--- Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> No, Chris, you're anthropomorphizing the animists'
> supernatural realm.
> I understand why--that's how we do the sacred realm
> in our
> societies--but that's a gross misrepresentation of
> animism. It is not
> that there is some intelligent, supernatural entity
> that "inhabits"
> people and things; the animist notion of "spirit" is
> more like a sacred
> force. It has nothing to do with our idea of
> spirits, gods, elves,
> vampiri, or angels. I'll grant you this: the belief
> in the
> "supernatural" realm is common across time and
> place. However, the
> belief that this supernatural realm is inhabited by
> "nonhuman
> intelligences" is far from universal.
>
> Miles
>
Since the idea of a "supernatural" world is totally bogus (everything that exists that is not an artifact is natural, so if vampires were to exist, they would by definition be natural too), I think this could be better expressed, roughly, as something like "it is a universal cultural trait that a belief exists that part or all of her phenomena are not governed by laws/principles reducible to scientific explanation in the modern sense."
Relatedly, I am reminded of the bit in the Golden Bough where Frasier points out that magic is much closer to science than to religion, as the former both believe that reality can be manipulated by human skill and the latter that such manipulation must go through the medium of a divine being (that you pray to for favors).
Lyubo, bratsy, lyubo, lyubo, bratsy, zhit!
ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ËÞÁÎ, ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ÆÈÒÜ!
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