Paper 68 Overview: The Dawn of Civilization

This paper recounts the long struggle of humanity from a primitive, animal-like existence through various developmental stages toward the achievement of imperfect but genuine civilization. Civilization is presented as the accumulated experience of the race, not a biological inheritance, and must be learned anew by each generation. Social evolution began with the Dalamatia teachers 300,000 years ago, with different races benefiting to varying degrees from these early teachings.

Several critical aspects of development are explored, including protective socialization, factors driving social progression, the influence of ghost fear, the evolution of customs and mores, land techniques, and the broader growth of culture. The fundamental relationship between land and humanity is emphasized, showing how the land-man ratio has consistently shaped social progress. Intelligence, cooperation, and adaptation to environmental conditions have guided advancement, even amid frequent setbacks across the ages.

This marks the beginning of the narrative of humanity’s long 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, whether scientific, philosophical, or 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.

Primitive humans were not naturally inclined toward brotherly feelings or social contact with their fellows. Early races learned through difficult experiences that "in union there is strength," though this lack of natural brotherly attraction continues to hinder the immediate realization of human brotherhood today. Association became the price of survival, as a lone individual was helpless without a tribal mark showing group membership, which would ensure that any assault would be avenged by the group.

Society developed as humanity's insurance against violent death, with the premiums paid by submission to numerous social requirements. Primitive humans discovered that groups working in unison were greater than the sum of individual efforts, as exemplified by how one hundred united men could move a great stone, or how trained guardians could restrain an angry mob. Cooperation, though not a natural human trait, was learned first through fear and later because it proved beneficial for addressing life's challenges and supposed eternal perils, leading to the steady progression of civilization despite numerous setbacks.

Civilization resulted from humanity's efforts to overcome dislike of isolation, though this didn't necessarily indicate mutual affection. Despite apparent inconsistencies and struggles between individuals within a civilization, the social body evidences an earnest striving rather than stagnation, pushing slowly toward either extinction or survival depending on whether its goal is self-maintenance or self-gratification. While intelligence has contributed to cultural progress, society primarily advances by lessening risk in individual living and increasing life's pleasures.

The herd instinct alone cannot account for human social organization, as much of human sociability is acquired rather than innate. Food hunger and sex love were two primary instinctive urges that brought humans together, while vanity and fear (particularly ghost fear) held them together. Historical records show humanity's long food struggle, though today's civilization has become burdened with luxury and multiplied desires. The family emerged as the first successful peace group when men and women learned to adjust their differences while teaching peaceful pursuits to their children, making it the foundation of nearly everything valuable in civilization.

Primitive desires produced the original society, but ghost fear held it together and added an extra-human aspect to its existence. The greatest single factor in human social evolution was the ghost dream, which truly terrified early humans and drove these superstitious dreamers together in willing association for mutual protection against imagined dangers of the spirit world. This represented one of the earliest distinctions between animal and human mind, as animals do not visualize survival after death.

Ghost fear introduced a factor beyond the elemental needs of the individual, bringing a new and powerful form of terror that helped transform loose social orders into more thoroughly disciplined groups. This seemingly senseless superstition prepared human minds for the later discovery of "the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom," with baseless evolutionary fears designed to be replaced by awe for Deity through revelation. While hunger, love, vanity, and ghost fear drove humans together, these emotions alone could not endure the strain of human suspicions without help from superhuman sources, as the peace tendency in humans derives primarily from revealed religion and especially the teachings of Jesus.

All modern social institutions have evolved from the primitive customs of our savage ancestors, with today's conventions representing modified and expanded customs from yesterday. What habit is to the individual, custom is to the group, and these group customs developed into folkways or tribal traditions that became the foundation of all present-day human institutions. These mores originated from efforts to adjust group living to the conditions of mass existence, helping people avoid pain and humiliation while seeking pleasure and power.

Ghost fear drove primitive humans to envision the supernatural, laying foundations for ethics and religion which preserved societal customs across generations. Before the liberating teachings of the Dalamatia instructors, primitive people were controlled by endless rituals and ceremonies, with everything done according to strict tribal customs. Despite this restrictive environment, there occasionally emerged individuals who dared to introduce new ways of thinking and improved methods of living. The evolution of customs has been essential to civilization's continuity, as societies that abandoned their customs without adopting better ones have not survived, demonstrating that while customs shouldn't be changed wholesale through radical revolution, their gradual evolution is necessary for social progress.

Land serves as the stage for society, with humans as actors who must adjust their performances to the land situation. The evolution of mores always depends on the land-man ratio, though this relationship may be difficult to discern. Human land techniques (maintenance arts) combined with standards of living constitute the sum of folkways and mores, while the total of human adjustments to life's demands equals cultural civilization.

The earliest human cultures developed along rivers in the Eastern Hemisphere, progressing through four major steps: the collection stage (food gathering), the hunting stage (weapon tools), the pastoral stage (animal domestication), and the agricultural stage (plant cultivation). Each stage provided increasing freedom from food slavery, with agriculture representing the highest form of material civilization. Agriculture quadrupled the land-man ratio, allowing more people to be supported on the same land area, and could be combined with pastoral pursuits from the previous cultural stage. Throughout history, humans have become less nomadic with each progressive stage of civilization, increasingly settling in permanent homes.

Humans are creatures of the soil and children of nature who, despite their efforts to escape from the land, ultimately cannot separate themselves from it. The fundamental struggle of humanity has always been for land, with the first social associations forming to win these land struggles. The relationship between land and people forms the foundation of all social civilization, determining the value of both human life and land itself.

Human intelligence, through arts and sciences, has increased land productivity while somewhat controlling population growth, providing the sustenance and leisure needed to build cultural civilization. Throughout history, human life has been more valued during times of plentiful land and devalued during periods of land scarcity and overpopulation. Improved land yield, mechanical arts development, and appropriate population levels foster development of humanity's better nature, while frontier society tends to develop unskilled aspects of humanity. Fine arts and scientific progress have thrived best in larger life centers supported by agricultural and industrial populations slightly under the land-man ratio, with cities either amplifying their inhabitants' potential for good or evil depending on their development.