8. Evolution

   
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8. EVOLUTION

  1. Introduction
  2. Material Mind Systems
  3. Universe Mechanisms
  4. Pattern and Form—Mind Systems
  5. Evolution of Human Mind
  6. Life Carrier Functions
  7. Fostering Evolution
  8. The Urantia Adventure
  9. Evolutionary Vicissitudes
  10. Evolution in Time and Space
  11. Factors in Social Progress
  12. Land Techniques
  13. Cultural Evolution
  14. Dawn of Industry
  15. Fire and Animals
  16. Maintenance of Civilization
  17. Control and Overcontrol
  18. Evolution the Universal Rule

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Proposition. While reason demands monotheistic unity, experience requires diversity of absolutes—even differentials, variables, modifiers, and qualifiers.

“While reason demands a monotheistic unity of cosmic reality, finite experience requires the postulate of plural Absolutes and of their co-ordination in cosmic relationships. Without co-ordinate existences there is no possibility for the appearance of diversity of absolute relationships, no chance for the operation of differentials, variables, modifiers, attenuators, qualifiers, or diminishers.” (1146.6) 104:3.4

2. Proposition. Transcendentals are subinfinite and subabsolute, but superfinite. They are an integrating level for correlating the supervalues of the absonite with the maximum values of the finite.

“Transcendentals are subinfinite and subabsolute but superfinite and supercreatural. Transcendentals eventuate as an integrating level correlating the supervalues of absolutes with the maximum values of finites. From the creature standpoint, that which is transcendental would appear to have eventuated as a consequence of the finite; from the eternity viewpoint, in anticipation of the finite; and there are those who have considered it as a ‘pre-echo’ of the finite.” (1159.6) 105:7.1

3. Proposition. Man will never find the secrets of life. The analysis of dead protoplasm does not disclose the true nature of living protoplasm.

“It is impossible accurately to determine, simultaneously, the exact location and the velocity of a moving object; any attempt at measurement of either inevitably involves change in the other. The same sort of a paradox confronts mortal man when he undertakes the chemical analysis of protoplasm. The chemist can elucidate the chemistry of dead protoplasm, but he cannot discern either the physical organization or the dynamic performance of living protoplasm. Ever will the scientist come nearer and nearer the secrets of life, but never will he find them and for no other reason than that he must kill protoplasm in order to analyze it. Dead protoplasm weighs the same as living protoplasm, but it is not the same.”(737.1) 65:6.1

II. MATERIAL MIND SYSTEMS

1. Proposition. The ability to learn from experience marks the beginning function of the adjutant mind spirits.

“The acquisition of the potential of the ability to learn from experience marks the beginning of the functioning of the adjutant spirits, and they function from the lowliest minds of primitive and invisible existences up to the highest types in the evolutionary scale of human beings.” (739.2) 65:7.6

2. Proposition. Cosmological levels of thought include:

A. Curiosity.

B. Aesthetic appreciation.

C. Ethic sensitivity.

“The attainment of cosmologic levels of thought includes:

“1. Curiosity. Hunger for harmony and thirst for beauty. Persistent attempts to discover new levels of harmonious cosmic relationships.

“2. Aesthetic appreciation. Love of the beautiful and over-advancing appreciation of the artistic touch of all creative manifestations on all levels of reality.

“3. Ethic sensitivity. Through the realization of truth the appreciation of beauty leads to the sense of the eternal fitness of those things which impinge upon the recognition of divine goodness in Deity relations with all beings; and thus even cosmology leads to the pursuit of divine reality values—to God-consciousness.” (646.6) 56:10.5

III. UNIVERSE MECHANISMS

1. Proposition. Mechanisms do not dominate the total creation; the universes are mind planned and administered. Mechanism dominance by the infinite mind is too perfect for detection by the finite mind.

“Mechanisms do not absolutely dominate the total creation; the universe of universes of universes in toto is mind planned, mind made, and mind administered. But the divine mechanism of the universe of universes is altogether too perfect for the scientific methods of the finite mind of man to discern even a trace of the dominance of the infinite mind. For this creating, controlling, and upholding mind is neither material mind nor creature mind; it is spirit-mind functioning on and from creator levels of divine reality.” (481.6) 42:11.2

2. Proposition. Higher universe mechanisms must appear to be mindless to the lower creatures. But philosophy would imply mindedness in the apparently self-maintaining universe.

“Extremely complex and highly automatic-appearing cosmic mechanisms always tend to conceal the presence of the originative or creative indwelling mind from any and all intelligences very far below the universe levels of the nature and capacity of the mechanism itself. Therefore is it inevitable that the higher universe mechanisms most appear to be mindless to the lower orders of creatures. The only possible exception to such a conclusion would be the implication of mindedness in the amazing phenomenon of an apparently self-maintaining universe—but that is a matter of philosophy rather than one of actual experience.” (482.4) 42:11.6

3. Proposition. Ability to discover mindedness in universe mechanisms depends on the ability and capacity of the investigating mind.

“The ability to discern and discover mind in universe mechanisms depends entirely on the ability, scope, and capacity of the investigating mind engaged in such a task of observation. Time-space minds, organized out of the energies of time and space, are subject to the mechanisms of time and space.” (482.1) 42:11.3

4. Proposition. The controlling mind of universe mechanisms is infinite and therefore beyond the full discernment of the finite mind.

“The higher the universe mind associated with any universe phenomenon, the more difficult it is for the lower types of mind to discover it. And since the mind of the universe mechanism is creative spirit-mind (even the mindedness of the Infinite), it can never be discovered or discerned by the lower-level minds of the universe, much less by the lowest mind of all, the human. The evolving animal mind, while naturally God-seeking, is not alone and of itself inherently Godknowing.” (482.6) 42:11.8

5. Proposition. Mind is concealed in the evolution of cosmic mechanisms. Mind always reaches out towards definite activities.

“The evolution of mechanisms implies and indicates the concealed presence and dominance of creative mind. The ability of the mortal intellect to conceive, design, and create automatic mechanisms demonstrates the superior, creative, and purposive qualities of man’s mind as the dominant influence on the planet. Mind always reaches out towards:

  1. Creation of material mechanisms.
  2. Discovery of hidden mysteries.
  3. Exploration of remote situations.
  4. Formulation of mental systems.
  5. Attainment of wisdom goals.
  6. Achievement of spirit levels.
  7. The accomplisment of divine destinies—supreme, ultimate, and absolute.” (483.1) 42:12.1

IV. PATTERN AND FORM—MIND SYSTEMS

1. Proposition. Universe energies are associated on four levels of mind activity.

“The universal nonspiritual energies are reassociated in the living systems of non-Creator minds on various levels, certain of which may be depicted as follows:

“1. Preadjutant-spirit minds. This level of mind is nonexperiencing and on the inhabited worlds is ministered by the Master Physical Controllers. This is mechanical mind, the nonteachable intellect of the most primitive forms of material life, but the nonteachable mind functions on many levels beside that of primitive planetary life.

