Mana represents the impersonal, immaterial, supernatural force that, according to Marett, “takes abode in all inanimate and animate objects.” The recognition of mana’s presence in the oceans and trees, the sun and the moon, compelled ancient humans to begin worshiping those things—or rather, the thing within those things. Eventually, the impersonal mana evolved into personal souls. Each soul, released from a body, became a spirit. Some of those spirits passed into rocks or stones or bits of bone, transforming them into totems, talismans, and idols that were actively worshiped. Other spirits
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