The Religions Book

19 of the dead would travel. In some religions, it was thought possible to communicate with this other realm and contact the anc ...

20 UNSEEN FORCES ARE A T W O R K MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD T he question of why human beings first develop the idea of a world b ...

21 See also: Animism in early societies 24–25 ■ The power of the shaman 26–31 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ Living the Way of the ...

22 by marks such as /, indicating a dental click rather like a tut of disapproval), are thought to survive from humankind’s earl ...

23 Ascribing human traits to animals —for example, the inquisitiveness of the meerkat—is a mainstay of early myth, around which ...

24 EVEN A ROCK HAS A SPIRIT ANIMISM IN EARLY SOCIETIES T he word Ainu means “human being,” and refers to the indigenous populati ...

25 An Ainu chief performs a ceremony to honor the spirit of a slaughtered bear as it returns to the divine world, in a photograp ...

SPECIAL PEOPLE CAN VISIT OTHER WORLDS THE POWER OF THE SHAMAN ...

...

28 S hamanism describes one of humankind’s oldest and most widespread religious practices, based on a belief in spirits who can ...

29 The Sami shaman’s drum was used to make contact with the spirit world. Some of these drums survive, although many were burned ...

30 because those responsible for waking them with a spell had forgotten the magic words. One shaman was said to have been lost f ...

31 Some Inuit in Gojahaven, northern Canada, have maintained a belief in shamans, who are thought to have a special relationship ...

32 See also: The Dreaming 34–35 ■ A lifelong bond with the gods 39 ■ Renewing life through ritual 51 T he Baiga are one of the i ...

33 See also: Preparing for the afterlife 58–59 ■ Living the Way of the Gods 82–85 A ccording to Maori belief, death did not exis ...

34 I n the Australian Aboriginal tradition, the time of the creation was once called the Dreamtime, but is now referred to as th ...

35 See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ The spirits of the dead live on 36–37 ■ Living the Way ...

36 T he religion of the Andean highlands can be said to be, in essence, a cult of the dead. This tradition of reverence for the ...

37 See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ Sacrifice and blood offerings 40–45 ■ Devotion through ...

38 See also: Created for a purpose 32 ■ The burden of observance 50 ■ The Five Great Vows 68–71 M ost societies have developed a ...