Types of magical practitioners.....!!

Every society in some way or another believes in some kind of magic, no matter how complex it is magical beliefs are universal or to be more precise near universal. It is a general belief that magical practices pervades only in backward and economically weak societies but according to cross cultural researches by many different  anthropologists and other social scientists it is confirmed that even most advance and economically powerful societies believe in magical concept, however the degree of belief is much varied from society to society. Individuals in society may have a belief that they can by themselves contact or interact with the supernatural, but even then almost all present or past societies possess different part time or full time religious or magical practitioners. As research suggests mainly there are four major types of practitioners which include shamans, sorcerers or witches, mediums, and priest. Priest is often a full time practitioner. The number of magical practitioners and their type depends on the degree of cultural complexity.

The Shaman: The word shaman comes from a language that is spoken in eastern Siberia. Shamans are usually part time male practitioners who are specialized in healing process. The status of a shaman in a society is fairly high as they deal with issues such as illness which is a major point of concern for the population. The main methodology of a shaman is entering into a trance, or some other altered state of consciousness, and then journeys to supernatural worlds in order to seek help from guardian and other spirits. These journeys are like insights which are felt in dreams. In this case dreams are bridges to the supernatural world. Some hallucinogens are often used by shamans before going into the trance. People seek help for practical matters, such as where to find food resources or game, but solving a problem related to health is the primary goal of the shaman. Shaman bring news of a upcoming disaster from spirits and they also provide a reason why supernatural is unhappy and what could be done to make them happier again. It is believed that someone receives a call to the role of shaman in recovering from an illness, through a vision or in a dream. Shaman in training enhances their vividness of imagery through taking some hallucinogens or sleep and food deprivation, or engaging themselves in physical activities such as dancing. Shamanistic training takes several years under the guidance of master shaman.

Sorcerers and Witches: When we see sorcerers and witches in contrast with shamans, who generally possess high status and are usually male, sorcerers and witches are of both sexes witches are generally female and both of them possess a very low socio-economic status. They are believed to invoke supernatural in order to harm any individual or a community or a whole society. Sorcerers use material object to solve their purpose while witches are believed to do the same by using emotional and mental powers alone. Suspected sorcerers and witches usually live under fear that may be someone can reveal their identity and the people will go against them or execute them. As evidence can be found against sorcerers they are often killed for their malevolence, however it is difficult to find evidence against witches but it has not prevented people for accusing and killing others for being witches.

Mediums: Usually females are tends to be mediums. They are described as having tremors, convulsions, seizures, and temporary amnesia. They are part time practitioners and are asked to heal and divine while they are in possession trances that is when they are believed to be possessed by spirits.

Priests: Priests are generally full time male practitioners with very high status. They are thought to be able to relate to superior or high gods who are beyond the ordinary person's control. In societies with priests, the people who get to be priest are either through political appointment or through inheritance get their offices. Sometimes priest are distinguished from general public by a signature clothing and hairstyle. The training of a priest can be quite vigorous and long, including fasting, praying, physical labor, as well as learning the dogma and ritual of the religion he belongs. Priest in United States complete a four year theological school and at times serve first as apprentices under established priests. For all the services provided by a priest he does not receive a fee or a salary but he is supported by followers and parishioners. Priest often possess access to political power as a result of their office. In some places chief priest is also the head of state or is a close adviser to the chief of a state. The dependence on memorized ritual both marks and protects the priest. If a shaman repeatedly fails a cure his following will eventually decrease and it will affect the position of a shaman, and it is then believed by people that the shaman has lost the support of spirits. But if a priest perform his rituals in a correct manner and god has chosen not to respond he will retain his position.

It is found in researches that more complex societies tend to have a higher number of magical and religious practitioners. Nomadic, semi-nomadic, food collecting societies usually have only one type of practitioner that is a shaman. Agricultural societies often have two types of practitioners that is a shaman and a priest. Those societies who possess three types of practitioners are agriculturalists or pastoralists with political integration beyond community level. The societies with all four types of practitioners have agriculture and political integration beyond the level of community and have social classes and in-equal access to resources for individuals of a society. No matter how different the methodologies of these practitioners are but they all maintain a magical belief in the minds of general public. These practitioners are said to be working in favor or against the individuals of a society and are among the people of society.