“2. Adjutant-spirt minds. This is the ministry of a local universe Mother Spirit functioning through her seven adjutant mind-spirits on the teachable (nonmechanical) level of material mind. On this level material mind is experiencing: as subhuman (animal) intellect in the first five adjutant: as human (moral) intellect in the seven adjutants; as superhuman (midwayer) intellect in the last two adjutants.“

“3. Evolving morontia minds—the expanding consciousness of evolving personalities in the local universe ascending careers. This is the bestowal of the local universe Mother Spirit in liaison with the Creator Son. This mind level connotes the organization of the morontia type of life vehicle, a synthesis of the material and the spiritual which is effected by the Morontia Power Supervisors of a local universe. Morontia mind functions differentially in response to the 570 levels of morontia life, disclosing increasing associative capacity with the cosmic mind on the higher levels of attainment. This is the evolutionary course of mortal creatures, but mind of a nonmorontia order is also bestowed by a Universe Son and a Universe Spirit upon the nonmorontia children of the local creations.

The cosmic mind. This is the sevenfold diversified mind of time and space, one phase of which is ministered by each of the Seven Master Spirits to one of the seven superuniverses. The cosmic mind encompasses all Unite-mind levels and co-ordinates experientially with the evolutionary-deity levels of the Supreme Mind and transcendentally with the existential levels of absolute mind—the direct circuits of the Conjoint Actor.”(480.5) 42:10.2

2. Proposition. Physics and chemistry alone cannot explain human evolution. Mind only can explain the results of education and training.

“Physics and chemistry alone cannot explain how a human being evolved out of the primeval protoplasm of the early seas. The ability to learn, memory and differential response to environment, is the endowment of mind. The laws of physics are not responsive to training; they are immutable and unchanging. The reactions of chemistry are not modified by education; they are uniform and dependable.” (738.1) 65:6.8

3. Proposition. The seven adjutant mind-spirits are bestowed from universe headquarters and are independent of the Life Carriers.

“The seven adjutant mind-spirits are the versatile mind ministers to the lower intelligent existences of a local universe. This order of mind is ministered from the local universe headquarters or from some world connected therewith, but there is influential direction of lower-mind function from the system capitals.

“On an evolutionary world much, very much, depends on the work of these seven adjutants. But they are mind ministers; they are not concerned in physical evolution, the domain of the Life Carriers.”(738.4) 65:7.1

V. EVOLUTION OF HUMAN MIND

1. Proposition. The great universe adventure is man’s transit of mortal mind from mechanical statics to spiritual dynamics—by constancy of decisions—”not my will but yours”.

“An automatic universe reaction is stable and, in some form continuing in the cosmos. A personality who knows God and desires to do his will, who has spirit insight, is divinely stable and eternally existent. Man’s great universe adventure consists in the transit of his mortal mind from the stability of mechanical statics to the divinity of spiritual dynamics, and he achieves this transformation by the force and constancy of his own personality decisions, in each of life’s situations declaring, ‘It is my will that your will be done.’” (1303.1) 118:8.11

2. Proposition. The ghost dream was a potent factor in the evolution of society—it drove men together

“Probably the greatest single factor in the evolution of human society was the ghost dream. Although most dreams greatly perturbed the primitive mind, the ghost dream actually terriorized early men, driving these superstitious dreamers into each other’s arms in willing and earnest association for mutual protection against the vague and unseen imaginary dangers of the spirit world. The ghost dream was one of the earliest appearing differences between the animal and human types of mind. Animals do not visualize survival after death.” (766.3) 68:3.2

3. Proposition. The appearance of intelligent evolutionary beings is the signal for the assignment of a Planetary Prince.

“The signal for a System Sovereign to act in the matter of assigning a ruler to a given planet is the reception of a request from the Life Carriers for the dispatch of an administrative head to function on this planet whereon they have established life and developed intelligent evolutionary beings. All planets which are inhabited by evolutionary mortal creatures have assigned to them a planetary ruler of this order of sonship.” (572.2) 50:0.2

VI. LIFE CARRIER FUNCTIONS

1. Proposition. Life Carriers function on three levels.

“Life Carriers are able to function and do function on the following three levels:

  1. The physical level of electrochemistry.
  2. The usual mid-phase of quasi-morontial existence.
  3. The advanced semispiritual level.” (730.9) 65:1.2

2. Proposition. When Life Carriers are ready for life implantation, they are prepared by an archangel commission of transmutation.

“When the Life Carriers make ready to engage in life implantation, and after they have selected the sites for such an under taking, they summon the archangel commission of Life Carrier transmutation. This group consists of ten orders of diverse personalities, including the physical controllers and their associates, and is presided over by the chief of archangels, who acts in this capacity by the mandate of Gabriel and with the permission of the Ancients of Days. When these beings are properly encircuited, they can effect such modifications in the Life Carriers as will enable them immediately to function on the physical levels of electrochemistry.” (731.1) 65:1.6

3. Proposition. Life Carriers are the instigators of the energy circuits of living matter, which differs in each local universe.

“The biologic unit of material life is the protoplasmic cell, the communal association of chemical, electrical, and other basic energies. The chemical formulas differ in each system, and the technique of living cell reproduction is slightly different in each local universe, but the Life Carriers are always the living catalyzers who initiate the primordial reactions of material life; they are the instigators of the energy circuits of living matter.”(560.1) 49:1.2

4. Proposition. When Life Carriers choose to remain on a planet after the human type has evolved, they must submit to transformation to their semi-spiritual phase.

“After organic evolution has run a certain course and free will of the human type has appeared in the highest evolving organisms, the Life Carriers must either leave the planet or take renunciation vows; that is, they must pledge themselves to refrain from all attempts further to influence the course of organic evolution. And when such vows are voluntarily taken by those Life Carriers who choose to remain on the planet as future advisers to those who shall be intrusted with the fostering of the newly evolved will creatures, there is summoned a commission of twelve, presided over by the chief of the Evening Stars, acting by authority of the System Sovereign and with permission of Gabriel; and forthwith these Life Carriers are transmuted to the third phase of personality existence—the semispiritual level of being. And I have functioned on Urantia in this third phase of existence since the times of Aridon and Fonta.” (731.3) 65:1.8

5. Proposition. Life Carriers may utilize fortuitous circumstances to favor life evolution—but not arbitrary intervention.

“Life Carriers may employ every possible natural resource and may utilize any and all fortuitous circumstances which will enhance the developmental progress of the life experiment, but we are not permitted mechanically to intervene in, or arbitrarily to manipulate the conduct and course of, either plant or animal evolution.” (733.8) 65:3.2

6. Proposition. We do not fully understand the mystery of life. We know life flows from the Father through the Son, by the co-operation of the Master Spirits, Ancients of Days, and the Universe Mother Spirits.

“There are some things connected with the elaboration of life on the evolutionary planets which are not altogether clear to us. We fully comprehend the physical organization of the electrochemical formulas of the Life Carriers, but we do not wholly understand the nature and source of the life-activation spark. We know that life flows from the Father through the Son and by the Spirit. It is more than possible that the Master Spirits are the sevenfold channel of the river of life which is poured out upon all creation. But we do not comprehend the technique whereby the supervising Master Spirit participates in the initial episode of life bestowal on a new planet. The Ancients of Days, we are confident, also have some part in this inauguration of life on a new world, but we are wholly ignorant of the nature thereof. We do know that the Universe Mother Spirit actually vitalizes the lifeless patterns and imparts to such activated plasm the prerogatives of organismal reproduction.” (404.5) 36:6.7

7. Proposition. There exists in human, blood the possibility of upward of fifteen million chemical reactions.

“But many seemingly mysterious adjustments of living organisms are purely chemical, wholly physical. At any moment of time, in the blood stream of any human being there exists the possibility of upward of 15,000,000 chemical reactions between the hormone output of a dozen ductless glands.” (737.6) 65:6.6

VII. FOSTERING EVOLUTION

1. Proposition. Outside of Havona, perfection is a progressive attainment— and almost infinite variety characterizes these plans of advancement.

