Information AboutAnimism |
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The term Animism is derived from the Latin ''anima'', meaning "soul".Segal, p. 14"Animism", ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), p. 72 In its most general sense, animism is simply the belief in souls. In this general sense, animism is present in nearly all religions. In a more restrictive sense, animism is the belief that souls inhabit all or most objects; it attributes personalized souls to animals, vegetables, and minerals wherein the material object is—to some degree—governed by the qualities which comprise its particular soul. Religions that are animistic in this more restrictive sense generally do not accept a sharp distinction between spirit and matter, and they generally assume that this unification of matter and spirit plays a role in daily life. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05. This article discusses the term animism mainly in its more restrictive sense. Originally souls were pictured as very similar to persons and only in later non-animistic religions in the course of a long development did they lose their material characteristics and become, to a high degree, 'spiritualized'.Freud (1950, 76), citing Wundt (1906, Chapter IV, 'Die Seelenvorstellungen'). British Anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor argued in ''Primitive Culture'' (1871) that this belief was the most primitive and essential form of religion. Though animism itself is not a religion in the usual Western sense, it does contain the foundations on which religions are built. ORIGIN Most authorities incline to the view that the idea of a soul is the original nucleus of the animistic system, that spirits are only souls that have made themselves independent, and that the souls of animals, plants and objects were constructed on the analogy of humans.Freud (1950, 76). Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud thought that primitive men came up with the animistic system by observing the phenomena of sleep (including dreams) and of death which so much resembles it, and by attempting to explain those states. The chief starting-point of this theorizing must have been the problem of death. What primitive man regarded as the natural thing was the indefinite prolongation of life — immortality. The idea of death was only accepted late, and with hesitancy. It has been regarded as perfectly natural for man to react to the phenomena which aroused his speculations by forming the idea of the soul and then extending it to objects in the external world.Freud (1950, 77). The justification for attributing life to inanimate objects was already stated by Hume in his ''Natural History of Religion'' III : "There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object those qualities with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious."Taylor (1891, 1, 477). The term Animism was the term used by Anthropologist Sir E. B. Tylor , as a proposed theory of Religion , in his 1871 book, ''Primitive Culture''. He used it to mean a belief in souls. According to Tylor, all religion rests on, or stems from, a belief in gods or supernatural beings, which in turn stems from a belief in souls.Segal, p. 14 Thus, for Tylor, all religions are forms of animism.Segal, p. 14 However, many use the term "animism" to refer to a specific group of religions--specifically, religions that attribute souls to non-human entities. This is a popular belief in the majority of African religions and thus animism is often associated with Africa. The term also contains negative connotation, like the word "primitive", and is used primarily to group non Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, particularly in Africa, and to mark them as less "sophisticated" in concept because they lack the Anthropocentrism found in Judeo-Christian-Islamic dogma. It is important to point out that Tylor did ''not'' restrict the term "animism" to religions that attribute souls to non-human creatures. He does state that "in primitive religion souls occupy all physical entities",Segal, p. 14 but for Tylor, "animism" is simply "belief in souls"; it doesn't matter whether these souls occupy all entities or only humans. Therefore, a religion that attributes souls to only humans is still a form of animism by Tylor's definition: "Tylor uses the term 'animism' for religion per se, modern and primitive alike."Segal, p. 14. EXAMPLES In North America during the early 20th century, an Urban Legend existed, based on reports of the experiments of Dr. Duncan MacDougall , that all human beings, regardless of size, lost 21 grams at the moment of death, and it was believed that the departure of the soul accounted for this loss of mass. {Link without Title} Among the Basutus it is held that a man walking by the brink of a river may lose his life if his shadow falls on the water, for a Crocodile may seize it and draw him in. In Tasmania , North and South America and classical Europe is found the conception that the soul — σκιά, ''umbra'' — is identical with the shadow of a person. More familiar to Europeans is the connection between the soul and the breath. This identification is found both in Indo-European and Semitic Languages . In Latin we have ''spiritus'', in Greek ''pneuma'', in Hebrew ''ruach''. The idea is found extending other planes of culture in Australia, America and Asia. For some of the Native Americans and First Nations the Roman custom of receiving the breath of a dying man was no mere pious duty but a