I hope i have made my point clear in understanding types of magical and religious practitioners existing in societies the world over and how they inter- fear with the lives of general public..........................................................................Tarun Joshi

Magic and Rituals.....

The word magic in the eyes of anthropologists is used in reference to any action which people think can persuade or compel the supernatural to act in some particular or desired way. The application of magic in a society usually depend on how much people in society rely on pleading or trying to persuade the supernatural powers to act on their behalf, whether people in society believe that they can compel supernatural is also a point of consideration. Methods of persuading or compelling can be much different from society to society, for an example prayer is considered as asking while performing voodoo is presumably compelling. Practice and belief of magic may involve manipulation of supernatural for bringing good or evil for an individual or a community or a whole society.

Magical rituals have been observed in many societies to ensure good crops, for the replenishment of game, for the fertility of cattle or other domestic animals, for avoidance and possible cure of illness in humans. Special rituals are present to protect a group from invaders and other threats which the people of society are subjected too. These rituals are designed in welfare of society and there is a belief that if not practiced the society will face doom and destruction because it can make supernatural unhappier. These rituals persuade or compel supernatural to act on behalf of people practicing them. We often tend to associate magic with simpler and backward society but as much as 80,000 people in United States take magic as a serious issue. Magic is also seem to be employed in cure and the practitioners are called shaman or witch doctors, but the use of magic to bring about evil or harm has gained the more popularity and evoked most interest.

Sorcery and Witchcraft:

Both sorcery and witchcraft are termed as attempts to invoke the spirits and supernatural to bring harm for people. It is believed that sorcerers and witches can work harm on individual's behalf by performing characteristic rituals and practices. Although the words sorcery and witchcraft are often used interchangeably, but they are also distinguished quite often. Sorcery generally includes the use of materials, objects, medicines and other things to invoke supernatural harm or malevolence. Witchcraft is said to accomplish the same by the power of thoughts and emotions alone. Due to this reason witchcraft is often considered much dangerous than sorcery because it leaves no evidence behind, in fact evidence of witchcraft can never be found and hence the lack of visible evidence make accusation of witchcraft harder to prove and even harder to disprove. While sorcery can be caught quite easily as it leaves behind lot of traces in the form of material and objects.

Witchcraft was part of everyday living for Azande of Zaire, in central Africa. It was not used to explain events which were known such as carelessness or violation of a taboo, but it was used to explain other events which were unexplained. For say a man is gored by an animal. He must be bewitched because he was not been gored on several other animal hunts. Some of the pots of a skilled potter break, some of the bowls of a skilled carver cracked. There must be some witchcraft as other pots and bowls were also treated the same way but they did not break. Many such events which do not possess a specific confirmed answer are explained by witchcraft. May be this is only the belief of people and following events has nothing to do with witchcraft but at-least the concept of witchcraft is providing an answer to the unexplained questions.

The craze of witches in Europe in sixteenth and seventeenth century and the trial of witches in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, remind us that fear of people can increase or decrease in a society within a very short period of time. Scholars have often tried to explain these witch hunts, most say one factor is political turmoil. Which give rise to widespread distrust and anxiety in the minds of people. In the case of Europe during sixteenth and seventeenth century there was a political disturbance as small regional political units were being incorporated into national states and political allegiances were in flux. The commercial revolution and other related changes were creating a new social class namely 'the middle class'. In the case of Salem the government of Massachusetts colony was unstable and there were much internal problems. In the year 1692 which is termed as year of witchcraft hysteria, Massachusetts was left without an English governor, and subsequently judicial practices broke down. These conditions saw accusation of single person for witchcraft and which eventually become accusation of hundreds and execution of twenty people. Undermining of legitimate political and judicial procedures has generated a widespread fear of witches.

