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Hey all,
I'm finally able to stay up later then 10 o'clock huzzah!
So we haven't really been doing much other then sitting in a libarary so this post will be short. The last two days, Leif and I have begun to solidfy our studies. It looks like Leif is going to focus on historical aspects along with sports impact on Australian Aborigines. A lot of Aborigines have taken to sports like Australian football (don't ask me what the differences are, all I really see is less padding, odd looking ball, and more violence) and as a result many major figures from sports are models for Aborigine youngsters. I don't know how much Leif is going to go into detail, but from the amount of Aussie sports we have been watching (I still cannot figure out cricket), I think he is going to be covering a large amount of it. As for me, it looks like I might be covering more of the spiritual and psychological aspects of the Aborigine culture.
The writer of the book I reading expalins a heavily communal aspect in the Aborigine tradition. As cultavators and keepers of the earth, Aborigines are taught to live a life that monitors the health of not just their own personal community, but the overall community of the earth. A kangaroo is not just an animal, but in some cases a kangaroo is a relative, if the particular person claims the kangaroo as an ancestor to his/her clan. And it is not just animals, but sometimes the very materials of the earth are sometimes seen as relatives due to a story connecting them to it. Australian Aborigines have a strong connection not only to the concrete visual world and their interaction to it, but what goes beyond that. This "beyond world" is often time referred to as the Dreaming. One of the writers explains that the Dreaming or Dreamtime should not be thought as like the dreams we have at night, but closer to the New Testament concept of logos. Logos is the greek word used in the first Chapter of John that we translate as "word": "In the beginning was the Word...". This Dreaming or Dreamtime has many stories that refer to it, specifically stories that happened when the Dreaming or Dreamtime was the world. These stories tell of how traditions started, and why things are the way they are. The Dreamtime or Dreaming can now only be reached by a strong spirtiual devotional act much like Western Prayer and Eastern Meditation. The person focus strongly on the Dreaming, and brings themselves into a stasis in which they do seem to be a part of reality. The book claims that this stasis can even prevent someone from being burned by hot coals or feeling pain from outside source.
On a psychological level, the connection to earth brings about a source of comfort in the world. The aborigines themselves belief that the lifestyle they lived while in the bush was one without fear. To them, the earth was the grand provider, and their careful work made sure that the earth never became depleted. The Australian Aborigines lived as hunter/gathers (or as the book pointed out gathers/hunter) for many millienia. When settler came and brought agriculture, this confused the aborigines. In their mind toiling over the soil was pointless when everything was set their by their ancestors and the earth. There exist many connections between the psychological aspects of the aborigines and their spiritual side.
On to other things. Just to give you all an idea of what we have been eating. Last night we had potatoes with baked beans and bacon with cheese on top. Tonight we had honey BBQ chicken. With both meals we have had a fresh salad along with fresh fruit. Leif and I noticed that last few days the utter lack of refined sugar in our diet since we got to Australia. We get a lot of sugar in our diet here, but it all comes from fruits and juices. The juices we drink are pretty pure in their quatity. Furthermore, we have had little candy or sweet items either. We get smoothies from this one shop in town, but they use pure fruit, juice, and sorbet in making the smoothies. Interestingly, we had smoothies from this other shop. The smoothies from this shop definatly had a different taste to it, and we think it might have been the use of refined sugar in it. We believe that because of the lack of refined sugar in our diet, we may have become slightly more sensitive to it in other things. We become more sensitive to it on the level that we find it a bit gross. I was watching T.V. today, I also felt a little grossed out by the chocolate bars they had on commericals. It is a theory, but nevertheless, this alteration in diet has been rather interestings for us.
Okay I lied, this was a bit of a longer post. Hope everyone is well!
Grayvey |
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Posted by grefmoevold on 2008-01-15 09:50:15 | Rating: | Views: 78
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