Animism

Hey y'all,

This next event Bianca has provided the topic. Here's Bianca's write-up below:

Animism
From the latin “anima”, meaning life, soul

An ancient and widespread worldview that identifies a spiritual essence or “soul” within all elements of the natural world. It dissolves the idea that anything is “inanimate”. At its core, this perspective suggests that humans inhabit a world populated by a vast community of "persons," of which only a small fraction is human. “Things” such as animals, plants, mountains, and rivers are viewed as sentient beings possessing their own agency, intentions, social standing, and “being-ness”. This is a framework rooted in relationship, and maintains an ethics based on respect and reciprocity- one where humans are in equal standing with the other beings that co-inhabit this world.

Animism is in direct contrast to modern Western frameworks that treat nature as a collection of resources to be exploited. Instead, all components of the natural world are considered to possess value unto themselves (intrinsic value) and are not valued only in relation to how they can be used in service of human-centered ends (instrumental value).

Some have described Animism as a religion practiced by indigenous peoples, but it is more accurately described as a worldview, or an understanding of the nature of reality. There are no strict doctrines or rites across animist cultures, and one does not need to engage in prayer, ritual, or offerings in order to practice animism or see the world from an animistic perspective.

Animist inclinations are not simply a relic of the past, they pervade every corner of the world, in religions such as Shinto that are still practiced today, and even in places where we might not expect to see spiritual relation with the non-living world, such as modern, Western society. Examples of this will be discussed!

Questions

• Is consciousness a "thing" or a "relationship"? Does a rock have a soul inside it, or does the soul emerge only when a human enters into a relationship with that rock?
• Where do you draw the line? If a mountain is a person, is a pebble also a person? If I break the pebble in half, have I created two people, or killed one?
• Is "eating" a form of murder or a form of gift-exchange? If everything is a person, then every meal can be defined as an act of violence. How does animism solve the "Jain Dilemma" of needing to kill to survive?
• Is it "projection" or "perception"? When you feel the "mood" of a forest, are you actually sensing the forest’s internal state, or are you just projecting your human emotions onto an indifferent landscape?
• Can we ever truly know a "non-human" mind? If a bat or a stone has a consciousness, is it so different from ours that any attempt to describe it in human language is inherently incorrect?
• Is animism a "pre-scientific" mistake or a "post-scientific" realization? Is seeing the world as alive a step backward into myth, or a step forward into a more accurate, holistic understanding of ecology that science is only just beginning to prove (like plant communication)?