The Dream in Aboriginal spirituality The Dream is the core of traditional Aboriginal religious beliefs. The term itself translates into various words in the different languages of the Aboriginal people. Each group has their own words for this concept: for example the Ngarinyin people of north-western Australia use the word Ungud, the Arrernte people of central Australia call it Aldjerinya and the Adnyamathanha use the word Nguthuna. Its meaning is fundamental to traditional Aboriginal people, their way of life and their culture, as it determines their values, their beliefs and their relationship with every living creature and every feature of the landscape. Through a web of obligations involving themselves, land and ancestors, traditional Aboriginal people express the Dream through every aspect of their lives. The Dream is not just a memory of the past, it is also the reality of the present and the creator of the future. At the most basic level, The Dreaming embodies the Aboriginal idea of creation. In Aboriginal belief it was the activities of ancestral beings who moved in that created the world as it is today. For example, for the Pitjantjatjat people of the Western Desert of central Australia, a high mountain peak may represent a place where one of their ancestors stood and looked out over the surrounding country. These ancestral beings have been described as the "prototypes of various natural species". This belief strengthens the spiritual and physical relationship Aboriginal people have with the land. Thus ensuring that TheDreaming is not separated from the physical world or tied to the past, but exists in the present. Not only are ancestral beings believed to have given Aboriginal people their physical environment, but they were also responsible for establishing the social and cultural models to emulate. Demonstrating human qualities, the Ancestor Spirits established the Aboriginal way of life, including kinship systems, customs, and moral lessons represented by both good and bad behavior. This is why The Dreaming is thought of in one dimension as the "law" of Aboriginal beliefs.
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