Animism is not a belief system, but a worldview: The world is a sacred place and we are part of it. The factuality of this statement is not the issue. To say that the world is a sacred place is to make a statement about values, not facts. Itโs a statement about what you mean by โsacred,โ just as โMoney canโt buy happinessโ is a statement about what you mean by โhappiness.โ To put it all very simply, animism isnโt a belief system, itโs a value system.
Daniel Quinn[I]n Africa I was a member of a familyโof a sort of family that the people of your culture haven't known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillasโbut there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand.
Daniel QuinnIn effect, you're saying that if you knew how you oughtt to live, then the flaw is man could be controlled. If you knew how you ought to live, you wouldn't be forever screwing up the world. perhaps in fact the two things are actually one thing. Perhaps the flaw in man is exactly this: that he doesn't know how he ought to live.
Daniel Quinn