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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame 86:4.1 The concept of a supermaterial phase of mortal personality was born of the [[unconscious...'
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86:4.1 The [[concept]] of a supermaterial [[phase]] of mortal [[personality]] was born of the [[unconscious]] and purely [[accidental]] [[association]] of the occurrences of everyday life plus the [[ghost]] [[dream]]. The [[simultaneous]] dreaming about a departed chief by several members of his [[tribe]] seemed to constitute convincing [[evidence]] that the old chief had really returned in some form. It was all very real to the savage who would [[awaken]] from such [[dreams]] reeking with sweat, trembling, and screaming.

86:4.2 The [[dream]] [[origin]] of the [[belief]] in a [[future]] [[existence]] [[explains]] the [[tendency]] always to [[imagine]] [[unseen]] things in the terms of [[things]] seen. And presently this new [[dream]]-[[ghost]]-[[Afterlife|future-life]] [[concept]] began effectively to antidote the [[death]] [[fear]] associated with the [[biologic]] [[instinct]] of self-preservation.

86:4.3 Early man was also much concerned about his [[breath]], especially in cold climates, where it appeared as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud cloud] when exhaled. The breath of life was regarded as the one [[phenomenon]] which differentiated the living and the [[dead]]. He knew the breath could leave the [[body]], and his [[dreams]] of doing all sorts of [[queer]] [[things]] while asleep convinced him that there was something immaterial about a [[human being]]. The most [[primitive]] [[idea]] of the human [[soul]], the [[ghost]], was derived from the [[breath]]-[[dream]] [[idea]]-[[system]].

86:4.4 [[Eventually]] the savage conceived of himself as a double—[[body]] and [[breath]]. The breath minus the body equaled a [[spirit]], a [[ghost]]. While having a very definite [[human]] [[origin]], [[ghosts]], or spirits, were regarded as [[superhuman]]. And this [[belief]] in the [[existence]] of disembodied spirits seemed to explain the occurrence of the unusual, the extraordinary, the infrequent, and the inexplicable.

86:4.5 The [[primitive]] [[doctrine]] of [[survival]] after [[death]] was not necessarily a [[belief]] in [[immortality]]. Beings who could not count over twenty could hardly conceive of [[infinity]] and [[eternity]]; they rather thought of recurring [[incarnations]].

86:4.6 The [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_64#64:6._THE_SIX_SANGIK_RACES_OF_URANTIA orange race] was especially given to [[belief]] in transmigration and [[reincarnation]]. This [[idea]] of [[reincarnation]] originated in the [[observance]] of [[hereditary]] and trait resemblance of [[offspring]] to [[ancestors]]. The [[custom]] of naming children after grandparents and other [[ancestors]] was due to [[belief]] in [[reincarnation]]. Some later-day [[races]] believed that man died from three to [[seven]] times. This [[belief]] (residual from the teachings of [[Adam]] about the [[mansion worlds]]), and many other remnants of [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_92#92:4._THE_GIFT_OF_REVELATION revealed religion], can be found among the otherwise absurd [[doctrines]] of twentieth-century [[barbarians]].

86:4.7 [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN Early man] entertained no [[ideas]] of hell or [[future]] [[punishment]]. The [[savage]] looked upon the [[future]] life as just like this one, minus all ill [[luck]]. Later on, a separate [[destiny]] for [[good]] [[ghosts]] and bad ghosts—heaven and hell—was conceived. But since many [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_52#52:1._PRIMITIVE_MAN primitive races] believed that man entered the next life just as he left this one, they did not relish the [[idea]] of becoming old and decrepit. The aged much preferred to be killed before becoming too infirm.

86:4.8 Almost every [[group]] had a [[different]] [[idea]] regarding the [[destiny]] of the [[ghost]] [[soul]]. The [[Greeks]] believed that weak men must have weak [[souls]]; so they invented [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades Hades] as a fit place for the [[reception]] of such anemic souls; these unrobust specimens were also supposed to have shorter [[shadows]]. The early [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_78#78:4._THE_ANDITES Andites] [[thought]] their [[ghosts]] returned to the [[ancestral]] homelands. The [[Chinese]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt Egyptians] once believed that [[soul]] and [[body]] remained together. Among the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt Egyptians] this led to careful tomb construction and efforts at [[body]] [[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embalming preservation]. Even [[modern]] peoples seek to arrest the decay of the [[dead]]. The [[Hebrews]] conceived that a [[phantom]] replica of the [[individual]] went down to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol Sheol]; it could not return to the land of the living. They did make that important advance in the [[doctrine]] of the [[evolution]] of the [[soul]].

<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_86 Go to Paper 86]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>

[[Category:Paper 86 - Early Evolution of Religion]]

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