Towards a Dialogue with Traditional Aboriginal Religion

Abstract

To prepare ourselves as westerners for a dialogue with the traditional Aboriginal religion will demand an ability to “pass over” to what is clearly quite a different mentality. There are two obstacles to this “passing over”. First, where westerners have predominantly developed the intentionality mediation of meaning, Aborigines developed the symbolic or aesthetic mediation of meaning. Secondly, the profoundly metaphorical or aesthetic cast of Aboriginal mentality and their religious experience of cosmic manifestations is at odds with western outlook. The Aboriginal religion should be accepted within the tradition of kataphatic manifestation. This understanding should help us accept that the sacred mystery should be approached as intra-cosmic Immanence as well as meta-cosmic Transcendence.