Shaman

I remember when I picked up this book prior to my class. I looked at the title and was a bit confused. Shamanism? I'll admit that I knew very little of Shamanism prior to opening this book. Admittedly, all I knew for sure was that Shamans are a class of character in some RPGs. Therefore, I went into this book believing that I would be fairly confused.

I was quite wrong.

A shaman is a practitioner of various arts that are designed to heal, rejuvinate, and bring peace to souls. I had no idea just how old the practice of Shamanism is, and how much I could relate to it. As I mentioned before, I am a former Psychology major, and this book seems to take a less...enthusiastic approach to psychology. However, after reading a few pages, I recognized some of the aspects of said field in the roots of Shamanism. For example, one of the tasks in the credo of shamanism is transforming emotions, which involves removing the negative emotion (i.e. fear), bringing in a positive emotion (i.e. love), and creating a balance between the two, very much like the id, ego, and superego, respectively.

I can also relate to some of the aspects of Shamanism, including Altruism. I look forward to learning about this field.

(Note: I am currently awaiting my order of Altered States)