“Except in the central universe, perfection is a progressive attainment. In the central creation we have a pattern of perfection, but all other realms must attain that perfection by the methods established for the advancement of those particular worlds or universes. And an almost infinite variety characterizes the plans of the Creator Sons for organizing, evolving, disciplining, and settling their respective local universes.” (360.5) 32:3.3

2. Proposition. Evolution is not an accident. Over fifty thousand facts of physics and chemistry prove an intelligent purpose in evolution.

“And yet some of the less imaginative of your mortal mechanists insist on viewing material creation and human evolution as an accident. The Urantia midwayers have assembled over fifty thousand facts of physics and chemistry which they deem to be incompatible with the laws of accidental chance, and which they contend unmistakably demonstrate the presence of intelligent purpose in the material creation.” (665.6) 58:2.3

3. Proposition. More than a hundred thousand facts prove the presence of mind in the planning of the cosmos.

“And all of this takes no account of their catalogue of more than one hundred thousand findings outside the domain of physics and chemistry which they maintain prove the presence of mind in the planning, creation, and maintenance of the material cosmos.” (665.6) 58:2.3

4. Proposition. Evolution can be delayed —but it cannot be stopped. Even the little the human race got from Adam greatly advanced civilization.

“REGARDLESS of the ups and downs of the miscarriage of the plans for world betterment projected in the missions of Caligastia and Adam, the basic organic evolution of the human species continued to carry the races forward in the scale of human progress and racial development. Evolution can be delayed but it cannot be stopped.

“The influence of the violet race, though in numbers smaller than had been planned, produced an advance in civilization which, since the days of Adam, has far exceeded the progress of mankind throughout, its entire previous existence of almost a million years.”  (900.1) 81:0.1

VIII. THE URANTIA ADVENTURE

1. Proposition. Many bacteria and fungi represent retrograde movement in evolution and this explains their disease-causing proclivities.

“The bacteria, simple vegetable organisms of a very primitive nature, are very little changed from the early dawn of life; they even exhibit a degree of retrogression in their parasitic behavior. Many of the fungi also represent a retrograde movement in evolution, being plants which have lost their chlorophyll-making ability and have become more or less parasitic. The majority of disease—causing bacteria and their auxiliary virus bodies really belong to this group of renegade parasitic fungi. During the intervening ages all of the vast kingdom of plant life has evolved from ancestors from which the bacteria have also descended.” (732.1) 65:2.3

2. Proposition. On Urantia it was the frog that led to the final culmination of man himself.

“The stage was thus set for the appearance of the first backboned animals, the fishes. From this fish family there sprang two unique modifications, the frog and the salamander. And it was the frog which began that series of progressive differentiations in animal life that finally culminated in man himself.” (732.4) 65:2.6

3. Proposition. The frog is the only early ancestor of man now living on the face of the earth.

“The frog is one of the earliest of surviving human-race ancestors, but it also failed to progress, persisting today much as in those remote times. The frog is the only species ancestor of the early dawn races now living on the face of the earth. The human race has no surviving ancestry between the frog and the Eskimo.” (732.5) 65:2.7

4. Proposition. The mammalian species sprang suddenly from a reptilian dinosaur.

“It was from an agile little reptilian dinosaur of carnivorous habits but having a comparatively large brain that the placental mammals suddenlysprang. These mammals developed rapidly and in many different ways, not only giving rise to the common modern varieties but also evolving into marine types, such as whales and seals, and into air navigators like the bat family.”(733.2) 65:2.12

5. Proposition. Urantia was a life-experiment world—the sixtieth attempt in Satania. Twenty-eight modifications were successful.

“Do not overlook the fact that Urantia was assigned to us as a life experiment world. On this planet we made our sixtieth attempt to modify and, if possible, improve the Satania adaptation of the Nebadon life designs, and it is of record that we achieved numerous beneficial modifications of the standard life patterns. To be specific, on Urantia we worked out and have satisfactorily demonstrated not less than twenty-eight features of life modification which will be of service to all Nebadon throughout all future time.” (734.5) 65:4.1

6. Proposition. But life is never experimental in the uncontrolled or accidental sense.

“But the establishment of life on no world is ever experimental in the sense that something untried and unknown is attempted. The evolution of life is a technique ever progressive, differential, and variable, but never haphazard, uncontrolled, nor wholly experimental, in the accidental sense.”(735.1) 65:4.2

7. Proposition. One of the new features of life on Urantia had to do with wound healing. Half a million experiments preceded this attempt.

“This chemical action and reaction concerned in wound healing and cell reproduction represents the choice of the life Carriers of a formula embracing over one hundred thousand phases and features of possible chemical reactions and biologic repercussions. More than half a million specific experiments were made by the Life Carriers in their laboratories before they finally settled upon this formula for the Urantia life experiment.” (735.3) 65:4.4

8. Proposition. More knowledge of this healing process will assist in treating certain diseases.

“When Urantia scientists know more of these healing chemicals, they will become more efficient in the treatment of injuries, and indirectly they will know more about controlling certain serious diseases.

“Since life was established on Urantia, the Life Carriers have improved this healing technique as it has been introduced on another Satania world, in that it affords more pain relief and exercises better control over the proliferation capacity of the associated normal cells.” (735.4) 65:4.5

9. Proposition. The two unique features of the Urantia life experiment were:

A. The Andonic race appearing before the colored races.

B. The simultaneous appearance of the six Sangik colored races.

“There were many unique features of the Urantia life experiment, but the two outstanding episodes were the appearance of the Andonic race prior to the evolution of the six colored peoples and the later simultaneous appearance of the Sangik mutants in a single family. Urantia is the first world in Satania where the six colored races sprang from the same human family. They ordinarily arise in diversified strains from independent mutations within the prehuman animal stock and usually appear on earth one at a time and successively over long periods of time, beginning with the red man and passing on down through the colors to indigo.” (735.6) 65:4.7

10. Proposition. Evolution of life on Urantia was handicapped by the Caligastia betrayal and the Adamic default.

“It was a source of regret to the Life Carriers that our special efforts to modify intelligent life on Urantia should have been so handicapped by tragic perversions beyond our control: the Caligastia betrayal and the Adamic default.” (736.4) 65:5.1

11. Proposition. Failure to obtain more of the Adamic life plasm predisposed the human race to many diseases.

“But throughout all of this biologic adventure our greatest disappointment grew out of the reversion of certain primitive plant life to the prechlorophyll levels of parasitic bacteria on such an extensive and unexpected scale. This eventuality in plant-life evolution caused many distressful diseases in the higher mammals, particularly in the more vulnerable human species. “When we were confronted with this perplexing situation, we somewhat discounted the difficulties involved because we knew that the subsequent admixture of the Adamic life plasm would so reinforce the resisting powers of the resulting blended race as to make it practically immune to all diseases produced by the vegetable type of organism. But our hopes were doomed to disappointment owing to the misfortune of the Adandc default.” (736.5) 65:5.2

