Episode:Civilization—Human Government (Part 6)

From Symmetry of Soul


Nature confers no rights on man, only life and a world in which to live it. Natural justice is a man-made theory; it is not a reality. In nature, justice is purely theoretic, wholly a fiction. Nature provides but one kind of justice—inevitable conformity of results to causes.

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Keywords: Urantia, Social Classes, Human Rights, Equality, Justice

Summary by Kermit

Commentary on Review

Having begun the section on social classes the previous week we commented on the disquietude some of us felt concerning the stratification of our society. Objective assessment about social issues and the inequalities encountered therein is very difficult to achieve in light of the heightened spiritual consciousness of our time. This very point speaks to the conditions that prompted our superuniverse administrators to send us the 5th ER. The willful denial of these rugged truths concerning the origin and nature of these inequalities that give rise to social classes presents a major obstacle to their amelioration.

70:8.13 Social Classes (cont.)

We began our reading by repeating the final paragraph from last week, where we are told that “…flexible and shifting social classes are indispensable to an evolving civilization.” Emphasis here is on the flexible and shifting nature of the social classes. The petrification of classes into castes brings some features of stability to society, but sharply curtails individual (personal) development and prevents social cooperation. The bias toward a spiritual consciousness leads to thinking of these issues in existential terms and rather than connecting with eternity, petrification is the result. We discussed the actual “physics” whereby this petrification takes place. This discussion included elucidation of dynamics of personality function, spirit dominance over mind and the vertical nature of evolution versus the horizontal nature of adaptability. A bottom line take away here is that formation of castes is a sign of diminishing personality activity. For those who wish to go deeper into the revelation, the archive of this discussion is most illuminating.

Our author’s prescription for obliterating classes in society involves the intelligent manipulation of the three-fold functionality as it pertains to civilization, beginning with biologic renovation of the racial stocks notably the elimination of inferior human strains. Stemming from this material level intervention comes enhanced educational training enabled by the increased brain power, and culminating in the religious quickening of the feelings of mortal kinship and brotherhood. We discussed this material at some length, particularly the controversial issue of rehabilitating our genetics via genetic engineering plus positive and negative eugenics. It must be remembered that the issues of the colored races and defective, degenerate, and unfit human stocks are separate issues and are not to be conflated or confused.

The final paragraph of this section is a sobering reminder that even when the manipulation of the biologic, intellectual, and spiritual resources of a progressing civilization are underway, it will take many millennia before the true fruits of these efforts will be evident. Given this very long term prognosis, we are enjoined in the revelation to exercise patience and seek wisdom going forward, and resist the temptation fueled by the zeal of our spiritual consciousness to seek quick solutions to these long term problems.

70:9. Human Rights

As if the previous section was not rugged enough, this section on human rights is even more challenging. The ardency of our feeling about human rights leads many of us to infer that they are innate. Our innate moral discrimination (2nd cosmic intuition) gives us the ideas of right and wrong, but does not guide us to what, and how to apply them. Conventional wisdom and conscience comes to us from the mores of man and not the morality of the cosmos. We are challenged to develop an objective awareness with respect to the whole domain of human rights. The only rights conferred on us by nature are life and a world in which to live it. Thus we have a right to life, but not a right to live. Rights are a social phenomenon and closely connected to the mores. Society’s prime gift to man is security. The text presents ten rights extant at the present time, covering a wide range of the domains of advancing civilization. Distinguishing true morals from the mores is a continual challenge. That which is moral is that which conforms to the cosmos. As our civilization evolves, the mores become a more accurate reflection of the universal harmony of the cosmos.

We spent some time talking about item number 10: The guarantee of the freedom of religious practices to the end that all of these other social activities may be exalted by becoming spiritually motivated. The alignment of this item with item #1 of the United States Bill of Rights, freedom of religious practice, was not lost on the SoS team in this season of our country’s celebrating Independence Day.

Our author reminds us again that natural rights aren’t really natural, but entirely social, calling them casually nothing more than “rules of the game.” We are pointedly reminded further that the survival of large numbers of defectives and degenerates is simply because our mores so dictate and not because of any inherent rights. That is not to say that the distinction between mores and true morals is easy. A suggestion in attempting this distinction is in a reflective state of mind to substitute the word mores everywhere we encounter the term moral and begin to ask what is moral and morality.

It was a revolt from the mores of the European Middle Ages wherein human rights were only privileges granted by the state or church, that led to the erroneous belief that all men are born equal. We spent time discussing the critical difference in the meaning between this error and the statement found in our Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.”

The final paragraph of the section attempts to get us to clarify our false notions of equality among men and society’s purpose to fairly and with equity administer the varying rights of each human being.

We concluded our broadcast with a timely and enlightening examination of the inalienable rights endowed by our creator, as found in the words of our Declaration of Independence, of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And they in turn expand the term happiness to include the elements of self-maintenance, self-perpetuation, and some measure of self-gratification.