The Dreaming

Aboriginals believe that while they are sleeping they are shown fundamental truths of the universe and the world. When awake initiated clan members will tell of their dream, which is added to Rom (law). The dreaming is very sacred to the Aboriginals and provides a commentary of the world and how to act in it.

“A central meaning of the dreaming is that a scared heroic time long ago when men and nature came to be as they are… The dreaming concerns the great marvels-- how all the fire and water in the world (was) stolen and recaptured; how men made a mistake over sorcery and now have to die because of it; how the hills, rivers, and water holes were made; how the sun, moon, and stars were set upon their courses. (It also)... tells how certain things were instituted for the first time-- how animals and man diverged from a joint stock that was neither not one nor the other; how such social divisions as tribes, clans, and language groups were set up; how spirit child were first placed in the water-hole. (The Dreaming is a)... kind of a commentary… on what is thought to be permanent and ordained at the very basis of the world and life… (It is)... a charter of absolute validity in answer to all questions of why and how. (It is)... a philosophy in the garb of verbal literature… and is proof that (Aborigines) share two attributes which have largely made human history what it is. The first one of these (is)... the metaphysical gift… the ability to transcend oneself, to make acts of imagination to make one stand “outside”... oneself and turn the universe and one’s fellows into objects of contemplation. The second ability is a drive to try and make sense out of human experience and to find some purpose in the whole human situation.” - Stanner (1958: 225)