© 2015 Santiago Rodríguez
© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
| The eternal struggle between science and religion | Luz y Vida — No. 41 — September 2015 — Index | Urantia Questionnaire: Maria José Sánchez Santamaría |
Agriculture contains the set of techniques and knowledge to cultivate the land.
We live in a highly technical and industrialized world and agriculture, which is a very old human activity, has also been modified and influenced by technological progress.
Possibly its origins are due to the tendency of the human being to settle in one place and leave hunting as the only element of support. Our historians establish the beginning of the Neolithic as the starting point in which agriculture and livestock appear.
This date varies depending on the different areas of the planet; the oldest dates back to 8500 B.C. in a region of the Near East.
In the following scheme, we find the dates accepted by researchers for the beginning of agricultural activity in the various geographical areas.
Today it continues to be a universal activity and of capital importance in our society, although culturally we have been relegating it to the background, especially in the richest countries.
The Urantia Book reminds us of the capital importance of agriculture in the establishment of the human being and as a crucial evolutionary fact in social development, which is why it had an empowering element in the formation of the concept of “family”, as well as in the development of private property [UB 69:9.14].
The book informs us that it is an activity that occurs on all atmospheric planets, and furthermore, the cultivation of the land is the only common activity in all these worlds. [UB 49:4.5]
It also warns us that it is not an activity caused by any punishment, but something inherent to the human race, typical of its evolutionary development process; in fact, the transition from hunting to grazing and agriculture is the way to measure the advancement of civilization and the achievement of human evolution. [UB 66:7.19]
Agriculture is an extraordinarily ennobling activity, along with industry, instilling in our habits patience, calm, and peace, although as a social activity it presents the problem that it lacks excitement and adventure. UB 68:5.11
The Urantia Book also exhorts us to give it the importance and consideration it deserves, [UB 68:5.13] since social advancement depends on it. He even illustrates us with the examples of the American Indians, who did not come to form a state, compared to the Romans, who instead created a great empire by devoting adequate attention to agriculture and land and crop ownership UB 71:1.3
The Urantia Book tells us that this activity, also evolutionary, begins with the arrival of the Planetary Prince, an event that occurred on Urantia 500,000 years ago [UB 66:0.2], therefore prior to the rebellion of Lucifer, which tells us should help to dismiss the idea of punishment, and continued with more intensity after the arrival of Adam and Eve, almost 38,000 years ago [UB 74:0.1]
So obviously, the appearance of agriculture on our planet must be much earlier than the dates currently accepted by our historians.
And signs have been found in that direction, in Israel at south of Tiberias, the team led by Ehud Weiss and Ainit Snir from Bar-llan University, have found traces of agricultural activity in a human settlement in 23,000 years ago. A great leap in time, which helps to converge on the dates that The Urantia Book tells us.
Undoubtedly we are still far from the dates established in the book, but we are moving in the right direction.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| The eternal struggle between science and religion | Luz y Vida — No. 41 — September 2015 — Index | Urantia Questionnaire: Maria José Sánchez Santamaría |