Aboriginal spirituality involves the land. Aboriginal spiritual beliefs are invariably about the land Aboriginal people live on. It is ‘geosophical’ (earth-centred) and not ‘theosophical’ (God-centred).
“Our spirituality is a oneness and an interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes, even with all that does not live or breathe.” Mudrooroo, an Aboriginal writer. Aboriginal spirituality, Mudrooroo continues, “is a feeling of oneness, of belonging, a connectedness with deep innermost feelings. Everything else is secondary.” (Us Mob, Mudrooroo, 1995, p.33)
Dulcie Donaldson – ,Senior Aboriginal Liaison Officer, for Derbal Yerrigan Health Service, Perth, Western Australia writes:
“Aboriginal spirituality lies in the belief in a cultural landscape. Everything on the vast desert landscape has meaning and purpose. The land is both an external landscape and an ‘in scape’ – an internal relationship with the Creator. Landmarks are both metaphysical and physical. As an example Uluru can be seen as an epic poem, a source of sacred law, a physical landmark and a repository of knowledge.”
“Aboriginal people view life as a web of inter relationships where man and nature are partners. Landscape, animals and people are connected. The past is connected to the present” S.Knight, 1996, Our Land Our Life, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Canberra
A powerful explanation of the spiritual connection of Indigenous people to the land can be found in a publication of the now abolished ATSIC:
“We don’t own the land, the land owns us. The land is my mother, my mother is the land. Land is the starting point to where it all began. It’s like picking up a piece of dirt and saying this is where I started and this is where I’ll go. The land is our food, our culture, our spirit and identity.” S.Knight, 1996.
“Spirituality is about tapping into the still places I go to when I’m on country and I feel like I’m part of all the things around me,” explains Senimelia Kingsburra, from the far north Queensland Yarrabah community (Us Mob, Mudrooroo, 1995, p.33.)
Merv Penrith, Aboriginal Elder from Wallaga Lake, 1996, writes: To understand the Aboriginal spirituality (or religious or sacred beliefs) one must understand the time before Creation and the Dreaming. The Dreaming has different meanings for different Aboriginal people. It is a complex network of knowledge, faith and practices that derive from stories of creation, and it dominates all spiritual and physical aspects of Aboriginal life. The Dreaming sets out the structures of society, the rules for social behaviour and the ceremonies performed in order to maintain the life of the land. It governed the way people lived and how they should behave. Those who did not follow the rules were punished.
The Dreaming or Dreamtime is often used to describe the time when the earth and humans and animals were created. The Dreaming is also used by individuals to refer to their own dreaming or their community’s dreaming. During the Dreaming, ancestral spirits came to earth and created the landforms, the animals and plants. The stories tell how the ancestral spirits moved through the land creating rivers, lakes and mountains. In Aboriginal society, people did not own the land it was part of them and it was part of their duty to respect and look after mother earth.
The Desert Art ultimately is religious art, a document that maintains the records of complex belief system. Aboriginal Art cannot be viewed in isolation from the mythological content. Contemporary Aboriginal Artists by painting are paying their respect to their ancestral Creators and at the same time strengthening their belief systems.
Retreived from http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/spirituality/what-is-aboriginal-spirituality, 5 May 2014
There are some similarities between aspects of Indigenous spirituality and my own spiritual beliefs in relation to the human relationship with the land and the earth. I believe nature and the land is somehow an expression and evidence of the Spirit of God..and that we are called to care for and live in harmony with the earth. In a similar way, I believe life is a web of relationships, and is about living in harmony with the earth, with each other people and with God. But that ultimately God is the source of creation and of love. I believe the universe therefore, is friendly.. So for me the land, the earth often offers healing, inspiration etc. Perhaps I am trying to do something similar, and “pay my respects” to the Creator and creation, or to our relationship to the earth, through art.
Jane McGeough 