Erik Erikson once stated “the more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.” In the common era, individuals have retreated from the noble search of oneself in favor of the persecution of others with whom they observe no commonalities. It is in this grave mistake that we have caused those whose practices we cannot comprehend terrible and enduring suffering, remedied only through education and reflection on the commonalities shared through religion and customs. In my quest to not repeat this senseless extinction of culture and religion, I have felt it my duty to learn and reflect upon the diverse religions and cultures of the world. Concerning this quest, I have found it to be a reliable and viable idea to evaluate the personal lessons learned from the Aborigines of Australia, the Yoruba, and the Lakota because an individual needs to understand diverse cultures in order to understand one’s own.
I begin with the Aborigines of Australia, one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world. To be honest, I knew an extremely small amount of information about the Aborigines before we started discussing them in class. To translate: I knew the Aborigines existed and practiced orality, played an instrument known as the didgeridoo, and drew paleolithic etchings in caves. This is where you came in, Sister Joan. I do not believe I would have been exposed otherwise to this interesting culture that has survived the brute strength and near extinction caused by European colonization. From a once thriving civilization living in the harsh reality of the Australian outback, the Aborigines comprise about 2% of Australia’s total population with 400,000 aboriginal people. One of the main beliefs from the Aboriginal people which I still cannot wrap my head around is “the Dreaming.” I do not realize why I cannot wrap my head around this abstract concept, because it bears a resemblance to a Christian belief. One tradition that struck me was the...