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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 74
ADAM AND EVE
74:0.1
ADAM AND EVE arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D.
1934, 37,848 years ago. It was in midseason when the
Garden was in the height of bloom that they arrived. At
high noon and unannounced, the two seraphic transports,
accompanied by the Jerusem personnel intrusted with the
transportation of the biologic uplifters to Urantia,
settled slowly to the surface of the revolving planet in
the vicinity of the temple of the Universal Father. All
the work of rematerializing the bodies of Adam and Eve
was carried on within the precincts of this newly
created shrine. And from the time of their arrival ten
days passed before they were re-created in dual human
form for presentation as the world's new rulers. They
regained consciousness simultaneously. The Material Sons
and Daughters always serve together. It is the essence
of their service at all times and in all places never to
be separated. They are designed to work in pairs; seldom
do they function alone.
1. ADAM AND EVE ON JERUSEM
74:1.1
The Planetary Adam and Eve of Urantia were members of
the senior corps of Material Sons on Jerusem, being
jointly number 14,311. They belonged to the third
physical series and were a little more than eight feet
in height.
74:1.2
At the time Adam was chosen to come to Urantia, he was
employed, with his mate, in the trial-and-testing
physical laboratories of Jerusem. For more than fifteen
thousand years they had been directors of the division
of experimental energy as applied to the modification of
living forms. Long before this they had been teachers in
the citizenship schools for new arrivals on Jerusem. And
all this should be borne in mind in connection with the
narration of their subsequent conduct on Urantia.
74:1.3
When the proclamation was issued calling for volunteers
for the mission of Adamic adventure on Urantia, the
entire senior corps of Material Sons and Daughters
volunteered. The Melchizedek examiners, with the
approval of Lanaforge and the Most Highs of Edentia,
finally selected the Adam and Eve who subsequently came
to function as the biologic uplifters of Urantia.
74:1.4
Adam and Eve had remained loyal to Michael during the
Lucifer rebellion; nevertheless, the pair were called
before the System Sovereign and his entire cabinet for
examination and instruction. The details of Urantia
affairs were fully presented; they were exhaustively
instructed as to the plans to be pursued in accepting
the responsibilities of rulership on such a strife-torn
world. They were put under joint oaths of allegiance to
the Most Highs of Edentia and to Michael of Salvington.
And they were duly advised to regard themselves as
subject to the Urantia corps of Melchizedek receivers
until that governing body should see fit to relinquish
rule on the world of their assignment.
74:1.5
This Jerusem pair left behind them on the capital of
Satania and elsewhere, one hundred offspring -- fifty
sons and fifty daughters -- magnificent creatures who
had escaped the pitfalls of progression, and who were
all in commission as faithful stewards of universe trust
at the time of their parents' departure for Urantia. And
they were all present in the beautiful temple of the
Material Sons attendant upon the farewell exercises
associated with the last ceremonies of the bestowal
acceptance. These children accompanied their parents to
the dematerialization headquarters of their order and
were the last to bid them farewell and divine speed as
they fell asleep in the personality lapse of
consciousness which precedes the preparation for
seraphic transport. The children spent some time
together at the family rendezvous rejoicing that their
parents were soon to become the visible heads, in
reality the sole rulers, of planet 606 in the system of
Satania.
74:1.6
And thus did Adam and Eve leave Jerusem amidst the
acclaim and well-wishing of its citizens. They went
forth to their new responsibilities adequately equipped
and fully instructed concerning every duty and danger to
be encountered on Urantia.
2. ARRIVAL OF ADAM AND EVE
74:2.1
Adam and Eve fell asleep on Jerusem, and when they
awakened in the Father's temple on Urantia in the
presence of the mighty throng assembled to welcome them,
they were face to face with two beings of whom they had
heard much, Van and his faithful associate Amadon. These
two heroes of the Caligastia secession were the first to
welcome them in their new garden home.
74:2.2
The tongue of Eden was an Andonic dialect as spoken by
Amadon. Van and Amadon had markedly improved this
language by creating a new alphabet of twenty-four
letters, and they had hoped to see it become the tongue
of Urantia as the Edenic culture would spread throughout
the world. Adam and Eve had fully mastered this human
dialect before they departed from Jerusem so that this
son of Andon heard the exalted ruler of his world
address him in his own tongue.
