유란시아 책
III 부. 유란시아의 역사
85:0.1 (944.1)
PRIMITIVE religion had a biologic origin, a natural evolutionary development, aside from moral associations and apart from all spiritual influences. The higher animals have fears but no illusions, hence no religion. Man creates his primitive religions out of his fears and by means of his illusions.
85:0.2 (944.2)
In the evolution of the human species, worship in its primitive manifestations appears long before the mind of man is capable of formulating the more complex concepts of life now and in the hereafter which deserve to be called religion. Early religion was wholly intellectual in nature and was entirely predicated on associational circumstances. The objects of worship were altogether suggestive; they consisted of the things of nature which were close at hand, or which loomed large in the commonplace experience of the simple-minded primitive Urantians.
85:0.3 (944.3)
When religion once evolved beyond nature worship, it acquired roots of spirit origin but was nevertheless always conditioned by the social environment. As nature worship developed, man’s concepts envisioned a division of labor in the supermortal world; there were nature spirits for lakes, trees, waterfalls, rain, and hundreds of other ordinary terrestrial phenomena.
85:0.4 (944.4)
At one time or another mortal man has worshiped everything on the face of the earth, including himself. He has also worshiped about everything imaginable in the sky and beneath the surface of the earth. Primitive man feared all manifestations of power; he worshiped every natural phenomenon he could not comprehend. The observation of powerful natural forces, such as storms, floods, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, fire, heat, and cold, greatly impressed the expanding mind of man. The inexplicable things of life are still termed “acts of God” and “mysterious dispensations of Providence.”
85:1.1 (944.5)
The first object to be worshiped by evolving man was a stone. Today the Kateri people of southern India still worship a stone, as do numerous tribes in northern India. Jacob slept on a stone because he venerated it; he even anointed it. Rachel concealed a number of sacred stones in her tent.
돌은 경작지 또는 목초지 표면에 갑자기 드러나는 특성 때문에 초기 인류에게 범상치 않은 것으로 첫 인상을 심어줬다. 사람들은 땅을 갈아엎음 또는 침식 작용 결과로 그렇게 된다고 생각하지 못했다. 또한 돌이 종종 동물을 닮았으므로 초기 사람들에게 강한 인상을 줬다. 문명화된 사람의 주의를 집중시킨 것은, 동물 또는 심지어 사람의 얼굴을 무척 닮은, 산에 있는 수많은 돌 형태였다. 그러나 가장 심한 영향을 준 것은 운석{隕石}이었고, 원시인은 이 운석들이 화려하게 타오르면서 대기를 뚫고 돌진하는 것을 목격했다. 유성{流星}은 초기 인류에게 두려운 것이었고, 그런 타오르는 광선은 그 방향을 따라서 어떤 영을 지구에 운반한 흔적이라고 쉽게 믿었다. 사람이 그런 현상을 숭배하게 된 것은 당연했는데, 나중에 운석을 발견했을 때 특히 그랬다. 그리고 이것이, 다른 모든 돌에 대한 경외심을 더욱 확대시켰다. 벵골에서는 많은 사람이 서기 1880년에 땅에 떨어진 운석을 숭배한다.
85:1.2 (944.6)
Stones first impressed early man as being out of the ordinary because of the manner in which they would so suddenly appear on the surface of a cultivated field or pasture. Men failed to take into account either erosion or the results of the overturning of soil. Stones also greatly impressed early peoples because of their frequent resemblance to animals. The attention of civilized man is arrested by numerous stone formations in the mountains which so much resemble the faces of animals and even men. But the most profound influence was exerted by meteoric stones which primitive humans beheld hurtling through the atmosphere in flaming grandeur. The shooting star was awesome to early man, and he easily believed that such blazing streaks marked the passage of a spirit on its way to earth. No wonder men were led to worship such phenomena, especially when they subsequently discovered the meteors. And this led to greater reverence for all other stones. In Bengal many worship a meteor which fell to earth in a.d. 1880.
