Subject: Have You Ever Seen A Shaman? Part 4 of 4.
April 20, 2008.
This talks about Ki.
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Work is the effort applied in accompli****ng
something: force is applied to transfer energy. We
transfer energy with our intent and focus. Energy is
the strength or capacity to do work. In Hawaiian,
the words "ki" or "ti" have an inner meaning of
energy. Compare the word "ki" to the Japanese word "ki"
or the Chinese word "chi". Polynesian kupua (shamans)
thought of "ki" in a way similar to what some people
call "life force". To physicists, energy, force, work,
and power are related to each other as a result of
these interactions, and the universe is the result of
a small number of metaphors they call primary "forces"
(gravity, electro-magnetism, and strong and weak atomic
forces). A shaman thinks of things and the relation****p
between things as an interaction of the metaphor of
the one primeval "force" that he/she calls "energy".
Becoming aware of these interactions is the path
to using inner power.
I leave it to you to speculate on what effects
changing a world view might have for someone's personal
reality and what value might be gained from it, notice
I avoid saying what is or is not "true". Everyone's
world view is unique; the differences come in all
colors, shapes and sizes. You might consider that a
new world view implies creating a new personal
universe. Or assume that something is left behind after
such a universe has been created: Can you visit other
universes created by shamans, or other people, or
yourself, or "others" in the near or distant past?
I am using "past" here as a term of convenience and
not stating that time does or does not exist. (I
am adding these interruptions to the flow of the
text not to irritate you, but to remind you to
think like a shaman.) Consider the idea that our
shared, familiar and "normal" universe may be
continually branching into different, perceived
shared universes usually shared only among the
inhabitants of their own particular universe.
(Do you choose which branch you take?) This is a
shamanistic viewpoint that has an echo in modern
science. This may get you started, you can dream
as many dreams as you want but don't pretend you
know that this is a waste of time until you have
tried it. You may have noticed what I have
implied already: the "reality" of the existence
of any universe including our own "normal" one
is not necessarily a part of the `value' someone
receives from a personal experience. To a shaman,
the only relation****p that value has to "reality"
is what we make it to be ... so why make
"trueness" such a big deal?
Escape on a voyage of fantasy using your
imagination (one of the few true powers we
possess). You may experience some surprising
things. By sailing off the edge of the flat
earth you can look back and see its "true"
shape. Just don't tell your friends or they
will try to heal your madness, or roll their
eyes and snicker behind your back, after all,
this isn't some primitive stone age society,
we have advanced beyond that, haven't we?
If you think you have a rational mind, you
need to become more aware of the mind games
that are always playing inside ourselves. A
rational approach to things is often a very
useful tool. But becoming more aware can give
you the freedom to choose which tool you want
to use. If you aren't aware of any valid
options, you have no choice. You are stuck with
one tool. Think about listening to music: you
can think about counterpoint, harmony,
structure; or you can dance; or be carried away
with emotion; or just feel the beat. All are
valid, useful and enjoyable ways of listening
to music. You have a choice.
The most effective world view is often the
world view of someone the shaman is trying to
help, a shaman is a healer of mind, body and
cir***stance'. Observe the different tools
shamans use in different societies. A shaman
often finds power in accepting the world as it
"exists" rather than trying to change it.
A person can have shamanistic ideas about
"reality", but without a commitment to healing,
that person is not a shaman. The word "sorcerer"
is sometimes used to describe someone who
changes world views to obtain personal power.
