Paper 85 Overview: The Origins of Worship

Paper 85 explores the evolutionary origins of primitive religion, which emerged as a biologic phenomenon unrelated to moral development or spiritual influence. This natural evolutionary process began with human fears and was manifested through illusions that higher animals, lacking such imaginative capacity, do not experience. The narrative traces worship's evolutionary pathway from nature veneration through increasingly complex forms, demonstrating how primitive worship initially focused on tangible, proximate objects and phenomena before gradually developing more abstract conceptualizations.

The progression of worship forms represents a fundamental record of humankind's cognitive and social development, moving from stones and geographic features to plants and animals, then to natural forces and celestial bodies, and ultimately to the veneration of humans themselves. Throughout this evolutionary process, the adjutant mind-spirits of worship and wisdom played crucial roles, with the sixth adjutant stimulating the worship impulse regardless of its primitive manifestations, and the seventh adjutant eventually facilitating the transition from object-oriented nature worship to the recognition of a transcendent Creator. This evolutionary pattern reveals how genuine religion emerged through the redirection of basic human impulses toward increasingly abstract and transcendent conceptions of deity.

Primitive religion had a biologic origin, a natural evolutionary development, aside from moral associations and apart from all spiritual influences. The higher animals have fears but no illusions, hence no religion. Man creates his primitive religions out of his fears and by means of his illusions.

In the evolution of the human species, worship in its primitive manifestations appears long before the mind of man is capable of formulating the more complex concepts of life now and in the hereafter, which deserve to be called religion. Early religion was wholly intellectual in nature and was entirely predicated on associational circumstances. The objects of worship were altogether suggestive; they consisted of the things of nature which were close at hand, or which loomed large in the commonplace experience of the simple-minded primitive Urantians.

The first object to be worshiped by evolving man was a stone, a practice that persists in contemporary times among certain peoples of India. Stones became objects of reverence for several reasons: their sudden and seemingly miraculous appearance in cultivated fields due to natural erosion processes, their occasional resemblance to animals or humans, and most significantly, the dramatic spectacle of meteoric stones traversing the atmosphere with fiery luminescence. These "shooting stars" were interpreted as spirit entities journeying earthward, engendering profound awe in primitive observers.

Sacred stones became integral to various cultural practices across ancient civilizations, with many modern groups still manifesting vestiges of stone veneration through their reverence for jewels and precious minerals. The ancient custom of stone veneration took diverse forms, from using stones as legal witness and talismanic objects to attributing healing properties to porous rocks, especially those with naturally occurring perforations. Following the evolution of stone worship, elevated land formations—particularly those composed of significant stone masses—became objects of veneration, with mountains eventually conceptualized as divine habitations, contrasting with caverns that were associated with malevolent spirits and the underworld.

The ancient clans and tribes had their sacred stones, and most modern peoples manifest a degree of veneration for certain types of stones: jewels. A group of five stones was reverenced in India; in Greece it was a cluster of thirty; among the red men it was usually a circle of stones. The Romans always threw a stone into the air when invoking Jupiter. In India even to this day a stone can be used as a witness. In some regions a stone may be employed as a talisman of the law, and by its prestige an offender can be haled into court. But simple mortals do not always identify Deity with an object of reverent ceremony. Such fetishes are many times mere symbols of the real object of worship.

Plants initially became objects of worship primarily because of the intoxicating substances derived from them, as primitive humans attributed divine properties to the altered states of consciousness produced by these substances. This association between intoxication and divinity has persisted throughout human history, reflected even in modern terminology referring to alcoholic beverages as "spirits." Agricultural phenomena, particularly the germination and growth of grain, evoked similar mystical interpretations, serving as metaphorical foundations for profound spiritual teachings across numerous religious traditions.

