In today's world, the achievements of scientific and technological progress are surprisingly combined with various creeds, which make up several independent directions. In addition to the four main world religions - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism - there are countless followers of other creeds among the world's population. In this article we will try to find out which early forms of religion served as the basis for the formation of modern spiritual culture.
Religion as a special form of world awareness
Before starting a conversation about the name of the early form of religion, let us dwell on the meaning of this term, one way or another related to the life of all the peoples of the world. The word “religion” comes from the Latin verb religare, which in translation means “connect”, “connect”. In this case, it implies the establishment of a person’s connection with some higher forces that guide his life.
Modern historians with full confidence argue that throughout the history of mankind there have been no people who did not know religion. It has always been a special form of awareness of the world, which was based on belief in supernatural powers. In this case, the followers of each religion established for themselves a certain type of behavior, cult actions and moral standards. Their organized worship of higher powers led to the creation of religious communities and churches.
The origin of religious beliefs
A lot of opinions were expressed about the origin of the early forms of religion and the ways of their further development in the scientific world, and the authors of the hypotheses put forward sometimes took diametrically opposite positions. For example, a number of researchers, including the prominent 19th-century American philosopher W. James, were of the opinion that religious views are an innate phenomenon and are based on the action of supernatural forces.
At the same time, his colleague from Germany L. Feuerbach, even half a century before, argued that the world of the gods was created by people themselves and is a reflection of their real life. The Austrian psychoanalyst Z. Freud saw in religion a mass neurosis generated by some unconscious drives. And finally, proponents of Marxist philosophy stated that the foundation of any faith is the inability to find a rational explanation for natural phenomena and an attempt to discern in them the action of supernatural forces.
Totemism is an early form of religion
Researchers do not have a single opinion on how mystical ideas arose among people. However, according to data obtained during archaeological excavations, the earliest forms of religion and the emergence of concepts associated with supernatural forces are usually attributed to the 10th millennium BC. e. The beliefs of people of that old era with a certain degree of conventionality can be divided into several forms, one of which (apparently initial) is totemism.
The term denoting this religious direction, in the language of the Algonquins - representatives of one of the Indian tribes - means "his kind", that is, indicates a certain relationship, in this case with various forms of animals and plants, as well as some mythical creatures that are objects of worship and called the "totem."
The variety of forms of totemism
Totemism, which originated many millennia ago, has partially survived to this day among representatives of individual tribes of Central Africa, Australia and South America. His followers endow with supernatural powers not only specific material objects, but even natural phenomena, such as wind, rain, sun, water, thunder, etc.
However, most often the objects of worship are representatives of the animal or plant world, as well as their individual parts, for example, the stomach of a pig, the head of a turtle or the roots of maize. In numerous communities, worship of a wide variety of objects can often be observed. For example, the North American Ojibwa tribe includes 23 independent clans, and each of them has its own totem. If some people make sacrifices to a bear, then others bow before the hole of a jerboa or dance with a tambourine at the first rays of the morning dawn.
Animation of the world
Another early form of religion is very similar to totemism - animism, which is, in fact, one of its varieties. The name of this trend comes from the Latin word animus, which means “spirit” or “soul”. The followers of animism, whose history also dates back to 10 millennium BC. e., endowed with a living soul all the objects surrounding them and even natural phenomena. The term "animism" was coined by the English culturologist Edward Taflar, who at the beginning of the 20th century proclaimed faith in spirits separated from the body, the beginning of the emergence of religion in the modern meaning of the word.
It is known that for the majority of ancient religions (including animism) the so-called anthropomorphism is characteristic - the tendency to attribute human features and properties to objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. In accordance with this, they were all personified (represented as actors) and endowed with their own will, as well as the ability to realize it. An important feature of animism was that the spirits were not opposed to the objects and phenomena in which they were enclosed, but were one with them. It was believed that the soul of the subject dies along with the destruction of its container.
Where is the human soul lurking?