It is much possible that witch epidemics which were responsible for accusation and execution of people as witches were real epidemics and has nothing to do with witchcraft. The disease found in Salem as well as in other European communities is a fungus disease called ergot, which generally grow on rye plant. The rye flour is then used to prepare bread that people of Salem ate may have been contaminated by ergot. It is now known and generally expected that people who eat grain products contaminated by ergot suffer convulsions, hallucinations and other symptoms such as something is crawling on skin. Ergot contains LSD, the drug responsible for hallucinations and other type of delusions that resemble with some severe mental illness. The victims of bewitchment in Salem have symptoms similar to ergot poisoning today. So, it can be assumed that the accusations were false and there was no point of executions in the name of witchcraft and all happened due to lack of knowledge.

Whether or not epidemics of witchcraft hysteria were due to ergot poisoning or due to political turmoil or both, but still in the ethnographic record people believe in sorcery and witchcraft in the first place and no matter what evidence we put forward they always tend to keep their belief. But we need to understand why so many societies believe that they can invoke or influence supernatural powers to work harm or good for people. Out of many one possible explanation could be that the lack of procedures and judicial authorities to deal with offence and crime may give rise to general believe of sorcerers and witches. All society needs a mechanism of social control which deters the would-be offenders and criminals. In the absence of such system sorcery may be a very effective way of social control that is if you are responsible for harm of anyone the person you mistreated or caused harm will practice sorcery against you and due to result of that you could become ill or even die. Some believe a little and some believe more in idea of magic but in a cross cultural research it has been clear that every society has a belief in some kind of magic. We will discuss about  different magic practitioners in my next post till then enjoy reading some cross cultural believes about magic i hope i have made myself clear.............................................................Tarun Joshi 

                                                                                          

Interaction with 'The Supernatural'

Although people in the past and people of today believe in supernatural the world over, no matter their beliefs and thoughts regarding supernatural are much different and a possible explanation to this fact is the variety of cultures worldwide.Supernatural image and belief often reflect the people of the society and their state of mind on general public issues and it is further believed that supernatural world runs parallel along natural world,so difference in belief is justified.It is widely believed that supernatural powers intervene in the lives of people, however the degree of intervention may vary.People are also eager to find ways to interact with supernatural so that they may ask them for social,cultural or may be personal betterment.They usually perform rituals and ceremonies to influence supernatural powers.

The fact is how to get in touch with supernatural has proved to be a universal problem.Although it is believed that less sophisticated and merely advance societies have greater belief in supernatural existence but it is true that even commercialized and industrialized societies do have believe in supernatural and all of them try to influence and convince supernaturals by their own rituals in all possible ways.These ways can be prayers, physiological experiences that is doing certain things with body and mind,simulations, feasts and sacrifices.The ways in which a prayer is proposed is also varied it can be spontaneous or memorized, private or public, or it may be silent or spoken.Some people are loud enough or language specific in their prayers yet others might believe that god understands all sought of physical and vocal languages and they chose to say a prayer without uttering a word, they usually think of problems that are bothering or disturbing them while they pray.

Doing things with the body and mind involve drugs such as hallucinogens or alcohol which induce a social isolation and sensory deprivation, people may also deprive them with food, water and even sleep, they listen on repetitive sounds of drumming and dance until they get exhausted. These activities in which an individual is in a altered state are said to take an individual to the traces outside the world where he can communicate with supernatural.In some societies especially agricultural and stratified ones trances are thought to involve the presence of spirits and souls in the body of individuals and their personality alters for sometime and they turn into someone other.These type of trances are referred to as possession trances.Other typical trances may include journey of a person's soul,experiencing visions,or transmitting messages from spirits.Non possession trances are generally found in food collecting societies .These believes on achieving of some altered state or a trance are consistent with almost 90% of societies across the globe.Highly modified societies generally have possession trances and simple barely stratified egalitarian societies have non possession trances,however moderately modifies and stratified societies may have both possession and non-possession trances.

