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Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 90
SHAMANISM--MEDICINE MEN AND PRIESTS

1. In the advancing concepts of primitive man the spirit world was eventually regarded as being unresponsive to the ordinary mortal. Religion thus enters upon a new phase, a stage wherein it gradually becomes secondhanded; always does a medicine man, a shaman, or a priest intervene between the religionist and the object of worship. And. today most Urantia systems of organized religious belief are passing through this level of evolutionary development.

2.  The shaman was the ranking medicine man, the ceremonial fetishman, and the focus personality for all the practices of evolutionary religion ...The shaman sometimes functioned as a priest and even as a priest‑king...While they may have practiced deception in minor matters, the great majority of the shamans believed in the fact of their spirit possession.

3.  But not all shamans were self‑deceived; many were shrewd and. able tricksters ...Sleight- of‑hand. feats were regarded as supernatural by the common folk, and ventriloquism was first used by shrewd priests. Many of the olden shamans unwittinglystumbled onto hypnotism; others induced autohypnosis by prolonged staring at their navels…Itwas shamanism that took the exclusive direction of tribal affairs out of the hands of the old and the strong andlodged it in the hands of the shrewd, the clever, and the farsighted.

4.  The human race very early sought for superhuman help, for revelation; and men believed that the shaman actually received such revelations ...As time passed, all such purported contact with the supernatural was classified either as witchcraft or shamancraft.  Witchcraft embraced the magic performed by earlier, irregular, and unrecognized spirits; shamancraft had to do with miracles performed by regular spirits and recognized gods of the tribe.

5.  The shamans were great believers in the mission of chance as revelatory of the will of the spirits; they frequently cast lots to arrive at decisions...Primitive astrology was a world‑wide belief and practice; dream interpreting also became widespread. All this was soon followed by the appearance of those temperamental shamanesses who professed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead.

6.  Again and. again did the Caesars banish the astrologers, but they invariably returned because of the popular belief in their powers.. .Thousands of supposedly intelligent people still believe that one may be born under the domination of a lucky or an unlucky star ..Fortunetellers are still patronized by the credulous.

7.  Ever and anon, true prophets and teachers arose to denounce and expose shamanism. Even the vanishing red man had. such a prophet within the past hundred. years, the Shawnee Teuskwatowa, who predicted the eclipse of the sun in 1808 and denounced the vices of the white man. Many true teachers have appeared among the various tribes and races all through the long ages of evolutionary history. And they will ever continue to appear to challenge the shamans or priests of any age who oppose general education and attempt to thwart scientific progress.

8.  The shamans dressed well and usually had. a number of wives; they were the original aristocracy, being exempt from all tribal restrictions. They were very often of low-grade mind and morals ...Primitive man regarded the shaman as a necessary evil; he feared him but did not love him ...The shaman was mostly fraud, but the veneration for shamanism well illustrates the premium put upon wisdom in the evolution of the race.

9. Among some people disease was thought to be caused by a wicked conspiracy between spirits and animals. This gave rise to the belief that there existed a beneficent plant remedy for every animal‑caused disease...Fasting, dieting, and. counterirritants were often used as remedial measures...The shamans believed that disease spirits could be driven out of the body by foul‑smelling and bad‑tasting medicines. Purging very early became a routine treatment, and the values of raw cocoa and. quinine were among the earliest pharmaceutical discoveries.

10. The Greeks were the first to evolve truly rational methods of treating the sick... secrecy has always been essential to the successfulpractice of fraud and superstition. Only facts and truth court the full light of comprehension and rejoice in the illumination and. enlightenment of scientific research.

11. The essence of the ritual is the perfection of its performance; among savages it must be practiced with exact precision...Therefore, since man’s slowly evolving mind conceived that the technique of ritual was the decisive factor in its efficacy, it was inevitable that the early shamans should sooner or later evolve into a priesthood trained to direct the meticulous practice of the ritual.

12. The priests evolved from shamans up through oracles, diviners, singers, dancers, weather­makers, guardians of religious relics, temple custodians, and foretellers of events, to the status of actual directors of religious worship. Eventually the office became hereditary; a continuous priestly caste arose.

13. The priests have always sought to impress and awe the common people by conducting the religious ritual in an ancient tongue and by sundry magical passes so to mystify the worshipers as to enhance their own piety and authority. The great danger in all this is that the ritual tends to become a substitute for religion.

14. The priesthoods have done mach to delay scientific development and to hinder spiritual progress, but they have contributed to the stabilization of civilization and to the enhancement of certain kinds of culture...It is not denied that the priests have been a millstone about the neck of the races, but the true religious leaders have been invaluable in pointing the way to higher and better realities.
Discussion Questions

1. To what extent is religion second-handed today?

2. Was the influence of the shrewd and clever medicine men and priests an advance over the leadership of the strong?

3. Why do people still believe that mediums can get in touch with the spirits of the dead?

4. How do contemporary people use chance in making decisions?

5. Why do people today believe in the classifications of astrology?

6. Do we still use unscientific methods of treating disease?

7. Are priests and pastors still holding back spiritual progress?

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