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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: "Ignorance is an outlook on life. Even educated can be ignorant."
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TABOO & TOTEMISM

Spenta Mainyu can safely say that beliefs/faiths of today were yesterday's mythology + human interpretations + interests of organized religion (religious organizations/bodies) + the humanly need to believe in and to identify with something (a need created by unending human weaknesses). In other words man used man for his own aims. As the saying goes, "homo homini lupus." We have taken mythology as the starting point, but there were people living before the age of mythology. So what was going on then? Was there a social order? Did people identify themselves with something? How did they get along with nature surrounding them. How did they feel about the natural forces?

PRIMITIVE MIND

Of course there myths, as there must have been those people thinking(!) on questions like "where did we come from?", "where are we going?", "why?" and "what for?" But research tells us that myths in those primitive communities were not abstract philosophising. They couldn't care less about the source of the universe, creation of man etc. Primitive man said, "things are as they are, because they are so created and ordained." The primitive mind was not interested in a visionary explanation of the formation of universe. The only thing important for the primitive mind was the belief that the past course of events were important because they had a bearing on present affairs and realities.

POWER OF THE WORD

This could be seen in the belief in myth that spoken word is an oracle and the repetition of the word sets free the creative and re-creative power which it is full of. Power of the word! In Sumer it was sufficient for the creator god to make a plan, and utter the appropriate word, his wishes were believed to be realized at that instant. Zoroaster preached positive thought, positive speech and positive deeds. Why positive speech? Who should know? We should? Praying and praising the "supreme being" with recitation of litanies; apprehension towards using negative words; the supposed power of a curse, etc. may have their origins in this belief. Remember how the Gospel of John begins? It begins by declaring that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" [ "In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum'' ] and furthermore Jesus Christ was the incarnation of the Word. Don't forget the belief that according to the "code books" of the Abrahamic religions - the Old Testament, the New Testament and Qoran - word has started the creation. Remember the command "Let there be light!"? So where do you think this story about the power of word comes from?

In short, numerous myths which recur in primitive states of culture worldwide are not the expression of innate inquisitiveness about the problem of creation or an intellectual search for a "first cause." Formation of the universe, creation of man, first cause.. These words were created and put together by the humans to express ideas. It was long after those primitive tribes and the humanity's intellectual ability was supposedly developing in the right(!) direction. What was this right direction? Towards explain the unexplainable and the irrational. Who can say that an attempt to explain the unexplainable and the irrational is the right direction? No one.

The primitive mind was interested only in the present. Hence the primitive myths rose from the conviction that the creation of the world had a permanent effect on subsequent behaviour and on the structure of the society. According to Australian aborigines the mythic past is concerned largely with the "dream time of long ago" when the ancestors brought the existing configuration of the country into being, created the various human groups and ordered their laws, customs, beliefs and the social and religious organization before they retired to the "sky-world." To where? To "sky-world" of course.. Who are these ancestors? Are they human beings now dead or do these aborigines mean that they came from the divine/superior beings so the ancestors lived once on the earth and when they felt their work is finished they retired to the sky-world? Why not to the world "underground"? Why is sky so attractive? Is it the tremendous power it unleashes every now and then? Is it the fascinating, unfathomable distance and deepness of the space? Is it the sun, stars, moon and other "imaginary" figures across the firmament? Don't forget! For us humans Earth is "bad" and "undesirable." It is written in those "code books." Sky is clean, "desirable," "ideal"(!). The "higher beings" cannot live and walk among the "earthlings." Can they? Should they? Of course not. They should be aloof and aloft "up there."

