Aboriginal Spirituality

Question 1

What is the significance of the Dreaming

Answer 1

Significant to the lives of aboriginals because it provides the knowledge of all aspects of life and creation, and is the embodiment of a spiritual truth that all unanimously believe.

Question 2

How are Aboriginals inextricably connected to land

Answer 2

Dynamic → characterised by ambition, new ideas and practical achievements. The powerful source that constantly refreshes itself and avoids stagnation.
Living → immersion in the personal experience, the land remains at the centre of spirituality

Question 3

When does the Dreamtime take place?

Answer 3

The Dreamtime does not refer to any particular time, but events that shaped the world as we know it and can visibly see it
It is all time, here there and everywhere.

Question 4

What is the Illawarra and the Five Islands story?

Answer 4

• Aims to explain the existence and behaviour of Australian wildlife.
• Many Dreamtime stories explain the existence of strange animals by explaining their origins as previous humans who have been distorted into animals for their immoral actions.
• It explains the strange physiology of animals and the behaviour of whales, who return to the shore seasonally to keep an eye on ‘Koala’ and ‘Starfish.’
• It teaches that diplomacy is preferable to theft and deceit. Upsetting the wrong person, one with great strength in this instance, can lead to one’s detriment.
  Those who chose to swindle end up in a weak state in fear of those stronger.
• Those with strength unfortunately exercise their strength over those weaker and if you have the intellect to deceit, then use it wisely.

Question 5

What is a sacred site?

Answer 5

Are the physical medium in which spirituality is expressed.
It is the resting place for ancestral beings and is the sacred site for the rituals in which they derive their identity and relationships from.
Sites are where significant events from the dreaming occurred or where ancestor spirits reside.

Question 6

What responsibilities do Abos have?

Answer 6

Aboriginals possess a responsibility to care for, respect and protect sites or totems.
Totems are the ancestral spirit or animal one can link their existence to, thus a due respect is owed
All elements within the world exist at once and are expressed through

Question 7

What are some examples of sacred sites

Answer 7

Ulluru, Darling River, Karlu Karlu (devil’s marbles)

Question 8

Ancestors

Answer 8

-Custodians shaped the natural world through their journeys

-The nomadic nature of the Aboriginals would lead to them treating the land as a means of travel, survival and community

-The stories of the Dreaming involve multiple layers which can only be interpreted by elders of Aboriginal communities who have travelled and learnt much more than the younger generations.

-Due to the massive diversity present in the Aboriginal people prior to colonisation, the interpretations of the Dreamtime and ways the Dreaming was expressed vary greatly

Question 9

Community

Answer 9

-Sophisticated network of relationships that cultivate inextricable connection with the land.

-Forms a sense of identity, one based on mutual interest and respect, for many Aboriginals

-Oral tradition → needed to spread laws, rules, customs, obligations and how the Dreaming is expressed

-The dreaming is expressed through dancing, ceremonies, hunting parties, raising children, totemism, etc

-Totems unify tribes under the same ancestral being which fosters a metaphysical connection with the Dreaming (everything is connected

Question 10

Corroboree

Answer 10

Used to pass social information, personal connections and spiritual connections.

Question 11

Totemism

Answer 11

-An emblem of a group of people

-When humans have a mystical connection with a spirit being (plant or animal)

-Links humans to spiritual ancestors from the Dreaming.