Tree worship constitutes one of humanity's earliest organized religious expressions, with trees playing central roles in significant social rituals such as marriages. Trees were venerated for their perceived medicinal properties, as primitive peoples interpreted chemical effects as direct manifestations of supernatural intervention. The anthropomorphic interpretation of trees varied considerably across cultures: Finnish traditions predominantly recognized benevolent tree spirits, while Swiss folklore portrayed trees as harboring deceitful entities. These ancient associations persist in contemporary practices such as the Christmas tree tradition, the Maypole celebration, and the superstitious custom of "knocking on wood," all vestiges of primordial tree veneration that predated the awakening of humanity's spiritual consciousness.

Many of these earliest forms of nature veneration became blended with the later evolving techniques of worship, but the earliest mind-adjutant-activated types of worship were functioning long before the newly awakening religious nature of mankind became fully responsive to the stimulus of spiritual influences.

Primitive humans maintained a unique empathetic relationship with higher animals, partly attributed to ancestral cohabitation and even interbreeding. In southern Asia, a prevalent belief emerged regarding the reincarnation of human souls in animal form, a concept derived from earlier animal worship practices. Early humans revered animals for their superior physical capabilities and instinctual intelligence, interpreting their acute sensory perceptions as evidence of spiritual guidance, a belief that contributed to the universal practice of animal worship across all racial groups at various points in their development.

The serpent attained particular prominence in numerous worship systems: Hebrews maintained serpent veneration until King Hezekiah's reformations, Hindus preserve amicable relationships with household snakes, and Chinese dragon worship represents an evolved form of serpent veneration. The serpent's association with wisdom in Greek medicine persists in contemporary medical symbolism, while the female shamans of ancient snake cults developed immunity through repeated exposure to venom, becoming physiologically dependent on the toxins. Religious symbolism frequently derived from animal imagery, with certain creatures becoming emblematic of vanished deities or obsolete cults. The lamb emerged as the archetypal sacrificial animal and the dove symbolizing peace and love. Such symbolism's efficacy depended entirely on whether it facilitated genuine worship or merely substituted for it.

In religion, symbolism may be either good or bad just to the extent that the symbol does or does not displace the original worshipful idea. And symbolism must not be confused with direct idolatry wherein the material object is directly and actually worshiped.

The elemental forces of earth, air, water, and fire have been objects of human worship throughout evolutionary history, with primitive cultures particularly revering bodies of water—springs, fountains, rivers, and torrents. Water veneration manifested in various religious practices, including baptismal rites in Babylon and ritual purification baths in ancient Greece. Primitive minds perceived flowing water as animated by spirits, sometimes refusing aid to drowning individuals for fear of offending river deities. Natural phenomena consistently served as religious catalysts across diverse cultures and historical periods, with interpretations varying significantly according to regional context.

Atmospheric conditions and meteorological events particularly evoked religious responses, with rainbows, winds, clouds, precipitation, and storms all inspiring worship or dread. The rainbow, for instance, is currently venerated by certain Indian hill tribes, interpreted as a celestial serpent in parts of Africa and India, yet regarded as a divine covenant symbol in Hebrew and Christian traditions. Wind similarly receives contradictory interpretations, considered benevolent in South America for bringing rain but malevolent in India, where it causes drought and dust storms. Fire worship reached its zenith in ancient Persia, where some groups venerated fire itself as a deity while others viewed it as a symbolic manifestation of divine purifying power, a practice whose vestiges persist in the ritual use of candles in contemporary religious observances.

No human emotion or impulse, when unbridled and overindulged, can produce so much harm and sorrow as this powerful sex urge. Intelligent submission of this impulse to the regulations of society is the supreme test of the actuality of any civilization. Self-control, more and more self-control, is the ever-increasing demand of advancing mankind. Secrecy, insincerity, and hypocrisy may obscure sex problems, but they do not provide solutions, nor do they advance ethics.

The evolutionary progression of worship naturally expanded from terrestrial objects—rocks, hills, trees, and animals—to celestial bodies, with stars frequently interpreted as the glorified souls of departed luminaries in various cultures, while Chaldean star cultists conceived of themselves as cosmic offspring of celestial and terrestrial divine parents. In this evolutionary sequence, lunar worship chronologically preceded solar veneration, reaching its apogee during the hunting era, whereas sun worship predominated during subsequent agricultural periods, establishing itself most firmly in India where it maintained exceptional longevity.

