Paper 68 Overview: The Dawn of Civilization

This paper chronicles the lengthy evolutionary progression of human civilization from its primitive, animal-adjacent origins through various developmental stages to the emergence of genuine, albeit imperfect, civilization among the higher races of humankind. Civilization is portrayed as a racial acquisition rather than a biological inheritance, requiring the continual education of each generation. Superior qualities endure only through the enlightened preservation of social inheritance. Cooperative social evolution began under the guidance of the Dalamatia teachers, who nurtured group-activity concepts among early humans for 300,000 years, with varying benefits across the races.

Civilization's development is examined through six key lenses: protective socialization, factors in social progression, the socializing influence of ghost fear, the evolution of mores, land techniques (maintenance arts), and the broader evolution of culture. Across these themes, the primacy of the land-man relationship emerges as the fundamental determinant of social progress. Human intelligence, applied to the progressive mastery of land resources, enabled higher population densities and the leisure necessary for cultural advancement. Civilization is shown as a delicate balance between self-maintenance and self-gratification—the former fostering survival, the latter risking collapse when pursued in isolation.

This marks the beginning of the narrative of humanity’s long, arduous struggle, from a condition scarcely above animal existence, through intervening ages, to the later times when a real, though imperfect, civilization had emerged among the higher races of humankind. Civilization is a racial acquirement; it is not biologically inherent. Therefore, all children must be reared in a cultured environment, and each new generation must be educated anew. The superior qualities of civilization—scientific, philosophical, and religious—are not passed down by direct inheritance. These cultural achievements endure only through the enlightened preservation of social inheritance.

The cooperative order of social evolution was initiated by the Dalamatia teachers, and for three hundred thousand years, humanity was nurtured in the concept of group activities. The races benefited from these early social teachings to varying degrees.

When brought closely together, men often learn to like one another, but primitive man was not naturally overflowing with the spirit of brotherly feeling and the desire for social contact with his fellows. The early races learned through painful experience that "in union there is strength," yet this fundamental lack of natural brotherly attraction continues to impede the immediate realization of human brotherhood on Urantia. Association rapidly became the price of survival, as the lone individual was profoundly vulnerable without a tribal designation that testified to group membership and guaranteed collective retribution against any assault. Even during the era of Cain, venturing forth without some mark of group affiliation proved fatally dangerous, demonstrating how civilization evolved as humanity's insurance against violent death, with the premiums paid through submission to society's numerous legal demands.

Primitive human beings quickly discovered that groups were vastly more powerful than the mere summation of their individual constituents. One hundred coordinated individuals could move massive stones, while a small contingent of trained guardians could effectively restrain an angry mob. Society thus emerged not merely from numerical association but from the organized coordination of intelligent cooperators. Cooperation, however, is not an innate human characteristic; it was initially acquired through fear and subsequently valued for its practical benefits in addressing temporal difficulties and guarding against supposed eternal perils. Despite humanity's many missteps, civilization has steadily advanced on Urantia precisely because of the enhanced survival value provided by social association. The contemporary survival of primitive antisocial conditions among certain isolated peoples—characterized by suspicion, hostility, and communication barriers—offers compelling evidence that natural individualism cannot successfully compete against the more potent organizational structures of social progression.

The modern phrase, "back to nature," represents a delusion stemming from ignorance, a misguided belief in the fictitious "golden age." The only historical basis for the golden age legend lies in the documented existence of Dalamatia and Eden, yet even these improved societies fell considerably short of utopian ideals.

Civilized society emerged from humanity's early efforts to overcome an inherent dislike of isolation, though this development did not necessarily indicate mutual affection among individuals. The present turbulent state of certain primitive groups illustrates the challenging evolutionary pathway that early tribes traversed. Although individuals within a civilization may clash and struggle against one another, and civilization itself may appear as an inconsistent mass of competing efforts, it nonetheless manifests earnest striving rather than the deadly monotony of stagnation. While intelligence has contributed significantly to the pace of cultural advancement, society fundamentally functions to mitigate risk in individual existence, progressing in direct proportion to its success in reducing pain and enhancing pleasure. The social collective thus inches forward toward its destiny, either extinction or survival, contingent upon whether its orientation favors self-maintenance, which fosters society, or excessive self-gratification, which ultimately destroys civilization.

Society primarily concerns itself with self-perpetuation, self-maintenance, and self-gratification, though human self-realization merits consideration as an immediate objective for many cultural groups. The natural herd instinct alone proves insufficient to explain the sophisticated social organization present on Urantia, as much of human sociability represents an acquired characteristic rather than an innate tendency. Two powerful forces that facilitated early human association were food hunger and sexual attraction, instinctive urges shared with the animal kingdom. Two additional emotions that drew humans together and maintained their association were vanity and fear, particularly fear of ghosts. History essentially chronicles humanity's prolonged struggle for nourishment; primitive humans engaged in serious thought primarily when hungry, with food conservation representing their first exercise in self-denial and self-discipline. As society evolved, various forms of hunger beyond mere food needs prompted closer human association. Contemporary society now struggles under the excessive weight of supposed human necessities, with Western civilization in the twentieth century straining under the burden of luxury and the inordinate multiplication of desires and aspirations.

Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its foundation in the family. The family represented the first successful peace group, where men and women learned to reconcile their natural antagonisms while simultaneously teaching peaceful practices to their offspring. Marriage functionally serves evolution by ensuring race survival rather than merely providing personal happiness; self-maintenance and self-perpetuation constitute the authentic objectives of the home, with self-gratification being incidental rather than essential except as motivation for sexual association. Nature demands survival, while civilization's arts continuously enhance the pleasures of marriage and family satisfaction. Vanity, expanded to encompass pride, ambition, and honor, contributed to human association by creating emotions that required a social arena for expression and gratification. This emotional cluster eventually gave rise to the early foundations of all art forms, ceremonial practices, and competitive games and contests.

Primitive desires produced the original society, but ghost fear held it together and imparted an extrahuman aspect to its existence. Common fear originated physiologically: fear of physical pain, unsatisfied hunger, or earthly calamity; however, ghost fear introduced a new and sublime form of terror that transcended immediate physical concerns. The ghost dream arguably constituted the single most influential factor in human social evolution, genuinely terrorizing early humans and driving these superstitious dreamers into willing and earnest association for mutual protection against the vague, unseen dangers of the spirit world. This phenomenon represented one of the earliest distinguishing characteristics between animal and human mentality, as animals lack the capacity to visualize post-mortem survival.

Except for this ghost component, early society was founded entirely on fundamental needs and basic biological urges. Ghost fear introduced an element that extended beyond individual elemental needs, a fear that transcended immediate survival concerns. The dread of departed spirits revealed an astonishing new form of fear, an appalling terror that contributed to transforming the loosely organized social structures of primitive eras into the more thoroughly disciplined and controlled primitive communities of ancient times. This seemingly irrational superstition, remnants of which persist today, prepared human minds for the later discovery of "the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom." Evolution's baseless fears were designed to be supplanted by reverence for Deity through revelation. The early cult of ghost fear became a powerful social bond, and humanity has since striven continually for spiritual attainment. Hunger and love drew humans together, while vanity and ghost fear maintained their association, yet these emotions alone, without peace-promoting revelations, proved insufficient to withstand the tensions and irritations inherent in human interactions. Without superhuman assistance, societal pressures fracture upon reaching certain thresholds, and the very influences of social mobilization—hunger, love, vanity, and fear—conspire to plunge humanity into conflict and bloodshed.

The peace tendency of the human race does not represent a natural endowment but derives from the teachings of revealed religion, the accumulated experience of progressive races, and most significantly, the teachings of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

All contemporary social institutions originate from the evolutionary development of the primitive customs established by savage ancestors; today's conventions represent modified and expanded versions of yesterday's customs. What habit signifies to the individual, custom embodies for the group; group customs eventually evolve into folkways or tribal traditions. From these early beginnings, all modern human societal institutions derive their humble origins. The mores originated from efforts to adapt group living to the conditions of mass existence, emerging from humanity's attempt to avoid pain and humiliation while simultaneously pursuing pleasure and power. The genesis of folkways, like that of languages, invariably occurs unconsciously and unintentionally, thus remaining perpetually shrouded in mystery.

Ghost fear compelled primitive humans to conceptualize the supernatural, thereby establishing the foundations for those powerful social influences of ethics and religion that preserved societal mores across generations. The critical factor that initially established and crystallized the mores was the belief that the dead harbored jealousy regarding the customs by which they had lived and died, and would consequently inflict severe punishment upon living mortals who dared to treat these established rules with casual disregard. This dynamic finds modern illustration in the Chinese reverence for ancestors, while later religious developments further reinforced ghost fear's role in stabilizing mores, though advancing civilization has progressively liberated humanity from fear's bondage and superstition's slavery. Before the liberating and liberalizing instruction provided by the Dalamatia teachers, ancient humans remained helpless victims of ritual mores; primitive savages were constrained by endless ceremonial requirements, with every action from morning awakening to evening retirement performed in strict accordance with tribal folkways. They existed as slaves to usage's tyranny, their lives devoid of freedom, spontaneity, or originality, with no natural progression toward higher mental, moral, or social existence.

Early humans were powerfully constrained by custom, with savages functioning essentially as slaves to usage; nevertheless, throughout history, variants from the typical have emerged who dared to introduce innovative thinking and improved living methodologies. Nonetheless, primitive humanity's inertia served as a biological safety mechanism against precipitous decline into the ruinous maladaptations of excessively rapid civilization. These customs, however, do not represent unmitigated evils; their evolution should continue, though wholesale modification through radical revolution would prove nearly fatal to civilization's continuity. Custom has provided the thread of continuity binding civilization together throughout its development. History's pathway is strewn with discarded customs and obsolete social practices, yet no civilization has endured after abandoning its mores except through the adoption of superior and more appropriate customs. A society's survival depends primarily on the progressive evolution of its mores, a process originating from experimentation and the presentation of new ideas, followed by competition. Progressive civilizations embrace innovative concepts and endure, while time and circumstances ultimately select the most suitable groups for survival. This does not imply that every isolated change in human society's composition represents improvement; indeed, Urantia's long civilizational struggle has witnessed numerous retrogressions.

