Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 87
THE GHOST CULTS
1. The ghost cult evolved as an offset to the hazards of bad luck...Man has had a long and. bitter struggle with the ghost cult. Nothing in human history is designed to excite more pity than this picture of man's abject slavery to ghost‑spirit fear.
2. Death was feared because death meant the liberation of another ghost from its physical body. The ancients did their best to prevent death, to avoid the trouble of having to contend with a new ghost ...Many tricks and stratagems were practiced in an effort to hoodwink and deceive the ghosts; civilized man still pins much faith on the hope that an outward manifestation of piety will in some manner deceive even an omniscient Deity.
3. A house in which death had occurred was usually destroyed; if not, it was always avoided, and this fear prevented early man from building substantial dwellings. It also militated against the establishment of permanent villages and cities.
4. The savages sat up all night and talked when a member of the clan died; they feared they too would die if they fell asleep in the vicinity of a corpse ...The ancients believed that light must be provided for a corpse…In the twentieth century, candles are still burned in death chambers, and men still sit up with the dead. So‑called civilized man has hardly yet completely eliminated the fear of dead bodies from his philosophy of life.
5. The funeral service originated in men's effort to induce the ghost soul to depart for its future home, and the funeral sermon was originally designed to instruct the new ghost how to get there. It was the custom to provide food and. clothes for the ghost's journey, these articles being placed in or near the grave. The savage believed that it required from three days to a year to "lay the ghost"—to get it away from the vicinity of the grave. The Eskimos still believe that the soul stays with the body three days.
6. Long and frequent periods of mourning inactivity were one of the great obstacles to civilization's advancement. Weeks and even months of each year were literally wasted in this nonproductive and useless mourning ...the ancients did this because of fear. The names of the dead were never spoken.
7. The ancients were so anxious to get rid of a ghost that they offered it everything which might have been desired during life ..a well‑to‑do savage expected that at least one slave wife would be buried alive at his death...To break an article was to "kill it," thus releasing its ghost to pass on for service in ghostland ....Ancient funeral wastes were enormous ...Modern man is not supposed to fear ghosts, but custom is strong, and much terrestrial wealth is still consumed on funeral rituals and death ceremonies.
8. The advancing ghost cult made ancestor worship inevitable since it became the connecting link between common ghosts and the higher spirits, the evolving gods. The early gods were simply glorified departed humans...Most tribes instituted an all‑souls' feast at least once a year ...The ghost cult was in continuous evolution. As ghosts were envisioned, as passing from the incomplete to the higher phase of existence, so did the cult eventually progress to the worship of spirits, and even gods.
9. Ghost fear was the fountainhead of all world religion ...In influencing the expanding evolutionary mind, the power of an idea lies not in its reality or reasonableness but rather in its vividness and the universality of its ready and simple application.
10. When the doctrine of good and bad spirits finally matured, it became the most widespread and persistent of all religious beliefs...Man was at last able to conceive of supermortal forces that were consistent in behavior, and this was one of the most momentous discoveries of truth in the entire history of the evolution of religion and in the expansion of human philosophy.
11. Evolutionary religion has, however, paid a terrible price for the concept of dual spiritism...this doctrine has ever since made it difficult for religionists to conceive of cosmic unity... The concept of good and evil as cosmic co‑ordinates is, even in: the twentieth century, very much alive in human philosophy; most of the world's religions still carry this cultural birthmark of the long‑gone days of the emerging ghost cults.
12. Religious ceremonial must keep pace with spirit evolution and progress ...Religion represents man's adjustment to his illusion of the mystery of chance. Spirit fear and subsequent worship were adopted as insurance against misfortune, as prosperity policies.
13. Human prosperity was supposed to be especially provocative of the envy of evil spirits, and their method of retaliation was to strike back through a human agency and by the technique of the evil eye...The Koran contains a whole chapter devoted to the evil eye and magic spells, and the Jews fully believed in them. The whole phallic cult grew up as a defense against evil eye. The organs of reproduction were thought to be the only fetish which could render it powerless.
14. The method adopted to prevent the spirits from becoming jealous of human prosperity was to heap vituperation upon some lucky or much loved. thing or person. The custom of depreciating complimentary remarks regarding oneself or family had its origin in this way, and it eventually evolved into civilized modesty, restraint, and. courtesy. In keeping with the same motive, it became the fashion to look ugly. Beauty aroused the envy of spirits.
