Chapter 3.

ANIMISM

The second major worldview we will consider is animism: the belief that the world is filled with invisible powers which control our lives and which can be controlled by magic. Animism is the belief that we all live in two worlds: the visible world of our daily lives, and the invisible world of spirits, witches and magic. Animism may be the most worldwide of all the worldviews. Stories of ghosts, witches and magic are told in every country and are still believed by many peoples. Animism occurs in many forms. In some tribal societies an organized form of animism is the official religion. But more commonly animism is found in a mixture with any one of the major world religions. Even atheists and non-religious people may hold and practice animistic beliefs. A Reminder: Animism is not my personal worldview. I do not believe in ghosts, magic or superstition, but I do value understanding the beliefs of others. This class is about understanding others, even if we do not agree with them. The purpose of this class is NOT to encourage you to try to try magic! I consider playing with magic to be dangerous! Movies and novels make magic and witchcraft seem like fun, but they are fiction created by people who have never done them. They dont know the dangers. What is animism? The word is similar to the English words animal and animate (). It is derived from the Latin word anima meaning breath. Animism is the belief that the whole world is alive. It is filled with spirits. Just as people have both bodies and souls, everything in nature has both a visible form and an invisible soul. Every plant, animal and even many non-living things such as rivers, lakes, mountains, clouds, the ground and the sky have souls. Some animists believe that this invisible soul is a personal spirit with whom people can form a relationship. Other animists believe this soul is an impersonal power that exists inside of everything. animism animal animate anima

 Animists believe that everything is alive, so they believe that everything has power within it. That power can be accessed through magic (). Animists believe that the universe is filled with power, but the power is not equally distributed in all places. Some people have more power than others, such as witches and wizards. Some things have more power, such as amulets, magic charms or magic wands. And some places have more power. Big places (mountains), places that look unusual, places where famous historical events happened, or sacred places (where religious events happened) are believed to be more power-filled. Animists believe that there is an invisible spiritual world which exists parallel to our visible world. The two worlds can interact. Some people are able to travel between these two worlds. Others can communicate to the spirits on the other side, such as mediums (), or fortune tellers (). Some people know how to use the power of the invisible world: magicians, witches () . Many animists believe that our dreams are real journeys into the spiritual world. Animism is practiced in many different ways in different cultures. In this chapter we will look at three forms of animism: tribal religion, folk religion and superstition. : Tribal Religion. Most tribal groups around the world follow a form of religion based on an animist worldview. This religion is often called shamanism. Every tribal group has its own unique religious beliefs and practices, but there is an amazing similarity to these beliefs even in very distant places. In this chapter I will describe the tribal religion I know the most about, that which has traditionally been practiced in Liberia, West Africa, where my wife and I lived for nine years. In recent years the form of this religion has changed as tribal societies have entered the modern world, but the core beliefs have not disappeared. Traditional Africans believe that spirits and humans live next to each other in parallel villages. The visible villages where people live contain houses. Village society consists of chiefs, elders, witchdoctors, male adults, female adults, children, and animals. Near to the visible village will be a similar invisible village which also has a social hierarchy of spirit beings.

 There are many kinds of spirits: tribal spirits, ancestor spirits, animal relatives, personal spirits, and nature spirits. In many tribes there is a belief in a basic life force which is the source of energy in all things. Many tribes also believe in a high god who created the world or who founded their tribe. A tribal spirit is the spiritual leader of the tribe. Like a king, it gives laws and direction to the tribe. Like a judge, it decides legal disputes and criminal cases within the tribe. It speaks through oracles, fortune tellers or through the tribal mask. When a man wears the mask, the Africans believe that the spirit of the mask takes over the persons body. When he speaks it is the spirit of the mask that speaks, not the individual who wears the mask. In some African tribes the spirits of ancestors are believed to live in large cottonwood trees, therefore villages are built near the base of these trees. Once a year the ancestors are remembered with a meal left at the base of the tree. If not remembered the ancestors may become angry and bring bad luck to the family or village. Many African tribes believe that ancestor spirits return to the visible world through reincarnation, being born as a baby. A woman who is having trouble getting pregnant may sit at the base of the cottonwood tree hoping a baby spirit will find its way into her womb. Many animists believe that each tribe and each person has an animal spirit relative. This is called a totem. American Indians make totem poles carved with animal shapes to show who their animal relatives are. A person should not eat their totem animal. It would be like eating your grandmother!

Each person has a personal spirit. In the novel Things Fall Apart this spirit is called a chi. Your chi is not the same as you (your person), but it is connected to you. A good chi can protect and bring success to the individual. chiChi chi Some animist cultures believe that there is a life force that underlies everything in the world (in some places it is called mana or baraka). It is an impersonal force that underlies everything and everyone. It is what souls are made of. It is the source of the power in magic. mana baraka Many tribes tell ancient stories of a high god who founded their tribe. They often believe that their ancestors offended this god in some way and it left them. This god is often viewed as too distant to be relevant to daily life.

