The atheistic Thisbo
characterize both the Kadane
and the Ranamemi as reckless polytheists.
While they have some respect for the austere monotheism of the
Dunnek, the exuberant religious
imagination of these two peoples affronts them. What the Thisbo cannot see is that except for
the worship of many gods, the Kadane and Ranamemi religious systems are almost totally
dissimilar (as this article makes clear).
While the Kadane believe in a hierarchical and dualistic theology, in which the Creator is the supreme deity and all other deities servants with greater or lesser authority, the Ranamemi recognize no supreme deity at all. Ranamemi scriptures are a compilation of the myths of the Ranamemi peoples, covering topics such as creation, relationships between gods and mortals, and proper worship, but in an amazingly incoherent fashion. Ranamemi culture covers a huge area in time and space, with many divergent subcultures; the scriptures appear to have been compiled from these subcultures with no attempt at synthesis. Thus, there are at least five different creators and creation stories in the scriptures, even a few traditions in which humans seem to have spontaneously appeared with no divine intervention at all. No one seems bothered by this in the least.
Ranamemi gods are all of the Sky and Earth type (to use Kadane terminology), personifications of celestial or terrestrial phenomena. Missing are gods of abstract qualities or virtues. The behavior of the Ranamemi gods might be charitably described as "amoral". This is not to imply that the Ranamemi themselves are an immoral or unethical people. Ethics are highly developed, but have evolved out of a naturalistic framework. One is an ethical person because it is honorable to be such, and because the social fabric depends on ethical behavior. The gods just don't care one way or the other. Ranamemi is also lacking in the concept of an afterlife; when one dies, one simply ceased to exist.
Unlike the asexual Kadane pantheon, the gods of the Ranamemi marry and beget, divorce and marry again, both among themselves and with mortals. In this, they resemble the gods of the Greek pantheon. Whereas Hesiod took the principle of divine fecundity and built a coherent hierarchy of relationships from it, there has been no such person among the Ranamemi and there seems no cosmic significance to these couplings.
The Ranamemi relationship to the gods and to the Universe is basically fatalistic. The gods are neither loved nor feared; they are merely forces which dispense good or ill for their own inscrutable purposes. There is no moral component to this, bad things do not happen as punishment for the wicked or good things as rewards to the virtuous. It is the task of every Ranamemi to attempt to discern the intentions of the gods and to influence them to act kindly.
All manner of omens and portents are recognized by the Ranamemi. To them, every object in the Universe is pervaded with divinity, and every event that occurs is performed by some god. The Ranamemi attempt to fortell the gods' intentions by reading signs and omens. One of the tasks of the priestly caste is to interpret these signs. The Ranamemi also practice fortune-telling techniques to read the future.
To actively influence the gods, the Ranamemi turn to ritual and magic. Ritual and ceremony tend to be the responsibility of the priestly caste, and magic to be more of a private activity. Ritual devotion in Ranamemi religion is a two-way street. Acts of devotion in some way gratifie or nurture the god, creating in the god an obligation to the devotee. It is remarkable how pragmatic the Ranamemi are about their gods: when one ceases to be efficacious to a devotee, the devotee abandons the god without a second glance and goes in search of a more amenable deity. A common topic of conversation among the Ranamemi is swapping the names of gods and sharing the benefits the god has bestowed. The Ranamemi also engage in practices little different from superstition or magic to influence the gods; the only difference from what we might term "magic" is that it is an appeal directed towards a deity, while magic in our tradition often seems an attempt to manipulate impersonal forces.
There are strains in Ranamemi religion that go deeper than simple ritual observance. One we might call a "Taoist" school, in which the key to success in life is recognition of and surrender to the governing principles of the universe (principles which, it is believed, the gods must also obey). The other, the "Gnostic" school, also seeks to recognize the operating principles of theuniverse, so that they can be manipulated more efficiently. The first school tends to down- play the role of ritual, the second acknowledges the efficacy of ritual, but asserts a deeper, more complete and powerful, knowledge beyond the common practices. Mystical schools of transcendence such as exist among the Kadane are unknown.
Because of their beliefs that the universe mainfests the will of the gods and that the gods are susceptible to influence through physical means, the Ranamemi are keen students of nature. Indeed, this impulse is behind the Ranamemi development of the scientific method and of their technological ascendancy that arose from it. But the Ranamemi attitude towards science is far different from our own. While we tend to see a gap between science and religion, to view every physical principle discovered as one less area for God to operate in, the Ranamemi see no distinction between the natural and supernatural worlds. Ask the average Ranamemi how a light bulb works, and the answer is as likely to involve elemental spirits and the will of the gods as it is Maxwell's laws. One can find this viewpoint even in textbooks and the most scholarly of scientific journals.
Whether such a religious system is "satisfying" to its practicioners is, of course, impossible to say. To the Kadane, and to many of us raised in mainstream traditions, the Ranamemi system lacks transcendence and seems unable to speak to the deepest aspirations of persons. It is true that in recent decades there has been a surge of interest in the Kadane mystical Ways among the Ranamemi elite, that may point to a lack in their own belief system. On the other hand, these number only a handful, albeit an influencial one, among the greater number of Ranamemi, who seem content with the traditional practices. And one cannot deny that these practices have for centuries united the far-flung Ranamemi peoples and contributed to their dominence on the world stage. Ranamemi beliefs show no sign of weakening in the modern world, and there is every reason to expect them to remain strong in the future.
The image at the top of the page is the symbol of the Ranamemi religion. It represents the throw sticks used by Ranamemi priests as a fortune-telling device.
© 1998, Terrence Donnelly