Greatshield17
Claritas Prayer Group#9435
I’ve been thinking about Animism recently, it started with a discussion I was having on a Catholic forum site, where I was asking about other cultures that discovered the Natural Law and what the Greeks called Logos, among other things. One person on there gave me this quote from Pope St. John Paul II which may eyebrows on here, as it did amongst Catholics for a rather different reason:
“At this point, it seems opportune to recall all the primitive religions, the Animist type of religion, which puts first emphasis on the worship of their ancestors. It seems that those who practice it are particularly close to Christianity. Among them the missionaries of the Church more easily find a common language.
Is there, perhaps, in this veneration of the ancestors a kind of preparation for the Christian belief in the communion of saints, wherein all believers - whether living or dead - form a single community, a single body? Faith in the communion of the saints is, ultimately, faith in Christ, the only source of life and holiness for all.
There is nothing strange, then, in the fact that the African and Asian animists would become confessors of Christ more easily than followers of the great religions of the Far East.”
-Pope St. John Paul II
Regardless of what one thinks about this, I recall people talking a lot on here about Animism and Shamanism, and have wondered how much Aspies and people with Autism are prone to this kind of thought. I mentioned before that, from a Catholic philosophical view, Aspergers and Autism seem to be states in which there is some distance, so to speak, between the body, and the intellect & will; yet at the same time, the intellect and will are very sensitive to the body and its emotions. Now here’s the thing, the Catholic definition of a spirit, is an entity that consist of an intellect and will, but no body, and thus, there is some credence to Aspies and people with Autism being more “spirit-minded” and the like. Indeed I myself have noticed that I seem to be much more prayerful than my NT brothers and sisters in the Faith; in fact there are often times where, I’m watching Catholic shows or listening to a Catholic podcast where current events or the like are being discussed, and I find myself thinking, “hey, why aren’t we praying for this person?” or “why aren’t we praying for these people?” but I’m digressing here. (I’m actually think of posting a separate thread on here asking the religious people on here about prayer and what their thoughts are and how much faith they have in it)
So I’m just posting this thread on here to ask what people’s thoughts are on this; I also want to ask a side-question about Platonism and the Platonic forms, we Aspies and Autistic folk tend to be prone idealism so it makes me wonder we’re prone to Platonic thoughts as we are to Animistic thoughts, and see things that way.
“At this point, it seems opportune to recall all the primitive religions, the Animist type of religion, which puts first emphasis on the worship of their ancestors. It seems that those who practice it are particularly close to Christianity. Among them the missionaries of the Church more easily find a common language.
Is there, perhaps, in this veneration of the ancestors a kind of preparation for the Christian belief in the communion of saints, wherein all believers - whether living or dead - form a single community, a single body? Faith in the communion of the saints is, ultimately, faith in Christ, the only source of life and holiness for all.
There is nothing strange, then, in the fact that the African and Asian animists would become confessors of Christ more easily than followers of the great religions of the Far East.”
-Pope St. John Paul II
Regardless of what one thinks about this, I recall people talking a lot on here about Animism and Shamanism, and have wondered how much Aspies and people with Autism are prone to this kind of thought. I mentioned before that, from a Catholic philosophical view, Aspergers and Autism seem to be states in which there is some distance, so to speak, between the body, and the intellect & will; yet at the same time, the intellect and will are very sensitive to the body and its emotions. Now here’s the thing, the Catholic definition of a spirit, is an entity that consist of an intellect and will, but no body, and thus, there is some credence to Aspies and people with Autism being more “spirit-minded” and the like. Indeed I myself have noticed that I seem to be much more prayerful than my NT brothers and sisters in the Faith; in fact there are often times where, I’m watching Catholic shows or listening to a Catholic podcast where current events or the like are being discussed, and I find myself thinking, “hey, why aren’t we praying for this person?” or “why aren’t we praying for these people?” but I’m digressing here. (I’m actually think of posting a separate thread on here asking the religious people on here about prayer and what their thoughts are and how much faith they have in it)
So I’m just posting this thread on here to ask what people’s thoughts are on this; I also want to ask a side-question about Platonism and the Platonic forms, we Aspies and Autistic folk tend to be prone idealism so it makes me wonder we’re prone to Platonic thoughts as we are to Animistic thoughts, and see things that way.