Simulation or imitation of things which are employed in Voodoo involves making of dolls in resemblance or likeliness of an enemy and it is believed that by maltreating those dolls the actual enemy could be harmed or can be lead to death.People pierce pins in the dolls make them twist in order to make the actual enemy cry in pain.Processes of simulation are often practiced during divination,or getting the supernatural to provide guidance.It encircles many modern trends including people having their fortunes in crystal ball, tea leaves, Ouija boards, or cards.Or they may chose a action by tossing a coin or throwing a dice.These all methods are being used in different cultures.Among some tribes such as Naskapi hunters of Labrador, divination is an adaptive strategy for successful hunting.When these people were not having luck in finding games they turn to their diviner who in turn take a caribou bone in his hand over the fire and he believe as if the bone were a map and and the burns and crack in the bone indicate where the group should head to hunt,indicating points where game can be found.Although it is true that this way of finding a game is very ambiguous and it gives no guarantee that game is available at the spot decided by the diviner. So the attempt of the diviner is generally random.Just because humans believe in some customary pattern of actions, they might likely to look for game according to some prescribed plan.But game might learn to avoid hunters who operate with some systemic plan thus any random attempt or things which are done on advice of a diviner may turn helpful and advantageous in finding a game.May be the process of finding game used by diviner by burning bones is quite random,it escape a particular leader or hunter to decide where to hunt and where the possible game is,which avoids further tension and  problems arisen due to failure of decision.

The eating of certain sacred meals are found in many religions. Australian aborigines are normally forbidden from eating their totem animal but they have a totem feast every year at which they eat their totem.These feasts are often part of  occasions like marriage and funeral ceremonies as well as celebrating benefits which have came due to sacrifices which are made to gods..Societies make sacrifices to god in order to influence their action, either to divert their anger or to attract there attention and set a image of goodwill in front of them.Sacrifice is often a valuable thing living or nonliving which is offered to god and people may seek for some good returns out of a sacrifice.Possible things that can be included in sacrifices are giving up of food, water,sex,life of an animal or even life of a person.If the sacrifice is appropriate god is obliged to act on behalf of those who gave sacrifices.It is an attempt to persuade god and they also realize that there is no guarantee that the attempt will be successful.Of all types of sacrifices discussed taking the life of a human is ultimate.Nonetheless human sacrifice is not a rare case in ethnographic and historical record and it was practiced among some preindustrial societies those with full time craft specialists and slavery.As it is believed that sacrifice involves giving away a thing of value,it should be noted that in preindustrial society where humans labor was much more important for development rather than animals or machines, people might think that offering of a humans life is a great deal of sacrifice and can bring good results to the society.

It is possible that with the change in cultures around the world and change of economic systems and political systems ways of interaction with supernatural might change and the objects of sacrifices which were more relevant in past days and in present may lose their importance and something else may be offered to gods in the future.As the culture is changing drastically due to the interference of west world it is possible that all these discussed ways for interacting with supernatural may end up in some text books becoming a thing of past and new beliefs and new trends would displace them.And probably if i have made myself clear in explaining different ways of interaction with supernatural i am eagerly waiting for your feedback on this.................................................................................................................Tarun Joshi

 



    

Supernatural Character and Life after DEATH

The character of supernatural no matter what they are 'gods or spirits' varies significantly between different societies. Worldwide differences have been observed regarding certain personality and character traits of supernatural powers. They can be predictable or unpredictable, helpful or punishing, interested in human affairs or partially and may be not interested at all. It is a point of discussion that why the traits of character and personality differs among different societies. One possible answer which is drawn from cross cultural studies of different characters of supernatural is that the whole idea of supernatural character is emphasized on child training practices. It is believed that the god-human relationship is much like parent-child relationship. This parent-child relation is relived while dealing with the supernatural, if in a society children are pleasantly nurtured and immediate response is given to crying ones. Their gods are believed to be kind nurturing and helpful and individuals will perform all rituals in order to gain attraction of their gods. While on the other hand societies in which the environment is hurtful and no proper response is given to crying children and they are often punished severely for their mistakes, their gods will tend to be punishing and malevolent with less care and affection. Individuals in such societies perform their rituals because they are afraid that if they avoid doing so, they will be severely punished by their gods. When we consider both the societies individuals are performing rituals but some are doing them for gaining rewards and some are performing just to avoid punishment. Generally societies with more love and affection and more child caring possess kind, caring, benevolent and generous gods while societies with less caring or rather hurtful environment possess aggressive and malevolent and punishing gods.

