PAPER 74
- ADAM AND EVE
Adam and Eve
arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D. 1934, 37,848 years
ago. It was in midseason when the Garden was in the height
of bloom that they arrived. At high noon and unannounced,
the two seraphic transports, accompanied by the Jerusem
personnel intrusted with the transportation of the biologic
uplifters to Urantia, settled slowly to the surface of the
revolving planet in the vicinity of the temple of the
Universal Father. All the work of rematerializing the bodies
of Adam and Eve was carried on within the precincts of this
newly created shrine. And from the time of their arrival ten
days passed before they were re-created in dual human form
for presentation as the world's new rulers. They regained
consciousness simultaneously. The Material Sons and
Daughters always serve together. It is the essence of their
service at all times and in all places never to be
separated. They are designed to work in pairs; seldom do
they function alone.
1. ADAM AND EVE
ON JERUSEM
The Planetary
Adam and Eve of Urantia were members of the senior corps of
Material Sons on Jerusem, being jointly number 14,311. They
belonged to the third physical series and were a little more
than eight feet in height.
At the time Adam
was chosen to come to Urantia, he was employed, with his
mate, in the trial-and-testing physical laboratories of
Jerusem. For more than fifteen thousand years they had been
directors of the division of experimental energy as applied
to the modification of living forms. Long before this they
had been teachers in the citizenship schools for new
arrivals on Jerusem. And all this should be borne in mind in
connection with the narration of their subsequent conduct on
Urantia.
When the
proclamation was issued calling for volunteers for the
mission of Adamic adventure on Urantia, the entire senior
corps of Material Sons and Daughters volunteered. The
Melchizedek examiners, with the approval of Lanaforge and
the Most Highs of Edentia, finally selected the Adam and Eve
who subsequently came to function as the biologic uplifters
of Urantia.
Adam and Eve had
remained loyal to Michael during the Lucifer rebellion;
nevertheless, the pair were called before the System
Sovereign and his entire cabinet for examination and
instruction. The details of Urantia affairs were fully
presented; they were exhaustively instructed as to the plans
to be pursued in accepting the responsibilities of rulership
on such a strife-torn world. They were put under joint oaths
of allegiance to the Most Highs of Edentia and to Michael of
Salvington. And they were duly advised to regard themselves
as subject
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to the Urantia corps of
Melchizedek receivers until that governing body should see
fit to relinquish rule on the world of their assignment.
This Jerusem
pair left behind them on the capital of Satania and
elsewhere, one hundred offspring--fifty sons and fifty
daughters--magnificent creatures who had escaped the
pitfalls of progression, and who were all in commission as
faithful stewards of universe trust at the time of their
parents' departure for Urantia. And they were all present in
the beautiful temple of the Material Sons attendant upon the
farewell exercises associated with the last ceremonies of
the bestowal acceptance. These children accompanied their
parents to the dematerialization headquarters of their order
and were the last to bid them farewell and divine speed as
they fell asleep in the personality lapse of consciousness
which precedes the preparation for seraphic transport. The
children spent some time together at the family rendezvous
rejoicing that their parents were soon to become the visible
heads, in reality the sole rulers, of planet 606 in the
system of Satania.
And thus did
Adam and Eve leave Jerusem amidst the acclaim and
well-wishing of its citizens. They went forth to their new
responsibilities adequately equipped and fully instructed
concerning every duty and danger to be encountered on
Urantia.
2. ARRIVAL OF
ADAM AND EVE
Adam and Eve
fell asleep on Jerusem, and when they awakened in the
Father's temple on Urantia in the presence of the mighty
throng assembled to welcome them, they were face to face
with two beings of whom they had heard much, Van and his
faithful associate Amadon. These two heroes of the
Caligastia secession were the first to welcome them in their
new garden home.
The tongue of
Eden was an Andonic dialect as spoken by Amadon. Van and
Amadon had markedly improved this language by creating a new
alphabet of twenty-four letters, and they had hoped to see
it become the tongue of Urantia as the Edenic culture would
spread throughout the world. Adam and Eve had fully mastered
this human dialect before they departed from Jerusem so that
this son of Andon heard the exalted ruler of his world
address him in his own tongue.