A shaman views health as a creation of the
patient. A shaman, M.D., counselor, therapist
or whoever, can only `assist' a patient: h-aling
comes from within. The most im****tant part of a
he-ler's job is to convince the patients that a
hea-ing is actually taking place through
shamanic journeying, surgery, pills, counseling,
or whatever. The other part is assisting the
patients -eal themselves, through journeying,
surgery, pills, counseling, or whatever. Some
shamans may say the "convincing" part is the
only part beliefs precede reality and a shaman
is a realist (as a shaman defines it). Other
"realists" would say shamanism is far removed
from "realism". Other healers may have their own
ideas about their role. One h-aling technique
sometimes used by shamans in some parts of the
world is what is now popularly called "s-ul
retrieval". A shaman views the world in several
ways. One effective way is to view the world as
if everything is separate. This is the way most
people view the world. "So-l retrieval" can
only take place in a world where things are
separate. A sou- can't be separated in a world
where things are connected or things share a
"oneness". But a shaman may think of this as
a useful tool when the patient is convinced
that his or her soul needs "retrieving". An
effective shaman would never suggest this as
a new concept for the patient unless this is
the only he-ling technique you know, why create
additional problems?
To a shaman, hea-ing is more than helping
unhealthy people. It sometimes seems as if life,
things and events all strive towards their Own
idea of perfect health. A shaman tries to
become aware of the goals of anyone or anything
he or she is trying to cooperate with.
A shaman has a background that can't be
completely discarded. A shaman has a f-ith in
something that he or she can't or doesn't want
to change.
We `all' have fa-th in our own g-ds (our
ideas), or fa-th in Go- (theist), or f-ith in
the non-existence of -od (atheist), or faith
in our lack of fa-th in G-d (agnostic). Atheist
are fond of saying that they aren't saying that
Go- doesn't exist, they are saying that they
don't believe in -od either way they are
professing their fai-h. An agnostic is basically
saying, "I don't know." or even, "No one knows."
That is the convenient intellectual camouflage
we often use to conceal fai-h in our basic
beliefs from ourselves. Some would include with
agnostics, those who instead of professing their
-aith, imagine themselves as rational believers
("Here is the Evidence"). Many would say that
at some inner level we are all theists.
Explore the assumptions beneath "I don't
know." Or "Who knows?" There are many ways to
learn. To discover the most valuable things,
we don't need teachers we all know more about
things than we think we do.
A shaman doesn't completely switch world
views. To be effective, a world view only has
to be adopted to the extent `that results
change'. Everyone can observe this and notice
how many people pass by with smiles when you
are happy and how many have frowns when you are
grumpy. It's easy to explain: "It's only our
perception."
Is our shared physical world real? To a
shaman, our normal world holds a legitimate
and influential place among many other real
worlds as the result of so many people
experiencing it. A shaman doesn't think of the
"physical" world as illusion in the sense of
what some Eastern philosophies call a veil or
maya. A shaman often does not even distinguish
between "physical" and "sp-ritual": so it is
meaningless to say one is "better" than the
other.
Usually shamans view the world as if we are
all connected. As a result, everyone's world
view is affected by everyone else's beliefs.
After all, if a baby rolls off the couch, he
or she will land on the floor: it doesn't seem
to matter what the baby believes about gravity,
it only seems to matter what the observer
believes. That's why a shaman has better things
to do than try to fly. Doing things like trying
to fly is a lot of work (most people believe in
gravity) and indicates you have some need to
prove your power if you have power you don't
have to prove it to yourself (you already know)
or prove it to someone else (im****tant only if
you lack real power).
However, by ****fting into different worlds, a
shaman finds freedom; our choices are only
limited by ourselves. The shaman doesn't worry
about this being delusion: we call people
deluded when they break our rules. If we could
just give up the emotional attachments to our
ideas, we wouldn't take things so seriously.
What is a Shaman? Definition
Starting from a knowledge of how a shaman
views the world, the tools a shaman uses are
seen as logical applications of that world
view. You can test my definition of what a
shaman is: the things that a shaman does,
follow from working with different world
views. Try this by looking at what shamans
do from the perspective of belief systems
and you won't have to take my word for it.
So here's my arbitrary, simplified
definition of shamanism: A shaman is a
he-ler who changes world views in order to
become more effective.
All of this information can be found at:
http://www.seri-worldwide.org/shaman.html
Part 4 of 4.
John Winston. johnfw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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