Religions and Time

Indigenous Traditions

Indigenous peoples have typically lived in a world in which the physical and spiritual realms are closely connected. Their cosmogonie myths, or origin stories, explain their beliefs regarding Creation and validate their own origins as well as their connection to each other, to their homeland, to the creator spirit or spirits, and to the spirits of their ancestors. These and other myths validate traditional practices, social mores, and even political order, and provide members a sense of belonging to a community and a place, a sense of order and consistency, and a set of religious beliefs and behavioral guidelines. This is why land, ethnicity, culture, and religious beliefs all intertwine with indigenous peoples. Time and space are a part of most Creation stories as well, and each has its sacred characteristics. Often associated with origin stories are eschatological beliefs regarding end times, and together they form an integral part of most religious traditions and indigenous cultures. Such stories and beliefs in nearly all traditions derive from the basic longing in humans to have some sense of their origins, identities, and destinies. In speculating on both beginnings and finalities, there also tends to be an understanding of time that mixes linear and cyclical elements. These are not confined to indigenous traditions and can be found in nearly every religious belief system, in one form or another.

The homelands of indigenous peoples are typically marked by sacred space and infused with the presence of spirits. The intimate relationship between individual and land is vital to self-identity. To the extent that this relationship is physical and material, it exists within time, has a beginning and an end, and is temporal. To the extent that it exists as connection with the world of spirits and ancestors, it exists outside physical time, and is secure, more permanent, and sacred. It enhances both stability and a sense of timeless belonging. Traditions help maintain this relationship, for [Page 1099]through them each subsequent generation forms an unbroken connection back to the original ancestors and their primordial beginnings.

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