Animism

Animism n : a belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and all living things, a belief that everything possesses a spiritual essence or soul. The word is derived from the Latin "anima", meaning soul.

Preanimism is thought to be the first feeling of fear, of awe, of wonder instigated by supernatural events. Also, it embodies the earliest beliefs that all objects are alive with life, energy, or spirits. A.G.H. Sourcs: 2, 227.

Animism Animists belief that every natural object, both living and nonliving has a spirit or life force, and are endowed with reason and volition identical with that of man.

This animism of nature takes the most diverse directions. This tree is a living being. The birch tree in general--the species is a living being. A birch tree forest is a living being also.

Animism: The belief that everything is alive. The Law of Personification taken as a statement of universal reality rather than as one of psychic convenience. Anthropomancy: Divination from human entrails.

I think it is noteworthy that modern physics seem to have elements of animism. Some physicists today are like animists in that they believe everything which exists is alive.

Tylor in his chapter on 'Animism,' and by Mr. Herbert Spencer in Principles of Psychology. The points of difference between these authors need not detain us here.

The savage religions - animism and the rest-are degenerations, the results of decadence, distorted and dwarfed descendants of true religious beliefs.

Representative Paradigms ( ):Shamanism, Animism, Pantheism, (original) Stoicism, , -ism, Creation Spirituality (Matthew Fox), Deep Ecology Representative Paradigms ( ) thinking in general, , , , Shintoism, , Links - Pantheism ...

See also: Spirit, Ritual, Anima, Spiritual, World