NEGATIVE SIDES OF BEING HUMAN

"Badness" and "undesirableness" originates from the humans. Why? Because the "earthlings" almost always had their attention on the "negative" sides of being human, which needed correcting if we were to win/achieve an "afterlife" and to rise to the higher levels of existence and in some belief systems even exceed that level and achieve "nothingness". So virtuous/righteous life has always been emphasized. Have you ever thought, and ask yourself, "why"? If the need for this emphasis on virtuous/righteous life had a valid reason then the "negatives" must have been dominant on earth. What does the "code books" say? The "Supreme being/beings" created earth especially for "man" to inhabit. Then created flora and fauna for the benefit of "man." Being "superior," and being able to hear and see what was going on "down there" they thought - or humans decided that these beings should have thought - they better stayed up in the sky, in their own world. After all sun is there with its tremendous power. Moon is there lighting up the night. Myriads of twinkling "beings" are up there. On top of all that, sky has no connection with land which is "polluted" with humans, with their wrongdoings, weaknesses, and their sins. Sky is clean. Fitting the "superior ones." They should stay up there, not contaminate themselves by mixing with the "mud" down on earth and make sure that their "dirty-sinful creation" stayed on course. On course? What course? If they were behind the "creation," why did not they make sure those created were all "good?" They supposedly had the power, the resolve, the vision etc. to do that and they would have saved themselves from keeping a constant watch over those "sinful" down there.

DREAM TIME

If we go back to those aborigines again, have you noticed their sincerity and openness? They call that extremely distant past as "dream time". Their sincerity is genuine. They have no qualms about that expression. Why do humans living in present era feel uneasy about how to describe that very distant past? How to present it? What to call it? It is very simple though: It was a dream time. Full stop!

WHO NEEDS A HIGHER TERMINOLOGY?

Let us pause for a moment here. What you are reading here is written in English. The words belong to this earth. And all the definitions, terms etc. are written with the letters and expressed within the thought processes, beliefs and doctrines all invented by "earthlings." If the "earthlings" are able to describe these ambigous high ideas with their words, who needs another "higher terminology?" Humans invented these ideas and invented words and notions to express them. Imagine a primitive person with no language, just unintelligible sounds in his mouth. What sounds would he have used to describe thunder, lightning, flood, earthquake, sun, moon, stars and most of all the "superior ones"? Of course the sounds peculiar to these phenomena. They lacked the intellectual symbols or had not developed yet the thought processes to match them. And the "superior ones"? Well they called them the "superior ones" didn't they? These "superiors" could not be seen but the signs of their power, their actions, their energy and a whole series of consequences of their wishes could be experienced by the "earthlings" and almost always to their (earthlings) detriment. And their shape and size? What do they look like? The primitive man and woman had only their kind and the animals around. They had no idea what a "superior being" looked like, because it did not exist in the real environment of the primitive man. So that all boiled down to unseen, powerful, far away, watchful, penalizing etc. "superior ones." Hence the "personalities" assigned to the natural phenomena - pre-cursors of present day "supreme beings."

ANCESTORS, "DREAM TIME" AND THE "SKY WORLD"

Now back to the ancestors. These ancestors have established an order both for the sky-world and the earth. According to these primitive tribes they existed, but no longer on earth. They kept their ties with the living. And people in their tribes revered them, consulted them. If they are consulted and the signs of their response is expected, they must be somewhere "out there." Since they have the wisdom to give to "earthlings," they must have established a link also with the "higher wisdom" out there. Wisdom of whom? The "higher beings" of course. So the "earthlings" should consult them whenever they felt the need. They are the ancestors, they were the keepers of the order from the "dream time," when they were alive. Now they have "risen" and "in touch" with the "heavenly wisdom." They have become special entities who merit to be consulted. Have you asked yourself, who decided on their merit? Well, "earthlings" themselves. The ancestors lived a long time ago, they were nearer timewise to the "dream time" then the later generations. They knew much more. They established and enforced the rules. They kept and transmitted the rules to the following generations. And they are consulted. That is all. There is nothing mistifying in that. When you are young your parents (usually the stronger-imposing one) establish a certain set of rules and you obey. You become a parent yourself and you either build on those rules or modify them in accordance with the changing times. Is there anything mystifying in this? Not even a hint? The only peculiar thing here is that these aborigines consider themselves to be the descendants of those "superiors." When one reflects on what our present day believers are doing there's nothing strange in that. Thousands of years later, these believers uphold sometimes identical, equally nonsensical, and often very similar abstract ideas.

