Moral Evolution of Coscivian Spiritual Civilisation
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| Author | D.B. Aktagardin |
|---|---|
| Country |  Kiravian Union |
| Language | Kiravic Coscivian |
| Subject | Prehistoric Kiravian religion |
| Genre | Dark philology |
Publication date | 1934 |
| Pages | 420 |
[The] Moral Evolution of Coscivian Spiritual Civilisation (Kiravic: Intærix Setraréstor Koskix Xistuakansektarsk) is a book on the topic of prehistoric Kiravian religion, published in 1934 AD by Kiravian dark philologist D.B. Aktagardin, a fellow at the Shrouded Orb University in Aısenśinar, Hiterna.
General Outline
The moral evolution of Coscivian spiritual civilisation is periodised thus:
Uroternalôstum ("Primordial Soup") - A term of Aktagardin's own coinage, this encompasses those cognitive and basal spiritual experiences presumed to be shared by all human populations at the inception of behavioural modernity with the Murdla Culture, on to those that the ancestors of the first Kiravians would have held in common with other Archæo-Cronan and Archæo-North Levantine peoples such as the Packers. In Aktagardin's estimation, ancestor worship is the most important surviving feature of Coscivian religiosity dating from this period.
Seleno-Oceanolatrous Age - Abandonment of supplicatory Archæo-Cronite sacrificial nature worship (precursors to M’acunism and Arzalism) and/or Archæo-Levantine supplicatory polytheism (or whatever preceded these) in favour of unconditional Moon-reverence and equally unconditional Ocean-fearing.
Lunar Monotheistic Age - Selenolatrous and Oceanolatrous traditions fissure due to some unknowable diluvian catastrophe and/or mass psychic trauma, precipitating a matter-antimatter-like zero-sum violent collision of opposing worldviews. Selenolatry emerges as the "winner" of this struggle, so to speak, and goes on to evolve into archæic Sarostivism, whereas oceanolatry is minoritised and gradually marginalised, devolving into what is now called Paopatra.
Moral Foundations Age - The era of the first Emperors and the Four Rites and Four Precepts, which begin the coalescence of Coscivian civilisation proper and establish its basic moral norms, such as the enforcement of monogamy and the abandonment of previously widespread practices such as ritual warfare, infanticide, and uxoricide.
Shaftonic Age - The remarkably rapid emergence of Shaftonism as the dominant philosophical framework in Coscivian society, introducing advanced notions of virtue, and abstract deontology.
Denominational Age - Now more commonly known as the “Dozen Schools of Thought Era", which saw the consolidation of formal, institutionalised religio-philosophical “schools” and traditions. Palæo-Sarostivism turns into Sarostivism proper and its sibling religions, such as Komarism. The Proto-Transkiravians' Wàzist understanding of the Divine throuples with Shaftonist moral philosophy and the practices of Lunar spirituality to become Iduanism, and so forth. Aktagardin also advances a theory about the roots of Rotarionism in the universist worldview of the Proto-Intheric river-basin horticulturalists that most dark philologists now find unconvincing.
Christian Age - Also the Abrahamic Age in later editions to account for the similar processes involved in the spread of Islam. Gradual exit from moral parochialism and moral compartmentalism towards universalism and moral absolutism. Christian egalitarianism also enters the equation, with lasting effects on Coscivian social organisation and political development.
Stages of Moral-Spiritual Development
Aktagardin lays out a stagewise model of the evolution of Coscivian religion. Comparisons between the text of the original print run and later editions based on the author's unpublished manuscripts and working material show that in the originally published versions Aktagardin revised his staging paradigm to tie the stages more closely to archæological modes of production and therefore more closely to Marxist orthodoxy.
Moon & Ocean Age
Tenatively dated to the Middle Palæolithic, Aktagardin posits that a "Moon-Ocean Faith" ( Saro-yu-páskalirsa ) was either carried to Kirav by the founder populations or developed among them soon after their arrival. He asserts that the preöccupation with these two cosmic forces was probably rooted in the ice-bridge peoples' lifestyle as marine mammal hunters, living precariously atop the ocean and using the Moon and stars for timekeeping and navigation.
The quintessential and distinguishing feature of the Moon-Ocean Faith Unconditional moon-worship/ocean-fear instead of transactional/totemic nature-worship or polytheism. The Ice Age Kiravian does not presume to bargain with the Moon or the Ocean, nor to communicate with them or gain their favour. The foundation of their worldview is the absoluteness of the of the chaötic, all-consuming ocean that will inevitably reclaim them, and of the orderly, cyclical rhythms of the Moon and Cosmos that will inevitably continue long after them. A "death and taxes" outlook on life, but for cavemen. Perchance.
Embracing Moon-worship instead of Sun-worship is held to be the “original act of Coscivian contrarianism” that set these prehistoric hunters and their descendants down a civilisational path of doing weird shit just to be different.
Lunar Monotheïstic Age
This takes us (based entirely on the guy's gut) from as early as the Last Glacial Retreat or as late as the Mesolithic, on thro' through the Neolithic Revolution.
For unknown reasons, the Moon-and-Ocean dyad breaks down and people become either Moon-worshippers or Ocean-fearers. Drama ensues.
The glacial retreat may have something to do with this: Some speculate that Ocean-fearers contrasted the life-giving ocean with the life-negating Glacier and credited the ocean with keeping the Glacier at bay, observing that glacial melt flows into the ocean. Moon-worshippers credited the Moon with bringing the ancestors over the ice and trusted that the Moon would protect them from the Glacier if they migrated inland. Perchance. Marxists insist that rudimentary horticulture was somehow behind the divergence, but truly no one knows.
Regardless of how or why this happened, it resulted in a divergence of worldviews between the monistic, fatalistic ocean death-cult and the more fideistic and transcendental lunar religion, which will eventually come to resemble other world monotheïstic faiths in key respects. Ocean spirituality, on the other hand, emphasises the precarity of life in an environment of unpredictable and catastrophic change, and explores the contradiction between the irrepressible human will to survive and the inevitability of being swallowed back up by the all-consuming Ocean. The Ocean creates and nurtures all life and also destroys and devours all life. More ecstatic resignation and LFG YASS ME GUSTA attitude toward change, death, suffering. Paopatra values passion, especially in its spontaneous extremes of euphoria, terror, LFG energy , etc.
Moon spirituality emphasises a pervasive cosmic order and a body of truths hidden above and beyond immediate human perception but partially discoverable through a reverent and contemplative experience of reality. More Taoist/Stoic attitude toward change. Saropatra values calm, moderation, peace, and neutrality.
Ocean spirituality has more in common with shamanistic and oracular traditions, whereas Moon spirituality has more in common with monastic, ascetic, and mystical traditions. Ocean-fearers paid great attention to doomsayers, hysterics, and persons plagued by nightmares.
How does this relate to the endemic and ritualistic interband violence that characterised pre-Emperor Kirav?