It is believed that the supernatural world should be parallel to natural world. As mentioned above how child training practices are related to different characters of supernatural, the hierarchy of supernatural beings also reflect the natural hierarchy. The range of social structures in human societies from egalitarian to highly stratified has its counterpart in supernatural world. Some societies possess gods which are not ranked, one god possesses the same power as the other but some possess ranked gods or spirits. Each clan group may have its own god who may primarily gain importance form its clan members only. However the gods of various clans are believed to be ranked in the same way as the clan groups are ranked in a village. The gods of most high ranked and important clan are subjected to high status and importance and are respected by all clans of the village. Its shrine would be in the center of village and is elaborately decorated. These ranked societies mostly did not believe in high gods or supreme gods, but other advance societies may possess some high gods which are at supreme positions among other gods, they are generally believed as creator god.

Although some religions are monotheistic which mean possess one god, most monotheistic religions possess more than one supernatural beings for example; demons, angels and the devil. The illustrations can be seen when we observe Christianity and Islam which are among the most widespread religions in today's world. On the other hand a polytheistic religion recognizes many important gods for different functions and no god is supreme. Now the question arise why do some society believe in high gods and some do not, the possible answer for this question as a result of a cross cultural research is people often personify god as individual who make all important decisions for the society. So according to this belief societies with hierarchical political systems will tend to believe in high gods while when there is no such social or political system societies with lower and fewer level of decision making group tend to be polytheistic in approach.

Talking about intervention of god in human affairs, when faced with difficulties, pain, injustice and trauma's of life people explain these events with intervention of the gods. In an old testament the direct intervention of god caused a great flood that killed most of the people in Noah. People may search for the memories of some taboo violation in other societies that has brought a supernatural intervention in a form of a disaster. It is not necessary that intervention is harmful, sometimes people ask for a divine intervention either for good and happiness of oneself, friends and family or evil for others. People may ask their gods for interventions in weather to make crops grow well, to send fish to fishermen, send game to hunters, to avoid accidents and illness and to stop a disaster. However gods doesn't seem to intervene in all societies. In some societies they readily intervene in human affairs; in others they are not just a bit interested and in still others they intervene occasionally. It is a point of discussion that why in some societies gods intervenes and do not intervene in others and we do not have enough cross cultural research to reach a conclusion.

 Life after Death:

Ideas about afterlife are vague and unimportant in many societies, but many people have very definite and elaborate ideas about what happens after one dies. These ideas and belief may vary a lot from one society to another. Some believe in the theory of rebirth and some believe that once an individual is dead he enters into a surprisingly new world which resides between the living world only. The Lugbara see their dead as joining the ancestors of the living who stay near the family homesite. They care for the living ones and retain interest in their day to day affairs and they are often believed to punish or reward their living relatives on accounts of their behaviours and deeds. The Zuni of the south-western United States believe that the one who die joins the past dead known as the Katcinas, in a katcina village at the bottom of the nearby lake. The dead people then live a life of singing and dancing and they bring rain to the living Zuni's by doing so. On the other hand they punish the individuals who fail to do their duties and also punish those who are behind masks and who often try to be-fool people by their fake personality.

Some society’s views about afterlife are blending of two or more cultures. The Chamulas have merged the ancient Mayan worship of sun and moon with the Spanish conquerors' Jesus and Mary. They believe that all people after death go into an underworld where they live human-like life but they are incapable of performing 'sexual intercourse’. Their believe is that when sun set's in the world it arise in the underworld lighting up there dispersing its glory and giving light to the dead. It means sun rises in the east and sets in the west after travelling over the world it goes under the world and a reverse cycle is followed there. Only murderers and suicides are punished and being burned by Christ-sun on their journey. Many people including many Christians believe in the concept of hell and heaven. According to them dead are divided into two groups. The    individuals who have committed sins all over their lives are sent to hell for everlasting suffering and punishment and were tortured with fire and the individuals those were kind and generous and basically good people are sent to heaven where they enjoy everlasting reward and happiness. Several societies see the dead as returning to earth to be reborn. The Hindus use this pattern of reincarnation to justify one's caste in this life and the promise of eventual release from the pain of life by attaining the state or 'nirvana' , or inclusion into the almighty from whom we originated from. 

In many religions afterlife and after world seems to revolve around the everyday world. In this sense we try to relate dead with the living. I am closing this post with a puzzling cycle of life and death and i hope u have enjoyed reading this piece. Stay tuned for my next posts till then goodbye...........................Tarun Joshi  

                                                                                                           

Idea of "SUPERNATURAL"

Supernatural is something which opposes the laws of nature, it is something which is not having a common explanation. People around the world may have different opinions about the belief in supernatural powers and thoughts. What an individual of one society believes to be supernatural is nothing to do with the idea of supernatural of another society. But there is a general agreement among scholars that people do possess different kinds of supernatural beliefs is all societies known to anthropology. The basic idea is to know why people need supernatural beliefs and why often they relate these forces to their religion. Actually something which is supernatural has no justified explanation and it is often very difficult to find what is true about it and what are myths. The idea of supernatural is believed to be created in the societies just to make people feel a sense of union and to make them afraid of doing wrong deeds, as it can harm them or destroy them if they commit something wrong. Supernatural belief is quite important for a society as it acts as a judicial power to the whole group. Moreover supernatural idea seems to reflect some important cultural aspects and practices of a society. Most cultural customs rotate around the supernatural belief; these customs may include initiation, child rearing, marriage, execution, funerals, etc. Even most of the taboos practiced in a society are influenced by the general belief of supernatural.

Although no general agreement is observed among scholars as to why people need gods, spirits and other supernatural beings and forces and how they come into existence. Some view that the need was social or psychological. Yet there is general recognition of the enormous variation in the details of supernatural types. Societies differ in the kind of supernatural beings or forces they believe in and the character of those beings. The hierarchy structure of those beings is also different. The views differ in the idea of what they do and in what happens to the people when they die. Some believe there is life after death and some share the idea of rebirth. How supernatural powers interact with people and how people interact to supernatural is also different and debatable.

Types of supernatural forces and beings:

Supernatural Forces: Some supernatural forces lack person-like character. Belief in such a supernatural force is often referred to as animatism. Just for an example a supernatural, impersonal force is called Mana, after its Malayo-Polynesian name, is thought to inhabit some objects but not others, some people but not others. Now mana can be associated with anything possible may be a stone or tools which a farmer uses in his field and due to the presence of mana the crop is bountiful and surplus. It is described as a power which can influence some factors such as occurrence of a disaster like famine, drought, volcanic eruption, earthquake or so. Its presence is often related to happiness and its absence may lead to something wrong and misery. People may also possess mana for example chiefs in Polynesia said to possess mana which make them successful at wars. However such powers are not necessarily permanent, a crop failure may suggest that stones and tools used in farming have lost their mana, similarly the chiefs who are unsuccessful at wars said to have lost theirs. These beliefs may seems to be of some simpler society with less complexity but modern societies may often possess these kinds of beliefs, a sports person such as a golfer or a footballer may have a belief that certain piece of clothing or certain pair of shoes can make them win the game. They believe those objects have some supernatural power.

Objects, persons, or places can be considered taboo. Taboo is used here as a contrast to mana, things containing mana are to be touched whereas taboo things are not to be touched and it is believed that their power can cause harm. Thus those who touch taboo things themselves become a kind of taboo. There are different kind of taboos they may include food not to be eaten, animals not to be killed, places not to be entered, people not to be touched sexually, people not to be touched at all, etc.

Supernatural Beings: When we talk about supernatural beings we make two categories of them: those of nonhuman origin as gods and spirits, and those of human origin as ghosts and ancestral spirits. Among the beings of nonhuman origin chief are gods and they are named personalities and are often anthropomorphic which means they are bound in a image of a person. Although they are sometimes given the name of some animals and some celestial bodies such as sun god or moon god. It is often believed that gods have created themselves but some other gods are created or given birth by early gods. They are believed to have created world but this idea is not common as some people don't believe in this theory.

