Among the Siouan
peoples, too, the individual brotherhood of the David-Jonathan or
Damon-Pythias type was characteristically developed. Thus the corporate
institutions were interwoven and superimposed in a manner nearly as
complex as that found in the national, state, municipal, and minor
institutions of civilization; yet the ordination preserved by means of the
camping circle, the kinship system, the simple series of taboos, and the
elaborate symbolism was apparently so complete as to meet every social and
governmental demand.
BELIEFS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MYTHOLOGY
As explained by Powell, philosophies and beliefs may be seriated in four
stages: The first stage is hecastotheism; in this stage extranatural or
mysterious potencies are imputed to objects both animate and inanimate.
The second stage is zootheism; within it the powers of animate forms are
exaggerated and amplified into the realm of the supernal, and certain
animals are deified. The third stage is that of physitheism, in which the
agencies of nature are personified and exalted unto omnipotence. The
fourth stage is that of psychotheism, which includes the domain of
spiritual concept. In general the development of belief coincides with the
growth of abstraction; yet it is to be remembered that this growth
represents increase in definiteness of the abstract concepts rather than
augmentation in numbers and kinds of subjective impressions, i.e., the
advance is in quality rather than in quantity; indeed, it would almost
appear that the vague and indefinite abstraction of hecastotheism is more
pervasive and prevalent than the clearer abstraction of higher stages.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49