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87:4 Good and Bad Spirit Ghosts (view source)
Revision as of 21:16, 19 July 2011
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87:4.1 [[Ghost]] [[fear]] was the fountainhead of all world [[religion]]; and for ages many [[tribes]] clung to the old [[belief]] in one class of ghosts. They taught that man had good luck when the ghost was pleased, bad luck when he was angered.
87:4.2 As the [[cult]] of [[ghost]] fear expanded, there came about the [[recognition]] of higher types of spirits, spirits not definitely identifiable with any [[individual]] [[human]]. They were [[graduate]] or [[glorified]] ghosts who had [[progressed]] beyond the domain of ghostland to the higher realms of spiritland.
87:4.3 The notion of two kinds of spirit [[ghosts]] made slow but sure [[progress]] throughout the world. This new [[dual]] spiritism did not have to spread from tribe to [[tribe]]; it sprang up [[independently]] all over the world. In [[influencing]] the expanding [[evolutionary]] [[mind]], the [[power]] of an [[idea]] lies not in its [[reality]] or reasonableness but rather in its vividness and the [[universal]]ity of its ready and simple [[application]].
87:4.4 Still later the [[imagination]] of man envisioned the [[concept]] of both good and bad [[supernatural]] [[agencies]]; some ghosts never evolved to the level of good spirits. The early monospiritism of ghost fear was gradually evolving into a [[dual]] spiritism, a new [[concept]] of the [[invisible]] [[control]] of earthly affairs. At last good luck and bad luck were pictured as having their respective controllers. And of the two classes, the [[group]] that brought bad luck were believed to be the more [[active]] and numerous.
87:4.5 When the [[doctrine]] of good and bad spirits finally matured, it became the most widespread and [[persistent]] of all [[religious]] [[beliefs]]. This [[dualism]] [[represented]] a great religio-[[philosophic]] advance because it enabled man to account for both good luck and bad luck while at the same time believing in [[supermortal]] beings who were to some extent [[consistent]] in their [[behavior]]. The spirits could be counted on to be either good or bad; they were not thought of as being completely [[temperamental]] as the early ghosts of the monospiritism of most [[primitive]] [[religions]] had been conceived to be. Man was at last able to conceive of [[supermortal]] [[forces]] that were [[consistent]] in [[behavior]], and this was one of the most momentous [[discoveries]] of [[truth]] in the entire [[history]] of the [[evolution]] of [[religion]] and in the expansion of [[human]] [[philosophy]].
87:4.6 [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_92#92:3._THE_NATURE_OF_EVOLUTIONARY_RELIGION Evolutionary religion] has, however, paid a terrible price for the [[concept]] of dual spiritism. Man's early [[philosophy]] was able to [[reconcile]] spirit constancy with the [[vicissitudes]] of [[temporal]] fortune only by postulating two kinds of spirits, one good and the other bad. And while this [[belief]] did enable man to reconcile the [[variables]] of [[chance]] with a concept of unchanging [[supermortal]] [[forces]], this [[doctrine]] has ever since made it difficult for religionists to conceive of [[cosmic]] [[unity]]. The gods of evolutionary [[religion]] have generally been opposed by the [[forces]] of [[darkness]].
87:4.7 The [[tragedy]] of all this lies in the [[fact]] that, when these [[ideas]] were taking [[root]] in the [[primitive]] [[mind]] of man, there really were no bad or disharmonious spirits in all the world. Such an unfortunate situation did not develop until after the [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_67#67:1._THE_CALIGASTIA_BETRAYAL Caligastic rebellion] and only [[persisted]] until [[Pentecost]]. The [[concept]] of good and evil as [[cosmic]] co-ordinates is, even in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century], very much alive in [[human]] [[philosophy]]; most of the world's [[religions]] still carry this [[cultural]] birthmark of the long-gone days of the [[emerging]] [[ghost]] [[cults]].