And on that day
there was great excitement and joy throughout Eden as the
runners went in great haste to the rendezvous of the carrier
pigeons assembled from near and far, shouting: "Let loose
the birds; let them carry the word that the promised Son has
come." Hundreds of believer settlements had faithfully, year
after year, kept up the supply of these home-reared pigeons
for just such an occasion.
As the news of
Adam's arrival spread abroad, thousands of the near-by
tribesmen accepted the teachings of Van and Amadon, while
for months and months pilgrims continued to pour into Eden
to welcome Adam and Eve and to do homage to their unseen
Father.
Soon after their
awakening, Adam and Eve were escorted to the formal
reception on the great mound to the north of the temple.
This natural hill had been enlarged and made ready for the
installation of the world's new rulers. Here, at noon, the
Urantia reception committee welcomed this Son and Daughter
of the system of Satania. Amadon was chairman of this
committee, which consisted
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of twelve members embracing a
representative of each of the six Sangik races; the acting
chief of the midwayers; Annan, a loyal daughter and
spokesman for the Nodites; Noah, the son of the architect
and builder of the Garden and executive of his deceased
father's plans; and the two resident Life Carriers.
The next act was
the delivery of the charge of planetary custody to Adam and
Eve by the senior Melchizedek, chief of the council of
receivership on Urantia. The Material Son and Daughter took
the oath of allegiance to the Most Highs of Norlatiadek and
to Michael of Nebadon and were proclaimed rulers of Urantia
by Van, who thereby relinquished the titular authority which
for over one hundred and fifty thousand years he had held by
virtue of the action of the Melchizedek receivers.
And Adam and Eve
were invested with kingly robes on this occasion, the time
of their formal induction into world rulership. Not all of
the arts of Dalamatia had been lost to the world; weaving
was still practiced in the days of Eden.
Then was heard
the archangels' proclamation, and the broadcast voice of
Gabriel decreed the second judgment roll call of Urantia and
the resurrection of the sleeping survivors of the second
dispensation of grace and mercy on 606 of Satania. The
dispensation of the Prince has passed, the age of Adam, the
third planetary epoch, opens amidst scenes of simple
grandeur; and the new rulers of Urantia start their reign
under seemingly favorable conditions, notwithstanding the
world-wide confusion occasioned by lack of the co-operation
of their predecessor in authority on the planet.
3. ADAM AND EVE
LEARN ABOUT THE PLANET
And now, after
their formal installation, Adam and Eve became painfully
aware of their planetary isolation. Silent were the familiar
broadcasts, and absent were all the circuits of
extraplanetary communication. Their Jerusem fellows had gone
to worlds running along smoothly with a well-established
Planetary Prince and an experienced staff ready to receive
them and competent to co-operate with them during their
early experience on such worlds. But on Urantia rebellion
had changed everything. Here the Planetary Prince was very
much present, and though shorn of most of his power to work
evil, he was still able to make the task of Adam and Eve
difficult and to some extent hazardous. It was a serious and
disillusioned Son and Daughter of Jerusem who walked that
night through the Garden under the shining of the full moon,
discussing plans for the next day.
Thus ended the
first day of Adam and Eve on isolated Urantia, the confused
planet of the Caligastia betrayal; and they walked and
talked far into the night, their first night on earth--and
it was so lonely.
Adam's second
day on earth was spent in session with the planetary
receivers and the advisory council. From the Melchizedeks,
and their associates, Adam and Eve learned more about the
details of the Caligastia rebellion and the result of that
upheaval upon the world's progress. And it was, on the
whole, a disheartening story, this long recital of the
mismanagement of world affairs. They learned all the facts
regarding the utter collapse of the Caligastia scheme for
accelerating the process of social evolution. They also
arrived at a full realization of the folly of attempting to
achieve planetary advancement independently
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of the divine plan of
progression. And thus ended a sad but enlightening
day--their second on Urantia.
The third day
was devoted to an inspection of the Garden. From the large
passenger birds--the fandors--Adam and Eve looked down upon
the vast stretches of the Garden while being carried through
the air over this, the most beautiful spot on earth. This
day of inspection ended with an enormous banquet in honor of
all who had labored to create this garden of Edenic beauty
and grandeur. And again, late into the night of their third
day, the Son and his mate walked in the Garden and talked
about the immensity of their problems.
