Mini-paper on Tribal and Acient Religions by Jeff Bourbeau

Jeff Bourbeau
2/14/07
Gustafson
Mini-Paper 1

Ancient and Tribal Man: Safety and Development


Modern society today practices many forms of religious practices. Across the world people perform rituals and prayer ceremonies. Not everyday in modern life though are people witness to the ghost dances, animal sacrifices, and shamanic practices of ancient and tribal man. Today people practice religion in safer manners, mostly in their homes on their own by their own rules and interpretations of the the philosophies their religions have provided.

During periods of ancient and tribal man it was common to find a community practicing things people in today would consider barbaric. Often ancient man worshiping the “Great Mother” would offer animal sacrifices and carve things onto cave walls. Today the term great mother, even the idea of fertility worship is thought of as almost shocking. In American society nudity itself is seen as lewd and censored in almost all forms of media in one way or another, yet during the times of prehistoric and ancient man dolls to a fertility deity displaying large naked breasts, or sometimes a phallic piece of art would be constructed and added to the decor of someone's home. This of course would be unacceptable in most homes today. These pieces of art would be seen as unsightly and possibly disrespectful towards women despite that these pieces are actually worshiping them. It is possible that modern life would benefit from a greater understanding of its own body, fertility, and sexuality. A celebration of these things in the way that tribal and ancient man did could even benefit society in that it would release people from many of their anxieties and social stigmas brought upon by their self-conscious fears. It is hard to imagine ancient man fearing their nudity or having scary dreams of going to school naked. Perhaps then modern society it is safe to say that modern society would benefit from mother worship.

Another way modern worship differs from tribal man is the people it has teach it's religion. In the times of tribal man religion was taught by druids, shamans, and witches. Today most churches have educated people who have attended schools with degrees in philosophy or religion teaching their congregation. Now one cannot say that tribal man's religious leaders were not educated, but we can say there is a vast difference between a college educated man leading a prayer and a man from a mud hit casting spells. Is there any benefit modern man could draw from these ancient practices? Very little could be drawn from them. The ways that old religions were have evolved and come to what they are now for a reason. People put much of their trust and faith in their priests, rabbis, and ect. To live in a society where a man, that is possibly completely uneducated without the references of schools, misleading it's people with superstition is a dangerous place to be. Religions have progressed to this point creating it's leaders in much the same way political leaders are built for this reason. The people underneath them being led need to know their leaders are safe to follow. Ancient religions have no such guarantees.

Ancient religions also caused many health concerns which would of course hurt it's people more than help. Many religions of the past practiced animal sacrificing and strange burial practices. This would lead to dangerous health conditions, that in the densely populated centers people live in today, would cause society to suffer from constant disease. Of course prehistoric and tribal man suffered from the same problems but their own superstitions caused them to continue with their unhealthy practices, that and their lack of scientific knowledge. Today we have science and a contemporary understanding of disease and the human body, because of this then such practices are not only impracticable, they are unreasonable.

Most practices of ancient and tribal man have progressed and evolved to being no longer useful to people today. Though the differences between the types of religions for their times are somewhat vast they all share similar qualities that are unsafe and no longer necessary. This is the case for not only the mental health of modern people but the mental development and safety of it's people. It is obvious then why these practices no longer exist. If something is no longer safe or reasonable it would evolve and change, most likely into the practices we have today.