PAPER 74
ADAM AND EVE
74:0.1 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
74:1.1 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.
74:1.2 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.
74:1.3 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.
74:1.4 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 to the Urantia corps of
Melchizedek receivers until that governing body should see fit to relinquish
rule on the world of their assignment.
74:1.5 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.
74:1.6 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
74:2.1 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.
74:2.2 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.
74:2.3 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.
74:2.4 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.
74:2.5 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 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.
74:2.6 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.
74:2.7 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.
74:2.8 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
74:3.1 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.
74:3.2 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.
74:3.3 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 of the
divine plan of progression. And thus ended a sad but enlightening day -- their
second on Urantia.
74:3.4 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.
74:3.5 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.
74:3.6 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.
74:3.7 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.
74:3.8 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.
74:3.9 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.
74:3.10 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.
4. THE FIRST UPHEAVAL
74:4.1 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.
74:4.2 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.
74:4.3 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.
74:4.4 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!
74:4.5 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.
74:4.6 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, 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
74:5.1 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.
74:5.2 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.
74:5.3 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.
74:5.4 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.
74:5.5 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.
74:5.6 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.
74:5.7 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.
74:5.8 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
74:6.1 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.
74:6.2 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.
74:6.3 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.
74:6.4 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.
74:6.5 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.
74:6.6 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 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.
74:6.7 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.
74:6.8 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.
74:6.9 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
74:7.1 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.
74:7.2 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.
74:7.3 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.
74:7.4 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 to this mission, and then made
declaration of loyalty to the social rule of Adam and the spiritual
sovereignty of the Universal Father.
74:7.5 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.
74:7.6 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."
74:7.7 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.
74:7.8 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.
74:7.9 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.
74:7.10 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
74:8.1 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, 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.
74:8.2 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.
74:8.3 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.
74:8.4 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.
74:8.5 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.
74:8.6 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.
74:8.7 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.
74:8.8 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.
74:8.9 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.
74:8.10 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.
74:8.11 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.
74:8.12 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.
74:8.13 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.
74:8.14 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.
74:8.15 Narrated by
Solonia, the seraphic "voice in the Garden."
