ABSTRACT
The world of the primitive African is characterized by its unity and completeness. No sharply defined aspect exists by itself; wish and reality, the possible and the impossible, knowledge and belief, thought and poetry, secular and religious life are interwoven and fundamentally one. The unity of his vision prevents the African also from distinguishing between the material and the spiritual. We are accustomed to call the force magic, but the conception is really too narrow, for under these words we understand something 'supernatural', whereas with primitive man the distinction between natural and unnatural, rational and irrational is shadowy. Magic and religion are fundamental elements of the African's life; they influence his thought and action in all relationships and can with difficulty be separated from hardly any of his activities. For the African religion is not only a social bond of union of the greatest significance but also the giver of warmth and colour to his life.
