ANIMISM

BASIC BELIEFS OF AN ANIMIST

"we are one"
Taoist/Shinto/Bon
spiritual not religious
"God/Goddess is Everywhere"
Native American Faiths
pagan/Earth centered faiths
"Spiritual Beings on a human path"
New thought/Center for Spiritual Living

Animism is a flexible non-narrative way of framing reality and the great questions of existence. The concepts that unite animists are very basic, but the ways to express the spirituality infinitly varied.

In anthropology, animism can be considered to be the original human religion, being defined simply as belief in the existence of spiritual beings. It dates back to the earliest humans and continues to exist today, making it the oldest form of religious belief on Earth. It is characteristic of aboriginal and native cultures, yet it can be practiced by anyone who believes in spirituality but does not proscribe to any specific organized religion.

The basis for animism is acknowledgment that there is a spiritual realm which humans share the universe with. The concepts that humans possess souls and that souls have life apart from human bodies before and after death are central to animism, along with the ideas that animals, plants, and celestial bodies have spirits.

Animistic gods often are immortalized by mythology explaining the creation of fire, wind, water, man, animals, and other natural earthly things. Although specific beliefs of animism vary widely, similarities between the characteristics of gods and goddesses and rituals practiced by animistic societies exist.

The presence of holy men or women, visions, trancing, dancing, sacred items, and sacred spaces for worship, and the connection felt to the spirits of ancestors are characteristic of animistic societies.

Books

"Alphabet vs the Goddess" by Leonard Shiain

"My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

References

Shelley, Fred M. and Audrey E. Clarke, eds. Human and Cultural Geography. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1994.

Lehmann, Arthur C. and James E. Myers, eds. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1993.

Written in part by Sara Wenner, 2001