Human development through primal religion

Tribal societies tend to have a close sense of unity with their surroundings which has been lost in so-called civilization. This oneness excludes sharp distinction between spiritual and physical and implies both spiritual and physical dependence on the natural scene, with its cycles and seasons. The precariousness of human existence is clearly felt, with consequent humility regarding creation and the spirits and powers with which it is peopled. All beings endued with life are to some extent spiritual, not only animals but vegetation, deserving respect and having as much right to exist as humans have. Thus, although they may be used, they must not be abused - there is no competition for survival, more cooperation. There is contact for humans with the spirits, benevolent beings protecting humanity from evil forces. Behaviour in this life is modelled on the requirements of these spiritual beings. The whole of life is permeated with rituals so that religion is a permanent and living reality from day to day, although the world of the spirit may be only unclearly experienced. Focus for such experience may be through activities of shamans or medicine men, many of whom combine such activity with normal living. Death is seen as a transition, not the end of all, although beliefs vary as to the afterlife, whether remaining with the living as ancestral spirit, or being reborn in another incarnation, or attainment of eternal life in heaven.

Typical of Australian aboriginals, totemic religion involves a special relationship between a person (or group) and a species, object or phenomenon in his environment. It affirms the bond between man and nature, and each totemic group is responsible for rituals ensuring supply of or good relations with the totem (which may be an animal, such as the kangaroo, or natural phenomenon such as rain). Much of the ritual is secret and its publication to women or to those not initiated constitutes breaking of taboo, however unwittingly, and presages disaster. The same life essence exists in the individual and the land in which he lives, the spirit of each person continuing in that land after death.