Episode:Civilization—Modern Development (Part 2)

From Symmetry of Soul


About twelve thousand years ago the era of the independent cities was dawning. And these primitive trading and manufacturing centers were always surrounded by zones of agriculture and cattle raising. Traveling traders and roving explorers did more to advance civilization than all other influences combined.

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Keywords: Urantia, Trade, Manufacture, Cities, Races

Summary by Kermit

Commentary on Review

We commented on the erratic course of evolution on our world, and remarked that had the rebellion and default not occurred the administrations from on high would have contributed a more precise, patient, and evolutional influence on our world than the hit and miss path we now have.

81:3. Cities, Manufacture, and Commerce

We continue with the theme of recognizing the universal nature of the evolutionary process across all domains in the story of man’s march toward civilization. Climatic changes destroyed the hunting and grazing grounds of Turkestan, and these changes forced man’s transition away from hunting to more artificial engagement with environment in the pursuits of agriculture, industry, and commerce. We note that this transition beginning around 12,000 B.C. coincides in chronology with what would have been the fruition of an Edenic regime of approximately 25,000 years. These activities required a more artificial interaction of man with his environment. Some turned to domestication of flocks, others to agriculture, and the higher type of Andite intellects chose to engage in trade and manufacture. Trade and commerce more than anything were instrumental in producing semipeaceful communities which in turn fostered the spreading of the culture and arts of civilization.

We were reminded of the significance of the terms society, culture, and civilization, in that the influence of the 5th adjutant, the social impulse amplified by the 6th adjutant, the religious impulse extended social activities which were primarily tribal towards a broader cultural phenomenon. The 7th adjutant then drives these cultural phenomena on towards an objective relation to civilization. These progressive changes reflect the human imposition of artificiality over what occurs naturally. We keep reiterating that what revelation fails to achieve, evolution accomplishes.

We proceeded to indulge in a 40-minute examination of the dynamics of the mysterious Deity overcontrol exerted by the Mother throughout the whole that is the source and truth of this phenomenon. When observing and recognizing the ubiquity of evolutionary overcontrol, we are prone to fall back on attributing this change to some personal agent or agency, and if we cannot discern such a source we conclude that no such overcontrol is operating. The 5th epochal revelation is here to disabuse us of that kind of thinking. The particulars of this examination bear scrutiny and reflection as they are central to a beginning understanding of the necessity of going beyond the consecration of your will to the will of the Father, to the second consecration of your mind to the universal harmony of God the Mother, if you are to be a genuine and serviceable cosmic citizen. Herein can be found the explanation of the dearth of genuine second-milers in the Master’s Kingdom.

The section continued with a sweep through our prehistory underscoring the potent influence of budding industry and commerce in advancing and spreading cultural civilization. Man’s progress in metallurgy, domestication of the horse, and development of other means of transportation were specifically mentioned. As we’re told, “The travelling trader and roving explorer did more to advance historic civilization than all other influences combined.” Underlying these advances and responsible for the exploits of trader and explorer is the genetic uplift of the infusion of the Adamic stock into the human race, which greatly stimulated the human proclivities toward adventure and exploration.

81:4. The Mixed Races

We only began this section before we ran out of time.

In revelation’s role of coordinating essential knowledge our author introduced some additional perspective to understanding the Urantia races. He helps clarify the usefulness and limitations of the cephalic index, used by anthropologists in ascertaining racial origins of early humans by providing some correlation of the cephalic index with the five basic human stocks, and adding that the skeleton as a whole is far more dependable in deciphering racial origins. Further racial intermingling and blending, as we are about to find out, further obscure our ability to distinguish among the five racial groups with the Adamites and Nodites being so admixed with other races that they can be detected only as a generalized Caucasoid order.