Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

292 Human Devolution: a vedic alternative to Darwin’s theory

(1983, pp. 59–63) says this about the two souls: “Located in the heart of each person, but with an ability to move about both within and without the body, the ego-soul provided intelligence, reasoning, memory, consciousness and the ability to act. It could leave the body for short periods of time, but lengthy separations resulted in sickness and permanent separation meant the body’s death. This soul, the seat of the will, experienced emotions. Each person possessed one, receiving animation from it. The traveling soul, sometimes called a free-soul, resided in the brain and had a separate existence from the body, being able to journey during sleep at will. . . . It [also] perceived, sensed, acted as the ‘eyes’ of the egosoul, seeing things at a distance.” The free-soul corresponds to the shadow mentioned by other authors, and the ego-soul corresponds to the soul proper. In terms of Vedic concepts, the free-soul can be identified with the subtle material body (mind), and the ego-soul can be identified with the atma (conscious self).

According to the Ojibwa, not only humans but also animals, plants, and even water and stones possess bodies, shadows, and souls. They all have life, although varying in form and powers (Jenness 1935, p. 20). Nanibush, the great hero, would speak with the trees in their language, expressed in the sound of leaves moving in the wind. Jenness (1935, p. 20) said one of his Ojibwa informants told him, “Once when a man was walking along a flower cried to him ‘Do not step on me,’ for flowers are like little children.”

The souls of witches can take on the forms of dogs or owls, and souls of animals can take on human forms (Jenness 1935, p. 27). Vecsey (1983, p. 60) says: “As souls traveled they could take other appearances, depending on their power. They could appear as plants, animals, and other forms; therefore, metamorphosis was an aspect of Ojibwa metaphysics.” Sometimes humans were cursed to take on the forms of animals. In one case, the transformation of human forms into animal forms was arrested, resulting in an unusual type of creature. The Ojibwa Jonas King explained (Jenness 1935, p. 43): “Long ago the Indians discovered a sturgeon in a spring. Their elders warned them not to touch it, but some one imprudently cooked it and a number of people joined in the feast. When the hunters returned to the camp that evening they found all their relatives who had eaten of the sturgeon being rapidly transformed into fish. Some had changed completely, others remained half-human still; but all alike were struggling towards the water, or weeping near the shore with the water lapping their shoulders, while their unchanged kinsfolk strove in vain to draw them back. The medicine-men called on their manidos [manitous] for help, but the utmost they could accomplish was to check any further transformation.” These half human, half fish creatures are called mermaids and mermen ( dibanabe ).

An Ojibwa named Jim Nanibush told Jenness (1935, p. 21): “The tree does not die; it grows up again where it falls. When an animal is killed its soul goes into the ground with its blood; but later it comes back and is reincarnated where its blood entered the ground. Everything, tree, birds, animals, fish (and in earlier times human beings also) return to life; while they are dead their souls are merely awaiting reincarnation. My uncle lived four or five lives, 500 years in all. But there are two very hard stones, one white and one black, that never die; they are called meshkosh. ” Another Ojibwa, Pegahmagabow, said, “Sometimes a tree will fall when there is not a breath of wind. Its soul dies, just as the soul of a man dies and goes to the land of the west. But whither the tree’s soul goes no one knows” (Jenness 1935, p. 21).

The animals have their own societies, organized much like human societies, complete with leaders, called bosses. The Ojibwa James Walker said, “Before the white man reached Georgian Bay a certain Indian gathered many beaver, otter, and other skins, which he kept in his wigwam in the woods. One still night he heard the crashing of a tree, and then a wailing of many voices ‘Our King has gone!’ When morning came he found that a giant white oak had fallen, being rotten at the base; the white oaks around it had bewailed its fall. He gathered up all his furs, laid them over the trunk as in burial, and returned to his wigwam. Night came, and as he slept he dreamed that a manido visited him and said, ‘You have done well. Now take your furs again and travel east. There you will find a man who will give you clothing of a new kind in exchange for them.’ The Indian travelled east and discovered French traders on the St. Lawrence River. He was the first Ojibwa to see or trade with white men” (Jenness

1935, p. 23).

As in our template Vedic cosmology, the Ojibwa cosmology has a multilevel universe. Jenness (1935, p. 28) says, “Even today some Indians believe there are six layers of worlds in the sky above and correspondingly six beneath; others assert that there are only two, one upper and one lower.” Souls of animals go to Bitokomegog , a level below the earth of our experience. The number of animals on earth is tied to the number of animal souls that come up from the lower level. If there are many, the number of animals increases. If there are few, the number of animals decreases. The number of souls that come to earth is determined by the bosses of the animal species (Jenness 1935, p. 23).

Theresa S. Smith, in her study of Ojibwa cosmology (1995, p.44), echoes the theme of this chapter: “The notion of a multileveled world is not exclusive to the Ojibwe. Every shamanic society, from Siberia to Oceania, has shared this intuition of a many-storied universe. Like players in an intricate game of ladders and chutes, shamans travel routes mapped by myth and vision to power realms both above and below the sensible world. And returning from their travels they add their testimony to a continually growing corpus of descriptions regarding the structure and character of multileveled reality. Among the archaic traditions of the world—the Mesopotamian, Indian, Greek, and Japanese for instance—a hierarchy of worlds was the norm. Even contemporary non-shamanic world religions retain earlier cosmographies as symbolic expressions of sacrality both in and beyond this earth. . . . This means that contemporary people—including the Ojibwe—informed by a scientific understanding of cosmology, still find the hierarchical universe to be a resonant image.” The researchers and informants cited by Smith (1995, pp. 44–46)

speak of a cosmos divided into three regions: upper, middle and lower. The upper region, inhabited by the Great Spirit Kitchie Manitou, the Thunderbirds, and various manitous, is divided into several levels. The lower region is also composed of several levels. Between the two is the earth of our experience, which is described as an island (Smith 1995, p.

47). Directly below the earth is the realm of underwater and underground creatures. Below this is the “mirror world,” a place where night comes when it is day on earth. This place, described as “peaceful and abundant” (Smith 1995, p. 46), is the destination of souls of the dead. Below this is a place of constant darkness.

The gods and the spirits of the Ojibwa are of many kinds. One kind is similar to the fairies and brownies of Celtic mythology. They are called invisible people, and they are of two types—one with no name and the other called bagudzinishinabe, little wild people. Whoever sees either kind gets the blessing of a long life. The no-names hunt with foxes instead of dogs. “We see the tracks of the foxes, but not of their masters, except those they made on the rocks before the Indians came to this country,” says Jenness (1935). “At that time the sun drew so close to the earth that it softened the rocks, and the feet of these invisible people left marks on them. When the sun withdrew the rocks hardened again and the footprints remained petrified on their surfaces.” The little wild people are the size of children. Although mischievous they are not truly harmful. They are responsible for poltergeistlike effects, such as throwing pebbles onto the roofs of wigwams (Jenness 1935).