74:2.3
And on that day there was great excitement and joy
throughout Eden as the runners went in great haste to
the rendezvous of the carrier pigeons assembled from
near and far, shouting: "Let loose the birds; let them
carry the word that the promised Son has come." Hundreds
of believer settlements had faithfully, year after year,
kept up the supply of these home-reared pigeons for just
such an occasion.
74:2.4
As the news of Adam's arrival spread abroad, thousands
of the near-by tribesmen accepted the teachings of Van
and Amadon, while for months and months pilgrims
continued to pour into Eden to welcome Adam and Eve and
to do homage to their unseen Father.
74:2.5
Soon after their awakening, Adam and Eve were escorted
to the formal reception on the great mound to the north
of the temple. This natural hill had been enlarged and
made ready for the installation of the world's new
rulers. Here, at noon, the Urantia reception committee
welcomed this Son and Daughter of the system of Satania.
Amadon was chairman of this committee, which consisted
of twelve members embracing a representative of each of
the six Sangik races; the acting chief of the midwayers;
Annan, a loyal daughter and spokesman for the Nodites;
Noah, the son of the architect and builder of the Garden
and executive of his deceased father's plans; and the
two resident Life Carriers.
74:2.6
The next act was the delivery of the charge of planetary
custody to Adam and Eve by the senior Melchizedek, chief
of the council of receivership on Urantia. The Material
Son and Daughter took the oath of allegiance to the Most
Highs of Norlatiadek and to Michael of Nebadon and were
proclaimed rulers of Urantia by Van, who thereby
relinquished the titular authority which for over one
hundred and fifty thousand years he had held by virtue
of the action of the Melchizedek receivers.
74:2.7
And Adam and Eve were invested with kingly robes on this
occasion, the time of their formal induction into world
rulership. Not all of the arts of Dalamatia had been
lost to the world; weaving was still practiced in the
days of Eden.
74:2.8
Then was heard the archangels' proclamation, and the
broadcast voice of Gabriel decreed the second judgment
roll call of Urantia and the resurrection of the
sleeping survivors of the second dispensation of grace
and mercy on 606 of Satania. The dispensation of the
Prince has passed, the age of Adam, the third planetary
epoch, opens amidst scenes of simple grandeur; and the
new rulers of Urantia start their reign under seemingly
favorable conditions, notwithstanding the world-wide
confusion occasioned by lack of the co-operation of
their predecessor in authority on the planet.
3. ADAM AND EVE LEARN ABOUT THE PLANET
74:3.1
And now, after their formal installation, Adam and Eve
became painfully aware of their planetary isolation.
Silent were the familiar broadcasts, and absent were all
the circuits of extraplanetary communication. Their
Jerusem fellows had gone to worlds running along
smoothly with a well-established Planetary Prince and an
experienced staff ready to receive them and competent to
co-operate with them during their early experience on
such worlds. But on Urantia rebellion had changed
everything. Here the Planetary Prince was very much
present, and though shorn of most of his power to work
evil, he was still able to make the task of Adam and Eve
difficult and to some extent hazardous. It was a serious
and disillusioned Son and Daughter of Jerusem who walked
that night through the Garden under the shining of the
full moon, discussing plans for the next day.
74:3.2
Thus ended the first day of Adam and Eve on isolated
Urantia, the confused planet of the Caligastia betrayal;
and they walked and talked far into the night, their
first night on earth -- and it was so lonely.
74:3.3
Adam's second day on earth was spent in session with the
planetary receivers and the advisory council. From the
Melchizedeks, and their associates, Adam and Eve learned
more about the details of the Caligastia rebellion and
the result of that upheaval upon the world's progress.
And it was, on the whole, a disheartening story, this
long recital of the mismanagement of world affairs. They
learned all the facts regarding the utter collapse of
the Caligastia scheme for accelerating the process of
social evolution. They also arrived at a full
realization of the folly of attempting to achieve
planetary advancement independently of the divine plan
of progression. And thus ended a sad but enlightening
day -- their second on Urantia.
74:3.4
The third day was devoted to an inspection of the
Garden. From the large passenger birds -- the fandors --
Adam and Eve looked down upon the vast stretches of the
Garden while being carried through the air over this,
the most beautiful spot on earth. This day of inspection
ended with an enormous banquet in honor of all who had
labored to create this garden of Edenic beauty and
grandeur. And again, late into the night of their third
day, the Son and his mate walked in the Garden and
talked about the immensity of their problems.