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_87 Go to Paper 87]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 87 - The Ghost Cults]]
87:4.1 [[Ghost]] [[fear]] was the fountainhead of all world [[religion]]; and for ages many [[tribes]] clung to the old [[belief]] in one class of ghosts. They taught that man had good luck when the ghost was pleased, bad luck when he was angered.
87:4.2 As the [[cult]] of [[ghost]] fear expanded, there came about the [[recognition]] of higher types of spirits, spirits not definitely identifiable with any [[individual]] [[human]]. They were [[graduate]] or [[glorified]] ghosts who had [[progressed]] beyond the domain of ghostland to the higher realms of spiritland.
87:4.3 The notion of two kinds of spirit [[ghosts]] made slow but sure [[progress]] throughout the world. This new [[dual]] spiritism did not have to spread from tribe to [[tribe]]; it sprang up [[independently]] all over the world. In [[influencing]] the expanding [[evolutionary]] [[mind]], the [[power]] of an [[idea]] lies not in its [[reality]] or reasonableness but rather in its vividness and the [[universal]]ity of its ready and simple [[application]].
87:4.4 Still later the [[imagination]] of man envisioned the [[concept]] of both good and bad [[supernatural]] [[agencies]]; some ghosts never evolved to the level of good spirits. The early monospiritism of ghost fear was gradually evolving into a [[dual]] spiritism, a new [[concept]] of the [[invisible]] [[control]] of earthly affairs. At last good luck and bad luck were pictured as having their respective controllers. And of the two classes, the [[group]] that brought bad luck were believed to be the more [[active]] and numerous.
87:4.5 When the [[doctrine]] of good and bad spirits finally matured, it became the most widespread and [[persistent]] of all [[religious]] [[beliefs]]. This [[dualism]] [[represented]] a great religio-[[philosophic]] advance because it enabled man to account for both good luck and bad luck while at the same time believing in [[supermortal]] beings who were to some extent [[consistent]] in their [[behavior]]. The spirits could be counted on to be either good or bad; they were not thought of as being completely [[temperamental]] as the early ghosts of the monospiritism of most [[primitive]] [[religions]] had been conceived to be. Man was at last able to conceive of [[supermortal]] [[forces]] that were [[consistent]] in [[behavior]], and this was one of the most momentous [[discoveries]] of [[truth]] in the entire [[history]] of the [[evolution]] of [[religion]] and in the expansion of [[human]] [[philosophy]].
87:4.6 [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_92#92:3._THE_NATURE_OF_EVOLUTIONARY_RELIGION Evolutionary religion] has, however, paid a terrible price for the [[concept]] of dual spiritism. Man's early [[philosophy]] was able to [[reconcile]] spirit constancy with the [[vicissitudes]] of [[temporal]] fortune only by postulating two kinds of spirits, one good and the other bad. And while this [[belief]] did enable man to reconcile the [[variables]] of [[chance]] with a concept of unchanging [[supermortal]] [[forces]], this [[doctrine]] has ever since made it difficult for religionists to conceive of [[cosmic]] [[unity]]. The gods of evolutionary [[religion]] have generally been opposed by the [[forces]] of [[darkness]].
87:4.7 The [[tragedy]] of all this lies in the [[fact]] that, when these [[ideas]] were taking [[root]] in the [[primitive]] [[mind]] of man, there really were no bad or disharmonious spirits in all the world. Such an unfortunate situation did not develop until after the [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_67#67:1._THE_CALIGASTIA_BETRAYAL Caligastic rebellion] and only [[persisted]] until [[Pentecost]]. The [[concept]] of good and evil as [[cosmic]] co-ordinates is, even in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century], very much alive in [[human]] [[philosophy]]; most of the world's [[religions]] still carry this [[cultural]] birthmark of the long-gone days of the [[emerging]] [[ghost]] [[cults]].
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_87 Go to Paper 87]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 87 - The Ghost Cults]]