means of ensuring that his soul was transferred to a new body. Other familiar conceptions identify the Soul with the Liver or the Heart , with the reflected figure seen in the Pupil of the Eye , and with the Blood . Although the soul is often distinguished from the vital principle, there are many cases in which a state of unconsciousness is explained as due to the absence of the soul. In South Australia ''wilyamarraba'' (without soul) is the word used for insensible. So too the Autohypnotic Trance of the Magician or '' Shaman '' is regarded as due to their soul's visit to distant regions or the Netherworld , of which they bring back an account. Sickness is often explained as due to the absence of the soul and means are sometimes taken to lure back the Wandering Soul . In Chinese tradition, when a person is at the point of death and their soul believed to have left their body, the patient's coat is held up on a long bamboo pole while a priest endeavours to bring the departed spirit back into the coat by means of Incantation s. If the bamboo begins to turn round in the hands of the relative who is deputed to hold it, it is regarded as a sign that the soul of the Moribund has returned (see Automatism ). More important perhaps than all these phenomena, because more regular and normal, was the daily period of Sleep with its frequent fitful and incoherent ideas and images. The conclusion must have been irresistible that in sleep something journeyed forth, which was not the body (see Astral Travel ). In a minor degree, revival of Memory during sleep and similar phenomena of the sub-conscious life may have contributed to the same result. Dreams are sometimes explained in animist cultures as journeys performed by the sleeper, sometimes as visits paid by other persons, by animals or objects to the sleeper. Seeing the Phantasm ic figures of friends at the moment when they were, whether at the point of death or in good health, many miles distant, may have led people to the Dualistic Theory . But hallucinatory figures, both in dreams and waking life, are not necessarily those of the living. From the reappearance of dead friends or enemies, primitive man was led to the belief that there existed an incorporeal part of man, which survived the dissolution of the body. The soul was conceived to be a facsimile of the body, sometimes no less material, sometimes more subtle but yet material, sometimes altogether impalpable and intangible. If the phenomena of dreams were, as suggested above, of great importance for the development of animism, the belief expanded into a general Philosophy of Nature . Not only human beings but animals and objects are seen in dreams and the conclusion would be that they too have souls. The same conclusion may have been reached by another line of argument. Folk Psychology posited a spirit in a person to account, amongst other things, for their actions. A natural explanation of the changes in the external world would be that they are due to the operations and volitions of spirits. But apart from considerations of this sort, it is probable that animals were regarded as possessing souls, early in the history of animistic beliefs. We may assume that man attributed a soul to the beasts of the field almost as soon as he claimed one for himself. The animist may attribute to animals the same sorts of ideas, the same soul, the same mental processes as himself, which may also be associated with greater power, cunning, or magical abilities. Dead animals are sometimes credited with a knowledge of how their remains are treated, potentially with the power to take vengeance on the hunter if he is disrespectful. It is not surprising to find that many peoples respect and even worship animals (see '' Totem '' or '' Animal Worship ''), often regarding them as relatives. It is clear that widespread respect was paid to animals as the abode of dead ancestors, and much of the Cult s to dangerous animals is traceable to this principle; though we need not attribute an animistic origin to it. With the rise of Species , Deities and the cult of individual animals, the path towards Anthropomorphism and Polytheism is opened and the respect paid to animals tended to be reduced or lost entirely, especially in its strict animistic characters. DIVERSITY Today Animists live in significant numbers in countries such as Zambia , the Democratic Republic Of The Congo , Bangladesh , India , Gabon , the Republic Of Guinea Bissau , Indonesia , Japan , Laos , Myanmar , Papua New Guinea , Peru , the Philippines , Canada , Russia , Sweden , Thailand , Timor Leste , and the United States . Modern , in which God is equated with Existence , is different from animism because it imputes value to individual living beings and/or objects only because they might reveal a larger reality or divinity behind everything. Animists respect beings for their own sake - whether because they have souls or because they are persons. OVERVIEW In some animistic worldviews found in Hunter-gatherer cultures, the human being is often regarded as on a roughly equal footing with animals, plants, and natural forces. Therefore, it is morally imperative to treat these agents with respect. In this worldview, humans are considered a denizen, or part, of nature, rather than superior to or separate from it. In such societies, ritual is considered essential for survival as it wins the favor of the spirits of one's source of food, shelter, and fertility and wards off malevolent spirits. In more elaborate animistic religions, such as