12. Proposition. Two important advances in plant evolution were the appearance of the seed and chlorophyll.

“The most important step in plant evolution was the development of chlorophyll-making ability, and the second greatest advance was the evolution of the spore into the complex seed. The spore is most efficient as a reproductive agent, but it lacks the potentials of variety and versatility inherent in the seed.” (737.3) 65:6.3

13. Proposition. In animal evolution, the double role of iron in the blood was an important advance.

“One of the most serviceable and complex episodes in the evolution of the higher types of animals consisted in the development of the ability of the iron in the circulating blood cells to perform in the double role of oxygen carrier and carbon dioxide remover. And this performance of the red blood cells illustrates how evolving organisms are able to adapt their functions to varying or changing environment. The higher animals, including man, oxygenate their tissues by the action of the iron of the red blood cells, which carries oxygen to the living cells and just as efficiently removes the carbon dioxide. But other metals can be made to serve the same purpose. The cuttlefish employs copper for this function, and the sea squirt utilizes vanadium.” (737.4) 65:6.4

14. Proposition. The adjutant mind spirits are more circuitlike than entitylike. They are somewhat handicapped on all life-experiment planets.

“The seven adjutant spirits are more circuitlike than entitylike, and on ordinary worlds they are encircuited with other adjutant functionings throughout the local universe. On life-experiment planets, however, they are relatively isolated. And on Urantia, owing to the unique nature of the life patterns,the lower adjutants experienced far more difficulty in contacting with the evolutionary organisms than would have been the case in a more standardized type of life endowment.” (738.6) 65:7.3

15. Proposition. From A. D. 1934, the birth of the first two human beings occurred 993,419 years ago. They were physically perfect human beings and had a potential life span of seventy-five years.

“From the year A. D. 1934 back to the birth of the first two human beings is just 993,419 years.

“These two remarkable creatures were true human beings. They possessed perfect human thumbs, as had many of their ancestors, while they had just as perfect feet as the present-day human races. They were walkers and runners, not climbers; the grasping function of the big toe was absent, completely absent. When danger drove them to the treetops, they climbed just like the humans of today would. They would climb up the trunk of a tree like a bear and not as would a chimpanzee or a gorilla, swinging up by the branches.

“These first human beings (and their descendants) reached full maturity at twelve years of age and possessed a potential life span of about seventy-five years.” (707.7) 62:5.1

16. Proposition. Narration of the early life of the primitive twins who were the immediate ancestors of the human family.

“Going back to the birth of the superior twins, one male and one female, to the two leading members of the mid—mannal tribe: These animal babies were of an unusual order; they had still less hair on their bodies than their parents and, when very young, insisted on walking upright. Their ancestors had always learned to walk on their hind legs, but these Primates twins stood erect from the beginning. They attained a height of over five feet, and their heads grew larger in comparison with others among the tribe. While early learning to communicate with each other by means of signs and sounds, they were never able to make their people understand these new symbols.

“When about fourteen years of age, they fled from the tribe, going west to raise their family and establish the new species of Primates. And these new creatures are very properly denominated Primates since they were the direct and immediate animal ancestors of the human family itself.

“Thus it was that the Primates came to occupy a region on the west coast of the Mesopotamian peninsula as it then projected into the southern sea, while the less intelligent and closely related tribes lived around the peninsula point and up the eastern shore line.” (706.5) 62:4.1

17. Proposition. The spirit of worship contacted the mind of the female twin at ten years of age. One year later, the spirit of wisdom directed their flight from home.

“Imagine our joy one day—the twins were about ten years old—when the spirit of worship made its first contact with the mind of the female twin and shortly the reafter with the male. We knew that something closely akin to human mind was approaching culmination; and when, about a year later, they finally resolved, as a result of meditative thought and purposeful decision, to flee from home and journey north, then did the spirit of wisdom begin to function on Urantia and in these two now recognized human minds.” (709.6) 62:6.5

18. Proposition. The disconsolation and tragic end of the father of the ancestral twins.

“Soon after this young couple forsook their associates to found the human race, their Primates father became disconsolate—he was heartbroken. He refused to eat, even when food was brought to him by his other children. His brilliant offspring having been lost, life did not seem worth living among his ordinary fellows; so he wandered off into the forest, was set upon by hostile gibbons and beaten to death.” (709.1) 62:5.11

19. Proposition. From A. D. 1934, it is 993,408 years since Urantia was recognized as a planet of human habitation.

“It is just 993,408 years ago (from the year A. D. 1934) that Urantia was formally recognized as a planet of human habitation in the universe of Nebadon. Biologic evolution had once again achieved the human levels of will dignity; man had arrived on planet 606 of Satania.” (710.6) 62:7.7

20. Proposition. Among colored races, the first three are usually superior to the later races. It is unfortunate that we so largely lost the blue man.

“The earlier races are somewhat superior to the later; the red man stands far above the indigo—black—race. The life Carriers impart the full bestowal of the living energies to the initial or red race, and each succeeding evolutionary manifestation of a distinct group of mortals represents variation at the expense of the original endowment. Even mortal stature tends to decrease from the red man down to the indigo race, although on Urantia unexpected strains of giantism appeared among the green and orange peoples.

“On those worlds having all six evolutionary races the superior peoples are the first, third, and fifth races—the red, the yellow, and the blue. The evolutionary races thus alternate in capacity for intellectual growth and spiritual development, the second, fourth, and sixth being somewhat less endowed. These secondary races are the peoples that are missing on certain worlds; they are the ones that have been exterminated on many others. It is a misfortune on Urantia that you so largely lost your superior blue men, except as they persist in your amalgamated ‘white race. ‘The loss of your orange and green stocks is not of such serious concern.” (584.4) 51:4.2

21. Proposition. Upon the exhaustion of the biologic potentials of human evolution, the Material Son and Daughter arrive on a planet.

“Long before the Material Son and Daughter, the biologic uplifters, arrive on a planet, the human potentials of the evolving animal species have been exhausted. This biologic status of animal life is disclosed to the Life Carriers by the phenomenon of the third phase of adjutant spirit mobilization, which automatically occurs concomitantly with the exhaustion of the capacity of all animal life to give origin to the mutant potentials of prehuman individuals.” (734.2) 65:3.5

22. Proposition. It is the mission of the Adamic regime to evolve man from a hunter to a herder, and on to agriculture and urban civilization.

“It is the prime purpose of the Adamic regime to influence evolving man to complete the transit from the hunter and herder stage of civilization to that of the agriculturist and horticulturist, to be later supplemented by the appearance of the urban and industrial adjuncts to civilization. Ten thousand years of this dispensation of the biologic uplifters is sufficient to effect a marvelous transformation. Twenty-five thousand years of such an administration of the conjoint wisdom of the Planetary Prince and the Material Sons usually ripens the sphere for the advent of a Magisterial Son.” (593.2) 52:3.3

23. Proposition. The color of the amalgamated human race is an olive shade of the violet hue—the racial “white” of the spheres.