15. The ceremonies of spirit propitiation constituted a heavy burden, rendering life tedious and virtually unendurable. From age to age and from generation to generation, race after race has sought to improve this superghost doctrine, but no generation has ever yet dared to wholly reject it ...And even today the civilized races are cursed with the belief in signs, tokens, and other superstitious remnants of the advancing ghost cult of old..
16. In the early days of the cult, man's efforts to influence ghost action were confined to propitiation, attempts by bribery to buy off ill luck. As the evolution of the ghost cult progressed to the concept of good as well as bad. spirits, these ceremonies turned toward, attempts of a more positive nature, efforts to win good luck ...he shortly began to devise schemes whereby he could. compel spirit co‑operation.
17. Ghosts were supposed to be disturbed and frightened by noise; shouting, bells, and. drums drove them away from the living...Water was regarded as the best protection against ghosts. Holy water was superior to all other forms, water in which the priests had washed their feet. Both fire and water were believed to constitute impassable barriers to ghosts.
18. It was long believed that by reverting to the usages of the more ancient mores the spirits and. demigods could be forced into desirable action. Modern man is guilty of the same procedure. You address one another in common, everyday language, but when you engage in prayer, you resort to the older style of another generation, the so‑called solemn style.
19. Next came the practice of ritual vows, soon to be followed by religious pledges and. sacred oaths. Most of these oaths were accompanied by self‑torture and. self‑mutilation; later on, by fasting and prayer. Self‑denial was subsequently looked upon as being a sure coercive; this was especially true in the matter of sex suppression.
20. Modern man no longer attempts openly to coerce the spirits, though he still evinces a disposition to bargain with Deity. And he still swears, knocks on wood., crosses his fingers, and follows expectoration with some trite phrase; once it was a magical formula.
21. From the dawn of civilization every appealing movement in social culture or religious advancement has developed a ritual, a symbolic ceremonial. The more this ritual has been an unconscious growth, the stronger it has gripped. its devotees. The cult preserved sentiment and satisfied emotion, but it has always been the greatest obstacle to social reconstruction and. spiritual progress.
22. Notwithstanding that the cult has always retarded social progress, it is regrettable that so many modern believers in moral standards and spiritual ideals have no adequate symbolism—no cult of mutual support—nothing to belong to.
23. The early Christian cult was the most effective, appealing, and enduring of any ritual ever conceived or devised, but much of its value has been destroyed in a scientific age by the destruction of so many of its original underlying tenets.
24. A meaningless cult vitiates religion when it attempts to supplant philosophy and to enslave reason; a genuine cult grows.
25. Regardless of the drawbacks and handicaps, every new revelation of truth has given rise to a new cult, and. even the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism.. .And. this higher symbolism of a higher civilization must be predicated on the concept of the Fatherhood of God and be pregnant with the mighty ideal of the brotherhood of man.
26. The old cults were too egocentric; the new must be the outgrowth of applied love. The new cult must, like the old, foster sentiment, satisfy emotion, and promote loyalty; but it must do more: It must facilitate spiritual progress, enhance cosmic meanings, augment moral values, encourage social development, and. stimulate a high type of personal religious living. The new cult must provide supreme goals of living which are both temporal and eternal—social and spiritual.
27. No cult can endure and contribute to the progress of social civilization and individual spiritual attainment unless it is based on the biologic, sociologic, and religious significance of the home.
28. No cult can survive unless it embodies some masterful mystery and conceals some worthful unattainable….The forms of any serviceable symbolism must be those which the individual can carry out on his own initiative, and which he can also enjoy with his fellows. If the new cult could only be dynamic instead of static, it might really contribute something worth while to the progress of mankind, both temporal and. spiritual.
29. But a cult—a symbolism of rituals, slogans, or goals—will not function if it is too complex. And there must be the demand for devotion, the response of loyalty...The cult is the skeletal structure around which grows the living and dynamic body of personal spiritual experience—true religion.
Discussion Questions
1. Why have human beings tended to view spirit forces as dangerous rather than helpful?
2. Why do we still use practices of ancient defenses against evil, such as burning candles or using holy water, even though we no longer believe in their efficacy?
3. Why do people still think they can bargain with God?
4. Why do we use “solemn style” in prayer rather than common language?
5. Why do some people thing that fasting or sex suppression is a way to get benefits from God?
6. What kind of religious organizations will carry the teachings of the Urantia Synopsis of Papers to the world?
7. What are the most important suggestions for a new cult given by this Brilliant Evening Star?
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The Urantia Book Fellowship