Some creator gods seem to take interest in day to day life of their creation human beings especially on one chosen segment of humanity, yet other seem to show little or no interest in them after the creation. The responsibility of keeping an account over day today life of humans is on lesser gods. The Maori of New Zealand recognize three important gods namely a god of the sea, a god of the forest and a god of agriculture. The ancient Romans gods on the other hand are specialized to a high degree. There were three gods of the plow, one god to help with the sowing, one for weeding, one for reaping, one for storing grain, one for manuring and many more gods are addressed for specific jobs.

Below the gods in prestige and somewhat more closer to people are spirits which are often unnamed. Spirits can be guardian to some. Some spirits who become known for their efficacious work are often promoted to a rank of named gods. Some spirits known to people but were never called upon or invoked are hobgoblin type. Hobgoblin delights in mischief and can be blamed for any number of small mishaps; it is believed that other spirits practice evil in their name deliberately. People believe that spirits were most commonly animals, but they could be uniquely shaped rocks, lakes, mountains, clouds, etc. Spirits may come in dreams or a vision in mostly human form. And it is believed that conversation with the spirit would reveal its identity.

Now among the supernatural beings of human origin are ghosts and ancestral spirits who were once human and after they died they become ghosts or spirits. Living perceives the ghosts and their action this belief is almost universal. The near universality of the belief is not so difficult to explain. In everyday life we are very attached to people around us especially whom we love and never want them to be away from us. But even after they die we believe in our subconscious mind that somehow they are with us only and we can feel their presence around us. The opening or a door or smell of tobacco or some particular noise in the room may evoke the idea and feeling that the person is still present, no matter if these feeling are only for a moment but they make a psychological impression on person's mind and may lead to alteration of ideas. Moreover too, loved ones often live in dreams so it makes it even difficult to feel that they are not anymore in our lives. If the idea of ghosts is generated by these familiar associations, we might expect that ghosts in most societies would be close relatives and friends and not strangers.

Talking about the ancestral spirits, the spirits of the dead do not play an active role in life of the living in all societies. People likely to believe in ancestral spirits where decent groups are important decision making entities. The decent group is an entity that exists over time, back into the past as well as forwarded in the coming future, despite the deaths of individual members. The dead feel concern for the fortunes, the prestige, and the continuity of their decent groups. People believe that those who die lives near their homes and they feed them and respect them. Some believe that the dead are close to gods and they can act as a medium for interacting with gods and other supernatural powers such as spirits.This belief are prevalent because they have thought to have entered a supernatural world and possess access to supernatural powers.

All beliefs of supernatural and religion are created by humans and they will continue believing in these powers and forces because of different factors including social and psychological. By this information am closing this post and I hope if I have made some understandable points about idea of supernatural belief. Moreover, I will discuss about the character and hierarchy of supernatural beings and how they intervene in human affairs and what possibly happen to people after they die in my subsequent post till then enjoy reading this post and stay tuned for another interesting post........................................................Tarun Joshi

                                                                                           

The concept of religion...!!

As far as "religion" is concerned all present societies are afflicted by the idea of religion. Societies have possessed beliefs that can be grouped under the term religion. The beliefs which are in focus may vary from society to society and culture to culture in a given time, but despite of these varieties we shall define religion as any set of attitudes, practices and beliefs pertaining to supernatural power. Whether that power be forces , gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons.

In many modern societies phenomena is often divided into natural and supernatural, but not all societies make such a tidy and neat distinction. The term supernatural is often related to powers that are non-human and does not follow the laws of nature. May be a belief which is considered supernatural in one society has nothing to do with supernatural powers in other and is often taken as a regular natural phenomenon. Actually the line between natural and supernatural varies in a society according to what people believe about the cause of things and events in the world they observe. May be a cause for an illness is just natural in a modern society with more complexity and with medical specialists but people of a primitive less complex society may create a mentality that the illness is due to some supernatural cause. Anything for which knowledge of people is limited they often regard it as supernatural.

