The Songlines” (Book)

Without giving too much away, this book documents how Aboriginal society is woven together through a clever network of extra-familial relationships symbolized by various animal spirits. Prior to birth, each person is mystically assigned membership in a spiritual clan (sort of like a fraternity or sororiety) to which that person will belong for life. During childhood and adolescence the child learns the secret songs of his spiritual clan (which even its parents do not know or share). These songs teach the child about his spiritual ancestry, his character and personality qualities, and his destiny. It is the content of these songs which allow the adult Aboriginals to go safely on their “walkabout”, along paths they have never traveled before, sometimes across their entire continent, believing throughout the journey that they are literally singing the world they are about to encounter into existence, and (thaks to the specificity of the lyrics) always knowing what will be beyond the next hill or valley. Those songs, plus the physical and spiritual paths they describe, are that person’s songline.

The fact that these sacred paths criss-cross the continent of Australia provides the Aboriginals with an abiding rspect for the land, as well as an abiding respect for the interrelated responsibilities they each share to preserve the resources of their common land (since one never knows which features of the landscape are sacred to other spiritual clans). Thus, within this culture, private ownership of land is absurd, fences are hubris obstructions, and environmental degradation is both heretical and shamefully egocentric.

Using any metric, that is an amazing amount of power for a song to have over its singer and its society. “The Songlines” is an amazing tale: An engaging book which belongs on the shelf of every personal library; and in the heart and mind of every caring person.