Land constitutes the stage upon which society performs, with humans functioning as actors who must continuously adjust their performances to conform to the prevailing land situation. The evolution of mores invariably depends on the land-man ratio, regardless of how difficult this relationship may be to discern. Humanity's land technique, or maintenance arts, combined with standards of living, equals the total sum of folkways and mores. Similarly, the aggregate of human adjustments to life's demands constitutes cultural civilization. The earliest human cultures emerged along the rivers of the Eastern Hemisphere, and civilization's forward progression encompassed four significant evolutionary stages.

The first stage involved collection, food coercion and hunger leading to primitive industrial organization through food-gathering lines that sometimes extended ten miles as they traversed land seeking nourishment. This represented humanity's earliest nomadic cultural phase, similar to the lifestyle currently practiced by African Bushmen. The second stage emerged with hunting, enabled by the invention of weapon tools that provided considerable liberation from food dependency. An Andonite who had severely bruised his fist in combat discovered the concept of extending his arm's reach with a stick and enhancing his striking power by attaching flint with sinews. This was an innovation independently discovered by multiple tribes and representing a significant civilizational advancement. The blue race became particularly skilled hunters and trappers, employing ingenious snares and traps, though most primitive races avoided hunting larger animals. The third stage involved pastoral development, made possible through animal domestication, as exemplified by Arabs and African tribes. Pastoral living offered additional freedom from food dependence, allowing humans to live from their capital's interest—their expanding flocks—which provided increased leisure for cultural advancement. Pre-pastoral society exhibited sexual cooperation, but animal husbandry's emergence relegated women to profound social servitude, dramatically diminishing their status throughout the pastoral era.

The fourth and highest material civilization stage centered on agriculture, introduced through plant domestication. Both Caligastia and Adam endeavored to teach horticulture and agriculture, with Adam and Eve functioning as gardeners rather than shepherds; gardening representing an advanced culture for that era. Plant cultivation exerts an ennobling influence across all human races, quadrupling earth's land-man ratio while potentially complementing the pastoral pursuits of the preceding cultural phase. Throughout history, friction has persisted between herders and soil cultivators, with hunters and herders exhibiting militant tendencies while agriculturalists demonstrate more peace-loving characteristics. Animal association suggests struggle and force, while plant association instills patience and tranquility, though agriculture and industrialism's weakness as global social activities lies in their lack of excitement and adventure. Human society has progressed from hunting through herding to the territorial agricultural stage, with each civilizational advancement accompanied by decreasing nomadism and increasing permanent settlement. Contemporary industry now supplements agriculture, leading to increased urbanization and multiplication of non-agricultural citizenship classes, though industrial society cannot survive if its leaders fail to recognize that even the highest social developments must ultimately rest upon a sound agricultural foundation.

Man remains fundamentally a creature of the soil, a child of nature who, despite earnest attempts to escape from the land, will ultimately fail in this endeavor. The scriptural truth "Dust you are and to dust shall you return" applies literally to all humanity. Mankind's essential struggle was, is, and always shall be for land. The earliest human social associations formed specifically to prevail in these land contests, with the land-man ratio underlying all social civilization. Through intelligence applied via arts and sciences, humanity has increased land productivity while simultaneously moderating natural population growth, thereby providing the sustenance and leisure necessary for developing cultural civilization.

Human society operates according to a law stipulating that population must vary directly with land arts and inversely with a given living standard. Throughout early history, more than in the present, the law of supply and demand governing people and land determined the estimated value of both. During periods of abundant land and unoccupied territory, human need was great, thus enhancing human life's value and making loss of life more horrifying. Conversely, during times of land scarcity and associated overpopulation, human life became comparatively devalued, rendering war, famine, and pestilence less concerning. When land productivity decreases or population increases, the inevitable struggle renews, revealing humanity's worst traits. Improved land yield, mechanical arts extension, and population reduction collectively promote the development of human nature's better aspects.

Frontier society develops humanity's unskilled facets, while fine arts and genuine scientific advancement, alongside spiritual culture, have thrived optimally in larger population centers supported by agricultural and industrial populations slightly below the land-man ratio. Cities invariably amplify their inhabitants' power for either benevolence or malevolence. Family size has consistently reflected living standards, with higher standards correlating with smaller families, eventually reaching a point of established status or gradual extinction. Throughout history, living standards have determined the quality of surviving populations in contrast to mere quantity. Local class standards create new social castes and mores, though when standards become excessively complicated or luxurious, they rapidly become self-destructive. Caste systems directly result from the intense social pressure generated by fierce competition among dense populations. Primitive races employed various population-control practices, from infanticide to abortion, though civilized groups gradually abandoned such measures as maternal affection prevailed. From a global perspective, overpopulation has never presented a serious historical problem, but if warfare diminishes and science increasingly controls diseases, it may become critical in the near future, presenting world leadership with the challenge of fostering average, stabilized humans rather than extremes of supernormal individuals or expanding subnormal groups.