Recently I was doing a bit of reading about Australian indigenous identity, and one of the things I found very interesting is this culture's view of spirituality. In fact, the interesting thing is that a lot of indigenous cultures from vastly different places seem to have a similar belief system: sharing a deep spiritual connection to the land.Now, I live in Australia, a westernized and largely Christian (if not by majority agnostic or atheist) country. To say that a culture has a deep connection to the land conjures up images of politics, of land ownership laws, and of a broad concept we’ll called ‘justice’. No, no, what I’m trying to discuss here is not those socio-political issues, but rather one of spirituality and culture. I admit that this new understanding is only new to me as a result of my natural curiosity and some research I had to do as part of coursework for a developmental psychology class. I would, however, like to share what I have come to comprehend from this – which may in fact be completely off track - but is probably closer to the true track to understanding these concepts.
I, like a lot of Judaeo-Christian adherents, couldn't understand before much about how a connection to the land equalled a spiritual connection. And in the Andes region, for the Incas for example, connection to the mountains meant a spiritual connection. The conclusion I’ve reached as to the reason it's hard for the traditional Jewish/Christian person to understand a connection to a land and equate it to a connection to God is because our tradition teaches us that God is in heaven, or “out there”.
So a common belief in Western culture is that God, who is creator of man and earth and everything, is in heaven, above us, in the sky somewhere. When we worship we direct our spiritual attention to this ether out there where God is. Now, the aboriginal man, for example, believes that all life comes from the earth, the soil and the ground on which we're all dependent on. And science will tell you that this is true: life on this planet requires air, water, sunlight, and nutrient and sustenance from the ground. Eukaryotic life, of which mammals and other animals like us are, depend on plants for nutrients. Plants emanate from the earth. Therefore it’s not a huge leap to assume that what keeps us alive is in the earth, or IS the earth. This is not a new observation, thousands of years ago, before pastoral times, and before mass colonization, the indigenous peoples of the land saw this basic relationship. He would see the plants and trees grow out of the soil, which fed the animals, which fed us, which kept us alive.
Keeping this in mind, consider now the human concept of god or creation. Until very recently, most traditional cultures had a basic belief that life, the universe, human beings and every other thing above, on, and below the earth, including the substance that is earth, was created by one if not many other external being/s or forces. For brevity, let’s call these beings or forces God. Extrapolate the line of thinking previously established, that if all life essentially originates from the earth, and God is creator of everything, then earth must be this being we decided to call God. It is now also easier to understand why so many native cultures speak of a 'Mother Earth' or Pachamama.
Now, the most common Judeo/Christian/Islamic traditions are monotheist and believe in a god that created the universe and everything in it, and who we in turn worship or have a spiritual connection or relationship with. To worship a creator is mostly a sign of gratitude and sustaining interconnectedness between ourselves and others (including wildlife, the earth, space, etc. as our specific faith dictates). To worship god or gods, a creator or co-creators, is a very ancient concept common to most cultures. Now consider the aboriginal man to whom God is or is in the earth. For an aboriginal man to worship God is to worship the land, to cherish and honour it, to direct his prayers and rituals to it. Christians, Jews, Islamists, etc. do the same: we pay respect to the place we think God inhabits, the heavens. We direct our prayers to this place. As an example of just this concept we have the very old traditional Christian cathedrals with high arched ceilings, ceilings decorated with images of heavenly creatures and the sun, the skies, etc. Going to the temples and cathedrals to offer our prayers and sacrifices we'd contemplate the heavens, conjure them up in mind and spirit to give our worship to God. The indigenous man does the same thing, except he believes God is in the earth. So making physical/skin contact with the soil is very important. The earth is what connects one man to God, and that which connects him to other men and all other creatures in this planet.
When Judaeo-Christians meet in their churches and synagogues and temples, etc, they also seek not only to connect and share with their god but also those whom they consider their spiritual brothers and sisters, co-worshippers in a common belief, people and creatures with whom they believe they share a common origin. It is the same also with the indigenous man, worshipping with those who are related to him via God, Mother Nature, earth. To worship together means often to worship in a specific place on earth, not just with specific people or within a specific but man-made structure such as a temple.
The indigenous man also shares a deep connection with other creatures, animals that also walk or otherwise inhabit the earth, not only with his fellow humans. That's why when the indigenous man speaks of the wolf or the kangaroo he calls him his brother, sharing a common origin and connection with the land. That's why killing animals for nutrition, especially to the aboriginal man who is not of a pastoral nature but hunts only what he will consume and absolutely needs that day, is a sacrifice and a spiritually-filled occasion, as it would be if a person of a Western culture would eat his siblings or friends. In times of crises, humans from non-traditionally cannibalistic cultures have had to do exactly this for survival, and they will tell you of their suffering in making these decisions and going through with them. You could say the indigenous man does this a little less freely, consuming his brother animals because he has acknowledged the sacrifice and has certain rituals by which these activities take place and they are often so ingrained that they are incorporated into the cultural practice itself rather than as a distinct spiritual ceremony.
Western culture’s spiritual worship rituals and our belief as to the location of God, in heaven or some other intangible place, is exactly what (I believe) makes it difficult for so many of us to understand the spiritual connection many indigenous peoples, not just native Australians, have with the land. But understanding this also helps to understand why place and movement, physical relocation, to aboriginal peoples is so important. Imagine it being like kicking someone out of a temple or cathedral, out to the cold and unknown, and asking them to continue about their lives, including their worship, without the places and things they believe to be sacred and secure.
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