RITUAL, PRAYER, CEREMONY

As Spenta Mainyu told you earlier a "belief system" has the following components: A central "being". A message. A messenger. A "code book". Initiates. Priests. Temple. Rituals. Ceremonies. Followers/believers. Most important things which show the faith of a believer and bring in a social dimension (beyond the personal) are the ritual, prayer and the ceremony of course. In order to be true to one's belief one has to be extremely careful not to leave out anything and not to forget the order of events to follow. Because a mistake, a seemingly unimportant neglect in the ritual/ceremony creates uneasiness in one's conscience. Ritual/prayer/ceremony necessitates absolute focusing on one activity and excluding all the others. Lastly, every detail needs extreme attention. Ritual/prayer/ceremony has a stereotype character (like praying, turning to east, turning to south, reciting together). Ceremonies of the "belief systems" have a social/communal character. Details of these ceremonies have a full meaning and they are symbolic. A believer taking part in these ceremonies, rarely or never pays full attention to their meaning. For an average believer a ceremony starts as an act of defence, assurance and protection. A believer believes that he/she is prone to sin always, and prays before doing anything or doing something not regulated by the rules of that faith. This act - praying - is thought to have a protective power.

BELIEF SYSTEM : A UNIVERSAL OBSESSIONAL NEUROSIS

Emergence of the "belief systems" and their rules gives us the impression that they rest on suppressing and pushing aside some of the natural, instinctive impulses. It is proven that this act of suppressing has to be continuous/relentless. Believers are very much preoccupied with "sin" and sinning. This naturally leads to repentence/asking for forgiveness. A "belief system" can be defined as a universal obsessional neurosis. "You shouldn't do this you shouldn't do that" attitude is much more dominant. You must be wandering why? It is very simple; if you want to cretate a monolithic body of followers you cannot afford to leave people free, doing as they please. To curb freedoms you have to set limits.

THE SUPREME BEING SAID : " I ' LL TAKE YOUR REVENGE"

The continuous suppression of basic structural instincts seems to be one of the foundations on which the human civilization progressed. This act is partly carried out by the "belief systems" and the individual is asked to sacrifice his/her instinctual satisfactions to "supreme being" because that "supreme being" said: "I'll take your revenge." In the development of old "belief systems" it could be seen that many things which were relinquished by humanity because they were "sins" were turned over to the "supreme being" and permitted in his name. This gave "earthlings" the opportunity to save themselves from the domination of their bad and socially harmful instincts.

TOTEM

Now we are ready to discuss taboo and totem. What is a totem? It is an object (as an animal or plant) serving as the emblem of a family or clan as a reminder of its ancestry. It is usually a carved or painted representation of such an object. Something that serves as an emblem or revered symbol. A totem could be passed via female or male lineage. Once upon a time totem inheritance via female lineage may have been the dominant tradition with male lineage replacing it later. For a person his/her relationship with the totem is at the center of all social duties. This aspect comes before the membership of the tribe and all kinds of blood ties. Totem is not attached to any place. The functioning of totemic associations could be seen today in Australia, among the natives of North America, the peoples of Oceania, eastern Indians and in Africa. Judging by some remnants one can say that totemism once existed among the Europeans and the Aryan and Semitic peoples.

TOTEM LAW: "EXOGAMY"

Whereever there is a totem there is a law which prohibits sexual relations and consequently marriage between the persons belonging to the same totem. This is a taboo. Every man and woman has to marry someone from another tribe of a different totem. This principle is called "exogamy." As one can easily see here, totem functions as a blood relationship. All the individuals coming from the same totem are connected by their blood. This naturally creates "avoidance rules" (women and men don't come together). All these rules pertain to sexual relationship.

THREE MORE TOTEMIC RULES

The French archaeologist and philologist Salomon Reinach wrote down the "Code of Totemism." Here are the last three entries out of 12: "..Totem animal protects and warns the members of its clan. To those loyal members of its clan totem animal gives advance information on the future and guides them. In many cases, members of the totemic clan believe that there is a kinship between themselves and the totem animal. "Any of these sound familiar? We will see as we progress.

