Yes, the Australian Aboriginies also have their own unique concept of time. It is not well understood by Europeans, and it causes confusion sometimes.
The Aboriginal concept of time differs from the Judeo-*Christian perception of time in that Aboriginal people do not perceive time as an exclusively `linear' category (i.e. past−present−future) and often place events in a `circular' pattern of time according to which an individual is in the centre of `time-circles' and events are placed in time according to their relative importance for the individual and his or her respective community (i.e. the more important events are perceived as being `closer in time')...
Australasian Psychiatry
There is a lot of misunderstanding of the term 'dreamtime' in the Whitefella world and it is key to this misunderstanding in my view. For starters, the term is poorly translated. It was originally translated into English by white missionaries back in the 1800s. As they tried to learn the various indigenous languages and discuss matters spiritual, teach Christianity, study the sociology of the people, and so on they struggled to find a word in English to encapture the meaning of this strange concept that weaves throughout the culture, but there isn't one, so 'dreamtime' was the best they could do.
Many people think it means 'the old days' - back in the ancient times of the
great stories of how the world was created, how various rivers were formed, mountain ranges came to have their strange shape and so on. And, yes, it does mean that, sort of... It also means the stories themselves. Without the use of reading and writing, the Aborigines created an oral history in stories and tales, dances and ceremonies which accurately records events that have long since vanished from the memories of Europeans. The Aborigines are operating on a time scale at least 30 times longer than our history, if we go back to say, Ancient Rome or Egypt, and not a clay tablet in sight.
Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 60,000 years and represent the world's oldest living culture. Many of their stories involve giant kangaroos, goannas and so on. They used to be thought of as fanciful and rather childish tales by the early missionaries, but in fact fossil records show that Aborigines were in Australia when there were such megafauna in abundance (before the Aborigines hunted and ate them all according to some!). The stories contain social morals and teach the basics of the 'laws' - similar to Bible tales and fairy tales taught to western children to teach them about social norms and the general benefits of good behaviour and folly of disobeying one's parents. Other stories are about matters more secret and sacred and are only allowed to be told to certain people or sung at certain important times of the year.
So, what's that go to do with it? The term 'Dreamtime' refers to time of the 'Dreamtime stories', but it also refers to the 'feeling' that the story-teller and the listeners and dancers get when they 'relive' the stories in the time honoured ways. It means a kind of 'meditative space' where they can 'be' in the past situation again and really 'feel' it again, feel the 'spirit of the dream time' so to speak.
It is also used in other situations to describe the 'spirit world'. The dreamtime is where the ancient monsters and warriors of the ancient tales are still very much alive and still very much engaged in doing whatever it is they do. It is also where the ancestors live, still very much alive and still very concerned with the goings on of their various descendants, the keeping of skin, obeying the marriage laws properly, and so on.
Of course they understand all about 'whitefella time'. Of course they interact with linear time while going about their day-to-day business. But they see it as a whole other 'category' of time, that is, not the only one. Both are ice-cream, just quite different flavours. I certainly understand time that way myself.
So, I don't think Australian Aborigines would have any trouble wrapping their heads around the idea of simultaneous incarnations. They just have a different, non-linear way of describing the experience - 'dreamtime' indeed.
:thumbsup: