\[ **BP: [[religion#other systems of belief]]** ] --- # animism [[In 1871, Edward Tylor defined ‘animism’ as humanity’s ‘earliest religious condition’.]][^1] [[Originally, the concept of animism was negative. Edward Tylor, for example, saw it as a ‘self-evidently false belief system’.]][^2] [[In the 2010s, there was a resurgence of interest in animism as a concept.]][^3] [[Animism is the belief that everything has a soul (or spirit, consciousness, etc), from the tiniest micro-organism to the cosmos itself.]][^4] [[It was not uncommon for belief systems to combine polytheism and animism into one cohesive cosmology.]][^5] [[The 'high cult' (polytheism), 'low cult' (animism) division applied by anthropologists was, generally, more inaccurate than not.]][^6] [[It is common for animistic belief systems to involve rebirth and reincarnation (as another human, tree, star, animal, etc).]][^7] [[In animism, spirits of place (genus loci) can be the actual soul or spirit of the land; they can also be a soul who has come to reside as a guardian or benefactor.]][^8] [[Anything can be an ancestor in an animistic faith with tenants re. reincarnation.]][^9] [[Science tells us that everything in the universe is created from the same space dust, and all matter is recycled and reused. Therefore, from a spiritual view, everything is to be honoured as an ancestor.]][^10] - see also: [[#ancestor worship]] --- ## ↬ external resources - [Everything You Need to Know about Animism](https://lawless665.rssing.com/chan-56195748/article12.html) - [Nihilist Animism](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/aragorn-nihilist-animism) [^1]: Darryl Wilkinson, ‘[[Wilkinson, ‘Is There Such a Thing as Animism’, 2016|Is There Such a Thing as Animism?]]’, preprint, Oxford University Press, on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, 2016, p. 2, [https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfw064](https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfw064). [^2]: Wilkinson, ‘[[Wilkinson, ‘Is There Such a Thing as Animism’, 2016|Is There Such a Thing as Animism?]]’, pp. 4–5. [^3]: Wilkinson, ‘[[Wilkinson, ‘Is There Such a Thing as Animism’, 2016|Is There Such a Thing as Animism?]]’, p. 3. [^4]: Sarah Anne Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’, *Ecological Consciousness*, 23 April 2017, <https://lawless665.rssing.com/chan-56195748/article12.html>. [^5]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’. [^6]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’. [^7]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’. [^8]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’. [^9]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’. [^10]: Lawless, ‘[[Lawless, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Animism’, 2017|Everything You Need to Know About Animism]]’.