Animistic Perspective on Supreme Gods
The need to put a face to the creator of your own surroundings has been one of every intelligent civilization in history. The question of ‘who’ or what can be found scrolled on cave walls or even only spoken from generation to generation. Thousands of years ago, it would have been most improbable to find any sort of scientific basis on why, to modern logic, very basic things happened such as thunder or a sunset, and it would seem fit to apply supernatural forces as the cause. As these civilizations began to experience new things and new concepts, their only explanation would be a supreme creator or an array of applicable deities. Traditional African religions, usually passed down orally, all have a defined concept of a supreme God and other divinities. Almost all indigenous African societies believe in a single supreme god, yet some have belief in dual divinities, such as Mawu-Lisa. Depending on which part of Africa you look at, the creator changes but the characteristics, such as ownership of heaven or ruler of skies,stays the same. For example, the Akan people of South Ghana worship Nyame whereas the Igbo people worship Chukwu, the “the first force and existence of all beings.” Because of Africa's vast territory, these variations are very common. On the other hand the indigenous spirituality of Japan, or Shinto, is consistent throughout all of the Japanese islands. The creation myth, Shinto, is a direct path to understanding the connection of nature and supernatural forces to the Japanese people and is a more direct approach to the culmination of all of these ideas.
Traditional Shinto creation mythology states the actions exposing the creation of the Japanese Islands. It recalls that male and female gods were called on by higher forces and asked to help each other to create a new land which was to become Japan. They were given a spear by the higher forces with which they churned the water, which was all that was on...