It is true that religious beliefs and practices are seen in all known societies, but archaeologists think they have founded signs of religious beliefs associated with Homo sapiens who lived about 60,000 years ago. People of that time buried their dead, and many graves contain remains of food, tools, ornaments, and other objects. They were having a belief in "afterlife" and they think these objects are needed in the journey of afterlife. Prehistoric individuals often reflect a strong belief in some sought of religion and there cave paintings their artistic work can be somewhat related to the concept of religion. The idea that there are some specific gods of those people is still quite ambiguous. Now if we talk about historic times universality is observed in the concept of religion. This fact is enough to understand why the concept of religion is under wide research, theorizing and speculation.

After the worldwide and universal belief in religion we are here with a question that why religion is so important and how it varies in different cultures and societies? The appropriate and most believed answer is that people think that religion is created by humans in response to some universal needs and conditions. The explained reasons may be intellectual understanding which makes the whole society consistently together on some important views in which overall understanding and support is much needed. Natural and supernatural beliefs run parallel to each other but they are often related with one another. It has been seen in almost all societies that they tend to "anthropomorphism" of supernatural powers. That means they make the human like image of their gods, spirits and demons and at the same time make them different from humans. It generally facilitates d understanding of people about supernatural. If a society is having a common belief in some kind of supernatural then they would eventually stay together with the objects associated to supernatural activity.

One more possible explanation is that human have a tendency to revert to childhood memories and feelings when they are in stress and possibly a reason behind this concept is that from the childhood days when we are dependent on our parents we often see them as the world and as if they are most powerful and supreme. Whenever we are in some sought of trouble or we may invoked by a feeling of insecurity we rely on our parents for our care n we assume that they will ultimately solve our problems. So when we grow up and when we notice our parents are not that much powerful as they have thought to be in the childhood days and when a social belief make us feel that god who is supernatural and most powerful, we revert to our childhood feeling which were about our parents and when we are in trouble which we can't handle we rely on god to help us in stress situation. This created a belief that the god is almighty and our father and we all are his children and he will take care of us all. The belief set a parent-child relationship with the supernatural which make us feel more emotional about supernatural and we gain a more prominent belief in supernatural.

Anxiety and uncertainty is also thought to be a major explanation for the need of religion. In general it is believed that humans would turn towards religion at times of uncertainty. People in all known societies face anxieties and uncertainties. As they may have both knowledge and skill to take care of much of their needs, but knowledge is not sufficient to prevent illness, accidents and natural disasters. And the most frightening prospect of life is ultimate death as there is intense desire to be immortal. Religion is derived from the universal need to find comfort in inevitable times of stress. Through the religious belief, people make a conviction that death is neither real nor final truth of life and most people are endowed with a belief that personality persist even after death. In some religious practices people are thought to communicate with the people died. Some thought that religion can provide an answer to every unanswered question in a society and can satisfy anxiety but some believe it to be therapeutic. Religion provides a feeling of social union and is larger than oneself. It help people to resolve their internal conflicts and become more matured. It is also believed that religion provides a framework or values.

Last but not the least explanation for the need of religion is the need for the community. It is believed that religion in a society may serve social rather than psychological needs. Living in a society make humans feel pushed and pulled by other powerful forces which resist them to do what is considered wrong and pulled to do what is considered right. These forces may be of law, custom or public opinion. As these forces are invisible and unexplained people begun to think them as mysterious and eventually due to these mysterious forces come to believe in gods and spirits. Religion arises out of experience of living in social groups. Religious belief and practice affirm a person's place in society and enhance feeling of community. It is also believed that society is the object of worship in religion.

However there is no general agreement among scholars as to why there is a need for a religion and how gods, spirits and other supernatural forces and beliefs come into existence. Yet there is general variation is found in the details of religious belief and practices. Societies have different beliefs and kinds of supernatural beings or forces. They also differ in the structure of their hierarchy. There is also a wide range of beliefs over what happen to people after they die. Variations are also found in the ways these supernatural forces interact with humans.

Subsequently i will discuss about the types of supernatural beings and forces and about the type of their hierarchy in my second blog till then enjoy reading this stuff. I hope i made myself quite clear in explaining different aspect of religion in human life.............Tarun Joshi

Realm of anthropology.....