TYPES OF TOTEM

There are three types of totem: Firstly, there is the one called "clan totem" which envelopes the whole clan and is transferred between generations via inheritance (this is the important one). Secondly, sexual totem which is common to either the males or the females and which excludes the other sex. Thirdly we have personal totem which belongs to a single person and is not inherited.

TOTEMISM : A RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL SYSTEM

Totemism is both a religious and a social system. Its religious aspect involves the relationship between the totem and a person; its social aspect applies to the relations among the members of the clan and with the members of other clans. Members of the totem clan call themselves with the name of the totem; maintain a mutual belief that they have really descended from the totem. Since the totem animal is believed to be the ancestor of the tribe, the totemic concept have a determining effect on those sections of clan which are subject to certain traditional norms and on the tribal organization as a whole.

TABOO : PROHIBITION, RESTRICTION, BAN

What is taboo? It is simply a prohibition, a ban. Taboo has the meaning of an "unapproachable thing." The opposite of taboo in Polynesian is "noa" which means " common," "open to general public." If taboo means "an unapproachable thing" then the "divine-heavenly fear" we have today will correspond to taboo, the breaking of which in many ways will be like committing a "sinful act" in our era. But restrictions based on taboo are different from the religious and moral prohibitions. They are not tied to a divine command. Wilhelm Wundt describes taboo as "the oldest unwritten laws of humanity". When taboo was in full swing, in the deepest recesses of history, there was no idea of a "supreme being" and no "belief systems." Therefore taboo could be said to be older than the "supreme being."

TABOO: NO ENJOYMENT, NO FREE MOVEMENT, NO FREE SPEECH

In the beginning violation was punished by the taboo. But when the concepts of "supreme being" and "spirit" emerged and linked with taboo at a later period, a heavenly force/power is expected to punish the violation. Later on probably due to the extreme evolution of the concept, the community punished the culprits who jeopardized the social life. Consequently the most ancient punishment systems of humanity could be tied to taboo. "Violation of a taboo by someone makes the culprit a taboo as well." Avoidance of the dangers created by the violation of a taboo may be possible by penance and purification. In other words, paying something, refraining from certain things and cleansing yourself. What interests us here is a series of prohibitions these primitive communuties were subject to. There were all kinds of prohibitions, but they didn't know why. And they didn't think of asking questions. On the contrary they accepted the taboo as if it was an open truth and believed that violation would be punished automatically. All the prohibitions basically aimed at the freedom of enjoying oneself, freedom of movement and the freedom of communication. ONE SHOULD NOT ENJOY ONESELF.. ONE SHOULD NOT MOVE FREELY.. ONE SHOULD NOT COMMUNICATE AS ONE PLEASED. Taboos then and "belief systems" today are all against personalities and individuals, because in order to have a monolithic "belief system" personal freedoms, personalities and individualism should be eradicated. Why? Because enjoying oneself is bad. You are not allowed to enjoy an "earthly" life. Instead you are supposed to work relentlessly to correct yourself here on earth. For what? For an afterlife. In other words, if you wish to live eternally(!) (although that afterlife is on a completely different level of existence which has no resemblance with the life here on earth) you have to obey the rules and purify yourself. Moving freely means an uncontrollable individual. This cannot be allowed. All the believers in a "belief system" should be under constant surveillance or at least they should feel they are being watched. The idea behind this is the fact that people feel the urge to stand up against permanent, strict rules. They will seek personal freedoms and individualism. Communicating freely means, circulation of all kinds of ideas and thoughts. Some of these could be harmful to the "belief system." So freedom of communication cannot be allowed. In certain cases taboos had an understandable meaning and had abstinence and renunciation as their purpose. But in other cases they had an incomprehensible structure, related to unimportant details and seem like having only a ceremonial constitution. At the primitive beginnings of taboo there was no separation between "divine" and "dirty," according to W. Wundt, and "this genuine character (in the beginning) of taboo, and the belief that the 'satanic power' endemic in an object would take its revenge on the violator when touched or used in spite of the ban, was only an 'objective fear.' " This fear has acquired two different forms - worship and horror - at a later stage when the taboo dictates were transferred from the domain of satans (evil spirits) to the domain of belief in the "supreme being." Prohibitions came into being at an unknown instant and continue to exist based on an irresistable fear. An external threat of punishment was never needed because of an inner certainty, a moral belief that violation would lead to an unbearable disaster. Prohibitions are kept alive by an inner necessity; change places easily; are connected to the danger of contaminaton from the banned object; necessitate ceremonial acts. One could assume that all the taboos were ancient prohibitions imposed externally and by force on a generation of primitive human beings in a certain period.

