In essence the idea of God is not that of a Supreme Being, and not entirely that of a Creator, but rather that of a Superior Being, possessed by an indulgent tolerance for all mankind. But he suggests only the negative idea. He is a spirit of benevolent passivity. He is good for no other reason than that he is not evil. There is no particularised sanctity in his name, no adoration of his nebulous personality, only an unquestioning acquiescence in his benignity. True, he is held in high esteem, but that is because he permeates all in nature that is not inimical, and thus demonstrates his kindly disposition. If the harvest fails it is due to the malevolence of their Diabolus, or some of his agents, yet if it be a good one the credit is due not to the Good Spirit, but rather to the medicine-man for having with his magic frustrated the machinations of the Bad Spirit.
This Devil, or Bad Spirit, is affirmative in character, and is always active. He must not be invoked, but he is to be prevented by charms and magic from wreaking his vengeance on mankind, and must be placated at all costs as the supreme author of sickness and misfortunes, and the controlling power of malevolent nature.
Both the Good and the Bad Spirit are attended by lesser spirits with similar characteristics. So far as I could ascertain, there is no suggestion that any of these supernatural beings ever lived in this world, though they influence it so entirely, and can visit it at will.
The Good Spirit may be more potent, but he is certainly more remote than the Bad Spirit—too remote for ordinary people to be brought into any degree of contact with him whatsoever. His influence, his benefits, are, as he is, passive. The Bad Spirit, on the contrary, is of a ceaseless energy. His active influence is invariably present. He is always exerting his power in some definite, some concrete form. Poison, for example, is an active agent. The devil in it works vigorously to the undoing of his victim, definitely exercises a deleterious effect upon his enemy, man. So, too, the rocks that bar the way upstream are more active than passive. They repel, they may defeat the traveller, and, therefore, are to be regarded also as the active agents of a hostile power.
It is noteworthy in this connection that the Bad Spirit may be materialised sufficiently to be able to carry a child bodily away, or to steal a woman, should she stray out into the forest by herself.[343] For this reason usually no woman will go alone into the bush, she will take a companion with her, especially at night, for the demon is popularly supposed to be unable to tackle more than one at a time, even if the second be only a young child.[344] Women who run away from their husbands are consequently said by them to have been taken by the devil. This is a favourite theory, as the man may thereby avoid the censure or hostility of the tribe. The men also do not care to be far in the bush alone, and after dark nothing will induce an Indian voluntarily to embark on the risk of adventuring into the forest by himself.
One of the first difficulties met with when dealing in detail with the religion of these peoples is their refusal to use the true name of any spirit or deity. This has root in the same reason that ordains they shall never disclose their own names, nor voluntarily except on rare occasions, that is without questioning, the name of their tribe.
In the Boro language we have the word Neva as an equivalent for God, the good or sympathetic deity, and the word Navena for the Devil, the great evil or antipathetic spirit, in fact the negative of all represented by Neva. But inasmuch as neva stands also for the sun, the dawn, and the morning, while navena is used for any spirit however humble—whether the soul-part of a thing, animate or inanimate, or the ghost or disembodied soul of the dead—we have a right to postulate that such are not the true, or supposed self-appellated names of these deities, but those that may be used without offence, and therefore free of the consequent evils that the mention of the true name would entail on the users.
To give another example: In Witoto Usiyamoi has the same meaning as God in ordinary parlance; Taife is the Devil, whereas Taifeno is any bad spirit whatever. But, again, the Taife, the dread of these people, the all-pervading evil genius, is named Apuehana, a word never pronounced above a whisper. Here then we may have reached a true secret name.
The Boro Neva and the Witoto Usiyamoi are the Tupano of the Tupi-Guarani tribes of the east and the Negro River. This we find is the Apunchi-Yaya of the Guichua of the west, the Cachimana of the Orinoco. Navena and Taife or Apuehana are the same as the Jurupari of the north, the Iolokiamo of the Orinoco, and the Locazy of the Ticuna.[345]