Accessing the eternal: Dreaming "The Dreaming" and ceremonial performance

Hume, Lynne (2004-03) Accessing the eternal: Dreaming "The Dreaming" and ceremonial performance. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 39 1: 237-258.

Document type:	Journal Article
Collections:	Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) - Collection School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics Publications

Author(s)	Hume, Lynne
Title	Accessing the eternal: Dreaming "The Dreaming" and ceremonial performance
Journal name	Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
Publication date	2004-03
Sub-type	Article
Year available	2004
Volume number	39
Issue number	1
ISSN	0591-2385; 1467-9744
Start page	237
End page	258
Total pages	22
Editor(s)	Willem B. Drees
Place of publication	Chicago, United States of America
Publisher	Wiley-Blackwell
Language	eng
Subject	2204 Religion and Religious Studies 160806 Social Theory 1608 Sociology
Abstract	Australian Aboriginal cosmology is centered on The Dreaming, which has an eternal nature. It has been referred to as "everywhen" to articulate its timelessness. Starting with the assumption that "waking" reality is only one type of experienced reality, we investigate the concept of timelessness as it pertains to the Aboriginal worldview. We begin by questioning whether in fact "Dreaming" is an appropriate translation of a complex Aboriginal concept, then discuss whether there is any relationship between dreaming and The Dreaming. We then discuss Aboriginal ceremonial performance, during which actors are said to become Dreaming Ancestors, using as a frame of reference the "flow" experience explicated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi together with Alfred Schutz's "mutual tuning-in relationship." © 2009 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygon
Keyword(s)	Aboriginal ceremony alternate realities consciousness flow ritual time timelessness