Religion M1: Nature of Religion and Beliefs/Aboriginal Spirituality

Worldview

a framework of one's values, beliefs, and assumptions as a way people interact, perceive and interpret the world

Transcedent

Belief that there are beings that exist beyond the universe and are not subject to the laws of nature

Immanent

Belief that gods, goddesses or divine spirits live within nature

Monotheism

belief in one god

Polytheistic

belief in multiple gods

Pantheism

belief that God and the universe are one

Ethics

moral principles that govern one's behaviour

Ritua;s

a series of actions performed during a special ceremony

Beliefs

the acceptance that something exists

Sacred text

holy, authoritative

Variants

version of something that differs from similar existing things

Religion

a worldview that acknowledges the supernatural

Supernatural

a divine power that exceeds the limit of the physical world

Western religious traditions

monotheistic, time is linear, seek to make world perfect as it was destined to be

Examples of Western religions

Judaism, Christianity

Eastern Religious traditions

monotheistic, time is linear, seek to make world perfect as it was destined to be

examples of eastern religions

Hinduism, Buddhism

Dynamic

ever-changing

Contributions of religion to society and culture

maintaining peace and order, establishing laws and ethical systems, education, making sense of the world

The Dreaming

The essence of truth holding the Aboriginal view of creation used to refer to both events embodied in stories told about various parts of the landscape, and actual features of the landscape.

Origins of the universe

most start with ancestors in a state of sleep, before waking up and doing things

Stories

a multilayered link between ancestral spirits and generations

Art

event in rock art, with symbols connected to stories

Sacred sites

where significant events occurred or where the ancestor spirits reside, often associated with rituals or particular treatment, such as hills, rocks, waterholes

Walkabout

A deliberate pilgrimage along ritual paths that link sacred sites