Shinto , there is a greater sense of a special character to humans that sets them apart from the general run of animals and objects, while retaining the necessity of ritual to ensure good luck, favorable harvests, and so on. Most animistic belief systems hold that the spirit survives physical death. In some systems, the spirit is believed to pass to an easier world of abundant game or ever-ripe crops, while in other systems, the spirit remains on earth as a ghost, often malignant. Still other systems combine these two beliefs, holding that the soul must journey to the spirit world without becoming lost and thus wandering as a ghost (''e.g.'', the Navajo religion). Funeral , Mourning rituals, and ancestor worship performed by those surviving the deceased are often considered necessary for the successful completion of this journey. Rituals in animistic cultures are often performed by Shaman s or Priest s, who are usually seen as possessing spiritual powers greater than or external to the normal human experience. , 1988]] The practice of Head Shrinking as previously noted among Jivaroan and Urarina peoples derives from an animistic belief that if the spirit of one's mortal enemies are not trapped within the head, they can escape slain bodies. After the spirit Transmigrates to another body, they can take the form of a Predator y animal and even exact revenge. Animism is the belief that objects and ideas including animals, tools, and natural phenomena have or are expressions of living Spirit s or vital essences. ANIMAL SOULS Kinship is central to Animistic systems. Everything is related in some way as kin, and if it cannot be found to have such a relation it often is not even deamed to exist. Thus animals are kin to humans and people often have an animal spirit. Your animal spirit contributes to your personality. There are many different animal spirits, and here are a few examples. Amongst the Noongar of South Western Wester Australia, for instance, people are divided between Wardungmaat (Crow legs or kinship lineage) or Manitjmaat (of White Cockatoo kinship lineage). Engogamy means that a Wardungmaat person must have a Manitjmaat spouse, these terms being passed through the matrilineal line. Alligator: People who posses the Spirit of the alligator may have a personality full of aggression and anger, but also posses great skills of survival and adaptivity. Beaver: Those who hold the beaver Spirit are usually strong builders. They love to collect, and have a creative mind. Coyote: The Spirit of the coyote is a prankster, but has insight and are very playful. The coyote symbolizes duality and the ability to present both sides of an issue. Coyotes also love clowning and humor. They may be sarcastic. PLANT SOULS Just as human souls are assigned to animals, so too are Tree s and Plant s often credited with souls, both human and animal in form. All over the world Agricultural peoples practice elaborate ceremonies explicable, as Wilhelm Mannhardt has shown, on animistic principles. In Europe the Corn Spirit , sometimes Immanent in the crop, sometimes a presiding Deity whose life does not depend on that of the growing corn, is conceived in some districts in the form of an Ox , Hare or Cock , in others as an old man or woman. In the East Indies and Americas the Rice or Maize Mother is a corresponding figure; in Classical Europe and the East we have in Ceres and Demeter , Adonis and Dionysus , and other deities, vegetation gods whose origin we can readily trace back to the rustic corn spirit. Forest Tree s, no less than Cereal s, may have their indwelling spirits. The Faun s and Satyr s of classical literature were goat-footed; in Russia , the Tree Spirit of the Russian peasantry takes the form of a Goat . In Bengal and the East Indies woodcutters endeavour to propitiate the spirit of the tree which they cut down. In many parts of the world trees are regarded as the abode of the spirits of the dead. Just as a process of Syncretism has given rise to cults of animal gods, tree spirits tend to become detached from the trees, which are thenceforward only their abodes. Here again animism has begun to pass into Polytheism . OBJECT SOULS Some cultures do not make a distinction between animate and inanimate objects. Natural phenomena, Geographic features, everyday objects, and manufactured articles may also be attributed with souls. In the north of Europe, in Ancient Greece , and in China, the water or river spirit is Horse or Bull -shaped. The water monster in serpent shape is even more widely found, but it is less strictly the spirit of the water. The spirit of syncretism manifests itself in this department of animism too, turning the immanent spirit into the presiding Djinn or Local God of later times. ANIMISM AND DEATH In many parts of the world it is held that the human body is the seat of more than one soul. On the island of spirit, termed ''begoe''; and a second spirit, which is carried on the head. Similar ideas are found among the Euahlayi of southeast Australia, the Dakota s and many other tribes. Ancient Egyptian Religion held that the soul was separated between the Ka, Ba, And Akh (breath, dreaming soul, and warmth of life given at birth, respectively). They also believed that the heart was the seat of intelligence, which would be judged against Ma'at (truth) in the Underworld ( Duat ). Just as in Europe the Ghost of a dead person is held to haunt the churchyard or the place of death, so do other cultures assign different abodes to the multiple souls with which they credit