Aboriginal Spirituality Essay

539 Words3 Pages
“Our spirituality is a oneness and an interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes, even with all that does not live or breathe.” – Mudrooroo, Aboriginal writer. The Dreaming, the land and people, totems, values and kinship systems are all methods of expression for Aboriginal spirituality. These elements are vital to Aboriginal spirituality because they allow Aboriginals to express their faith through a variety of practices. The Dreaming isn’t considered as a time of the past, or any time at all. Aboriginal spirituality views the past, present and future as aspects of time whereas the Dreaming isn’t. The Dreaming still exists in today’s society and is the environment that Aboriginals lived in. Aboriginals are able to express their spirituality through the Dreaming because it provides them with an answer to their most asked question: How did everything come to exist? The creation process is described through the telling of Dreamtime stories. This allows Aboriginals to gain an understanding about the creation of nature and Ancestral Beings. During the Dreaming contact with Ancestral Spirits is enabled. The land and people are inextricably connected to the Dreaming. Aboriginal spirituality is strongly linked to the land because Aboriginals view nature as a mother figure. Mother nature provides them with food, water, clothing, shelter, identity, and spirituality which strengthens their connection to the land. Aboriginal spirituality believes that every element of nature has a soul. Aside from animals and plants possessing souls, trees posses a soul too. Aboriginals are able to experience a spiritual connection to the land that is unfamiliar to European settlers. An essential factor of Aboriginal spirituality is to invariably care for the land which has been a necessity for many years. Totemism is a system of belief that gives rise to the existence of
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