Post by pim on Jan 9, 2016 9:38:49 GMT 10
The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Famous atheists like Noam Chomsky understand that. Christopher Hitchens understood it. Phillip Adams understands it. The "atheists" on the Religion Board show their shallowness and cluelessness time after time.
The following piece from the SBS (NITV) website shows how the feeling of connectedness to the land, "to country", by Australia's first peoples is bound up in their deep spirituality. There's a richness there which is at odds with KTJs continual grandstanding about Aborigines and crass "fart in a crowded lift" boofhead disrespect for all forms of spirituality ...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a special connection to the natural environment. The land is a part of them and is at the core of their spirituality. Their ancestor's spirits created the land and everything in it, which makes every part of it sacred. Every part of the world is interconnected – people, plants, animals, land mass and the celestial. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people inherit totems, a natural object or living thing that is a spiritual descendent, according to which tribe they are from. Indigenous Australia was made up of more than 250 tribes, says the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The Australian Government itself acknowledges that "land is fundamental to the wellbeing of Aboriginal people".
The connection that Aboriginal people feel to our country is one of the hardest concepts to explain to the layman. Trying to frame this concept is modern language is like trying to grasp a two dimensional cup out of a piece of paper, it’s the layers that make the cup palpable not the drawing of it.
Connection to country is inherent, we are born to it, it is how we identify ourselves, it is our family, our laws, our responsibility, our inheritance and our legacy. To not know your country causes a painful disconnection, the impact of which is well documented in studies relating to health, wellbeing and life outcomes. Modern constructs of identification do not work for us, in fact they dismantle the fabric that holds us together.
For example it matters not that my licence says I live in Sydney, it matters that I am guest in this place, I respect it because I am from the Arrente and Luritja lands, and it is this knowledge that enables me to identify who I am, who my family is, who my ancestors were and what my stories are. We are indistinguishable from our country which is why we fight so hard to hang on.
The following piece from the SBS (NITV) website shows how the feeling of connectedness to the land, "to country", by Australia's first peoples is bound up in their deep spirituality. There's a richness there which is at odds with KTJs continual grandstanding about Aborigines and crass "fart in a crowded lift" boofhead disrespect for all forms of spirituality ...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a special connection to the natural environment. The land is a part of them and is at the core of their spirituality. Their ancestor's spirits created the land and everything in it, which makes every part of it sacred. Every part of the world is interconnected – people, plants, animals, land mass and the celestial. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people inherit totems, a natural object or living thing that is a spiritual descendent, according to which tribe they are from. Indigenous Australia was made up of more than 250 tribes, says the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The Australian Government itself acknowledges that "land is fundamental to the wellbeing of Aboriginal people".
The connection that Aboriginal people feel to our country is one of the hardest concepts to explain to the layman. Trying to frame this concept is modern language is like trying to grasp a two dimensional cup out of a piece of paper, it’s the layers that make the cup palpable not the drawing of it.
Connection to country is inherent, we are born to it, it is how we identify ourselves, it is our family, our laws, our responsibility, our inheritance and our legacy. To not know your country causes a painful disconnection, the impact of which is well documented in studies relating to health, wellbeing and life outcomes. Modern constructs of identification do not work for us, in fact they dismantle the fabric that holds us together.
For example it matters not that my licence says I live in Sydney, it matters that I am guest in this place, I respect it because I am from the Arrente and Luritja lands, and it is this knowledge that enables me to identify who I am, who my family is, who my ancestors were and what my stories are. We are indistinguishable from our country which is why we fight so hard to hang on.