TWO BASIC TABOOS : "THOU SHALT NOT KILL!" - NO SEX WITH YOUR KIN

The oldest and most important taboo prohibitions are the two basic totemism laws: "Don't kill the totem animal" and "Avoid sexual relations with the opposite sex of the same clan." If this was the case, then the most basic, oldest and the most powerful human desires must have been to kill and have sexual relations with the opposite sex. It is beyond doubt that primitive people living long before the imposition of laws by gods had this valid command (or a moral rule): You should not kill.. This is a rule the violation of which shouldn't go unpunished. The appeasement ceremonies, sacrifices, restrictions, isolation period, atonement and purification ceremonies following a battle in primitive communities all originate from one superstition: Thou shalt not kill!. (Did you know that isolation of professional executioners for a set period or temporarily, originates from this superstition?) This superstition must be familiar. Don't you think? Let me help you: Check the Ten Commandments!

RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO TOUCH

Sometimes someone, who does not violate a taboo, may become a taboo permanently or in a temporary fashion because of arousing forbidden desires and having a character of causing an unpredictable conflict in others. Who are these? King or the chief create jealousies because of their priviliged position. New born babies, women in their periods or in labour arouse desire because of their frail condition. A young man promises new pleasures and titillates the people. Because of that, all these people and all these conditions are taboo. In other words they are untouchable. One has to resist the temptation to touch because touching a human being or an object is the first step to take control of or to benefit from it. If violation of a taboo necessitates rectification via repentance or atonement involving relinquishment of a certain ownership or forfeiting a freedom then a taboo ban in itself means giving up a desired thing. This leads us to the conclusion that atonement in taboo ceremonies is much more fundamental than purification. Taboo is a prohibition imposed by an external authority and it aims at the most powerful expectations and desires. The fact that violation of a taboo is put right by giving up something shows us relinquishing lies at the bottom of compliance with a taboo. Taboo is the typical method of legislation and it serves other secondary social purposes as well. This is the case with the taboos which are imposed by the chiefs and priests whose purpose is to preserve their assets and privilege.

WHERE ARE THE DEAD? : "ON THE OTHER SIDE"

Taboo relating to the dead is important. There are certain rules about touching the dead. Those who touched the dead should obey certain rules. People feared the spirit of the dead and numerous ceremonies were performed to keep the spirit away. It is thought that mentioning the name of the dead person was identical with awakening him, resullting with his sudden appearance. Those living didn't feel secure unless there is a body of water between themselves and the dead. This is why the dead are buried on the islands or on the "other bank" of a river. This is the origin of the expressions, "here and there", "on the other side" or "the other side" meaning the place where the dead are buried. But with the advent of "belief systems" the meaning of this expression changed from "there on the other side" (meaning dead were buried there on the other side or the bank, physically) into a mystical "other side" meaning, heaven, hell, the underworld, the other world, etc.