On the fourth
day Adam and Eve addressed the Garden assembly. From the
inaugural mount they spoke to the people concerning their
plans for the rehabilitation of the world and outlined the
methods whereby they would seek to redeem the social culture
of Urantia from the low levels to which it had fallen as a
result of sin and rebellion. This was a great day, and it
closed with a feast for the council of men and women who had
been selected to assume responsibilities in the new
administration of world affairs. Take note! women as well as
men were in this group, and that was the first time such a
thing had occurred on earth since the days of Dalamatia. It
was an astounding innovation to behold Eve, a woman, sharing
the honors and responsibilities of world affairs with a man.
And thus ended the fourth day on earth.
The fifth day
was occupied with the organization of the temporary
government, the administration which was to function until
the Melchizedek receivers should leave Urantia.
The sixth day
was devoted to an inspection of the numerous types of men
and animals. Along the walls eastward in Eden, Adam and Eve
were escorted all day, viewing the animal life of the planet
and arriving at a better understanding as to what must be
done to bring order out of the confusion of a world
inhabited by such a variety of living creatures.
It greatly
surprised those who accompanied Adam on this trip to observe
how fully he understood the nature and function of the
thousands upon thousands of animals shown him. The instant
he glanced at an animal, he would indicate its nature and
behavior. Adam could give names descriptive of the origin,
nature, and function of all material creatures on sight.
Those who conducted him on this tour of inspection did not
know that the world's new ruler was one of the most expert
anatomists of all Satania; and Eve was equally proficient.
Adam amazed his associates by describing hosts of living
things too small to be seen by human eyes.
When the sixth
day of their sojourn on earth was over, Adam and Eve rested
for the first time in their new home in "the east of Eden."
The first six days of the Urantia adventure had been very
busy, and they looked forward with great pleasure to an
entire day of freedom from all activities.
But
circumstances dictated otherwise. The experience of the day
just past in which Adam had so intelligently and so
exhaustively discussed the animal life of Urantia, together
with his masterly inaugural address and his charming manner,
had so won the hearts and overcome the intellects of the
Garden dwellers that they were not only wholeheartedly
disposed to accept the newly arrived Son and Daughter of
Jerusem as rulers, but the majority were about ready to fall
down and worship them as gods.
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4. THE FIRST
UPHEAVAL
That night, the
night following the sixth day, while Adam and Eve slumbered,
strange things were transpiring in the vicinity of the
Father's temple in the central sector of Eden. There, under
the rays of the mellow moon, hundreds of enthusiastic and
excited men and women listened for hours to the impassioned
pleas of their leaders. They meant well, but they simply
could not understand the simplicity of the fraternal and
democratic manner of their new rulers. And long before
daybreak the new and temporary administrators of world
affairs reached a virtually unanimous conclusion that Adam
and his mate were altogether too modest and unassuming. They
decided that Divinity had descended to earth in bodily form,
that Adam and Eve were in reality gods or else so near such
an estate as to be worthy of reverent worship.
The amazing
events of the first six days of Adam and Eve on earth were
entirely too much for the unprepared minds of even the
world's best men; their heads were in a whirl; they were
swept along with the proposal to bring the noble pair up to
the Father's temple at high noon in order that everyone
might bow down in respectful worship and prostrate
themselves in humble submission. And the Garden dwellers
were really sincere in all of this.
Van protested.
Amadon was absent, being in charge of the guard of honor
which had remained behind with Adam and Eve overnight. But
Van's protest was swept aside. He was told that he was
likewise too modest, too unassuming; that he was not far
from a god himself, else how had he lived so long on earth,
and how had he brought about such a great event as the
advent of Adam? And as the excited Edenites were about to
seize him and carry him up to the mount for adoration, Van
made his way out through the throng and, being able to
communicate with the midwayers, sent their leader in great
haste to Adam.
It was near the
dawn of their seventh day on earth that Adam and Eve heard
the startling news of the proposal of these well-meaning but
misguided mortals; and then, even while the passenger birds
were swiftly winging to bring them to the temple, the
midwayers, being able to do such things, transported Adam
and Eve to the Father's temple. It was early on the morning
of this seventh day and from the mount of their so recent
reception that Adam held forth in explanation of the orders
of divine sonship and made clear to these earth minds that
only the Father and those whom he designates may be
worshiped. Adam made it plain that he would accept any honor
and receive all respect, but worship never!