74:3.5
On the fourth day Adam and Eve addressed the Garden
assembly. From the inaugural mount they spoke to the
people concerning their plans for the rehabilitation of
the world and outlined the methods whereby they would
seek to redeem the social culture of Urantia from the
low levels to which it had fallen as a result of sin and
rebellion. This was a great day, and it closed with a
feast for the council of men and women who had been
selected to assume responsibilities in the new
administration of world affairs. Take note! women as
well as men were in this group, and that was the first
time such a thing had occurred on earth since the days
of Dalamatia. It was an astounding innovation to behold
Eve, a woman, sharing the honors and responsibilities of
world affairs with a man. And thus ended the fourth day
on earth.
74:3.6
The fifth day was occupied with the organization of the
temporary government, the administration which was to
function until the Melchizedek receivers should leave
Urantia.
74:3.7
The sixth day was devoted to an inspection of the
numerous types of men and animals. Along the walls
eastward in Eden, Adam and Eve were escorted all day,
viewing the animal life of the planet and arriving at a
better understanding as to what must be done to bring
order out of the confusion of a world inhabited by such
a variety of living creatures.
74:3.8
It greatly surprised those who accompanied Adam on this
trip to observe how fully he understood the nature and
function of the thousands upon thousands of animals
shown him. The instant he glanced at an animal, he would
indicate its nature and behavior. Adam could give names
descriptive of the origin, nature, and function of all
material creatures on sight. Those who conducted him on
this tour of inspection did not know that the world's
new ruler was one of the most expert anatomists of all
Satania; and Eve was equally proficient. Adam amazed his
associates by describing hosts of living things too
small to be seen by human eyes.
74:3.9
When the sixth day of their sojourn on earth was over,
Adam and Eve rested for the first time in their new home
in "the east of Eden." The first six days of the Urantia
adventure had been very busy, and they looked forward
with great pleasure to an entire day of freedom from all
activities.
74:3.10
But circumstances dictated otherwise. The experience of
the day just past in which Adam had so intelligently and
so exhaustively discussed the animal life of Urantia,
together with his masterly inaugural address and his
charming manner, had so won the hearts and overcome the
intellects of the Garden dwellers that they were not
only wholeheartedly disposed to accept the newly arrived
Son and Daughter of Jerusem as rulers, but the majority
were about ready to fall down and worship them as gods.
4. THE FIRST UPHEAVAL
74:4.1
That night, the night following the sixth day, while
Adam and Eve slumbered, strange things were transpiring
in the vicinity of the Father's temple in the central
sector of Eden. There, under the rays of the mellow
moon, hundreds of enthusiastic and excited men and women
listened for hours to the impassioned pleas of their
leaders. They meant well, but they simply could not
understand the simplicity of the fraternal and
democratic manner of their new rulers. And long before
daybreak the new and temporary administrators of world
affairs reached a virtually unanimous conclusion that
Adam and his mate were altogether too modest and
unassuming. They decided that Divinity had descended to
earth in bodily form, that Adam and Eve were in reality
gods or else so near such an estate as to be worthy of
reverent worship.
74:4.2
The amazing events of the first six days of Adam and Eve
on earth were entirely too much for the unprepared minds
of even the world's best men; their heads were in a
whirl; they were swept along with the proposal to bring
the noble pair up to the Father's temple at high noon in
order that everyone might bow down in respectful worship
and prostrate themselves in humble submission. And the
Garden dwellers were really sincere in all of this.
74:4.3
Van protested. Amadon was absent, being in charge of the
guard of honor which had remained behind with Adam and
Eve overnight. But Van's protest was swept aside. He was
told that he was likewise too modest, too unassuming;
that he was not far from a god himself, else how had he
lived so long on earth, and how had he brought about
such a great event as the advent of Adam? And as the
excited Edenites were about to seize him and carry him
up to the mount for adoration, Van made his way out
through the throng and, being able to communicate with
the midwayers, sent their leader in great haste to Adam.
74:4.4
It was near the dawn of their seventh day on earth that
Adam and Eve heard the startling news of the proposal of
these well-meaning but misguided mortals; and then, even
while the passenger birds were swiftly winging to bring
them to the temple, the midwayers, being able to do such
things, transported Adam and Eve to the Father's temple.
