Episode:Evolutionary Religion—Worship (Part 3)

From Symmetry of Soul


Early man regarded all unusual persons as superhuman, and he so feared such beings as to hold them in reverential awe; to some degree he literally worshiped them.  But 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. 

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Keywords: Urantia, Religion, Veneration, Star Cults, Hero Worship

Note: Andrea joined us as a guest this week.

Summary by Kermit

Commentary on the Review

The use of the term “modern times” in the review prompted a reminder that the objects and practices of worship we have studied in this paper are still extant in practically all corners of the world. To clarify the comments on divining rods for the detection of water and precious metals beneath the earth’s surface, while the object itself has no special properties by which the desired substance is detected, the same may not be true for the individual employing such “special objects.” Reliance on these so-called sacred objects and practices will persist until mankind becomes far more adept at discerning the realities of matter, mind, and spirit and their inter-relationships.

This thread led to a discussion of why the recognition that spirit is not innately divine is so lacking today. In a nutshell, spirit being a substance, can be wielded by Deity, in which case it is divine in its manifestation. When wielded by imperfect creatures, its manifestation is conditioned by the quality and nature of personal purposing behind it. Wisdom, insight, foresight, and courage are required to discriminate between the good and bad uses of spirit. All this is amply illustrated by studying our system and planetary rebellion.

85:4.3 Worship of the Elements (cont.)

We note that we progress upwards from stones and hills to plants and trees, animals, to elements the objects of worship are becoming less concrete and more ethereal. As mans’ objects of worship become more refined, the earlier objects retain the ability to evoke the reverence and veneration of previous times and present an increasing array of things to distract from and impede the upward quest for genuine spiritual attainment. These earlier objects do not disappear from mans’ worship practices. They become reworked and remain part of newer practices e.g. the worship of fire has evolved into the use of sacred candles.

85:5. Worship of the Heavenly Bodies

Deification of the sun, moon, and stars followed the fearful veneration of the elements. The Chaldean star cultists were ahead of their time in putting the sun in the center of “the seven circles of the universe.” We would be remiss at this Christmas season if we did not recognize the representatives of these Chaldeans, the Three Wise Men from Ur who acting on revealed information that "the light of life" was about to appear on earth as a babe and among the Jews paid homage to the babe of Bethlehem. The Chaldean belief that they were the children of the sky father and the earth mother suggests the emergence of the superconscious recognition of the existential and experiential aspects of Deity.

85:6. The Worship of Man

Along with worshiping everything on the earth and in the heavens above, man did not leave himself out as the object of such adoration. The simple-minded savage makes no clear distinction between beasts, men, and gods. Note in our discussion the distinction made between worship and adoration. In synchronizing your higher mind with the cosmos—the way to the Father, you worship. It is by the use of this “way” that you can send your adoration to the Father.

As mentioned before, in these papers the revelators are giving us a picture of ourselves, immature children of God, incapable of abstracting spirit from mind and matter beyond the grace encircuitment of reflective thinking to reach spirit, mind, and matter differentiation. The next step remains to be taken, using the faith grasp with trust in God and His reality while letting go of all prior notions of God and start anew—born again. And then from such enhanced perspective re-engage your earlier religious notions and practices. In such a top down view these negative actuals become positive potentials.

Evolutionary religion exalts things human and creates its own gods in man’s image. In revelatory religion, Gods formulate religion and seek to evolve and transform man into God’s image.

85:7. The Adjutants of Worship and Wisdom

We pointed to the function of the sixth adjutant in stimulating the worship urge in man notwithstanding the resulting primitive manifestations. As the seventh adjutant admonishes and directs this worshipful urge real religion begins to emerge. It is in this process that man begins to turn away from the worship of nature and natural objects and toward the God of nature and to the eternal Creator of all things natural.


We quickly and briefly pointed out the significance of the author of this paper being a Brilliant Evening Star, agent of Gabriel in preparing for the arrival of the bestowal son.

Notes by Brad

  • Here at Christmas this author notes the Christmas tree in his family living room (tree worship remnant), and feels the short days near the winter solstice (Mithraism and sun worship had a lot to say about this).
  • Spirit is not innately divine. We talked about this some more this evening, why it's such a new concept, mostly because Deity has become a greatly enlarged concept in the 5th ER. Spirit is a substance, not the fingers of God directly, per se. Lucifer wields spirit substance!
    • Ironically, in dual spiritism it's quite easy to avoid this faulty assumption, as there are "evil spirits."
  • It's fine to be awed by nature as a phase in your life--for John Denver to be your muse, let's say. But don't be satisfied. Let the logical acumen take you up to, "Well, this is dandy and impressive. But who is the author of it all?"


  • We never really leave old patterns behind, they get incorporated into enlarged and higher concepts. Consider the candle.
    • Fire won't disappear from the "religious scene" entirely. It is OK to expect it to endure in symbolic form.
    • Watch out for candleism (the obvious worship of candles). But more subtlely, don't let the candles "pull you down" even as you think they are "pulling you up."
    • Candles can be okay. But can you, even for a moment, make a faith grasp upward where all candles disappear? And from the top-down, from the inner life projecting outward, can you become the master of the candle instead of them being the master of you?
    • You'll still have feelings after being born again this way. And in fact the new feeling you find will be more sublime.
  • Paper 85 is helping us understand all of the millennia piles of evolutionary baggage that are there. Things that are challenging to transcend.
  • Can you be a better example to those who throw spitballs at all religion because the baggage is so superstitious and so easily mocked? Can you demonstrate a peace that passes all understanding, without reliance on these evolutionary devices?
  • Fire worship in Persia reminds us strongly of Zoroastrianism.



  • Again, don't think in dichotomies. The 5th ER is helping delineate what a child of God looks like. That child is not bad. Just don't be satisfied and get stuck there.
  • After we were done worshiping the moon directly, we conferred its power to the "lunatics" that were later worshiped.
  • Common theme in this episode: starting anew, being born again, seeing the evolutionary landscape from the top-down instead of the bottom-up.
    • Can you turn away from the "big ball" of agglomerated evolutionary stuff and find a new top-down perspective?
  • Revelation versus evolution is a subtle concept we discussed here. Evolution is essentially revelation in time. And all truth that comes to you is revelation, even if it comes through evolutionary channels. Really, this is the difference between God the Father and God the Mother and how they engage you differently.
  • Even if you no longer deify dead tribal chiefs, ensure you don't leave open a loophole where you yourself become deified over time.


  • In Section 7, we see a lot of physics about urges and impulses.
    • As we often cover here, adjutant mind-spirits are founded in spirit, but can express in lower energy forms. We should not be satisfied with the energy of zeal, but should strive for the spirit of worship.
    • Would you like to commute with your Thought Adjuster? You need to work through the adjutant mind-spirits first, get them fully in spirit mode and fully harmonized. No shortcuts.


  • Genuine meditation is about a relationship to the upper domain of mind in the hourglass analogy. It gets a very watered down lower-domain material mind definition in today's society.


  • We remembered that the Brilliant Evening Stars are a less talked about parallel ministry to our planet, via the deputies of Gabriel (the Bright and Morning Star) consequent upon Michael of Nebadon selecting this planet for his incarnation as Jesus. But that's a whole other story.
  • And because of Christmas, here is a reflection by Chris on the complex history of Christmas.