고대의 모든 씨족과 부족에게는 신성시하는 돌이 있었고, 대부분의 현대 민족도 특정한 유형의 돌--곧 보석--을 상당히 공경하고 있다. 인도에서는 다섯 개의 돌 한 묶음을;그리스에서는 30개의 돌 한 다발을;홍색인 가운데서는 대개 여러 개의 돌로 만든 원{圓}을 숭배했다. 로마인은 주피터에게 소원을 빌 때 항상 돌을 공중에 던졌다. 인도에서는 오늘날까지도 돌이 증거물로 사용될 수 있다. 어떤 지역에서는 돌이 법적 효력을 갖는 부적으로 이용됐고, 그 명성에 힘입어 범죄자를 법정에 세울 수도 있다. 그러나 어수룩한 필사자도, 경건한 예식 대상물과 신격을 반드시 동일시하지는 않는다. 그런 맹목적 숭배물은 흔히 진정한 숭배 대상의 상징일 뿐이다.
85:1.3 (945.1)
All ancient clans and tribes had their sacred stones, and most modern peoples manifest a degree of veneration for certain types of stones—their jewels. A group of five stones was reverenced in India; in Greece it was a cluster of thirty; among the red men it was usually a circle of stones. The Romans always threw a stone into the air when invoking Jupiter. In India even to this day a stone can be used as a witness. In some regions a stone may be employed as a talisman of the law, and by its prestige an offender can be haled into court. But simple mortals do not always identify Deity with an object of reverent ceremony. Such fetishes are many times mere symbols of the real object of worship.
고대인은 돌에 있는 구멍에 색다른 관심을 가졌다. 구멍이 많은 그런 돌은 대개 병을 고치는 데 효험이 있다고 여겼다. 돌을 운반하기 위하여 구멍을 뚫지는 않았지만, 손잡이 구멍이 막히지 않도록 돌을 넣어뒀다. 현대에도 미신을 믿는 사람들은 동전에 구멍을 낸다. 아프리카에서 원주민은 숭배하는 돌 앞에서 큰 소리로 떠들어댄다. 진보가 늦은 모든 부족과 민족 가운데서, 돌은 여전히 미신처럼 공경을 받는 것이 사실이다. 돌 숭배는 지금도 세계에 널리 퍼져있다. 묘비{墓碑}는 죽은 동료의 영 및 유령을 믿는 것과 관련하여, 돌에 새겨진 형상과 우상의 잔존 상징이다.
85:1.4 (945.2)
The ancients had a peculiar regard for holes in stones. Such porous rocks were supposed to be unusually efficacious in curing diseases. Ears were not perforated to carry stones, but the stones were put in to keep the ear holes open. Even in modern times superstitious persons make holes in coins. In Africa the natives make much ado over their fetish stones. In fact, among all backward tribes and peoples stones are still held in superstitious veneration. Stone worship is even now widespread over the world. The tombstone is a surviving symbol of images and idols which were carved in stone in connection with beliefs in ghosts and the spirits of departed fellow beings.
85:1.5 (945.3)
Hill worship followed stone worship, and the first hills to be venerated were large stone formations. It presently became the custom to believe that the gods inhabited the mountains, so that high elevations of land were worshiped for this additional reason. As time passed, certain mountains were associated with certain gods and therefore became holy. The ignorant and superstitious aborigines believed that caves led to the underworld, with its evil spirits and demons, in contrast with the mountains, which were identified with the later evolving concepts of good spirits and deities.
85:2.1 (945.4)
Plants were first feared and then worshiped because of the intoxicating liquors which were derived therefrom. Primitive man believed that intoxication rendered one divine. There was supposed to be something unusual and sacred about such an experience. Even in modern times alcohol is known as “spirits.”
85:2.3 (945.6)
The cults of tree worship are among the oldest religious groups. All early marriages were held under the trees, and when women desired children, they would sometimes be found out in the forest affectionately embracing a sturdy oak. Many plants and trees were venerated because of their real or fancied medicinal powers. The savage believed that all chemical effects were due to the direct activity of supernatural forces.
나무 영들에 관한 관념은 부족과 종족마다 크게 달랐다. 어떤 나무에는 인정 많은 영이 살고;다른 나무에는 현혹하는 사악한 영이 숨어있다고 믿었다. 핀란드인은 친절한 영들이 대부분의 나무에 들어있다고 믿었다. 스위스인은 오랫동안 나무를 불신했는데, 교활한 영이 들어있다고 믿었다. 인도와 동부 러시아 주민은 나무의 영이 잔인하다고 생각했다. 파타고니아 주민은, 초기 셈족속처럼 여전히 나무를 숭배한다. 히브리인은, 나무 숭배를 멈춘 지 오랜 세월 후에, 작은 숲에서 다양한 신격을 계속 공경했다. 중국을 제외하고, 생명나무를 믿는 세계적 종파가 한때 존재했다.