man. Of the four souls of a Dakota, one is held to stay with the corpse, another in the village, a third goes into the air, while the fourth goes to the land of souls, where its lot may depend on its rank in this life, its Sex , mode of death or sepulture, on the due observance of Funeral ritual, or many other points. From the belief in the survival of the dead arose the practice of offering food, lighting fires, etc., at the grave, at first, maybe, as an act of friendship or filial piety, later as an act of , and threatens the life of human beings. People resort to magical or religious means of repelling their spiritual dangers. INDEPENDENT SPIRITS Side by side with the doctrine of separable souls with which we have so far been concerned, exists the belief in a great host of unattached spirits. These are not immanent souls that have become detached from their abodes, but have instead every appearance of independent spirits. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANIMISM AND RELIGION Animism is commonly described as a religion. Others do not see it as a religion at all. They argue that Animism is in the first instance an explanation of phenomena rather than an attitude of mind toward the cause of them, a Philosophy rather than a religion. The term may, however, be conveniently used to describe a form of religion in which people endeavour to set up relations between themselves and the unseen powers, conceived as spirits, but differing in many particulars from the gods of Polytheism . An example of this may be taken the European belief in the corn spirit, which is, however, the object of magical rather than religious rites. Sir James G. Frazer, in ''The Golden Bough'', has thus defined the character of the animistic pantheon: they are restricted in their operations to definite departments of nature; their names are general, not proper; their attributes are generic rather than individual; in other words, there is an indefinite number of spirits of each class, and the individuals of a class are much alike; they have no definitely marked individuality; no accepted traditions are current as to their origin, life and character. This form of religion is well illustrated by the Native American custom of offering sacrifice to certain rocks, or whirlpools, or to the indwelling spirits connected with them. The rite is only performed in the neighbourhood of the object, it is an incident of a Canoe or other voyage, and is not intended to secure any benefits beyond a safe passage past the object in question. The spirit to be propitiated has a purely local sphere of influence, and powers of a very limited nature. Animistic in many of their features too are the temporary gods of Fetishism , naguals or familiars, Genii and even the dead who receive a cult. With the belief in departmental gods comes the practice of polytheism. The belief in Elemental Spirits may still persist, but they fall into the background and receive no cult. Those who argue that animism is a religion see that worship is directed toward these spirits, that are commonly called "lesser gods." Their help and intervention is sought, sacrifices are made, and their instructions received through divination are obeyed. ANIMISM AND THE ORIGIN OF RELIGION Two animistic theories of the origin of Religion have been put forward. The one, often termed the "ghost theory," mainly associated with the name of Herbert Spencer but also maintained by Grant Allen , refers the beginning of religion to the cult of dead human beings. The other, put forward by Dr. E. B. Tylor , makes the foundation of all religion animistic, but doesn't recognize the non-human character of polytheistic gods. Although ancestor-worship, or, more broadly, the Cult of the dead, has in many cases overshadowed other cults or even extinguished them, while we have no warrant, even in these cases, for asserting its priority, but rather the reverse. In the majority of cases the pantheon is made up by a multitude of spirits in human, sometimes in animal form, which bear no signs of ever having been incarnate. Sun God s and Moon Goddess es, gods of fire, wind and water, gods of the sea, and above all gods of the sky, show no signs of having been ghost gods at any period in their history. They may, it is true, be associated will with ghost gods. In Australia it cannot even be asserted that the gods are spirits at all, much less that they are the spirits of dead men. They are simply magnified magicians, super-men who have never died. We have no ground, therefore, for regarding the cult of the dead as the origin of religion in this area. This conclusion is the more probable, as ancestor-worship and the cult of the dead generally cannot be said to exist in Australia. The more general view that polytheistic and other Gods are the elemental and other spirits of the later stages of animistic creeds, is equally inapplicable to Australia, where the belief seems to be neither animistic nor even animatistic in character. But we are hardly justified in arguing from the case of Australia to a general conclusion as to the origin of religious ideas in all other parts of the world. It is perhaps safest to say that the science of religions has no data on which to go, in formulating conclusions as to the original form of the objects of religious emotion. It must be remembered that not only is it very difficult to get precise information of the subject of the religious ideas of people of some other cultures, perhaps for the simple reason that the ideas themselves are