《尤兰提亚之书》英文版自 2006 年起在全球范围内属于公共领域.
翻译: © 2015 Urantia Foundation
THE ORIGINS OF WORSHIP
崇拜的起源
1955 85:0.1 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.
2015 85:0.1 原始宗教有着一种生物学意义上的起源,即一种除开道德关联且远离灵性影响的自然演进发展。高等动物拥有恐惧但却没有任何幻觉,因此没有宗教。人类出于其恐惧并凭借其幻觉,而创造出了其原始宗教。
1955 85:0.2 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.
2015 85:0.2 在人类物种的演进中,在人类心智能够构想出那些值得被称为宗教的有关今生和来世的较复杂观念之前许久,崇拜便以其原始的表现形式出现了。早期的宗教本质上完全是智性的,并且完全基于相关的情况。崇拜的对象完全是暗示性的;它们包括众多在心智简单的原始玉苒厦人(Urantian)平凡经历中近在身边或是赫然耸现的自然事物。
1955 85:0.3 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.
2015 85:0.3 在宗教一度演进到自然崇拜以外时,它便获得了灵性之根源,但它总要受到社会环境的制约。随着自然崇拜的发展,人类的观念便拟想出一种在超凡间世界的分工;湖泊、树木、瀑布、雨水,以及成百上千种其他普通世间现象,都曾有过自然之灵。
1955 85:0.4 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.”
1. WORSHIP OF STONES AND HILLS
1. 对石头和山体的崇拜
1955 85:1.1 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.
1955 85:1.2 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.
2015 85:1.2 石头最初之所以给早期人类留下不同寻常的印象,是由于它们在田间或牧场地表如此突然出现的方式。人们既没能虑及侵蚀,也未虑及是土壤翻覆的结果。石头给早期民族留下深刻印象,还由于它们常与各种动物有相似之处。开化人类的注意力被山中诸多石头形状所吸引了,它们很像动物乃至是人的脸。但施以最深刻影响的却是流星,原始人目睹过它们以闪亮壮观方式疾驰过天空。流星对早期人类而言是极受敬畏的,他很容易便相信,这样闪耀的光带标志着一个灵体正在通往世间的路上。难怪人们被诱导去崇拜这类现象,特别是在他们随后发现了陨星之时。这也导致了对所有其它石头的更大敬畏。在孟加拉,很多人崇拜一颗在公元1880年落到地面的陨星。
1955 85:1.3 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.
1955 85:1.4 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.
2015 85:1.4 古人对石头上的孔洞尤为崇敬。这类多孔的石块被认定在治疗疾病会方面有奇效。穿耳孔不是为了佩带石头,而是将石头放入以保持耳孔张开。即使到了现代时期,迷信的人们还在钱币上钻孔。在非洲,土著居民仍为他们的神石而费尽心思。事实上,在所有落后的部落和民族中间,石头仍受到迷信敬拜。及至如今,石头崇拜也还遍及全世界。墓石是一种存续下来的形象和偶像象征物,这些被刻到石头上的形象和偶像,与离去之人的魂灵信仰有关。
1955 85:1.5 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.
2. WORSHIP OF PLANTS AND TREES
2. 对植物和树木的崇拜
1955 85:2.1 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.”
2015 85:2.1 植物之所以最初受到畏惧,然后受到崇拜,是因为由之而来的醉人酒浆。原始人相信醉酒会使人变神圣。对于这样一种经历,必定有某种神圣而又不同寻常十分的东西。即使是在现代时期,乙醇也被称为“酒精”。
1955 85:2.3 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.
2015 85:2.3 树木崇拜的教派是最为古老的宗教团体之一。所有早期的婚礼都是在树下举行的,而当女人想要孩子时,常会在森林里发现她们深情拥抱一棵粗壮的橡树。许多植物和树木曾由于其真正或是想象出来的药用能力而受到尊崇。野蛮人相信,所有的化学效应都是由于超自然力的直接活动。
1955 85:2.4 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.
1955 85:2.5 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.
2015 85:2.5 地下的水源或是珍贵金属可用木魔杖探测到的信仰,便是古代树木崇拜的一种遗迹。五朔节花柱、圣诞树以及轻敲木头的迷信做法,使得某些古代的树木崇拜习俗和近来的树木膜拜存续了下来。
1955 85:2.6 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.
2015 85:2.6 这些最早形式的自然崇拜当中有许多变得与后来逐渐演进的崇拜手段融合在一起了,但在人类新觉醒的宗教本性对灵性影响的刺激形成充分回应之前许久,心智辅助者所激发的最早类型崇拜就在起作用了。
3. THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS
3. 对动物的崇拜
1955 85:3.1 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.
2015 85:3.1 原始人对高等动物曾有过一种独特的同类情感。他们的祖先曾和它们生活在一起,甚至同它们交配过。在南亚,很早就有人相信人的灵魂会以动物的形式重返世间。这种信仰曾是更早期动物崇拜习俗的一种存续。
1955 85:3.2 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.
2015 85:3.2 早期人类尊崇动物,是因为它们的力量和它们的狡猾。他们认为某些生物敏锐的嗅觉和远视的视觉都预示着精灵的指引。众多动物都曾被一个或另一个民族所崇拜过。在这些崇拜对象中间,有一些被视为半人半兽的动物,例如人马和美人鱼。
1955 85:3.3 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.
1955 85:3.4 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.
1955 85:3.5 In religion, symbolism may be either good or bad just to the extent that the symbol does or does not displace the original worshipful idea. And symbolism must not be confused with direct idolatry wherein the material object is directly and actually worshiped.