“By the end of the Adamic dispensation on a normal planet the races are practically blended, so that it can be truly proclaimed that ‘God has made of one blood all the nations,’ and that his Son ‘has made of one color all peoples.’ The color of such an amalgamated race is somewhat of an olive shade of the violet hue, the racial ‘white’ of the spheres.” 
(593.6) 52:3.7

24. Proposition. Skull measurements are most reliable in detecting racial origins.

“Although these skull dimensions are serviceable in deciphering racial origins, the skeleton as a whole is far more dependable. In the early development of the Urantia races there were originally five distinct types of skeletal structure:

  1. Andonic, Urantia aborigines.
  2. Primary Sangik, red, yellow, and blue.
  3. Secondary Sangik, orange, green and indigo.
  4. Nodites, descendants of the Dalamatians.
  5. Adamites, the violet race.” (904.7) 81:4.3

25. Proposition. Early evolutionary man had little self-restraint—hence the value of hunger and fear. Later on, wisdom functions as an aid to adjustment.

“The whole principle of biologic evolution makes it impossible for primitive man to appear on the inhabited worlds with any large endowment of self-restraint. Therefore does the same creative design which purposed evolution likewise provide those external restraints of time and space, hunger and fear, which effectively circumscribe the subspiritual choice range of such uncultured creatures. As man’s mind successfully overstrides increasingly difficult barriers, this same creative design has also provided for the slow accumulation of the racial heritage of painfully garnered experiential wisdom—in other words, for the maintenance of a balance between the diminishing external restraints and the augmenting internal restraints.” (1302.2) 118:8.5

26. Proposition. Understanding a man’s motivation makes a great difference. If you really know men you will eventually fall in love with them.

“In the mind’s eye conjure up a picture of one of your primitive ancestors, of. cave-dwelling timea—a short, misshapen, filthy, snarling hulk of a man standing, legs spread, club upraised, breathing hate and animosity as he looks fiercely just ahead. Such a picture hardly depicts the divine dignity of man. But allow us to enlarge the picture. In front of this animated human crouches a saber-toothed tiger. Behind him, a woman and two children. Immediately you recognize that such a picture stands for the beginnings of much that is fine and noble in the human race, but the man is the same in both pictures. Only in the second sketch you are favored with a widened horizon. You therein discern the motivation of this evolving mortal. His attitude becomes praiseworthy because you understand him. If you could only fathom the motives of your associates, how much better you would understand them. If you could only know your fellows, you would eventually fall in love with them.” (1098.2) 100:4.5

27. Proposition. Man’s primordial ancestors were the slime of the ocean bed. His ascent from seaweed to lordship of the earth is a romance of biologic struggle and survival.

“The story of man’s ascent from seaweed to the lordship of earthly creation is indeed a romance of biologic struggle and mind survival. Man’s primordial ancestors were literally the slime and ooze of the ocean bed in the sluggish and warm-water bays and lagoons of the vast shore lines of the ancient inland seas, those very waters in which the Life Carriers established the three independent life implantations on Urantia.” (731.5) 65:2.1

28. Proposition. The Satania local system has 619 inhabited worlds—Urantia is 606.

“Satania itself is an unfinished system containing only 619 inhabited worlds. Such planets are numbered serially in accordance with their registration as inhabited worlds, as worlds inhabited by will creatures. Thus was Urantia given the number 606 of Satania, meaning the 606th world in this local system on which the long evolutionary life process culminated in the appearance of human beings. There are thirty-six uninhabited planets nearing the life-endowment stage, and several are now being made ready for the Life Carriers. There are nearly two hundred spheres which are evolving so as to be ready for life implantation within the next few million years.” (559.3) 49:0.3

IX. EVOLUTIONARY VICISSITUDES

1. Proposition. Natural law may appear to be indifferent to our ideals and spiritual insight, but this view is modified by our progress in cosmic intelligence and improved spiritual attainment.

“In the beginnings on an evolutionary world the natural occurrences of the material order and the personal desires of human beings often appear to be antagonistic. Much that takes place on an evolving world is rather hard for mortal man to understand—natural law is so often apparently cruel, heartless, and indifferent to all that is true, beautiful, and good in human comprehension. But as humanity progresses in planetary development, we observe that this viewpoint is modified by the following factors:

“1. Man’s augmenting vision—his increased understanding of the world in which he lives; his enlarging capacity for the comprehension of the material facts of time, the meaningful ideas of thought, and the valuable ideals of spiritual insight. As long as men measure only by the yardstick of the things of a physical nature, they can never hope to find unity in time and space.

“2. Man’s increasing control—the gradual accumulation of the knowledge of the laws of the material world, the purposes of spiritual existence, and the possibilities of the philosophic co-ordination of these two realities. Man, the savage, was helpless before the onslaughts of natural forces, was slavish before the cruel mastery of his own inner fears.

“3. Man’s universe integration—the increase of human insight plus the increase of human experiential achievement brings him into closer harmony with the unifying presences of Supremacy—Paradise Trinity and Supreme Being. And this is what establishes the sovereignty of the Supreme on the worlds long settled in light and life.” (1306.1) 118:10.12

2. Proposition. Evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities.

“The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:

“1. Is courage—strength of character—desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.

“2. Is altruism—service of one’s fellows—desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.

“3. Is hope—the grandeur of trust—desirable? Then human existence most constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.

“4. Is faith—the supreme assertion of human thought—desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.“

“5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then most man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.

“6. Is idealism—the approaching concept of the divine—desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.

“7. Is loyalty—devotion to highest duty—desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.

“8. Is unselfishness—the spirit of self-forgetfulness—desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.

“9. Is pleasure—the satisfaction of happiness—desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.” (51.4) 3:5.5

X. EVOLUTION IN TIME AND SPACE

1. Proposition. Our sun was a pulsating star when the approaching Angona system drew off the solar system.

“Some of the variable stars, in or near the state of maximum pulsation, are in process of giving origin to subsidiary systems, many of which will eventually be much like your own sun and its revolving planets. Your sun was in just such a state of mighty pulsation when the massive Angona system swung into near approach, and the outer surface of the sun began to erupt veritable streams— continuous sheets—of matter. This kept up with ever-increasing violence until nearest apposition, when the limits of solar cohesion were reached and a vast pinnacle of matter, the ancestor of the solar system, was disgorged. In similar circumstances the closest approach of the attracting body sometimes draws off whole planets, even a quarter or third of a sun. These major extrusions form certain peculiar cloud-bound types of worlds, spheres much like Jupiter and Saturn.”(465.6) 41:10.1

2. Proposition. Evolution consists in converting potentials into actuals. This means evolution on the finite level, eventuation on the absonite.

“The entire scheme of universal creation and evolution on all experiencing levels is apparently a matter of the conversion of potentialities into actualities; and this transmutation has to do equally with the realms of space potency, mind potency, and spirit potency.

“The apparent method whereby the possibilities of the cosmos are brought into actual existence varies from level to level, being experiential evolution in the finite and experiential eventnation in the absonite. Existential infinity is indeed unqualified in all-inclusiveness, and this very all-inclusiveness must, perforce, encompass even the possibility of evolutionary finite experiencing. And the possibility for such experiential growth becomes a universe actuality through triodity relationships impinging upon and in the Supreme.” (1261.3) 115:2.3

3. Proposition. Sudden mental evolutions and spiritual transformations can take place where conditions are favorable.

“When physical conditions are ripe, sudden mental evolutions may take place; when mind status is propitious, sudden spiritual transformations may occur; when spiritual values receive proper recognition, then cosmic meanings become discernible, and increasingly the personality is released from the handicaps of time and delivered from the limitations of space.” (740.2) 65:8.6

4. Proposition. Man’s yardstick of his temporal life makes evolution appear to be a long-drawn-out process. On Paradise, all things are present in the mind of Infinity and the acts of Eternity.