It was a
momentous day, and just before noon, about the time of the
arrival of the seraphic messenger bearing the Jerusem
acknowledgment of the installation of the world's rulers,
Adam and Eve, moving apart from the throng, pointed to the
Father's temple and said: "Go you now to the material emblem
of the Father's invisible presence and bow down in worship
of him who made us all and who keeps us living. And let this
act be the sincere pledge that you never will again be
tempted to worship anyone but God." They all did as Adam
directed. The Material Son and Daughter stood alone on the
mount with bowed heads while the people prostrated
themselves about the temple.
And this was the
origin of the Sabbath-day tradition. Always in Eden the
seventh day was devoted to the noontide assembly at the
temple; long it was the custom to devote this day to
self-culture. The forenoon was devoted to physical
improvement, the noontime to spiritual worship, the
afternoon to mind culture,
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while the evening was spent
in social rejoicing. This was never the law in Eden, but it
was the custom as long as the Adamic administration held
sway on earth.
5. ADAM'S
ADMINISTRATION
For almost seven
years after Adam's arrival the Melchizedek receivers
remained on duty, but the time finally came when they turned
the administration of world affairs over to Adam and
returned to Jerusem.
The farewell of
the receivers occupied the whole of a day, and during the
evening the individual Melchizedeks gave Adam and Eve their
parting advice and best wishes. Adam had several times
requested his advisers to remain on earth with him, but
always were these petitions denied. The time had come when
the Material Sons must assume full responsibility for the
conduct of world affairs. And so, at midnight, the seraphic
transports of Satania left the planet with fourteen beings
for Jerusem, the translation of Van and Amadon occurring
simultaneously with the departure of the twelve
Melchizedeks.
All went fairly
well for a time on Urantia, and it appeared that Adam would,
eventually, be able to develop some plan for promoting the
gradual extension of the Edenic civilization. Pursuant to
the advice of the Melchizedeks, he began to foster the arts
of manufacture with the idea of developing trade relations
with the outside world. When Eden was disrupted, there were
over one hundred primitive manufacturing plants in
operation, and extensive trade relations with the near-by
tribes had been established.
For ages Adam
and Eve had been instructed in the technique of improving a
world in readiness for their specialized contributions to
the advancement of evolutionary civilization; but now they
were face to face with pressing problems, such as the
establishment of law and order in a world of savages,
barbarians, and semicivilized human beings. Aside from the
cream of the earth's population, assembled in the Garden,
only a few groups, here and there, were at all ready for the
reception of the Adamic culture.
Adam made a
heroic and determined effort to establish a world
government, but he met with stubborn resistance at every
turn. Adam had already put in operation a system of group
control throughout Eden and had federated all of these
companies into the Edenic league. But trouble, serious
trouble, ensued when he went outside the Garden and sought
to apply these ideas to the outlying tribes. The moment
Adam's associates began to work outside the Garden, they met
the direct and well-planned resistance of Caligastia and
Daligastia. The fallen Prince had been deposed as world
ruler, but he had not been removed from the planet. He was
still present on earth and able, at least to some extent, to
resist all of Adam's plans for the rehabilitation of human
society. Adam tried to warn the races against Caligastia,
but the task was made very difficult because his archenemy
was invisible to the eyes of mortals.
Even among the
Edenites there were those confused minds that leaned toward
the Caligastia teaching of unbridled personal liberty; and
they caused Adam no end of trouble; always were they
upsetting the best-laid plans for orderly progression and
substantial development. He was finally compelled to
withdraw his program for immediate socialization; he fell
back on Van's method of organization, dividing the Edenites
into companies of one hundred with captains over each and
with lieutenants in charge of groups of ten.
Page 834
Adam and Eve had
come to institute representative government in the place of
monarchial, but they found no government worthy of the name
on the face of the whole earth. For the time being Adam
abandoned all effort to establish representative government,
and before the collapse of the Edenic regime he succeeded in
establishing almost one hundred outlying trade and social
centers where strong individuals ruled in his name. Most of
these centers had been organized aforetime by Van and
Amadon.