2015 85:3.5 在宗教中,象征主义可以是好的,也可以是坏的,端视象征物有没有取代原初的崇拜观念。一定不要把象征主义与直接的偶像崇拜相混淆,在后者当中,直接而实际崇拜的是一种物质性对象。
4. WORSHIP OF THE ELEMENTS
4. 对自然力的崇拜
1955 85:4.1 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.
1955 85:4.2 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.
1955 85:4.3 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.
1955 85:4.4 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.
5. WORSHIP OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES
5. 对天体的崇拜
1955 85:5.1 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.
2015 85:5.1 对石头、山体、树木和动物的崇拜,历经对自然力的畏惧性崇拜,往上便自然发展到了对太阳、月亮和星辰的神灵化。在印度及其它一些地区,星辰被视为是那些离开了肉身生命之伟大人物的荣耀灵魂。迦勒底的星辰崇拜者们则将自身视为是天地父母的儿女。
1955 85:5.2 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.
2015 85:5.2 月亮崇拜先于太阳崇拜。对月亮的崇拜在狩猎时代期间达到了其顶峰,而太阳礼拜则变成了后来农耕时代的主要宗教仪式。太阳崇拜最早在印度广泛扎根,它在那儿持续的时间最长。在波斯,太阳崇拜产生了后来的密斯拉教派。在许多民族中间,太阳被视作他们君王的祖先。迦勒底人将太阳置于“宇宙七环”的中心。后来的文明通过把太阳的名字给了一周的第一天,以向它表示敬意。
1955 85:5.3 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.
6. WORSHIP OF MAN
6. 对人的崇拜
1955 85:6.1 Having worshiped everything else on the face of the earth and in the heavens above, man has not hesitated to honor himself with such adoration. The simple-minded savage makes no clear distinction between beasts, men, and gods.
2015 85:6.1 崇拜过了地面上和天空中的其他一切,人类毫不犹豫地赋予自身以这种崇拜。心智简单的野蛮人并没有在兽、人和神之间做任何明确区分。
1955 85:6.2 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.
2015 85:6.2 早期人类把所有非同寻常之人都视为超人,他如此害怕这类存有,以至对他们诚惶诚恐;在某种程度上来说他确实崇拜他们。就连拥有双胞胎,也被视为非常幸运或是非常不幸的。疯子、癫痫患者和低能儿曾经常被其正常心智的同伴们所崇拜,他们相信这类不正常存有由诸神所内驻。祭司、君王和先知们也都受到崇拜;古时的圣人们也被视为受了神灵的启发。
1955 85:6.3 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.
2015 85:6.3 部落首领死后曾被神灵化。后来,杰出的灵魂过世后也被圣化了。未受过协助的进化从未创生过高于已故人类中荣耀、高贵和开化之灵的诸神。在早期的进化中,宗教创造出了其自身的诸神。而在启示的进程中,则是各神构想出了宗教。进化类宗教按凡人的形象和样子创造出了其诸神;而启示类宗教却力图将凡人演进和转化为神的形象和样子。
1955 85:6.4 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.
2015 85:6.4 鬼神,有着所谓的人类起源,应当与自然之神区分开来,因为自然崇拜的确演化出了一套神系 -- 即被抬升到诸神位置的自然之灵。自然崇拜与后来出现的鬼魂崇拜一同发展,并且彼此相互影响。许多宗教体系都包含了一种双重性神祗观念,即自然神和鬼神;在某些神学体系中,这些观念令人迷惑地交织在了一起,正如托尔所例示的那样,他既是鬼雄,同时也是雷神。
1955 85:6.5 But the worship of man by man reached its height when temporal rulers commanded such veneration from their subjects and, in substantiation of such demands, claimed to have descended from deity.
2015 85:6.5 不过人类所进行的人之崇拜,在世俗统治者们要求其臣民的这种崇拜、并为证实这种要求而声称起源于神灵时,才达到了其顶峰。
7. THE ADJUTANTS OF WORSHIP AND WISDOM
7. 崇拜的辅助者与智慧的辅助者
1955 85:7.1 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.
2015 85:7.1 自然崇拜或许看似自然而又自发地出现在原始男女的心智中,它的确如此;但第六个辅助之灵一直以来都在这些原始的心智当中运作着,它作为这一人类进化阶段的一种指导性影响而被赋予到了这些人身上。该灵不断激发着人类的崇拜冲动,无论其最初的显现有多么原始。该崇拜之灵给了人类崇拜冲动以明确的起源,尽管动物性恐惧激发了虔诚地表达,并且其早期的实践都集中在自然对象上。
1955 85:7.2 You must remember that feeling, not thinking, was the guiding and controlling influence in all evolutionary development. To the primitive mind there is little difference between fearing, shunning, honoring, and worshiping.
2015 85:7.2 你们一定要记住的是,在所有进化类发展中,引导性和控制性的影响是感觉,而非思维。对于原始心智来说,惧怕、躲避、敬重和崇拜之间鲜有差别。
1955 85:7.3 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.
2015 85:7.3 当崇拜冲动受到智慧 -- 即沉思性和经验性思维 -- 所告诫和指导时,它便开始发展成为真正的宗教现象。当第七个辅助之灵 -- 即智慧之灵实现了有效的照料时,人类在崇拜方面便开始从自然及自然对象那里移开,而转到了自然之神和自然万物的永恒造物主身上。
1955 85:7.4 [Presented by a Brilliant Evening Star of Nebadon.]
2015 85:7.4 [由内巴顿(Nebadon)的一位闪耀昏星所呈献。]