85:2.4 (945.7)
Ideas about tree spirits varied greatly among different tribes and races. Some trees were indwelt by kindly spirits; others harbored the deceptive and cruel. The Finns believed that most trees were occupied by kind spirits. The Swiss long mistrusted the trees, believing they contained tricky spirits. The inhabitants of India and eastern Russia regard the tree spirits as being cruel. The Patagonians still worship trees, as did the early Semites. Long after the Hebrews ceased tree worship, they continued to venerate their various deities in the groves. Except in China, there once existed a universal cult of the tree of life.
85:2.5 (946.1)
The belief that water or precious metals beneath the earth’s surface can be detected by a wooden divining rod is a relic of the ancient tree cults. The Maypole, the Christmas tree, and the superstitious practice of rapping on wood perpetuate certain of the ancient customs of tree worship and the later-day tree cults.
85:2.6 (946.2)
Many of these earliest forms of nature veneration became blended with the later evolving techniques of worship, but the earliest mind-adjutant-activated types of worship were functioning long before the newly awakening religious nature of mankind became fully responsive to the stimulus of spiritual influences.
85:3.1 (946.3)
Primitive man had a peculiar and fellow feeling for the higher animals. His ancestors had lived with them and even mated with them. In southern Asia it was early believed that the souls of men came back to earth in animal form. This belief was a survival of the still earlier practice of worshiping animals.
85:3.2 (946.4)
Early men revered the animals for their power and their cunning. They thought the keen scent and the farseeing eyes of certain creatures betokened spirit guidance. The animals have all been worshiped by one race or another at one time or another. Among such objects of worship were creatures that were regarded as half human and half animal, such as centaurs and mermaids.
85:3.3 (946.5)
The Hebrews worshiped serpents down to the days of King Hezekiah, and the Hindus still maintain friendly relations with their house snakes. The Chinese worship of the dragon is a survival of the snake cults. The wisdom of the serpent was a symbol of Greek medicine and is still employed as an emblem by modern physicians. The art of snake charming has been handed down from the days of the female shamans of the snake love cult, who, as the result of daily snake bites, became immune, in fact, became genuine venom addicts and could not get along without this poison.
곤충 또는 기타 동물 숭배는 나중에, --너희가 받고자 하는 대로 남에게(모든 생물체에게) 행하라는-- 황금률을 잘못 해석함으로써 조장됐다. 고대인은 새의 날개가 모든 바람을 일으킨다고 한때 믿었으므로, 날개 달린 모든 피조물을 두려워하고 숭배했다. 초기 노르딕족속은, 늑대가 해나 달의 일부를 먹기 때문에 일식과 월식 현상을 일으킨다고 생각했다. 힌두인은 말의 머리를 가진 비쉬누를 흔히 전시{展示}한다. 동물 형상이, 잊혀진 신{神} 또는 사라진 종파를 대변하는 경우가 종종 있다. 초기 진화 종교에서, 양은 제물로 바치는 동물의 전형이 됐고, 비둘기는 평화와 사랑의 상징이 됐다.
85:3.4 (946.6)
The worship of insects and other animals was promoted by a later misinterpretation of the golden rule—doing to others (every form of life) as you would be done by. The ancients once believed that all winds were produced by the wings of birds and therefore both feared and worshiped all winged creatures. The early Nordics thought that eclipses were caused by a wolf that devoured a portion of the sun or moon. The Hindus often show Vishnu with a horse’s head. Many times an animal symbol stands for a forgotten god or a vanished cult. Early in evolutionary religion the lamb became the typical sacrificial animal and the dove the symbol of peace and love.
