5 - Spirituality

Summary

In the beginning, God created the world. In the center was a small island rich in food, vegetation, minerals and life. To the rest of the world, the creatures there seemed very unusual, because the humans who inhabited this world were black. They were a very spiritual people. They had Dreaming stories, telling of their deep spirituality, and one of their stories speaks of a great white spirit that came and walked this land at the beginning of time. (In this case, white does not refer to the color of the skin, but to the spirit world because in our culture white signifies death.) This great white spirit then handed down to our ancestors the laws which we were to follow. This spirit is believed to be God, and our laws are similar to the biblical ones. We were to share everything equally; we were to love our sisters and brothers; we were not to steal; we were to care for the land, and to respect every living thing. So, in general, these people were a very loving, caring and sharing people.

For over 60,000 years, these people lived in peace and harmony with the land, maintaining the God-given integrity of the land. Unlike Europeans who migrated from one continent to another, the Aboriginal people never moved from the land that they were born to. The Aboriginals never believed that they owned the land, but rather that the land owned them.

Then one day, in 1788, came the invasion of white people. At first Aboriginals were welcoming.