It was early on the morning of this seventh day and from
the mount of their so recent reception that Adam held
forth in explanation of the orders of divine sonship and
made clear to these earth minds that only the Father and
those whom he designates may be worshiped. Adam made it
plain that he would accept any honor and receive all
respect, but worship never!
74:4.5
It was a momentous day, and just before noon, about the
time of the arrival of the seraphic messenger bearing
the Jerusem acknowledgment of the installation of the
world's rulers, Adam and Eve, moving apart from the
throng, pointed to the Father's temple and said: "Go you
now to the material emblem of the Father's invisible
presence and bow down in worship of him who made us all
and who keeps us living. And let this act be the sincere
pledge that you never will again be tempted to worship
anyone but God." They all did as Adam directed. The
Material Son and Daughter stood alone on the mount with
bowed heads while the people prostrated themselves about
the temple.
74:4.6
And this was the origin of the Sabbath-day tradition.
Always in Eden the seventh day was devoted to the
noontide assembly at the temple; long it was the custom
to devote this day to self-culture. The forenoon was
devoted to physical improvement, the noontime to
spiritual worship, the afternoon to mind culture, while
the evening was spent in social rejoicing. This was
never the law in Eden, but it was the custom as long as
the Adamic administration held sway on earth.
5. ADAM'S ADMINISTRATION
74:5.1
For almost seven years after Adam's arrival the
Melchizedek receivers remained on duty, but the time
finally came when they turned the administration of
world affairs over to Adam and returned to Jerusem.
74:5.2
The farewell of the receivers occupied the whole of a
day, and during the evening the individual Melchizedeks
gave Adam and Eve their parting advice and best wishes.
Adam had several times requested his advisers to remain
on earth with him, but always were these petitions
denied. The time had come when the Material Sons must
assume full responsibility for the conduct of world
affairs. And so, at midnight, the seraphic transports of
Satania left the planet with fourteen beings for
Jerusem, the translation of Van and Amadon occurring
simultaneously with the departure of the twelve
Melchizedeks.
74:5.3
All went fairly well for a time on Urantia, and it
appeared that Adam would, eventually, be able to develop
some plan for promoting the gradual extension of the
Edenic civilization. Pursuant to the advice of the
Melchizedeks, he began to foster the arts of manufacture
with the idea of developing trade relations with the
outside world. When Eden was disrupted, there were over
one hundred primitive manufacturing plants in operation,
and extensive trade relations with the near-by tribes
had been established.
74:5.4
For ages Adam and Eve had been instructed in the
technique of improving a world in readiness for their
specialized contributions to the advancement of
evolutionary civilization; but now they were face to
face with pressing problems, such as the establishment
of law and order in a world of savages, barbarians, and
semicivilized human beings. Aside from the cream of the
earth's population, assembled in the Garden, only a few
groups, here and there, were at all ready for the
reception of the Adamic culture.
74:5.5
Adam made a heroic and determined effort to establish a
world government, but he met with stubborn resistance at
every turn. Adam had already put in operation a system
of group control throughout Eden and had federated all
of these companies into the Edenic league. But trouble,
serious trouble, ensued when he went outside the Garden
and sought to apply these ideas to the outlying tribes.
The moment Adam's associates began to work outside the
Garden, they met the direct and well-planned resistance
of Caligastia and Daligastia. The fallen Prince had been
deposed as world ruler, but he had not been removed from
the planet. He was still present on earth and able, at
least to some extent, to resist all of Adam's plans for
the rehabilitation of human society. Adam tried to warn
the races against Caligastia, but the task was made very
difficult because his archenemy was invisible to the
eyes of mortals.
74:5.6
Even among the Edenites there were those confused minds
that leaned toward the Caligastia teaching of unbridled
personal liberty; and they caused Adam no end of
trouble; always were they upsetting the best-laid plans
for orderly progression and substantial development. He
was finally compelled to withdraw his program for
immediate socialization; he fell back on Van's method of
organization, dividing the Edenites into companies of
one hundred with captains over each and with lieutenants
in charge of groups of ten.
74:5.7
Adam and Eve had come to institute representative
government in the place of monarchial, but they found no
government worthy of the name on the face of the whole
earth. For the time being Adam abandoned all effort to
establish representative government, and before the
collapse of the Edenic regime he succeeded in
establishing almost one hundred outlying trade and
social centers where strong individuals ruled in his
name. Most of these centers had been organized aforetime
by Van and Amadon.