인류는, 땅, 공기, 물, 및 불을 숭배했다. 원시 종족들은 우물을 공경했고 강을 숭배했다. 지금도 몽골에서는 영향력 있는 강 숭배 종파가 번창하고 있다. 바벨론에서는 세례가 종교 예식절차가 됐고, 그리스인은 해마다 제례적 목욕을 시행했다. 거품이 일어나는 우물, 용솟음치는 분수, 흐르는 강, 그리고 맹렬한 급류 속에 영{靈}들이 산다고 고대인이 상상한 것은 전혀 무리가 아니다. 움직이는 물은, 단순한 정신을 지닌 이 사람들을, 영 활동력과 초자연적 능력에 대한 믿음으로 생생하게 감동시켰다. 어떤 강신{江神}이 기분나빠하지나 않을까 두려워하여, 물에 빠진 사람을 구해주지 않는 경우도 있었다.
85:4.1 (946.8)
Mankind has worshiped earth, air, water, and fire. The primitive races venerated springs and worshiped rivers. Even now in Mongolia there flourishes an influential river cult. Baptism became a religious ceremonial in Babylon, and the Greeks practiced the annual ritual bath. It was easy for the ancients to imagine that the spirits dwelt in the bubbling springs, gushing fountains, flowing rivers, and raging torrents. Moving waters vividly impressed these simple minds with beliefs of spirit animation and supernatural power. Sometimes a drowning man would be refused succor for fear of offending some river god.
여러 사물과 다양한 사건이, 여러 시대마다 서로 다른 민족에게 종교적 자극제로서 작용했다. 무지개는 인도 고지대에 사는 여러 부족에게 여전히 숭배 대상이 되고 있다. 인도와 아프리카에서는 무지개를 거대한 천상의 뱀으로 여기며;히브리인과 그리스도교인은 “약속의 활”이라고 생각한다. 이처럼, 세상의 한 지역에서 유익하다고 간주하는 것을, 다른 지역에서는 해로운 것으로 여길 수 있다. 남아메리카에서는 비를 몰고 오기 때문에 동풍을 신{神}으로 여기지만;인도에서는 그것이 먼지와 가뭄을 가져오기 때문에 마귀로 여긴다. 고대 베두인족은 자연의 영이 모래 소용돌이를 일으킨다고 믿었으며, 모세 시대에도 자연의 영들을 믿는 믿음이 충분히 강해서, 그것들이 히브리 신학에서 불과 물과 공기의 천사로 존속되도록 보장했다.
85:4.2 (947.1)
Many things and numerous events have functioned as religious stimuli to different peoples in different ages. A rainbow is yet worshiped by many of the hill tribes of India. In both India and Africa the rainbow is thought to be a gigantic celestial snake; Hebrews and Christians regard it as “the bow of promise.” Likewise, influences regarded as beneficent in one part of the world may be looked upon as malignant in other regions. The east wind is a god in South America, for it brings rain; in India it is a devil because it brings dust and causes drought. The ancient Bedouins believed that a nature spirit produced the sand whirls, and even in the times of Moses belief in nature spirits was strong enough to insure their perpetuation in Hebrew theology as angels of fire, water, and air.
85:4.3 (947.2)
Clouds, rain, and hail have all been feared and worshiped by numerous primitive tribes and by many of the early nature cults. Windstorms with thunder and lightning overawed early man. He was so impressed with these elemental disturbances that thunder was regarded as the voice of an angry god. The worship of fire and the fear of lightning were linked together and were widespread among many early groups.
불은, 두려움에 사로잡힌 원시 필사 정신 속에서 마술과 혼합됐다. 마술 신봉자는, 마술 방식을 실행하다가 우연히 생긴 긍정적 결과 하나를 생생히 기억하는 반면, 철저하게 실패한 수많은 부정적 결과는 무심코 잊어버린다. 불 숭상은 페르시아에서 최고조에 달했고 오래 지속됐다. 어떤 부족은 불을 신격 자체로서 숭배했으며;또 어떤 부족들은, 그들이 공경하는 신격들의 정화시키고 소멸시키는 타오르는 영 상징으로서 불을 숭배했다. 베스타를 섬기는 처녀에게는, 신성시되는 불을 지키는 임무가 주어졌고, 20세기에도 많은 종교 예배의 제례 일부분으로서 촛불이 여전히 사용된다.
