Animism Ancient Egypt

Prompt 1 From prehistoric man to today, humans have been searching for answers to the unknown within their spirituality. The evolution of religion and spirituality grew from where and who they looked to for good fortune in wealth or harvests, protection, and healing. Throughout history, man is seen to evolve and follow an animistic, polytheistic, and pantheistic worship. During prehistory, a time before “true” civilization and a written language, man turned to animism. Animism is the idea that everything in nature has a spirit that controls the outcome of healings, hunts, harvests, and natural disasters. Prehistoric man connected with the spirit world through shamans, who served as bridges between the human and spiritual world. Shamans would
Polytheism is the idea of worshipping many gods, but it differs from animism as specific gods hold more importance than others. Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, the god of death are pinnacle to the Egyptians’ existence because they represent the cycle of life and death. An Egyptian was expected to live a balanced life so that his soul, or kha, passes Osiris’ judgment to pass onto the afterlife or be eaten by a jackal. One man in polytheism is both the physical and religious leader. Pharaohs were described as “gods on earth” or reincarnations of the god Horus. His role as the religious leader was to keep the universal order balanced. To do so, the Pharaoh was thought to speak to the goddess Ma’at directly on what laws or policies to pass to keep the kingdom from sinking into chaos. While the Egyptians looked to the many gods, another ancient society began to look inside inward for
The Hindus were similar to the Egyptians because they worshiped many gods with some very important gods, but differed with the idea that all avatars and gods were part of one universal god, Brahman. The ultimate goal was not to enter the afterlife, but to join the universal spirit by leaving behind all outward distractions like wealth, lust, and gluttony. Each person continuously is reincarnated (depending on their karma) endlessly until their soul, or atman, reaches nirvana, or enlightenment, to become one with Brahman. There is little evidence of a priestly ruler, but it is suggested rulers used religion and trade, rather than violence to govern his city-state. Different animal seals, such as elephants, tigers, or bulls were used to mark the importance and power of city-states. The bull, for example, was found outside Mohenjo-daro, one of the most well-known and advanced early civilizations on the Indus