74:5.8
The sending of ambassadors from one tribe to another
dates from the times of Adam. This was a great forward
step in the evolution of government.
6. HOME LIFE OF ADAM AND EVE
74:6.1
The Adamic family grounds embraced a little over five
square miles. Immediately surrounding this homesite,
provision had been made for the care of more than three
hundred thousand of the pure-line offspring. But only
the first unit of the projected buildings was ever
constructed. Before the size of the Adamic family
outgrew these early provisions, the whole Edenic plan
had been disrupted and the Garden vacated.
74:6.2
Adamson was the first-born of the violet race of
Urantia, being followed by his sister and Eveson, the
second son of Adam and Eve. Eve was the mother of five
children before the Melchizedeks left -- three sons and
two daughters. The next two were twins. She bore
sixty-three children, thirty-two daughters and
thirty-one sons, before the default. When Adam and Eve
left the Garden, their family consisted of four
generations numbering 1,647 pure-line descendants. They
had forty-two children after leaving the Garden besides
the two offspring of joint parentage with the mortal
stock of earth. And this does not include the Adamic
parentage to the Nodite and evolutionary races.
74:6.3
The Adamic children did not take milk from animals when
they ceased to nurse the mother's breast at one year of
age. Eve had access to the milk of a great variety of
nuts and to the juices of many fruits, and knowing full
well the chemistry and energy of these foods, she
suitably combined them for the nourishment of her
children until the appearance of teeth.
74:6.4
While cooking was universally employed outside of the
immediate Adamic sector of Eden, there was no cooking in
Adam's household. They found their foods -- fruits,
nuts, and cereals -- ready prepared as they ripened.
They ate once a day, shortly after noontime. Adam and
Eve also imbibed "light and energy" direct from certain
space emanations in conjunction with the ministry of the
tree of life.
74:6.5
The bodies of Adam and Eve gave forth a shimmer of
light, but they always wore clothing in conformity with
the custom of their associates. Though wearing very
little during the day, at eventide they donned night
wraps. The origin of the traditional halo encircling the
heads of supposed pious and holy men dates back to the
days of Adam and Eve. Since the light emanations of
their bodies were so largely obscured by clothing, only
the radiating glow from their heads was discernible. The
descendants of Adamson always thus portrayed their
concept of individuals believed to be extraordinary in
spiritual development.
74:6.6
Adam and Eve could communicate with each other and with
their immediate children over a distance of about fifty
miles. This thought exchange was effected by means of
the delicate gas chambers located in close proximity to
their brain structures. By this mechanism they could
send and receive thought oscillations. But this power
was instantly suspended upon the mind's surrender to the
discord and disruption of evil.
74:6.7
The Adamic children attended their own schools until
they were sixteen, the younger being taught by the
elder. The little folks changed activities every thirty
minutes, the older every hour. And it was certainly a
new sight on Urantia to observe these children of Adam
and Eve at play, joyous and exhilarating activity just
for the sheer fun of it. The play and humor of the
present-day races are largely derived from the Adamic
stock. The Adamites all had a great appreciation of
music as well as a keen sense of humor.
74:6.8
The average age of betrothal was eighteen, and these
youths then entered upon a two years' course of
instruction in preparation for the assumption of marital
responsibilities. At twenty they were eligible for
marriage; and after marriage they began their lifework
or entered upon special preparation therefor.
74:6.9
The practice of some subsequent nations of permitting
the royal families, supposedly descended from the gods,
to marry brother to sister, dates from the traditions of
the Adamic offspring -- mating, as they must needs, with
one another. The marriage ceremonies of the first and
second generations of the Garden were always performed
by Adam and Eve.
7. LIFE IN THE GARDEN
74:7.1
The children of Adam, except for four years' attendance
at the western schools, lived and worked in the "east of
Eden." They were trained intellectually until they were
sixteen in accordance with the methods of the Jerusem
schools. From sixteen to twenty they were taught in the
Urantia schools at the other end of the Garden, serving
there also as teachers in the lower grades.
74:7.2
The entire purpose of the western school system of the
Garden was
socialization. The forenoon periods of recess were
devoted to practical horticulture and agriculture, the
afternoon periods to competitive play. The evenings were
employed in social intercourse and the cultivation of
personal friendships. Religious and sexual training were
regarded as the province of the home, the duty of
parents.
74:7.3
The teaching in these schools included instruction
regarding:
1. Health and the care of the body.
2. The golden rule, the standard of social intercourse.
3. The relation of individual rights to group rights and
community obligations.
