Animism In Religion
In the article “Religions: The Basics” by Malory Nye talks about female writers, inequality and the distinction between males and females. In the article it mentioned how the term Androcentricism assumes that the male’s perspective and experiences are the most vital and key point of reference. I agree with Mary Daly that the concept of belief in a male deity leads to profound sexual inequalities. The reason I agree with Mary Daly is due to the fact there is a lot of gender differences and that women are viewed as inferior, while men are more superior. It is surprising that in western culture, they can’t go a day without woman-male distinction.
Gods, spirits, and the supernatural is a characteristic shown by anansi the spider in how stories came down to earth, coyote in coyote steals fire, and master cat in puss in boots. In how stories came down to earth, the sky god Nyame is an actual god who is the only being in the world who knows the stories of the world. Any regular person wouldn't know every story in the world. In coyote steals fire, the character Thunder hones the power of fire, no one else in the whole world can have fire. So because of this coyote goes up to the mountain that thunder lives on and gambles with him to try and obtain fire.
The Ainu are an indigenous group consisting of about 25,000 people located in northern Japan (2). The Ainus practice animism, holding the belief that all of nature contains a kamuy, or divine spirit or being (1). They divide their gods into several categories: nature gods, animal gods, plant gods, and object gods. These gods
The Functionalist Perspective seeks to understand the role that religion plays in society, and is premised on how religion satisfies basic needs. One basic need for people is a meaning system. Religion provides a worldview and meaning system for the followers of the faith. But the ideals that a religion encompass alone are often not enough to compel one to follow the religion. Symbols and rituals are vital for helping the believer to take beliefs and make them understood internally in a way that compels them to follow the religion’s rules.
Dark Green Religion is a set of beliefs and practices, characterized by a central conviction that nature is sacred, has intrinsic value, and is therefore due reverent care. Taylor explains that there are four main types of dark green religion. Those being animism, gaian earth religion, pantheism, and panentheism. Animism is explained as a “perception that natural entities, forces, and non-human life forms have one or more of the following: a soul or vital life force or spirit, personhood, and consciousness, often but not always including special spiritual intelligence or powers” (ws). In other words it is defined as everything around us is alive and has a special force within us.
Mankind and the divine living in coexistence has endured the test of time due to the “glass ceiling” remaining intact. This barrier has restrained humans and empowered gods creating a relationship of ruler and subject. Humans have been pious and humble towards the gods, believing they are perfect beings. The gods themselves are ignorant of their own flaws and very humane qualities. Ancient Greek literature depicts gods as reflections of troubled mankind’s need for a role figure who are similar to themselves in stature and personality.
The Resemblance of Gods and Humans Throughout all religions, gods have always been seen as superior in every way possible. The division between humans and gods has always been prevalent and prominent. However, when the actions and motives of these gods are truly analyzed, it will become evident that the gods of Greek Mythology merely behave as humans with supernatural powers.
Animism originates from latin and it means soul or life. The concept behinds it reveals that everything has a soul or a life, not just humans but also in plants, rocks animals and features such as mountains river and even clouds. Basically animism states that the spiritual and physical world are not separated from each other, everything has a sort of life into it. Animism played a major role in primal religions, in which it led primal religions into adapting its concept that the entire world is alive with spirits. Primal religions were formed by tribal people who had a strong bond with their land and attached to spirituality such as the concept of animism.
In the ancient Greek religion, there are a total of twelve major deities; these are- Zeus, Hera, Poisedon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus. In Classical literature, the intervention of the gods helps in resolving the main conflict or entangling the same and exaggerating it.
1. Psychology of Religion Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud 's understanding of the psychology of religion comes from a place not without disdain. This might be somewhat understandable given he lived not too long removed from a time in which any statements that were deemed to be blasphemous could lead to very serious consequences for the author. He touches on this very point and even lists arguments against his coming out so vociferously against even the potential veracity of religion; however, he quickly attempts to demolish these arguments so as to make his real point (Freud, 2018, pp. 179,188). Put quite concisely, Freud explains that the idea of God is nothing short of an illusion – even a form of neurosis.
We all know that since ancient times animals were very important for various reasons. They were reared mainly for food, whilst others were kept as pets. Animals affected every area of everyday life, from the economy to religious beliefs and rituals. Animals in mythology are usually tied in with fertility and vitality, because they are living, moving, and growing. They also provide vitality and continued life for the tribes through their meat, skins, and bones.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh interrelationships between the humans and gods are not what we are used to in most modern monotheistic societies. Perhaps the greatest difference between the power of humans and gods is when Gilgamesh is referred to as “Two-thirds of him was divine, one-third of him was human!” (39) as this reveals Gilgamesh to be the son of Lugalbanda the former king and the goddess Ninsun. This would indicate that the line between human and god is an extremely thin one and thus gods cannot and are not that vastly different from their human counterparts. Indeed, throughout the journey of Gilgamesh we are confronted by gods and goddesses who are similar to humans in their desires and means of achieving them.
The gods of the pantheon are so many that there are so many to count. The pagan gods were like humans in terms of emotions and morality. The only difference that made from gods to humans were their powers, intelligence, and immortality. The gods all had stories involving them and quarrel together like normal people. The gods of the Olympus would be the first to be mentioned.
In Edward Tylor’s monumental proto-anthropology (1871), “animism” is defined as “a belief in souls or spirits” and is used as a synonym of “religion”. Tylor had considered labelling his theory “spiritualism”, but that was already strongly associated with a particular religious movement. (It might be significant that Spiritualism was gaining popularity in the late nineteenth century, contrary to the decline of religion that Tylor anticipated.) The term animism, however, carried associations with the “souls” and “spirits” that Tylor saw as central, definitive matters of religious belief in all religions. It had been previously used by Georg Stahl (1708) in a failed attempt to define the difference between living bodies and dead matter as the
Believers usually take for granted the existence of God. Muslim people have the authentic experience in the religion that reaffirms the daily life of Muslims in many parts of the world. However, believing in God as well as the quest for the truth could be a complex factor for other individuals. This is especially in a society, wherein faith is being viewed as something that is considered superstition, fantasy, or even a wishful thinking. This is normal among atheists who do not have the firm belief in God or Allah.
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