“The individual’s yardstick for time measurement is the length of his life. All creatures are thus time conditioned, and therefore do they regard evolution as being a long-drawn-out process. To those of us whose life span is not limited by a temporal existence, evolution does not seem to be such a protracted transaction. On Paradise, where time is nonexistent, these things are all present in the mind of Infinity and the acts of Eternity.”(739.7) 65:8.3

5. Proposition. In evolutionary universes, energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit, by the mediation of mind, is striving for the mastery.

“In the evolutionary superuniverses energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit through the mediation of mind is struggling for the mastery. The goal of the evolutionary universes is the subjugation of energy-matter by mind, the co-ordination of mind with spirit, and all of this by virtue of the creative and unifying presence of personality. Thus, in relation to personality, do physical systems become subordinate; mind systems, co-ordinate; and spirit systems, directive.” (1275.1) 116:6.1

XI. FACTORS IN SOCIAL PROGRESS

1. Proposition. Food hunger and sex love brought primitive humans together. Vanity and fear held them together.

“Two great influences which contributed to the early association of human beings were food hunger and sex love; these instinctive urges man shares with the animal world. Two other emotions which drove human beings together and held them together were vanity and fear, more particularly ghost fear.” (765.1) 68:2.4

2. Proposition. Primitive man only thought when he was hungry. Later, other types of craving entered into the picture.

“History is but the record of man’s agelong food struggle. Primitive man only thought when he was hungry; food saving was his first self-denial, self-discipline. With the growth of society, food hunger ceased to be the only incentive for mutual association. Numerous other sorts of hunger, the realization of various needs, all led to the closer association of mankind.” (765.2) 68:2.5

3. Proposition. Today man suffers as a result of the overgrowth of supposed needs, desires, and longings.

“But today society is top-heavy with the overgrowth of supposed human needs. Occidental civilization of the twentieth century groans wearily under the tremendous overload of luxury and the inordinate multiplication of human desires and longings. Modern society is enduring the strain of one of its more dangerous phases of farflung interassociation and highly complicated interdependence.” (765.2) 68:2.5

4. Proposition. The mores were man’s first social institution. All this was an effort to avoid pain and insure pleasure.

“It must be borne in mind that the mores originated in an effort to adjust group living to the conditions of mass existence; the mores were man’s first social institution. And all of these tribal reactions grew out of the effort to avoid pain and humiliation while at the same time seeking to enjoy pleasure and power. The origin of folkways, like the origin of languages, is always unconscious and unintentional and therefore always shrouded in mystery.” (767.2) 68:4.2

5. Proposition. Emotionally, man transcends the animal because he can appreciate humor, art, and religion. Socially, man exhibits his superiority as a toolmaker, communicator, and institution builder.

“EMOTIONALLY man transcends his animal ancestors in his ability to appreciate humor, art, and religion. Socially, man exhibits his superiority in that he is a toolmaker, a communicator, and an institution builder.” (772.1) 69:0.1

XII. LAND TECHNIQUES

1. Proposition. Land is the stage of society; men are the actors. Mores evolution depends on the land-man ratio. Man’s land technique, plus his standard of living, equals the sum total of the folkways.

“Land is the stage of society; men are the actors. And man must ever adjust his performances to conform to the land situation. The evolution of the mores is always dependent on the land-man ratio. This is true notwithstanding the difficulty of its discernment. Man’s land technique, or maintenance arts, plus his standards of living, equal the sum total of the folkways, the mores. And the sum of man’s adjustment to the life demands equals his cultural civilization.” (768.1) 68:5.1

2. Proposition. Social law decrees that population must vary with the land arts and inversely with the standard of living. The law of supply and demand determines the value of both land and men.

“Human society is controlled by a law which decrees that the population must vary directly in accordance with the land arts and inversely with a given standard of living. Throughout these early ages, even more than at present, the law of supply and demand as concerned men and land determined the estimated value of both. During the times of plentiful land—unoccupied territory—the need for men was great, and therefore the value of human life was much enhanced; hence the loss of life was more horrifying. During periods of land scarcity and associated overpopulation, human life became comparatively cheapened so that war, famine, and pestilence were regarded with less concern.” (769.8) 68:6.3

Proposition. Evolution may be slow, but it is effective. Climatic changes forced man to give up hunting for herding and farming.

“Climatic evolution is now about to accomplish what all other efforts had failed to do, that is, to compel Eurasian man to abandon hunting for the more advanced callings of herding and farming. Evolution may be slow, but it is terribly effective.” (900.5) 81:1.3

XIII. CULTURAL EVOLUTION

1. Proposition. There were four major steps in the march of civilization.

“The earliest human cultures arose along the rivers of the Eastern Hemisphere, and there were four great steps in the forward march of civilization. They were:

“1. The collection stage. Food coercion, hunger, led to the first form of industrial organization, the primitive food-gathering lines. Sometimes such a line of hunger march would be ten miles long as it passed over the land gleaning food. This was the primitive nomadic stage of culture and is the mode of life now followed by the African Bushmen.

“2. The hunting stage. The invention of weapon tools enabled man to become a hunter and thus to gain considerable freedom from food slavery. A thoughtful Andonite who had severely bruised his fist in a serious combat rediscovered the idea of using a long stick for his arm and a piece of hard flint, bound on the end with sinews, for his fist. Many tribes made independent discoveries of this sort, and these various forms of hammers represented one of the great forward steps in human civilization. Today some Australian natives have progressed little beyond this stage.“

“3. The pastoral stage. This phase of Civilization was made possible by the domestication of animals. The Arabs and the natives of Africa are among the more recent pastoral peoples.

“Pastoral living afforded further relief from food slavery; man learned to live on the interest of his capital, the increase in his flocks; and this provided more leisure for culture and progress.

“4. The agricultural stage. This era was brought about by the domestication of plants, and it represents the highest type of material civilization. Both Caligastia and Adam endeavored to teach horticulture and agriculture. Adam and Eve were gardeners, not shepherds, and gardening was an advanced culture in those days. The growing of plants exerts an ennobling influence on all races of mankind.” (768.2) 68:5.2

2. Proposition. Evolutionary religion is the mother of science, art, and philosophy.

“Evolutionary religion is the mother of the science, art, and philosophy which elevated man to the level of receptivity to revealed religion, including the bestowal of Adjusters and the coming of the Spirit of Truth.” (68.8) 5:5.5

3. Proposition. It is false altruism to harbor unsalvable abnormal and inferior human strains.

“It is neither tenderness nor altruism to bestow futile sympathy upon degenerated human beings, unsalvable abnormal and inferior mortals. There exist on even the most normal of the evolutionary worlds sufficient differences between individuals and between numerous social groups to provide for the full exercise of all those noble traits of altruistic sentiment and unselfish mortal ministry without perpetuating the socially unfit and the morally degenerate strains of evolving humanity.” (592.5) 52:2.12

4. Proposition. There are plenty of opportunities for unselfish ministry without preserving those who have lost their moral heritage.