The sending of
ambassadors from one tribe to another dates from the times
of Adam. This was a great forward step in the evolution of
government.
6. HOME LIFE OF
ADAM AND EVE
The Adamic
family grounds embraced a little over five square miles.
Immediately surrounding this homesite, provision had been
made for the care of more than three hundred thousand of the
pure-line offspring. But only the first unit of the
projected buildings was ever constructed. Before the size of
the Adamic family outgrew these early provisions, the whole
Edenic plan had been disrupted and the Garden vacated.
Adamson was the
first-born of the violet race of Urantia, being followed by
his sister and Eveson, the second son of Adam and Eve. Eve
was the mother of five children before the Melchizedeks
left--three sons and two daughters. The next two were twins.
She bore sixty-three children, thirty-two daughters and
thirty-one sons, before the default. When Adam and Eve left
the Garden, their family consisted of four generations
numbering 1,647 pure-line descendants. They had forty-two
children after leaving the Garden besides the two offspring
of joint parentage with the mortal stock of earth. And this
does not include the Adamic parentage to the Nodite and
evolutionary races.
The Adamic
children did not take milk from animals when they ceased to
nurse the mother's breast at one year of age. Eve had access
to the milk of a great variety of nuts and to the juices of
many fruits, and knowing full well the chemistry and energy
of these foods, she suitably combined them for the
nourishment of her children until the appearance of teeth.
While cooking
was universally employed outside of the immediate Adamic
sector of Eden, there was no cooking in Adam's household.
They found their foods--fruits, nuts, and cereals--ready
prepared as they ripened. They ate once a day, shortly after
noontime. Adam and Eve also imbibed "light and energy"
direct from certain space emanations in conjunction with the
ministry of the tree of life.
The bodies of
Adam and Eve gave forth a shimmer of light, but they always
wore clothing in conformity with the custom of their
associates. Though wearing very little during the day, at
eventide they donned night wraps. The origin of the
traditional halo encircling the heads of supposed pious and
holy men dates back to the days of Adam and Eve. Since the
light emanations of their bodies were so largely obscured by
clothing, only the radiating glow from their heads was
discernible. The descendants of Adamson always thus
portrayed their concept of individuals believed to be
extraordinary in spiritual development.
Adam and Eve
could communicate with each other and with their immediate
children over a distance of about fifty miles. This thought
exchange was effected by means of the delicate gas chambers
located in close proximity to their brain
Page 835
structures. By this mechanism
they could send and receive thought oscillations. But this
power was instantly suspended upon the mind's surrender to
the discord and disruption of evil.
The Adamic
children attended their own schools until they were sixteen,
the younger being taught by the elder. The little folks
changed activities every thirty minutes, the older every
hour. And it was certainly a new sight on Urantia to observe
these children of Adam and Eve at play, joyous and
exhilarating activity just for the sheer fun of it. The play
and humor of the present-day races are largely derived from
the Adamic stock. The Adamites all had a great appreciation
of music as well as a keen sense of humor.
The average age
of betrothal was eighteen, and these youths then entered
upon a two years' course of instruction in preparation for
the assumption of marital responsibilities. At twenty they
were eligible for marriage; and after marriage they began
their lifework or entered upon special preparation therefor.
The practice of
some subsequent nations of permitting the royal families,
supposedly descended from the gods, to marry brother to
sister, dates from the traditions of the Adamic
offspring--mating, as they must needs, with one another. The
marriage ceremonies of the first and second generations of
the Garden were always performed by Adam and Eve.
7. LIFE IN THE
GARDEN
The children of
Adam, except for four years' attendance at the western
schools, lived and worked in the "east of Eden." They were
trained intellectually until they were sixteen in accordance
with the methods of the Jerusem schools. From sixteen to
twenty they were taught in the Urantia schools at the other
end of the Garden, serving there also as teachers in the
lower grades.
The entire
purpose of the western school system of the Garden was
socialization. The forenoon periods of recess were
devoted to practical horticulture and agriculture, the
afternoon periods to competitive play. The evenings were
employed in social intercourse and the cultivation of
personal friendships. Religious and sexual training were
regarded as the province of the home, the duty of parents.
The teaching in
these schools included instruction regarding:
1. Health and
the care of the body.
2. The golden
rule, the standard of social intercourse.