As we have seen, tribal peoples believe in many gods and spirits. These spirits live in a parallel world to ours but is invisible to us. The spirits are powerful and influence events in our world. Fortune tellers and mediums can seek the guidance of these spirits in making important decisions. Spirits can bring good luck or bad luck, sickness or success. To avoid bad luck, humans should keep the spirits happy by worshipping them and by bringing them gifts, such as animal sacrifices. Animists may believe that the blood of the sacrificed animal can feed the spirit and make it strong.
Eating animals can also make humans strong. If you eat something, you can get its power. Cannibalism ( ) is not a common practice, but in some tribal societies people will eat parts of the bodies of their enemies to capture their spiritual power.

Animists believe that magic is real. Some believe that magic works by channeling the energy of the mana, the basic life force. Others believe that magic works by causing one of the spirits to use their power in the way the person desires. Magic can be used to benefit the user or harm his rivals. Traditional Africans believe that magic can heal sickness, gain wealth, gain romance, and protect from harm. They also believe that magic can be used to curse their enemies.

 mana Traditional Africans believe that there are three ways to get magic power. (1) A person can be born with special powers. A true magician or sorcerer is born that way. Some tribes believe that an unusual birth such as twins or a deformed baby may be a sign that the child has magical powers. (2) A person can learn magic from a master magician. In African tribes there are secret organizations that teach members to use magic. In Liberian tribes the organization for all adult men is called the Poro, and the organization for all adult women is called the Sande. Members of these groups believe that their knowledge of magic must be kept secret. If a member revealed the secrets, he might be killed. (3) Finally, the easiest way to gain magic power is to buy a magic charm from a magician. It is common in animist societies to see people wear magical charms on bracelets or necklaces. These amulets () are worn for protection from evil spirits or witchcraft. There are stronger kinds of magic called juju which are believed to be capable of very powerful actions such as making a person invisible, changing their appearance, or killing an enemy. 1 2 Poro

Sande3
juju If an animist has a problem such as sickness, a personal failure, or an accident, he will look for a spirit cause. Perhaps an evil spirit is attacking him. Perhaps he has angered an ancestor or tribal spirit. Or perhaps an enemy is using witchcraft against him. If an animist is sick, he may use western medicine to treat the symptoms (like pain), but to really solve the problem he has to find and fix the spiritual cause. The solution may be to offer an animal sacrifice to the offended spirit, or to purchase powerful magic to protect himself against the witchcraft. There are other animist practices besides magic. Some animists believe in metamorphosis, the ability to change ones shape. Perhaps a spirit will appear as a person, or a person may be transformed to look like an animal. Another practice is fortune telling. Animists may use various kinds of natural signs to predict the future: such as the arrangement of the stars, or of the entrails of a dead animal, or of the lines on the palm of a persons hand. Animists also interpret dreams to understand the mysteries of life. Africans often believe

that dreams are real journeys to real places in the spirit world. Other animists tell fortunes by talking to the spirits of the dead. In African tribes the belief in spirits, magic and fortune telling are parts of the many traditional tribal religions. Each village may have shrines for worship and shamans (religious priests) who conduct religious rituals. There may be secret societies which practice specialized magical arts. The more secret societies a tribal members joins, the higher his social status and the more respect and fear others will have toward him. Folk Religion. Folk religions resemble the tribal religions we have just described. Folk religions are different in two main ways. Tribal religions are associated with a specific tribal group, but folk religions are mixtures of animistic beliefs and other worldviews. Tribal religions are organized religions with systematic beliefs and practices, but folk religions are popular beliefs and practices not derived from any particular religion. Folk beliefs include magic, charms and polytheism. Sometimes folk religious ideas become mixed with the major religions of the world, though they are not part of the original forms of that religion. Around the world there are many animist-Buddhists, animist-Muslims, or animist-Christians, even though the orthodox forms of these religions do not teach animism. Many of these folk religions are what I call good-luck religion. Their focus is not on worshipping a god or on developing good character but on having good luck. A well-known example in China is the belief in the three gods of wealth, success, and long life. These traditional gods are not part of an organized religion but they were very popular in the past. Perhaps in some Chinese homes they still are.

