The Dreaming, By Fred Myers

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

What really defines a dreamer? Is it the children who have unrealistic dreams of playing in the big leagues or is it someone who has a plan and will go out of his or her way to achieve it? Both of these options can be true. Dreamers are special in this world because they have hope for something they believe in. Nothing is more fascinating than seeing an individual who never gave up and worked extremely hard to reach their goal. Having read only three sections so far, I have explored the individual’s purpose and passion for the work they pursue. The “Dreamers” section has made me analyze what I have and want with my future career. Overall, the elements of the book defining dreamers explains the meaning of a risk taker, the hard work and dedication involved, and the passion it takes to reach your goals.

The Dreaming stories pass on important knowledge, cultural values and belief systems to later generations. This is done by song, dance, storytelling and painting. Indigenous Australians have maintained links to The Dreaming dating back from ancient times up to the present, providing a very rich cultural heritage. The role that The Dreaming plays in Indigenous Australian life is very important to this culture as it holds big significance of how Indigenous Australians and their culture came to be.

For Aboriginal Australians, the land has a special significance that is rarely understood by those of European descent. The land, or country, does not only sustain Aborigines in material ways, such as providing food and shelter, it also plays a major role in their spiritual lives. As Rose put it, "Land provides for my physical needs and spiritual needs." (1992, p.106). To use Rose 's own term, to Aboriginals the land is a 'nourishing terrain '. (1996, p.7).

Dreams are important to everyone. Some little girls dream of being a ballerina while some little boys and even teenage boys dream of being a major league baseball player for their favorite team. In the famous drama A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, dreams have a prominent role. The title, even though there’s never a raisin in the drama, is important because: it refers to a poem written by famous poet Langston Hughes and it relates to the dreams of each of the characters.

To better understand Aboriginals as a Dream Culture I want to give more insight into Aboriginal Australians general culture and their conceptions of “Dream Time.” In his discussion of religion, Mircea Eliade describes a concept of Cosmos vs Chaos (Eliade 1957). In this notion an unordered world is chaotic only until is it transposed during a sacred time: “By occupying it and, above all, by settling in it, man symbolically transforms it into a cosmos though a ritual repetition of the cosmogony” (Eliade 1957:31). In other words until a land is tamed or created it is considered unordered. This can be applied to Aboriginal’s understanding of the world prior to their current presence. Aboriginals believe that in a time before the Dreamings, the land and world was a featureless earth. It was not until the dreamtime, or time of creation: “where there is contact with appearances from both realms of inside the earth itself as from ill-defined upper region” that the earth began to have its composed landscapes (Cowan 1992:26). The Dream Time is not only a period but more of a dimension where ancestral beings moved across the earth and created not only land, but every aspect of the earth including animals, plants, and man. It is important to realize that the ancestors created the natural earth and that is why Aboriginals live a particular lifestyle. Most Aboriginals living in this cosmogony are hunter-gatherer tribes. This aspect of their life can be traced to stem from the idea of

The indigenous Warlpiri people of Central Australia exhibit an array of cultural beliefs that structure their lives in a way that hugely distinguishes them from modern society, granting the group a meaningful perspective into the world around them. Jackson explores the existential notion of being at home in the world, and what it signifies in a nomadic context. He focuses on cultural relationships of people to the material world and environment, as well as Warlpiri spiritual belief systems. This essay will explore the effects of nomadic culture on the Warlpiri, concentrating on how the nomadic sense of home influences their lives both physically and intellectually through short-term resource management and the Warlpiri language. Following, it will analyse the Aboriginal concept of dreaming and of ancestry, in order to express how this spiritual system of belief meaningfully affects Warlpiri spirituality, ritual behaviour, and their connection to the surrounding natural environment. Jackson’s reading will be analysed for this purpose, which follows his experiences in and around the Tanami desert with a group of Warlpiri companions.

The Dreaming embraces time past, present and future, stories that describe the travels of the spiritual ancestors, which are integral to Aboriginal spirituality that relates to Aboriginal law with stories passing on important knowledge, cultural values and belief systems to future generations through song, dance, painting and storytelling (Bourke & Cox, 1998, p. 56). The Dreamings came from Aboriginal ancestors who created the law; however Aboriginal people are unable to change it, as it is part of their history, therefore Aboriginal law and Western law can conflict with one another, as during the colonial process Western law did not recognise Aboriginal customary laws (Roy, 2008). But as will be discussed, the Dreamings play a role in Aboriginal law in contemporary urban Aboriginal life through their culture and history, however Western law still does not recognise Aboriginal customary law; a law that influences and

To touch more on the basis of the Iroquois people’s belief in dreams (as this was a large part of their healing practices), they viewed dreams as “experiences of the soul in which we may travel outside the body, across time and space, and into other dimensions--or receive visitations from ancestors or spiritual guides”. They also believed that dreams revealed the wishes of one’s soul, which would dig deeper, beyond our own personal goals and those of others

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the first owner of Australia. They have been living on this land for over 50,000 years and have very unique culture. While they don’t keep paper record, they pass down their knowledge to following generations by arts, music, and stories. Children are cultivated by the elders the ideology of dreamtime their whole life, which teaches them the important events happened in the past and how they live their lives with the nature. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have build a very harmony relationship with the nature. Different from the modern society that labeled by the aggressively exploitation of resources, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have found ways to live with the nature peacefully.

Now, aboriginals continue the Dreamtime with what is referred to as The Dreaming. The Dreaming is practiced in stories, song, dance, artwork

Aboriginal people are spiritually connected to country, their sacred land in which their ancestral beings were formed. The Dreaming is the core of Aboriginal spirituality that’s embedded with explanation of the creation process along with rules and ‘laws of social and religious behaviour'. that is vital to live by. The Dreaming is a complex metatemporal concept that includes the understanding of the world creations and its great stories that are linked to the creation process, and the spiritual ancestors of the land. The creation process explains the formation of the land and all living contents created by Ancestral beings who transformed into particular sites and left their spirits behind.

The Dreaming is the way the Aboriginal understand about the world through the great creative stories. These stories are passed on lore, culture and belief system to the next generations. Aboriginal people believe that the Ancestors Spirits in human form created animals, plants, rocks and other forms of land. Then they changed into trees, starts, water holes and other subjects that are the sacred places of Aboriginal culture. (Australia.gov.au, 2017)

The dreaming is the main idea for all the beliefs and practices of the Aboriginal people. The dreaming defines the importance of all relationships and responsibilities for all Aboriginals as well as explains the spiritual connection that the Aboriginal people have with the land. The land holds all the dreaming and is the resting place for their ancestral spiritual beings. The Aboriginal people’s identities are tied to the land, as an understanding of the land enables them to understand their spiritual responsibilities. The Dreaming is frequently communicated through art, song, dance, stories and rituals which show that despite the enormously diverse nature of Aboriginal spirituality the Dreaming is their core belief and is extremely important

In the dreaming the Aboriginal way of life began with languages, kinship groups and the customs