliest [[prayer]] forms were not addressed to [[Deity]]. These [[expressions]] were much like what you would say to a [[friend]] as you entered upon some important undertaking, "[[Wish]] me [[luck]]." [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN Primitive man] was [[enslaved]] to [[magic]]; [[luck]], good and bad, entered into all the affairs of life. At first, these luck [[petitions]] were monologues—just a kind of [[thinking]] out loud by the [[magic]] server. Next, these believers in [[luck]] would enlist the support of their [[friends]] and [[families]], and presently some [[form]] of [[ceremony]] would be [[performed]] which included the whole [[clan]] or [[tribe]].

91:0.3 When the [[concepts]] of [[ghosts]] and spirits evolved, these [[petitions]] became [[superhuman]] in address, and with the [[consciousness]] of [[gods]], such [[expressions]] [[attained]] to the levels of genuine [[prayer]]. As an [[illustration]] of this, among certain Australian [[tribes]] primitive religious [[prayers]] antedated their [[belief]] in spirits and [[superhuman]] [[personalities]].

91:0.4 The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_Tribe Toda] [[tribe]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India] now [[observes]] this [[practice]] of praying to no one in particular, just as did the early peoples before the times of religious [[consciousness]]. Only, among the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_Tribe Todas], this [[represents]] a regression of their [[degenerating]] [[religion]] to this [[primitive]] level. The present-day [[rituals]] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_Tribe#Religion dairymen priests] of the Todas do not [[represent]] a [[religious]] [[ceremony]] since these [[impersonal]] [[prayers]] do not contribute anything to the [[conservation]] or enhancement of any [[social]], [[moral]], or [[spiritual]] [[values]].

91:0.5 Prereligious praying was part of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_religion#Tapu_and_mana mana practices] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesia Melanesians], the [[oudah]] [[beliefs]] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_peoples African Pygmies], and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitou manitou] [[superstitions]] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas North American Indians]. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baganda Baganda] [[tribes]] of Africa have only recently emerged from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_religion#Tapu_and_mana mana] level of [[prayer]]. In this early [[evolutionary]] [[confusion]] men pray to gods—local and national—to [[fetishes]], amulets, [[ghosts]], rulers, and to ordinary people.

<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_91 Go to Paper 91]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>

[[Category:Paper 92 - Later Evolution of Religion]]