Another example of folk religion is a statue at the main temple in Bodhgaya, India, the birthplace of Buddhism. On the outside wall of this temple is a statue of a goddess that some Buddhists believe has the power to grant wishes. If a person makes a wish then closes his eyes and walks toward the statue and touches the leg of the statue, his wish will be granted. Belief in granting wishes is not original Buddhist teaching. The Buddha was not concerned with good luck in this life. But many animistic-Buddhists believe and practice such things. Another example is seen among some Muslim peoples. They will use paint to write the words of the Quran, their holy book, on a slate. Then they will wash the paint into a cup and drink it. They believe that this paint will have magic power to bring them success. But this teaching is not part of official Islam. One more example is seen among some Christian people. They may use small statues of people mentioned in the Bible or of past Christian saints as good luck charms in their houses or cars or on the necklaces they wear. Such practices are contrary to the teachings of the Bible, but some Christians do them anyway. There are many such folk beliefs and practices in the worlds mainstream religions. Folk religion mixes animistic style magic with the orthodox teachings of the religion. Such folk beliefs may even be practiced by people who are not followers of any religion and who deny the existence of God. The desire for success is a powerful motivation for the majority of people to use superstitious tricks to bring good luck. Superstition. The third type of animism we will study is superstition . Superstition is an unproven but popular belief that certain behaviors or events can influence daily life. Superstitions are the belief in laws of cause and effect outside the realm of natural law. Modern science refutes many superstitions, but people still believe and practice them.

 A common example is the belief that certain numbers bring good luck or bad luck. In western cultures many people believe that the number 7 is lucky and the number 13 is unlucky. In China many people believe that the number 4 is unlucky and the number 8 is lucky. There is no scientific basis for these beliefs, they are just superstition. But many people behave according to these ideaseven if they would deny believing them! 7 13 4 8 In Bangladesh, many people believe that when someone leaves their house in the morning, they should begin with their right foot first. This will bring them good luck through the day. In western culture, many people believe that if a black cat walks in front of them, they will have bad luck. If a mirror falls and breaks, they will have seven years of bad luck. But if they find a four leaf clover or a horse shoe they will have good luck. Chinese people have many similar superstitions. When I visited the Fuxi mausoleum in the city of Huaiyang, Henan, the guide showed us a small hole in a stone wall. The belief used to be common that a woman who was not able to get pregnant could put her finger into that hole to assure pregnancy. The edges of the hole were worn from the touch of many women in the past. Superstitions are common animistic beliefs that are popular in daily life. They are believed to bring good luck or prevent bad luck. Even educated peoples may believe them though there is little evidence that they work. Analyzing a worldview: 8 questions 8 At the end of each chapter we will summarize the worldview by explaining how it answers eight questions.

1. What are ancient and modern examples of this worldview? Animism is found in most tribal religions which believe in any spirits, in polytheist religions which believe in many gods, in astrology which teaches that the stars control our destiny, and in the numerous superstitions which are popular in every culture. 1. 2. Basic Reality (what is really real?) There are many invisible spirits and powers that control the events of our daily lives. Examples of spirits are tribal spirits, nature spirits, personal spirits, ancestors and the life force that energizes the universe. 2. 3. The external world: (what is the universe like?) The visible and invisible worlds are both real. Every part of daily life in the visible has a parallel in the invisible world. The two worlds interact and influence each other. Some humans are able to travel between the two worlds. This interaction of the visible and invisible world is the seed of the animist worldview. 3 4. Human Nature (what does it mean to be human?) Just as spiritual beings have power, human beings also have power, but humans are weaker than the spirits. Spirits need humans and humans need spirits to live successfully. Humans have spirit relatives. Sometimes humans marry spirits. Humans can communicate with the spirits and control them through magic. Some humans have more magical power. Spirits can also take possession of peoples bodies, cause sickness or bring good or bad luck. 4. 5. The human problem and the solution (what is the core problem that causes all the other problems and how do we solve that basic problem? The human problem is that there are many powerful people and spirits that must be dealt with in order to succeed. People who have more spiritual power can use that power to hurt us or surpass us. Life is essentially a competition of who has the most power: who controls whom? Witches and magicians

have great power, but even they fear the people or spirits with greater power. Everyone is afraid of someone who is stronger. The way to solve the problem of human weakness is to gain power by forming alliances with the people or spirits who have greater power. 5. 6. How do we know anything? What is truth? How do we learn it? In many animist cultures, the important knowledge of the invisible world is more important than the common knowledge of the visible world. People, such as magicians or witches who know secrets of the invisible world can use this knowledge to do magic. 6.? 7. View of morality (why is something considered right or wrong?) There is no absolute morality. Good and bad depend on whether something helps me or hurts me, my family or my tribe. Each spirit has its own standards of behavior which must be obeyed to gain the spirits power. 7. 8. View of the afterlife (what happens to sb after they die?) After death someone becomes an ancestor. Ancestor spirits can communicate with the living and bring good or bad luck. Ancestors should be remembered with sacrifices and gifts. Some animists believe that the spirits of the ancestors may return to this world as babies (reincarnation . 8. 9. View of history (what is the meaning of human history?) In tribal cultures, people believe the traditional ways are the best ways. The ancestors will be angry if we do not follow tradition. The focus is on maintaining tradition, not on progress. 9.

There Chinese of the two words was wrong. I corrected them. They have different meanings in different context.