Contemporary+Aboriginal+Spiritualities+-+FAQs

Refer to kinship, ceremonial life and obligations to the land and people. ** Aboriginal spirituality centres on, or is based on, the Dreaming. The Dreaming, according to //Living Religion – Third Edition// by Morissey, J., et al, “is the centre of Aboriginal religion and life; it is the closest translation of the Aboriginal concept of how the world works. Dreaming is the past, present and the future.” Expressions of Aboriginal spirituality include kinship, ceremonial life and obligations to the land and people, which are all physical senses of the Dreaming. They are the basic aspects of Aboriginal life and religion, therefore the Dreaming. All of these expressions are extremely important to Aborigines. It is their entire life. For example; Kinship determines their places in their community/tribe, therefore their life. Kinship lasts for life. Kinship is extremely important regarding Aboriginal spirituality, therefore the Dreaming. Everybody in a kinship has their own role and duty. The older members in a certain kinship guide the younger ones through life and teach them values and morals. Kinship is what Aboriginal life is based on. It influences everything Aborigines do, for example; which relatives they speak to and who they marry. The obligations established in kinship are Aboriginal law, which relates how one lives their life. Ceremonies are also essential to Aboriginal life, they mark the important events in a person’s life, and they also serve as an excuse to simply bring everybody together. Aspects of Aboriginal spirituality, particularly ceremonial life, unite everybody, something that the Dreaming heavily promotes and it enables Aborigines to always be in touch of their spirituality, because it is their life, their Dreaming. These ceremonies would include initiation as well as the death and burial ceremonies. These ceremonies demonstrate how life doesn’t end for Aborigines when they physically die. Their life still goes on during their death and burial ceremony. This point is very important in regards to the Dreaming. Another point that is important regarding the Dreaming is that Aborigines are connected to their land in an extremely intense way. They feel it is their responsibility to care for it and nurture it for their life. The land also provides them with food and water, one could even go as far as to say that it provides them with life; physically and mentally. They also believe that their land is their identity since it has been passed down through their family for generations. It is their family. It is who they are. This demonstrates how the Dreaming possesses links with the past and is “infinite” (indigenousaustralia.info). This is why Aborigines are so connected to their land and think it can’t be bought or sold. And this is why the Land Rights Movement was so important and controversial. In conclusion, Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming as very important. This is because Aboriginal spirituality is based on the Dreaming. If the Dreaming didn’t exist, Aboriginal spirituality would not be what it is today.
 * 1. Explain how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming.

Since the Europeans arrived in Australia, Indigenous Australians have experienced such an issue as dispossession. Dispossession has affected Aboriginal spiritualities in a tragic way. Dispossession involved the taking of land, their children, their identity and rights from Indigenous Australians. The Europeans have been taking Aboriginal land since 1788. This is a problem because the Aborigines have spiritual connections and obligations to the land that they must fulfill, if they do not; they would feel incomplete and that they have betrayed their land. That had been removed from their “country”, their life. Without the land, Aborigines would not know who they were, due to their beliefs that their land held their identity. This is why the Land Rights Movements went into action. Eddie Mabo set a precedent that changed Aboriginal history forever; he initiated the Mabo Decision, trying to gain his rights to his land because of a spiritual connection among other things, he won. This inspired the Wik people to try their luck with a similar situation. Finally, the Aborigines had control. They took a stance and fought for their rights, that is why the Land Rights Movement was so important. The Anglo Saxons also removed Indigenous children from their parents, as known as the “Stolen Generation”. This caused the children to not even know their parents. They never got the chance to be taught the myths of their ancestors/tribes by the Elders and never had initiation ceremonies, therefore not being in touch with their culture, which is what the Dreaming is all about. Because the children were taken away from the Indigenous Australians, relationships, the concept of kinship is utterly destroyed. The children were not able to learn anything about their culture, including languages, traditions such as dances and celebrations. It was basically a genocide attempt. In conclusion, dispossession has taken away kinship, identity, rights and land from the Aborigines, therefore ruined their lives. That is why the Land Rights Movement was so special; it gave Aborigines a ray of hope, some reason to live.
 * 2. Examine the issues for Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to the effect of dispossession and the Land Rights Movement. **[[image:http://www.alc.org.au/media/28332/Land-Rights.jpg]]