far from precise, but also that, as has been pointed out above, the conception of spiritual often approximates very closely to that of material. Where the soul is regarded as no more than a finer sort of matter, it will obviously be far from easy to decide whether the gods are spiritual or material. Even, therefore, if we can say that at the present day the gods are entirely spiritual, it is clearly possible to maintain that they have been spiritualized ''pari passu'' with the increasing importance of the animistic view of nature and of the greater prominence of Eschatological beliefs. The animistic origin of religion is therefore not proven. According to freelance scholar , the plural of ''el'', which translates as "the creative forces." When literacy arrived through the Egyptians, Elohim had survived long oral tradition to become the Creator Himself Armstrong, Karen (1994), "A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam" (Ballantine Books) ANIMISM AND MYTHOLOGY Little need be said on the relationship between animism and Mythology . A large part of mythology is based upon a belief in souls and spirits — that is, upon animism in its more general sense. Myths that portray plants, inanimate objects, and non-human animals as personal beings are examples of animism in its more restrictive sense. However, many mythologies focus largely on corporeal beings rather than "spiritual" ones; the latter may even be entirely absent. For instance, Australian mythology focuses largely on corporeal, non-spiritual beings. Stories of transformation, Deluge and doom myths, and myths of the origin of death do not necessarily have any animistic basis. As mythology began to include more numerous and complex ideas about a future life and purely spiritual beings, the overlap between mythology and animism widened. However, a rich mythology does not necessarily depend on a belief in many spiritual beings. ANIMISM IN PHILOSOPHY The term "animism" has been applied to many different philosophical systems. It is used to describe Aristotle 's view of the relation of soul and body held also by the Stoics and Scholastics . On the other hand Monadology ( Leibniz ) has also been termed animistic. The name is most commonly applied to Vitalism , a view mainly associated with Georg Ernst Stahl and revived by F. Bouillier ( 1813 - 1899 ), which makes life, or life and mind, the directive principle in evolution and growth, holding that all cannot be traced back to chemical and mechanical processes, but that there is a directive force which guides energy without altering its amount. An entirely different class of ideas, also termed animistic, is the belief in the world soul (anima mundi), held by Plato , Schelling and others. SIR EDWARD BURNETT TYLOR Tylor argued that non-Western societies relied on animism to explain why things happen. He further argued that animism is the earliest form of religion, and reveals that humans developed religions in order to explain things. At the time that Tylor wrote, this theory was politically radical because it made the claim that non-Western peoples and in particular, non-Christian "heathens", in fact do have religion. However, since the publication of ''Primitive Culture'', Tylor's theories have come under criticism from three quarters. First, some have questioned whether the beliefs of diverse peoples living in different parts of the world and not communicating with one another can be lumped together as one kind of religion. Second, some have questioned whether the basic function of religion really is to "explain" the universe (critics like Marrett and Emil Durkheim argued that religious beliefs have emotional and social, rather than intellectual, functions). Finally, many now see Tylor's theories as Ethnocentric . Not only was he imposing a contemporary and Western view of religion (that it explains the inexplicable) on non-Western cultures, he was also telling the story of a progression from religion (which provides poor explanations) to Science (which provides good explanations) (see Cultural Evolution ). LIST OF PHENOMENA BELIEVED TO LEAD TO ANIMISM Lists of phenomena from the contemplation of which "the savage" was led to believe in animism have been given by Sir E. B. Tylor , Herbert Spencer , Andrew Lang and others; an animated controversy arose between the former as to the priority of their respective lists. Among these phenomena are:
THE NEW ANIMISM In an article entitled "Animism Revisited", Nurit Bird-David builds on the work of '' which has led many commentators to construct an elaborate system out of the everyday practices of animists and those they employ to engage with other-than-human persons. The new animism is most fully discussed in a recent book by Graham Harvey, ''Animism: Respecting the Living World''. But it is also significant in the 'animist realist' novels now being written among many indigenous communities worldwide. The term 'animist realism' was coined by Harry Garuba, a Nigerian scholar of literature, in comparison with 'magical realism' that describes works such as Garcia Marquez 's '' One Hundred Years Of Solitude '' or Ben Okri 's '' The Famished Road ''. SEE ALSO SUGGESTED READING Technology, Internet and human evolution in the light of ancient theory of Animism. '' The Story Of B '' by Daniel Quinn '' Ishmael '' by Daniel Quinn '' Heaven Is Real '' by Robert Martinez '' The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down '' by Anne Fadiman NOTES REFERENCES
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