4. History and culture of the various earth races.
5. Methods of advancing and improving world trade.
6. Co-ordination of conflicting duties and emotions.
7. The cultivation of play, humor, and competitive
substitutes for physical fighting.
74:7.4
The schools, in fact every activity of the Garden, were
always open to visitors. Unarmed observers were freely
admitted to Eden for short visits. To sojourn in the
Garden a Urantian had to be "adopted." He received
instructions in the plan and purpose of the Adamic
bestowal, signified his intention to adhere to this
mission, and then made declaration of loyalty to the
social rule of Adam and the spiritual sovereignty of the
Universal Father.
74:7.5
The laws of the Garden were based on the older codes of
Dalamatia and were promulgated under seven heads:
1. The laws of health and sanitation.
2. The social regulations of the Garden.
3. The code of trade and commerce.
4. The laws of fair play and competition.
5. The laws of home life.
6. The civil codes of the golden rule.
7. The seven commands of supreme moral rule.
74:7.6
The moral law of Eden was little different from the
seven commandments of Dalamatia. But the Adamites taught
many additional reasons for these commands; for
instance, regarding the injunction against murder, the
indwelling of the Thought Adjuster was presented as an
additional reason for not destroying human life. They
taught that "whoso sheds man's blood by man shall his
blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man."
74:7.7
The public worship hour of Eden was noon; sunset was the
hour of family worship. Adam did his best to discourage
the use of set prayers, teaching that effective prayer
must be wholly individual, that it must be the "desire
of the soul"; but the Edenites continued to use the
prayers and forms handed down from the times of
Dalamatia. Adam also endeavored to substitute the
offerings of the fruit of the land for the blood
sacrifices in the religious ceremonies but had made
little progress before the disruption of the Garden.
74:7.8
Adam endeavored to teach the races sex equality. The way
Eve worked by the side of her husband made a profound
impression upon all dwellers in the Garden. Adam
definitely taught them that the woman, equally with the
man, contributes those life factors which unite to form
a new being. Theretofore, mankind had presumed that all
procreation resided in the "loins of the father." They
had looked upon the mother as being merely a provision
for nurturing the unborn and nursing the newborn.
74:7.9
Adam taught his contemporaries all they could
comprehend, but that was not very much, comparatively
speaking. Nevertheless, the more intelligent of the
races of earth looked forward eagerly to the time when
they would be permitted to intermarry with the superior
children of the violet race. And what a different world
Urantia would have become if this great plan of
uplifting the races had been carried out! Even as it
was, tremendous gains resulted from the small amount of
the blood of this imported race which the evolutionary
peoples incidentally secured.
74:7.10
And thus did Adam work for the welfare and uplift of the
world of his sojourn. But it was a difficult task to
lead these mixed and mongrel peoples in the better way.
8. THE LEGEND OF CREATION
74:8.1
The story of the creation of Urantia in six days was
based on the tradition that Adam and Eve had spent just
six days in their initial survey of the Garden. This
circumstance lent almost sacred sanction to the time
period of the week, which had been originally introduced
by the Dalamatians. Adam's spending six days inspecting
the Garden and formulating preliminary plans for
organization was not prearranged; it was worked out from
day to day. The choosing of the seventh day for worship
was wholly incidental to the facts herewith narrated.
74:8.2
The legend of the making of the world in six days was an
afterthought, in fact, more than thirty thousand years
afterwards. One feature of the narrative, the sudden
appearance of the sun and moon, may have taken origin in
the traditions of the onetime sudden emergence of the
world from a dense space cloud of minute matter which
had long obscured both sun and moon.
74:8.3
The story of creating Eve out of Adam's rib is a
confused condensation of the Adamic arrival and the
celestial surgery connected with the interchange of
living substances associated with the coming of the
corporeal staff of the Planetary Prince more than four
hundred and fifty thousand years previously.
74:8.4
The majority of the world's peoples have been influenced
by the tradition that Adam and Eve had physical forms
created for them upon their arrival on Urantia. The
belief in man's having been created from clay was
well-nigh universal in the Eastern Hemisphere; this
tradition can be traced from the Philippine Islands
around the world to Africa. And many groups accepted
this story of man's clay origin by some form of special
creation in the place of the earlier beliefs in
progressive creation -- evolution.