3. The relation
of individual rights to group rights and community
obligations.
4. History and
culture of the various earth races.
5. Methods of
advancing and improving world trade.
6. Co-ordination
of conflicting duties and emotions.
7. The
cultivation of play, humor, and competitive substitutes for
physical fighting.
The schools, in
fact every activity of the Garden, were always open to
visitors. Unarmed observers were freely admitted to Eden for
short visits. To sojourn in the Garden a Urantian had to be
"adopted." He received instructions in the plan and purpose
of the Adamic bestowal, signified his intention to adhere
Page 836
to this mission, and then
made declaration of loyalty to the social rule of Adam and
the spiritual sovereignty of the Universal Father.
The laws of the
Garden were based on the older codes of Dalamatia and were
promulgated under seven heads:
1. The laws of health and
sanitation.
2. The social
regulations of the Garden.
3. The code of trade
and commerce.
4. The laws of fair
play and competition.
5. The laws of home
life.
6. The civil codes of
the golden rule.
7. The seven commands
of supreme moral rule.
The moral law of
Eden was little different from the seven commandments of
Dalamatia. But the Adamites taught many additional reasons
for these commands; for instance, regarding the injunction
against murder, the indwelling of the Thought Adjuster was
presented as an additional reason for not destroying human
life. They taught that "whoso sheds man's blood by man shall
his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man."
The public
worship hour of Eden was noon; sunset was the hour of family
worship. Adam did his best to discourage the use of set
prayers, teaching that effective prayer must be wholly
individual, that it must be the "desire of the soul"; but
the Edenites continued to use the prayers and forms handed
down from the times of Dalamatia. Adam also endeavored to
substitute the offerings of the fruit of the land for the
blood sacrifices in the religious ceremonies but had made
little progress before the disruption of the Garden.
Adam endeavored
to teach the races sex equality. The way Eve worked by the
side of her husband made a profound impression upon all
dwellers in the Garden. Adam definitely taught them that the
woman, equally with the man, contributes those life factors
which unite to form a new being. Theretofore, mankind had
presumed that all procreation resided in the "loins of the
father." They had looked upon the mother as being merely a
provision for nurturing the unborn and nursing the newborn.
Adam taught his
contemporaries all they could comprehend, but that was not
very much, comparatively speaking. Nevertheless, the more
intelligent of the races of earth looked forward eagerly to
the time when they would be permitted to intermarry with the
superior children of the violet race. And what a different
world Urantia would have become if this great plan of
uplifting the races had been carried out! Even as it was,
tremendous gains resulted from the small amount of the blood
of this imported race which the evolutionary peoples
incidentally secured.
And thus did
Adam work for the welfare and uplift of the world of his
sojourn. But it was a difficult task to lead these mixed and
mongrel peoples in the better way.
8. THE LEGEND OF
CREATION
The story of the
creation of Urantia in six days was based on the tradition
that Adam and Eve had spent just six days in their initial
survey of the Garden. This circumstance lent almost sacred
sanction to the time period of the week,
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which had been originally
introduced by the Dalamatians. Adam's spending six days
inspecting the Garden and formulating preliminary plans for
organization was not prearranged; it was worked out from day
to day. The choosing of the seventh day for worship was
wholly incidental to the facts herewith narrated.
The legend of
the making of the world in six days was an afterthought, in
fact, more than thirty thousand years afterwards. One
feature of the narrative, the sudden appearance of the sun
and moon, may have taken origin in the traditions of the
onetime sudden emergence of the world from a dense space
cloud of minute matter which had long obscured both sun and
moon.
The story of
creating Eve out of Adam's rib is a confused condensation of
the Adamic arrival and the celestial surgery connected with
the interchange of living substances associated with the
coming of the corporeal staff of the Planetary Prince more
than four hundred and fifty thousand years previously.
The majority of
the world's peoples have been influenced by the tradition
that Adam and Eve had physical forms created for them upon
their arrival on Urantia. The belief in man's having been
created from clay was well-nigh universal in the Eastern
Hemisphere; this tradition can be traced from the Philippine
Islands around the world to Africa. And many groups accepted
this story of man's clay origin by some form of special
creation in the place of the earlier beliefs in progressive
creation--evolution.
