Episode:Civilization—Human Government (Part 3)

From Symmetry of Soul


The peace of Urantia will be promoted far more by international trade organizations than by all the sentimental sophistry of visionary peace planning. Money has become the universal language for peace and trade. Modern society is largely held together by the industrial market.

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Keywords: Urantia, Clans, Tribes, Foreigners, Treaties

Summary by Kermit

Commentary on Review

Concerning the movement away from war on our world, we spoke about the problem of the enormous disparity among the peoples of the world in terms of their social and cultural status along the path towards civilization. While the peoples on the leading edge of this path may be capable of finding peaceful substitutes for the social benefits of war, there are many peoples for whom war is still indispensable to their progression from tribal cultures to nation states. Additionally, the broad discrepancy between the peoples of the leading edge of advancing civilization and its trailing tail, not found on normal inhabited worlds, gives rise to the phenomenon of colonialism, which has social benefits of its own, but like war becomes inimical to progressing civilization if it persists.

Technological progress in transportation and communication plus the powerful ministries of the Spirit of Truth and the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters represent positive influences for finding these peaceful substitutes, but it remains that in order for the spirit ministries to have a salutary effect, individuals must be prepared to access them. Such a life on such a planet!

70:3. Early Human Associations

As we saw in our arc on marriage and family, and the series on primitive institutions, human associations begin in the most primitive societies with the horde. The horde is the manifestation of the previously mentioned illusion of primitive equality. The idea of equality is one of the most rudimentary distinctions between humans and animals. This primitive notion of equality betokens a spiritual nature. How ironic that in terms of the threefold actuality of individuality, associativity, and unity our human origins begin with an undifferentiated unity of the horde. The parallel progression in the big picture of the evolutionary domain begins in the unity of the Central Universe and individuates into the seven fold pattern of the superuniverses of time and space. Unity is the beginning, not the end.

The primal instinctual nature of sex hunger in the male, and mother love in the female drives the individuation of the horde into families. Human government activity appears when superfamily groups begin to form. Blood ties among families give rise to clans, and thence to tribes. Warfare along with other external pressures forced tribal organization upon the clans, but it was commerce and trade that held them together with some degree of internal peace.

International trade and not the “sentimental sophistry of visionary peace planning” will be more effective in promoting peace on our world. A great example of how turned around we are in our efforts to secure our future can be found in the current day use of the word visionary. Contemporary widespread use of this word is to mean far seeing, notwithstanding that the accepted dictionary definition today gives its meaning as: “given to or characterized by fanciful, not presently workable, or unpractical ideas, views, or schemes.” We further discussed the idea that language comes down from the cosmos and the difficulties that ensue from its incorrect usage in thought and word.

The absence of a common language is an obstacle to the growth of peace groups, but money now serves as a universal language of trade. Here we see another indispensable factor in the growth of early civilization, the profit motive. And our author provides us with a blatant clue for going forward by joining the profit motive with the service motive. As we will see, this indispensable profit motive persists longer than the others as we progress through the developmental epochs of progressive civilization.

The remaining paragraphs of this section consist of vignettes depicting some of the practices of early man in his efforts to associate and organize on increasingly complex and hierarchical levels. The origins of common customs as wine toasting, and social kissing are here disclosed. The usage of sex gratification in combating the war urge was a primitive, but somewhat effective peace strategy. The humor of our Melchizedek author’s reference to the “firmly established peace” through the offering of maidens was not lost on the SoS team.

70:4. Clans and Tribes

The expansion of peace groups beginning first with the family and progressing up through clan, tribe, and beyond blood ties to nation, and eventually the modern territorial state is cited as most encouraging, notwithstanding the vast sums spent by modern nations in war preparations. We discussed how the organizing principle of association begins with the connections among people (blood ties) and transitions to place with the nation and territorial state.

We are told that the blood-tie group, the clans were held together as a result of various interests held in common, as: ancestors, religious totems, dialects, dwelling places, enemies, and military experience. The valuable purpose served by the clans in development of local self-government had a down side of delaying the growth of large and strong nations.

This evolutionary growth in complexity is characterized by the building up of hierarchies. The growth of ascendency of the clan, tribe, nation, and territorial state is mirrored in parallel to our universe administration. Clan (blood-tie groups) are analogous to the colored races, the tribe (collection of races) is analogous to an individual planet, nations have a counterpart in the local system, and the territorial state matches to the constellation level of universe administration in its legislative function.

Again the clue here is that genuine progress is characterized by a vertical, hierarchical movement, as opposed to horizontal movement, which while producing change, may not lead to growth.