| 英文摘要 |
Folk belief is the spontaneous mental activity generated by human primitive society, and it is also a kind of ideology accumulated by all the efforts of the members of a society. The belief structure of primitive human society is mainly based on animistic cognitive concepts, gradually forming spiritual act of worship—it is believed that the spirit is a force beyond nature, and one can get power from the spirit through sympathetic interaction with it, which in turn creates rich spiritual inspiration. This is a continuation of the ancient belief systems of the witchcraft culture, where wizards become intermediaries between humans and the spirit. Taiwans culture of spirit-mediums is extremely rich and varied; a new culture of spiritual inspiration develops from the traditional spirit-mediums who communicate with the dead and gods, and gets deeper into the social and cultural structure.
Spirit-mediums own special psychic ability when undergoing sympathetic interaction with the spirit. In going through sympathetic interaction with gods, spirit-mediums show special language, dance and magical spells to eliminate evils and pray for blessing. The belief for the spirit world is not a single concept, but pluralistic one of the supremacy of gods—it is thought that the spirit world is not controlled by a single master, for the universe may have infinite incarnations and infinite boundaries, which generates a special cosmology of spirit world. Spirit-mediums not only sense power of the spirit, but they also have the more important religious task—“Returning to Original Nature with a Harmonious and Well-rounded Heart.” The emphasis is on the enlightenment of one’s spirit, and then one may become a spiritual incarnation of gods on earth, so that sentient beings can achieve unity of body and spirit realm, returning to one’s own spiritual vein. Spirit-mediums rely on spontaneous creation from the folk and the spirit world to form brand-new and complete religion patterns. And the competition among the various spirit-mediums systems injects new cultural vitality into today’s folk beliefs. |
