Paper 89 - Square Circles Publishing

SOURCE OR PARALLEL URANTIA PAPER 89XXXIII: PROPITIATION (Sumner &Keller 1167)§278. Nature of Propitiation. (Sumner &Keller 1167)89:0.2 The savage was early possessedwith the notion thatNudity, again, though it seems to begenerally coercitive, is often interpretableas propitiatory, for the daimons getsatisfaction out of the sight of humanmisery, humiliation, and self-discipline(S&K 1168).The faults hitherto considered have beenalmost wholly those of commission:something wrong has been done; sometaboo broken (S&K 1170).It is also necessary to perform positivecult-obligations and to incur no guilt byreason of omissions; for the daimons havemight-supported rights that rootultimately in the supposed needs of theghosts (S&K 1170).spirits derive supreme satisfaction fromthe sight of human misery, suffering, andhumiliation.At first, man was only concerned withsins of commission,but later he became exercised over sins ofomission.And the whole subsequent sacrificialsystem grew up around these two ideas.Whatever the nature of the sin,whether of commission or of omission,there was but one recourse for the sinnerif he were to evade or lessen the penalty:conciliation or propitiation (S&K 1170).Misfortune will come of itself unlesssomething is done to prevent it, whereasfortune will not arrive unless something isdone to bring it (S&K 1167).Considerable development is called forbefore people arrive at the idea of aconsistently benevolent god (S&K 1167).This new ritual had to do with theobservance of the propitiation ceremoniesof sacrifice.Primitive man believed that somethingspecial must be done to win the favor ofthe gods;only advanced civilization recognizes aconsistently even-tempered andbenevolent God.2