Away from the
influences of Dalamatia and Eden, mankind tended toward the
belief in the gradual ascent of the human race. The fact of
evolution is not a modern discovery; the ancients understood
the slow and evolutionary character of human progress. The
early Greeks had clear ideas of this despite their proximity
to Mesopotamia. Although the various races of earth became
sadly mixed up in their notions of evolution, nevertheless,
many of the primitive tribes believed and taught that they
were the descendants of various animals. Primitive peoples
made a practice of selecting for their "totems" the animals
of their supposed ancestry. Certain North American Indian
tribes believed they originated from beavers and coyotes.
Certain African tribes teach that they are descended from
the hyena, a Malay tribe from the lemur, a New Guinea group
from the parrot.
The Babylonians,
because of immediate contact with the remnants of the
civilization of the Adamites, enlarged and embellished the
story of man's creation; they taught that he had descended
directly from the gods. They held to an aristocratic origin
for the race which was incompatible with even the doctrine
of creation out of clay.
The Old
Testament account of creation dates from long after the time
of Moses; he never taught the Hebrews such a distorted
story. But he did present a simple and condensed narrative
of creation to the Israelites, hoping thereby to augment his
appeal to worship the Creator, the Universal Father, whom he
called the Lord God of Israel.
In his early
teachings, Moses very wisely did not attempt to go back of
Adam's time, and since Moses was the supreme teacher of the
Hebrews, the stories of Adam became intimately associated
with those of creation. That the earlier traditions
recognized pre-Adamic civilization is clearly shown by the
fact that later editors, intending to eradicate all
reference to human affairs before Adam's time, neglected to
remove the telltale reference to Cain's emigration to the
"land of Nod," where he took himself a wife.
Page 838
The Hebrews had no
written language in general usage for a long time after they
reached Palestine. They learned the use of an alphabet from
the neighboring Philistines, who were political refugees
from the higher civilization of Crete. The Hebrews did
little writing until about 900 B.C., and having no written
language until such a late date, they had several different
stories of creation in circulation, but after the Babylonian
captivity they inclined more toward accepting a modified
Mesopotamian version.
Jewish tradition
became crystallized about Moses, and because he endeavored
to trace the lineage of Abraham back to Adam, the Jews
assumed that Adam was the first of all mankind. Yahweh was
the creator, and since Adam was supposed to be the first
man, he must have made the world just prior to making Adam.
And then the tradition of Adam's six days got woven into the
story, with the result that almost a thousand years after
Moses' sojourn on earth the tradition of creation in six
days was written out and subsequently credited to him.
When the Jewish
priests returned to Jerusalem, they had already completed
the writing of their narrative of the beginning of things.
Soon they made claims that this recital was a recently
discovered story of creation written by Moses. But the
contemporary Hebrews of around 500 B.C. did not consider
these writings to be divine revelations; they looked upon
them much as later peoples regard mythological narratives.
This spurious
document, reputed to be the teachings of Moses, was brought
to the attention of Ptolemy, the Greek king of Egypt, who
had it translated into Greek by a commission of seventy
scholars for his new library at Alexandria. And so this
account found its place among those writings which
subsequently became a part of the later collections of the
"sacred scriptures" of the Hebrew and Christian religions.
And through identification with these theological systems,
such concepts for a long time profoundly influenced the
philosophy of many Occidental peoples.
The Christian
teachers perpetuated the belief in the fiat creation of the
human race, and all this led directly to the formation of
the hypothesis of a onetime golden age of utopian bliss and
the theory of the fall of man or superman which accounted
for the nonutopian condition of society. These outlooks on
life and man's place in the universe were at best
discouraging since they were predicated upon a belief in
retrogression rather than progression, as well as implying a
vengeful Deity, who had vented wrath upon the human race in
retribution for the errors of certain onetime planetary
administrators.
The "golden age"
is a myth, but Eden was a fact, and the Garden civilization
was actually overthrown. Adam and Eve carried on in the
Garden for one hundred and seventeen years when, through the
impatience of Eve and the errors of judgment of Adam, they
presumed to turn aside from the ordained way, speedily
bringing disaster upon themselves and ruinous retardation
upon the developmental progression of all Urantia.
[Narrated by
Solonia, the seraphic "voice in the Garden."] |