Animism and Polytheism

Existence of Souls or Spirits

There is a plurality of spirits Dreams clearly show the division of body and soul Animals, plants, inanimate objects have souls Animals: relatives, abodes of dead ancestors,

sources of power, knowledge and influence Trees, plants, water, wind: Abodes of spirits Unattached malevolent spirits: possession, disease Soul or souls survive death (sacrificial rites)

Shamanism

Shaman as the conduit for the various spirits

Because of various evils animist cultures developed a form of Shamanism-a system of spiritual technology

Shaman as healer A Shaman can: control the weather, curse

enemies, divine the future, interpret dreams, and project themselves astrally (including the ability to travel to upper and lower spiritual worlds)

Polytheisim

The gods of polytheism have independent and individual personalities with specific skills, needs and desires. (division of labor

Anthropomorphic, but Immortal Mirrors the Universe: birth, death, and rebirth of the

cosmos and all of its gods and goddesses Gods Can intervene in human life (sometimes

through rituals) Gods Have supernatural powers, but are not

omnipotent

Ethics in Polytheism

Monotheistic religions: the sacred and the profane are typically dichotomous  (Good - Evil, Body-Soul, ) “The world is entirely distinct from God, its creator,” the first Vatican Council of 1870 reminds us.

This explains why monotheists worship only one god. One God as absolute

Monotheistic theology: God and the world are absolutely distinct, and God is absolutely sacred, whereas the world is absolutely profane.

Monotheism “rejects” the world

Ethics in Polytheism

Polytheism: Everything in the physical world – wind, sunlight, trees, wolves, buildings, humanity – is a manifestation of some god or goddess or other invisible, divine being.

The world in its entirety is ultimately sacred. The sacred encompasses the profane and sacralizes it, rather than merely negating it.

“Pagans [polytheists] are all those who say Yes to life, for whom ‘god’ is the word for the great Yes to all things.” Nietzsche

Ethics in Polytheism

Monotheism- Single set of laws for all peoplePolytheism-One was permitted to behold a

plurality of norms; one god was not considered a denial of another god, nor blasphemy against him.

 Not the “anything goes” of moral relativism. Your rules depended on your station in life

Moral Ambiguity-the recognition that one’s values often conflict with each other, and that one often finds oneself in situations where one is forced to sacrifice a cherished value in favor of another