85:4.4 (947.3)
Fire was mixed up with magic in the minds of primitive fear-ridden mortals. A devotee of magic will vividly remember one positive chance result in the practice of his magic formulas, while he nonchalantly forgets a score of negative results, out-and-out failures. Fire reverence reached its height in Persia, where it long persisted. Some tribes worshiped fire as a deity itself; others revered it as the flaming symbol of the purifying and purging spirit of their venerated deities. Vestal virgins were charged with the duty of watching sacred fires, and in the twentieth century candles still burn as a part of the ritual of many religious services.
85:5.1 (947.4)
The worship of rocks, hills, trees, and animals naturally developed up through fearful veneration of the elements to the deification of the sun, moon, and stars. In India and elsewhere the stars were regarded as the glorified souls of great men who had departed from the life in the flesh. The Chaldean star cultists considered themselves to be the children of the sky father and the earth mother.
85:5.2 (947.5)
Moon worship preceded sun worship. Veneration of the moon was at its height during the hunting era, while sun worship became the chief religious ceremony of the subsequent agricultural ages. Solar worship first took extensive root in India, and there it persisted the longest. In Persia sun veneration gave rise to the later Mithraic cult. Among many peoples the sun was regarded as the ancestor of their kings. The Chaldeans put the sun in the center of “the seven circles of the universe.” Later civilizations honored the sun by giving its name to the first day of the week.
85:5.3 (947.6)
The sun god was supposed to be the mystic father of the virgin-born sons of destiny who ever and anon were thought to be bestowed as saviors upon favored races. These supernatural infants were always put adrift upon some sacred river to be rescued in an extraordinary manner, after which they would grow up to become miraculous personalities and the deliverers of their peoples.
85:6.2 (948.2)
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. Even having twins was regarded as being either very lucky or very unlucky. Lunatics, epileptics, and the feeble-minded were often worshiped by their normal-minded fellows, who believed that such abnormal beings were indwelt by the gods. Priests, kings, and prophets were worshiped; the holy men of old were looked upon as inspired by the deities.
85:6.3 (948.3)
Tribal chiefs died and were deified. Later, distinguished souls passed on and were sainted. Unaided evolution never originated gods higher than the glorified, exalted, and evolved spirits of deceased humans. In early evolution religion creates its own gods. In the course of revelation the Gods formulate religion. Evolutionary religion creates its gods in the image and likeness of mortal man; revelatory religion seeks to evolve and transform mortal man into the image and likeness of God.
85:6.4 (948.4)
The ghost gods, who are of supposed human origin, should be distinguished from the nature gods, for nature worship did evolve a pantheon—nature spirits elevated to the position of gods. The nature cults continued to develop along with the later appearing ghost cults, and each exerted an influence upon the other. Many religious systems embraced a dual concept of deity, nature gods and ghost gods; in some theologies these concepts are confusingly intertwined, as is illustrated by Thor, a ghost hero who was also master of the lightning.
자연 숭배는, 원시 남녀의 정신 속에서 자연스럽게 저절로 일어난 것처럼 보이고, 또한 그것이 사실이었으나;이 시기에 바로 그 원시 정신 속에는 여섯째 보조 영이 항상 작용하고 있었는데, 이 보조 영은 인간의 진화 단계를 안내하는 세력으로서 이 사람들에게 이미 증여돼왔다. 그리고 이 보조 영은, 경배를 갈망하는 첫 징후가 아무리 원시적일지라도, 인간 종족들의 경배 충동을 변함없이 자극시키고 있었다. 동물적 두려움이 경건함을 표현하도록 자극했으며, 그 초기 풍습이 자연의 대상물에 집중됐음에도, 경배 기질은, 경배 드리고 싶은 인간의 충동을 명확하게 탄생시켰다.
85:7.1 (948.6)
Nature worship may seem to have arisen naturally and spontaneously in the minds of primitive men and women, and so it did; but there was operating all this time in these same primitive minds the sixth adjutant spirit, which had been bestowed upon these peoples as a directing influence of this phase of human evolution. And this spirit was constantly stimulating the worship urge of the human species, no matter how primitive its first manifestations might be. The spirit of worship gave definite origin to the human impulse to worship, notwithstanding that animal fear motivated the expression of worshipfulness, and that its early practice became centered upon objects of nature.
85:7.3 (948.8)
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. When the seventh adjutant spirit, the spirit of wisdom, achieves effective ministration, then in worship man begins to turn away from nature and natural objects to the God of nature and to the eternal Creator of all things natural.