ANIMISM : THERE ARE SPIRITS IN EVERYTHING

Taboo is a social institution. According to Sir James George Frazer human race has developed three systems of thought, three grand pictures related to the universe: Animistic; Religious; Scientific.. This sequence of evolution of human thought is no longer accepted. But animism is there for us to have a look. What is this animism? Animistic thought may be the most coherent and extensive amongst them and offers a really complete explanation on the nature of universe. This is the early human's point of view on earth and universe. It is a psychological theory. It could be said that animism in the beginningfwas not a "religion", but incorporated all the foundations which were used later on in the construction of religion. It is also clear that myths are based on animistic propositions. Animism in its narrow meaning is a doctrine of spirits, whereas its wider meaning is a doctrine of creatures who have spirits. We now know that those primitive peoples had definitely had a substantial idea on universe, according to which numerous good and bad spirits were living on earth. These spirits were considered as the causes of the natural phenomena and not only the animals and plants but also all the lifeless/inorganic objects on earth were thought to come alive with these spirits. Most important of all, these primitive peoples believed that similar spirits lived in humans as well. These spirits changed their abode (the person they live in); inhabited other persons; they were the medium of spiritual activities; and to a certain extent they were independent of the body they inhabited Spirits in the beginning were thought to be very similar to humans, but later on they lost their objective characteristics and became "spiritualised." Now let us pause for a moment to think and ask the right questions: Since we have the clues now, where do you think these stories on spirits, incarnations and/or reincarnations, transmigration of souls come from? Of course some "belief systems of the book" were and are against these ideas, because these ideas belong to a different belief system which means competition, and more than that animism opens the door to magic, which is the most serious rival of a "belief system."

ANIMISM : PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR MAGIC TO ENFORCE THE "WILL"

We are not surprised to see that a system of instructions on how to establish a domination over persons, wild animals and objects - or rather on their spirits - was developed hand in hand with the animistic system. These instructions are known as "black magic-witchcraft"and "magic." "Black magic" is the art of taking someone or something under the will of one. "Magic" is something different. It ignores the spirits and employs not daily psychological methods but special procedures. Remember my words on resolve and intent? Remember that to be a believer resolve and intent are absolutely essential? Remember that without them your belief means nothing? Remember that non-comprehension makes resolve and intent impossible? So to believe, to have faith in something - in other words, to act at spiritual level - one has to know, understand, decide and act accordingly. These are all processes related to your mind and spirituality, and they dissolve down to the "will." "Will" makes actions important, effective and valuable. Resolve and intent come up again vis a vis "magic." In order to perform magic, one has to desire-think-deliberate-decide-concentrate on what to do; this whole process could be expressed as "will." This "will" envelops all the spiritual processes. Thus all the spiritual processes are elevated/magnified, so is "thought."

THOUGHT IS CAPABLE OF EVERYTHING

So, thoughts related to objects become much more important than the objects themselves. "The action being thought of inevitably will happen to that object." In a nutshell, it could be said that the principle valid in "magic" is "thought is capable of everything." Mind over matter? Have a guess: What is the origin of claims related to moving objects from afar without touching; mind-reading; bending spoons; stopping clocks etc. just by thinking and concentrating? Animism? Let Spenta Mainyu give you an example of magic: One of the most widespread methods of magic for harming ones enemy is to make a puppet of that enemy. Resemblance between the puppet and the enemy is not essential. Any object could be used as a puppet. It is believed that anything done to the puppet will happen to the enemy; any harm done on any part of the puppet will duplicate itself on the enemy. Now remind yourself the Old Testament's ban on making pictures or statues of living beings. At those ancient times peoples of that region were worshipping local, tribal "supreme beings" in the form of animal figures, totem like objects, human and semi-human like objects etc. But the Old Testament's "supreme being" ( "the unmentionable") is a jealous entity(!). This entity was never to be represented by idols or images and furthermore banned all kinds of figures, idols, objects etc. as well. Because being a jealous "superior" this entity(!) did not like competition around. But is this the true reason behind the ban or could there be something else? This practice is certainly an animistic left over from the deep recesses of history so the writers of the Old Testament may have wished to deny magic - which the Hebrew religion considers revolting - one of it's tools. What do you think? Of course being a consequence of Abrahamic "belief system" a similar ban is included in Qoran as well.

Now the most difficult question: With which words do present day "belief systems" replaced totem and taboo? If you are able to find the right answer and dare to express it you will have taken another step towards becoming a being, an individual and not a follower.

primal religions