This early form of religion laid the foundation for the idea of the human soul, which then went a long way of development and became the basis of most modern creeds. However, for our distant ancestors it was not yet immortal and embodied in the natural processes of the body, such as, for example, breathing.
The various organs of the body were considered the seat of the human soul, but most often it was the head and heart. Only much later did the concept of a certain immortal substance capable of either moving to a new owner (reincarnation) or going to the underworld come to replace the body soul that was dying with its master?
Worship of inanimate objects
Continuing the conversation about the emergence of mystical ideas among people, one cannot but recall another early form of religion - fetishism. By this term, which came to us from the French language, it is customary to understand the worship of inanimate objects - "fetishes" endowed with supernatural properties. It has partially survived to the present day, realized in the form of veneration of the relics of saints, icons and various relics.
This early form of religion associated with the worship of objects has much in common with the totemism and animism discussed above, since in all three cases the fate of people is dependent on the will of certain forces contained in a wide variety of objects. The concept of fetishism was introduced into European science in the middle of the 18th century by the Dutch researcher W. Bosman, although the first mention of representatives of this religious direction appeared three centuries earlier and belongs to Portuguese sailors who visited the shores of West Africa.
The appearance of amulets
It is known that at the beginning any object that somehow struck the imagination of a person could become a fetish: a piece of wood, a bizarre-shaped stone or a sea shell. The same role was sometimes assigned to certain parts of animal bodies, such as fangs, claws, ribs, etc. Only a little later, man-made objects of worship made of stone, bone, wood, and other machinable materials joined these natural “shrines”. So there were all kinds of amulets and charms.
The level of miraculous power contained in a particular fetish was determined in a practical way. For example, if luck was on the hunter some day, magical properties were attributed to the wolf teeth hanging on his neck. If, after some time, he returned home empty-handed, this meant that his amulet had lost power and should have acquired a new one.
Ancestral souls held in idols
An important impetus for the further development of the early form of religion - fetishism - was the spread in the primitive society of the cult of ancestors. At this stage in the history of mankind, the religious life of many peoples of the world included rituals, which included the worship of deceased relatives. Various idols were widely spread - primitive human figures from clay, stone or wood, in each of which, according to primitive people, the soul of one of the members of their clan was enclosed.
It is generally accepted that the early forms of religion - totemism, animism and fetishism - are the foundation on which all modern creeds and the world spiritual culture as a whole were subsequently built. According to most researchers, it was the fetishization of nature that at a certain stage gave impetus to philosophical thought and led to the development of art.
Mediator between gods and people
In addition to the early forms of religion, briefly described above, one more direction should be mentioned, which was the result of their further development and preserved to this day, having undergone only minor changes. This is shamanism, which, according to scientists , arose at the turn of the 6th and 5th millennia BC. e., during the development of the primitive communal system.
The basic concept of shamanism is that between people and otherworldly forces that guide the fate of the world, there must be intermediaries capable of channeling supernatural energy in the desired direction. It is curious that the candidates for the role of these mediators-shamans were elected not by people, but by the spirits themselves, who, naturally, could see who of the tribe deserved such high honor.
It was believed that the chosen one - the next shaman who took the place of his dead or overly decrepit predecessor - became as if “re-created” and was endowed with miraculous power that helped him further communicate directly with the inhabitants of another world and persuade them to help his fellow tribesmen. To this end, he regularly performed certain ritual actions. He had a very complicated relationship with the spirits themselves, since he could not force them to perform the desired actions, and only sought their mercies.
Interesting facts about shamanism
Shamanism is the earliest preserved form of religion to this day. His followers can be found in all parts of the world, although in each individual region it has its own characteristics. For example, the shamans of South America (machi) specialize mainly in the treatment of various serious illnesses and annually heal the afflicted during public rituals.
Bolivian shamans, called “Baras,” have been very successful in predicting the future and make amazing predictions, even regarding the outcome of football matches and the presidential election.
In South Korea, shamanism is the exclusive domain of women. It is believed that only they are able to find an approach to perfumes and get what they want. However, the right to this activity is inherited and is the inheritance of only a limited number of Korean women.