Blog number two

Hughes, Chapter Two:
Cave art, though, seemingly underdeveloped could be considered “good” by standards back in that day. The art found in caves definitely is a way of communication (isn’t all art?). These are the people’s interpretations of the life and their surroundings from during that specific time. We may have our theories behind cave art, but I believe to know the true meaning is to live during that time.
Shamans … Holy fascinating… Maybe the shamans tapped into how to use their brain? According to various sources, we only use 10 percent of our brain. Perhaps through rituals they tapped into something most simply cannot.
Anyone can eat mushrooms, chant, drum, and dance. That does not mean they can tap into their interworld journeys. I know I can’t lucid dream, and perhaps through practice I may achieve that but even so, I’m no shaman. I can’t reach an altered state of consciousness through dreams. It’s all very interesting.
“The shaman not only lives at the edge of reality but also at the edge of his or her society,”
which for starters, makes me think if anyone in America were to publicly declare him or herself a shaman he or she would be in 5P. This is an unfortunate result of one nation “under god”.
I believe anything and everything is possible, so for a Shaman to serve as a bridge between reality and other realms is totally feasible. Why not?
It’s also interesting to read about how Shamans work with spirits. We never hear people talking about spirits, or their spirits or whatever. We may mention souls, but never spirits. Another little thing that caught my eye on page 26 was how sexual ambiguity is a characteristic of traditional shamanism, and some shamans were commanded by spirits during their initiation to assume a feminine personality which was often against their own will.

Walsh, Chapter One:
“The world of shamanism is an awakening,” which I believe to be a major understatement. It’s more than an awakening from what is described. I also believe since it’s very difficult to actually understand, it’s easy to dismiss it. Anything that cannot be scientifically explained seems to be taken for granted and ignored. It’s that western way of thought. Pfffft. For some reason, I wonder what the “straight edge” kids would say about Shamanism and the use of psychedelics (perhaps because I despise them so).
I also wonder if an anthropologist crosses the line and delves into the world of experience if that would make their studies biased. Then again, the only way to know, is to experience it. I wonder if the growing popularity of Shamanism is just another trend like the Kaballah (thanks Madonna). We have Westerners going to workshops called “shamanic training.” Luckily there is debate on that one.

Walsh, Chapter Two:
The fact that psychology got involved with Shamanism is bad. I believe the study of this should remain with the anthropologists. For Western psychiatry to foster a negative view of shamanism is ethnocentric in itself. We’re talking about another culture; therefore we should study these things in the context of the culture it comes from. We should be fostering unbiased opinions about these things. Psychology interfering with shamanism just means psychologists will try to apply their silly theories to these shamans and totally disregard and discredit them. Because there’s illogical and bizarre behavior involved, yeah they’re going to “diagnose” them as schizophrenic or just crazy. Trying to psychoanalyze this just takes away from the meaning. Psychologists don’t get it. One thing for certain is to keep an open mind when reading this material.