Religion and Totem

Emile Durkheim has genuine idea about the origin of religion. He states that religion equate with society. It is a system of ideas with which the individuals represent to themselves the society of which they are members. Religion is social affairs and the product of collective thought --it is a product of history. Thus, the entire characteristic attributed to religion and human nature come from society itself. In the other hand, society exists and lives only in and through individuals.
In primitive society, religion has a symbol of worship known as totem. Totem is a material expression something else. It not only symbolizes God, but also the society which worship it. In fact, the god of the clan is personified under the visible form of the totem --generally animal or vegetable. The totem's comes from its psychical power over its worshippers as well as its moral authority over the society.
Consequently, humans get the impression that there are two sorts of reality: on the one hand there are profane things, and on the other, there are sacred things. Society constantly creates sacred things out of ordinary ones. Humans add sacred qualities to objects. Society consecrates men and ideas.
The individual cannot penetrate the sacred without entering into relations with extraordinary powers. Hence, in the midst of this effervescence, Durkheim contends, the religious idea seems to be born. By concentrating itself almost entirely on in specific moments, collective life has been able to attain its greatest intensity and efficacy, as well as give men a more active sentiment of the double existence they lead.
Totemic sign is like the visible body of god; its religious force. Religious forces are moral powers because they translate to the way in which the collective conscious acts on individual consciousnesses. Totems have a dual purpose: they animate and discipline minds, but they also believe that it makes plants grow and animals reproduce.
Religion is a system of ideas with which individuals represent to themselves their own society, and the obscure but intimate relations which they have with it. Religion strengthens the bonds attaching the individual to the society of which he is a member.[]