74:8.5
Away from the influences of Dalamatia and Eden, mankind
tended toward the belief in the gradual ascent of the
human race. The fact of evolution is not a modern
discovery; the ancients understood the slow and
evolutionary character of human progress. The early
Greeks had clear ideas of this despite their proximity
to Mesopotamia. Although the various races of earth
became sadly mixed up in their notions of evolution,
nevertheless, many of the primitive tribes believed and
taught that they were the descendants of various
animals. Primitive peoples made a practice of selecting
for their "totems" the animals of their supposed
ancestry. Certain North American Indian tribes believed
they originated from beavers and coyotes. Certain
African tribes teach that they are descended from the
hyena, a Malay tribe from the lemur, a New Guinea group
from the parrot.
74:8.6
The Babylonians, because of immediate contact with the
remnants of the civilization of the Adamites, enlarged
and embellished the story of man's creation; they taught
that he had descended directly from the gods. They held
to an aristocratic origin for the race which was
incompatible with even the doctrine of creation out of
clay.
74:8.7
The Old Testament account of creation dates from long
after the time of Moses; he never taught the Hebrews
such a distorted story. But he did present a simple and
condensed narrative of creation to the Israelites,
hoping thereby to augment his appeal to worship the
Creator, the Universal Father, whom he called the Lord
God of Israel.
74:8.8
In his early teachings, Moses very wisely did not
attempt to go back of Adam's time, and since Moses was
the supreme teacher of the Hebrews, the stories of Adam
became intimately associated with those of creation.
That the earlier traditions recognized pre-Adamic
civilization is clearly shown by the fact that later
editors, intending to eradicate all reference to human
affairs before Adam's time, neglected to remove the
telltale reference to Cain's emigration to the "land of
Nod," where he took himself a wife.
74:8.9
The Hebrews had no written language in general usage for
a long time after they reached Palestine. They learned
the use of an alphabet from the neighboring Philistines,
who were political refugees from the higher civilization
of Crete. The Hebrews did little writing until about 900
B.C., and having no written language until such a late
date, they had several different stories of creation in
circulation, but after the Babylonian captivity they
inclined more toward accepting a modified Mesopotamian
version.
74:8.10
Jewish tradition became crystallized about Moses, and
because he endeavored to trace the lineage of Abraham
back to Adam, the Jews assumed that Adam was the first
of all mankind. Yahweh was the creator, and since Adam
was supposed to be the first man, he must have made the
world just prior to making Adam. And then the tradition
of Adam's six days got woven into the story, with the
result that almost a thousand years after Moses' sojourn
on earth the tradition of creation in six days was
written out and subsequently credited to him.
74:8.11
When the Jewish priests returned to Jerusalem, they had
already completed the writing of their narrative of the
beginning of things. Soon they made claims that this
recital was a recently discovered story of creation
written by Moses. But the contemporary Hebrews of around
500 B.C. did not consider these writings to be divine
revelations; they looked upon them much as later peoples
regard mythological narratives.
74:8.12
This spurious document, reputed to be the teachings of
Moses, was brought to the attention of Ptolemy, the
Greek king of Egypt, who had it translated into Greek by
a commission of seventy scholars for his new library at
Alexandria. And so this account found its place among
those writings which subsequently became a part of the
later collections of the "sacred scriptures" of the
Hebrew and Christian religions. And through
identification with these theological systems, such
concepts for a long time profoundly influenced the
philosophy of many Occidental peoples.
74:8.13
The Christian teachers perpetuated the belief in the
fiat creation of the human race, and all this led
directly to the formation of the hypothesis of a onetime
golden age of utopian bliss and the theory of the fall
of man or superman which accounted for the nonutopian
condition of society. These outlooks on life and man's
place in the universe were at best discouraging since
they were predicated upon a belief in retrogression
rather than progression, as well as implying a vengeful
Deity, who had vented wrath upon the human race in
retribution for the errors of certain onetime planetary
administrators.
74:8.14
The "golden age" is a myth, but Eden was a fact, and the
Garden civilization was actually overthrown. Adam and
Eve carried on in the Garden for one hundred and
seventeen years when, through the impatience of Eve and
the errors of judgment of Adam, they presumed to turn
aside from the ordained way, speedily bringing disaster
upon themselves and ruinous retardation upon the
developmental progression of all Urantia.
74:8.15
Narrated by Solonia, the seraphic "voice in the Garden."
*
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