“There is abundant opportunity for the exercise of tolerance and the function of altruism in behalf of those unfortunate and needy individuals who have not irretrievably lost their moral heritage and forever destroyed their spiritual birthright.” (592.5) 52:2.12

5. Proposition. Evolutionary peoples commonly pass through seven epochs.

  1. The nutrition epoch.
  2. The security age.
  3. The material-comfort era.
  4. The quest for knowledge and wisdom.
  5. The epoch of philosophy and brotherhood.
  6. The age of spiritual striving.
  7. The era of light and live.

See (576.6) 50:5.3

XIV. DAWN OF INDUSTRY

1. Proposition. Even a growing industrial evolution must rest upon a sound agricultural basis.

“And now is industry supplementing agriculture, with consequently increased urbanization and multiplication of nonagricultural groups of citizenship classes. But an industrial era cannot hope to survive if its leaders fail to recognize that even the highest social developments must ever rest upon a sound agricultural basis.” (769.5) 68:5.13

2. Proposition. The Planetary Prince, Adam, and the Hebrew God put a premium on labor. The Jews taught: “He who does not work shall not eat.”

“Labor, the efforts of design, distinguishes man from the beast, whose exertions are largely instinctive. The necessity for labor is man’s paramount blessing. The Prince’s staff all worked; they did much to ennoble physical labor on Urantia. Adam was a gardener; the God of the Hebrews labored—he was the creator and upholder of all things. The Hebrews were the first tribe to put a supreme premium on industry; they were the first people to decree that ‘he who does not work shall not eat.’ But many of the religions of the world reverted to the early ideal of idleness. Jupiter was a revelor, and Buddha became a reflective devotee of leisure.” (773.6) 69:2.5

3. Proposition. Pottery has been a continuing factor in world-wide civilization.

“While pottery had been first introduced by the staff of the Prince about one-half million years ago, the making of clay vessels had practically ceased for over one hundred and fifty thousand years. Only the gulf coast pre-Sumerian Nodites continued to make clay vessels. The art of pottery making was revived during Adam’s time. The dissemination of this art was simultaneous with the extension of the desert areas of Africa, Arabia, and central Asia, and it spread in successive waves of improving technique from Mesopotamia out over the Eastern Hemisphere.”(903.1) 81:2.19

4. Proposition. The early cities were always surrounded by zones of agriculture and husbandry.

“About twelve thousand years ago the era of the independent cities was dawning. And these primitive trading and manufacturing cities were always surrounded by zones of agriculture and cattle raising. While it is true that industry was promoted by the elevation of the standards of living, you should have no misconception regarding the refinements of early urban life.” (903.5) 81:3.3

5. Proposition. Primitive villages rose in height one to two feet every twentyfive years as the result of accumulating trash.

“The early races were not overly neat and clean, and the average primitive community rose from one to two feet every twenty-five years as the result of the mere accumulation of dirt and trash. Certain of these olden cities also rose above the surrounding ground very quickly because their unbaked mud huts were short-lived, and it was the custom to build new dwellings directly on top of the ruins of the old.” (903.5) 81:3.3

6. Proposition. Metals were a feature of early industry in an evolving civilization.

“The widespread use of metals was a feature of this era of the early industrial and trading cities. You have already found a bronze culture in Turkestan dating before 9000 B.C., and the Andites early learned to work in iron, gold, and copper, as well. But conditions were very different away from the more advanced centers of civilization. There were no distinct periods, such as the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages; all three existed at the same time in different localities.” (903.6) 81:3.4

7. Proposition. There were eight major factors which led to the accumulation of capital.

  1. Hunger—associated with foresight.
  2. Love of family.
  3. Vanity.
  4. Position.
  5. Power.
  6. Fear of ghosts.
  7. Sex urge.
  8. Numerous forms of self-gratification.

See (776.1) 69:5.3

8. Proposition. The evolution of writing was an important factor in the development of civilization.

“Modern writing originated in the early trade records; the first literature of man was a trade-promotion document, a salt advertisement. Many of the earlier wars were fought over natural deposits, such as flint, salt, and metals. The first formal tribal treaty concerned the intertribalizing of a salt deposit. These treaty spots afforded opportunity for friendly and peaceful interchange of ideas and the intermingling of various tribes.

“Writing progressed up through the stages of the ‘message stick,’ knotted cords, picture writing, hieroglyphics, and wampum belts, to the early symbolic alphabets. Message sending evolved from the primitive smoke signal up through runners, animal riders, railroads, and airplanes, as well as telegraph, telephone and wireless communication.” (775.6) 69:4.6

XV. FIRE AND ANIMALS

1. Proposition. Fire was a basic evolutionary discovery.

“Fire building, by a single bound, forever separated man from animal; it is the basic human invention, or discovery. Fire enabled man to stay on the ground at night as all animals are afraid of it. Fire encouraged eventide social intercourse; it not only protected against cold and wild beasts but was also employed as security against ghosts. It was at first used more for light than heat; many backward tribes refuse to sleep unless a flame burns all night.” (777.5) 69:6.2

2. Proposition. The dog was the first animal to be domesticated. They served as protection against both material and “spirit” disturbers.

“The dog was the first animal to be domesticated, and the difficult experience of taming it began when a certain dog, after following a hunter around all day, actually went home with him. For ages dogs were used for food, hunting, transportantion, and companionship. At first dogs only howled, but later on they learned to bark. The dog’s keen sense of smell led to the notion it could see spirits, and thus arose the dog-fetish cults. The employment of watchdogs made it first possible for the whole clan to sleep at night. It then became the custom to employ watchdogs to protect the home against spirits as well as material enemies. When the dog barked, man or beast approached, but when the dog howled, spirits were near. Even now many still believe that a dog’s howling at night betokens death. (778.7) 69:7.4

XVI. MAINTENANCE OF CIVILIZATION

1. Proposition. The evolutionary races are destined to blend with the Adamic uplifters. But before this blending, the inferior strains of the races are eliminated.

“These six evolutionary races are destined to be blended and exalted by amalgamation with the progeny of the Adamic uplifters. But before these peoples are blended, the inferior and unfit are largely eliminated. The Planetary Prince and the Material Son, with other suitable planetary authorities, pass upon the fitness of the reproducing strains. The difficulty of executing such a radical program on Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to pass upon the biologic fitness or unfitness of the individuals of your world races. Notwithstanding this obstacle, it seems that you ought to be able to agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks.”(585.4) 51:4.8

2. Proposition. Civilization is an acquirement. It is not biological—hence each new generation must be educated. Culture is the preservation of social inheritance.

“Civilization is a racial acquirement; it is not biologically inherent; hence must all children be reared in an environment of culture, while each succeeding generation of youth must receive anew its education. The superior qualities of civilization—scientific, philosophic, and religious—are not transmitted from one generation to another by direct inheritance. These cultural achievements are preserved only by the enlightened conservation of social inheritance.” (763.2) 68:0.2

3. Proposition. Society was founded on the reciprocity of necessity and the enhanced safety of association.

“Primitive society was thus founded on the reciprocity of necessity and on the enhanced safety of association. And human society has evolved in agelong cycles as a result of this isolation fear and by means of reluctant co-operation.” (763.6) 68:1.3

4. Proposition. Society is concerned with self-perpetuation, self-maintenance, and self-gratification—not to mention self-realization.

