JohannesDahlstrom comments on Slava! - Less Wrong

30 [deleted] 03 October 2010 02:47AM

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Comment author: JohannesDahlstrom 04 October 2010 12:41:51PM 6 points [-]

African praise songs were sung not only to kings, gods, and heroes, but to plants and animals, who obviously cannot grant anything to those who praise them.

I'm not denying the powerful psychological effect of praise in these cases, but the animistic religions of a large number of indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures do assert that plants and animals (or, more accurately, their respective spirits) have agency, and that good fortune on future h/g excursions may be ensured by respectful behaviour towards the spirits in question.