Solar worship demonstrated remarkable cultural persistence and influence, contributing to the development of the Mithraic cult in Persia and achieving such prominence that numerous civilizations positioned the sun centrally in their cosmological frameworks, with the Chaldeans placing it at the center of "the seven circles of the universe." The sun gained additional significance through its association with divine paternity, particularly in myths concerning virgin-born savior figures who were portrayed as being set adrift on sacred waters, miraculously rescued, and ultimately emerging as deliverers of favored peoples—a mythological pattern that reflects the profound psychological impact of celestial phenomena on early religious conceptualization.

The sun god was supposed to be the mystic father of the virgin-born sons of destiny who ever and anon were thought to be bestowed as saviors upon favored races. These supernatural infants were always put adrift upon some sacred river to be rescued in an extraordinary manner, after which they would grow up to become miraculous personalities and the deliverers of their peoples.

Having exhaustively venerated natural phenomena, mankind ultimately extended worship to include self-adoration, a development facilitated by the primitive mind's inability to clearly distinguish between animals, humans, and gods. Individuals with extraordinary characteristics were regarded as superhuman entities deserving reverential fear, including those with congenital abnormalities, mental disorders, and even twins, whose birth was considered either auspicious or inauspicious. Religious functionaries, monarchs, and prophets similarly received worshipful recognition, believed to be divinely inspired or inhabited.

The deification process extended beyond living individuals to include deceased notables, with tribal leaders posthumously elevated to divine status and distinguished individuals eventually canonized. This evolutionary pattern demonstrates the limitations of naturally developing religious concepts, which never generated deities transcending glorified human spirits—a fundamental distinction from revelatory religion, which endeavors to transform humans into God's likeness rather than creating gods in human image. The anthropomorphic cults incorporated both ghost deities derived from human origins and nature gods emerging from elemental worship, frequently intermingling these concepts, as exemplified by Thor, who embodied both ancestral heroism and meteorological power. Human worship reached its zenith when temporal authorities demanded veneration, often legitimizing such claims through purported divine lineage.

The ghost gods, who are of supposed human origin, should be distinguished from the nature gods, for nature worship did evolve a pantheon—nature spirits elevated to the position of gods. The nature cults continued to develop along with the later appearing ghost cults, and each exerted an influence upon the other. Many religious systems embraced a dual concept of deity, nature gods and ghost gods; in some theologies these concepts are confusingly intertwined, as is illustrated by Thor, a ghost hero who was also master of the lightning.

While nature worship appears to have developed spontaneously through primitive human cognitive processes, the sixth adjutant spirit was simultaneously operating within these early minds, serving as a directional influence throughout this evolutionary phase. This spirit persistently stimulated the worship impulse regardless of how rudimentary its initial manifestations might have been, providing a definite origin for humanity's inherent drive toward worship, even though this expression was initially motivated by animal fear and directed toward natural objects.

The primitive mind operated primarily through feeling rather than thinking, with little differentiation between fearing, avoiding, honoring, and worshiping, emotional responses that gradually evolved toward more refined religious expression. The critical transformation toward authentic religion began when the worship impulse became guided by wisdom through reflective and experiential thinking. The culmination of this evolutionary process occurred when the seventh adjutant spirit, the spirit of wisdom, achieved effective ministration, redirecting worship away from natural objects toward the God of nature and the ultimate Creator of all natural phenomena, thus marking the transition from primitive nature veneration to genuine spiritual worship.

When the worship urge is admonished and directed by wisdom, meditative and experiential thinking, it then begins to develop into the phenomenon of real religion. When the seventh adjutant spirit, the spirit of wisdom, achieves effective ministration, then in worship, man begins to turn away from nature and natural objects to the God of nature and to the eternal Creator of all things natural.