The term animism is derived from animus which means mind or soul. Animism is concerned with the belief in spiritual beings. It is often extended to include the belief that supernatural beings, souls or spirits have endowed with reason and intellect and indeed free will both inanimate objects as well as animate life forms. Put simply, the belief is that everything is alive, everything is conscious; everything has a soul or spirit.
The belief that all things have a spirit or soul is as old as human existence. The notion that mankind is the only vessel worthy of containing a spirit or soul is a relatively recent by-product of a monotheistic world view. In many cultures the shaman or tribal elder is the spokesperson for the spirit world. The shamanistic view of spiritual embodiment includes not only human beings but plants, animals, ancestors and forces of nature.
Animism has been described as the most ancient form of all religions. Others do not view animism as a religious belief. They argue that Animism is in the first instance an explanation of phenomena rather than an attitude of mind toward the cause of them, a philosophy rather than a religion. The term may, however, be conveniently used to describe a form of religion in which people endeavour to set up relations between themselves and the unseen powers, conceived as spirits
The British anthropologist Sir Edward B. Tylor introduced the concept of animism in the late 19th century. Tylor thought of animism as the earliest stage in the evolution of religious belief. He suggested that the interpretation of dreams and trances and the observation of death led primitive societies to conceive of the soul or spirit, and that these spiritual conceptions were then projected onto the natural world. Although he developed no fixed evolutionary sequence or timeline, Tylor postulated that a belief in animism led to the definition of more generalized deities and, ultimately, to the worship of a single god.
It is difficult if not impossible to separate animistic beliefs from modern day religious practices. Almost every religious practice contains animistic elements. The use of wine to represent the blood of Christ in Catholic religious services is one example. Animistic beliefs are also apparent in shamanism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto, Islam, Hinduism,. Asian Christianity and their numerous combinations. Animistic themes have also permeated popular culture and literature. From Thomas the Tank Engine to Excalibur, Kermit the frog to artificial intelligence.
The belief that the earth itself is a living entity is an animistic viewpoint. This idea has been popularized by the Gaia theory which maintains that the planet is a living organism and that the living matter of planet Earth functions like a single life form, of which human beings are but one small part of the larger ecosystem. Perhaps the ancient beliefs represented by animism can have further influence on scientific inquiry.
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