“Society is concerned with self-perpetuation, self-maintenance, and self-gratification, but human self-realization is worthy of becoming the immediate goal of many cultural groups.” (764.6) 68:2.3

5. Proposition. Vanity was a factor in the birth of society. Self-maintenance builds society; self-gratification destroys civilization.

“Vanity contributed mightily to the birth of society; but at the time of these revelations the devious strivings of a vainglorious generation threaten to swamp and submerge the whole complicated structure of a highly specialized civilization. Pleasure-want has long since superseded hunger-want; the legitimate social aims of self-maintenance are rapidly translating themselves into base and threatening forms of self-gratification. Self-maintenance builds society; unbridled self-gratification unfailingly destroys civilization.” (766.1) 68:2.11

6. Proposition. Hunger and love drove men together; vanity and ghost fear held them together. Revelation overcame the irritations and suspicions of human interassociations.

“Hunger and love drove men together; vanity and ghost fear held them together. But these emotions alone, without the influence of peace-promoting revelations, are unable to endure, the strain of the suspicions and irritations of human interassociations. Without help from superhuman sources the strain of society breaks down upon reaching certain limits, and these very influences of social mobilization— hunger, love, vanity, and fear—conspire to plunge mankind into war and bloodshed.” (766.5) 68:3.4

7. Proposition. Traders and explorers did much to advance civilization. Military conquests, colonization, and missionaries were also influential.

“The traveling trader and the roving explorer did more to advance historic civilization than all other influences combined. Military conquests, colonization, and missionary enterprises fostered by the later religions were also, factors in the spread of culture; but these were all secondary to the trading relations, which were ever accelerated by the rapidly developing arts and sciences of industry.” (904.3) 81:3.7

8. Proposition. There were four major factors in civilization.

“The first four great advances in human civilization were:

  1. The taming of fire.
  2. The domestication of animals.
  3. The enslavement of captives.
  4. Private property.” (901.6) 81:2.3

XVII. CONTROL AND OVERCONTROL

Proposition. Finite evolutionary creatures ascend to Paradise because the unity of Deity controls and integrates the mechanisms of the universe of universes.

“GOD is unity. Deity is universally co-ordinated. The universe of universes is one vast integrated mechanism which is absolutely controlled by one infinite mind. The physical, intellectual, and spiritual domains of universal creation are divinely correlated. The perfect and imperfect are truly interrelated, and therefore may the finite evolutionary creature ascend to Paradise in obedience to the Universal Father’s mandate: ‘Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.’” (637.1) 56:0.1

2. Proposition. Evolution is always purposeful—never accidental. It is integrated by Life Carriers, physical controllers, and the spirit adjutants.

“It is the integrated functioning of the Life Carriers, the physical controllers, and the spirit adjutants that conditions the course of organic evolution on the inhabited worlds. And this is why evolution— on Urantia or elsewhere—is always purposeful and never accidental.” (730.7) 65:0.7

3. Proposition. Man is a machine—but he is much more. He is mind endowed and spirit indwelt. The material machine can be subordinated to the wisdom of experience and the spiritual urges of the Thought Adjuster.

“Mortal man is a machine, a living mechanism; his roots are truly in the physical world of energy. Many human reactions are mechanical in nature; much of life is machinelike. But man, a mechanism, is much more than a machine; he is mind endowed and spirit indwelt; and though he can never throughout his material life escape the chemical and electrical mechanics of his existence, he can increasingly learn how to subordinate this physical-life machine to the directive wisdom of experience by the process of consecrating the human mind to the execution of the spiritual urges of the indwelling Thought Adjuster.” (1301.7) 118:8.2

XVIII. EVOLUTION THE UNIVERSAL RULE

Proposition. Evolution extends from your world of origin up through the local universe to the headquarters—Salvington.

“ALL mortal-inhabited worlds are evolutionary in origin and nature. These spheres are the spawning ground, the evolutionary cradle, of the mortal races of time and space. Each unit of the ascendant life is a veritable training school for the stage of existence just ahead, and this is true of every stage of man’s progressive Paradise ascent; just as true of the initial mortal experience on an evolutionary planet as of the final universe headquarters school of the Melchizedeks, a school which is not attended by ascending mortals until just before their translation to the regime of the superuniverse and the attainment of first-stage spirit existence.” (559.1) 49:0.1

2. Proposition. Evolution is the rule of human development, but the Life Carriers have great latitude in life initiation.

“Evolution is the rule of human development, but the process itself varies greatly on different worlds. Life is sometimes initiated in one center, sometimes in three, as it was on Urantia. On the atmospheric worlds it usually has a marine origin, but not always; much depends on the physical status of a planet. The Life Carriers have great latitude in their function of life initiation.” (560.3) 49:1.4

3. Proposition. Superuniverse creatures are finite evolutionary, and constantly progressive.

“Excepting perfect beings of Deity origin, all will creatures in the superuniverses are of evolutionary nature, beginning in lowly estate and climbing ever upward, in reality inward. Even highly spiritual personalities continue to ascend the scale of life by progressive translations from life to life and from sphere to sphere. And in the case of those who entertain the Mystery Monitors, there is indeed no limit to the possible heights of their spiritual ascent and universe attainment.” (361.3) 32:3.8

4. Proposition. Never will scientists be able to produce living organisms; life is not inherent in matter. Life is both material and spiritual.

“Life is both mechanistic and vitalistic—material and spiritual. Ever will Urantia physicists and chemists progress in their understanding of the protoplasmic forms of vegetable and animal, life, but never will they be able to produce living organisms. Life is something different from all energy manifestations; even the material life of physical creatures is not inherent in matter.” (403.6) 36:6.1

5. Proposition. Progressive evolutionary capacity of the universe is inexhaustible in the infinity of spontaneity and complexity.

“Since mind co-ordinates the universe, fixity of mechanisms is nonexistent. The phenomenon of progressive evolution associated with cosmic self-maintenance is universal. The evolutionary capacity of the universe is inexhaustible in the infinity of spontaneity. Progress towards harmonious unity, a growing experiential synthesis superimposed on an ever-increasing complexity of relationships, could be effected only by a purposive and dominant mind. (482.5) 42:11.7

6. Proposition. Perfection of evolutionary creature attainment is a bona fide personality possession—the result of actual reaction to existing environment.

“The perfection of the creatures of time, when finally achieved, is wholly an acquirement, a bona fide personality possession. While the elements of grace are freely admixed, nevertheless, the creature attainments are the result of individual effort and actual living, personality reaction to the existing environment.” (361.4) 32:3.9

7. Proposition. Infinitude must some how be so qualified that its repleteness may be reconciled with the incompleteness of the evolving universes.

“In some manner the eternal repleteness of infinity must be reconciled with the time-growth of the evolving universes and with the incompleteness of the experiential inhabitants thereof. In some way the conception of total infinitude must be so segmented and qualified that the mortal intellect and the morontia soul can grasp this concept of final value and spiritualizing significance.”(1146.5) 104:3.3

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