The Religion of Small Societies Book

"Small societies" are the surviving peoples of ancient, indigenous cultures that now exist in and around modern nation-states; Eskimos, Lapps, the Dayak people of Borneo (Indonesia), and the Ainu people of northern Japan are just a few examples. Typically these are tribes of hunters, gatherers, or perhaps agricultural or pastoral peoples; most of humanity once lived in ways that resemble the ways of today's small societies. Though indigenous cultures produce little significant writing or literature, their spiritual experience is often profound. Ever-present spiritual powers are believed to manifest themselves throughout the natural world: modern scholars call this outlook animism. A hierarchy of spirits of gods culminates in a High God, who is often remote and ineffable, barely connected to everyday human experience. Ancestors are believed to exist still as the "living dead"; totemism identifies a clan with some specially related natural object or species. The shaman is a king...