Nina Lois Turtledove

Phenomenology of Shamanism

Altering consciousness, and taking the mind to the place that is a place of cessation of discursive thought, and being completely in the body. Sensate experience sometimes evokes an emotional one, and to be with that feeling, entering a stillness of mind, and waiting to see what comes and going with it- this is a shamanic state. It is a quest of knowledge, or healing. It is a state much like dreaming. It is like a waking dream, a sort of daydream, however with certain intent. That is to transform energy.

I’m not sure whether what is termed “energy” here is positively scientific or whether it is still Freud’s metaphor. Hasn’t quantum physics proven Freud’s hypothesis that there is energy at play in psychic life? Regardless, shamans say that it is energy, and one takes a shamanic journey in order to transform energy. This is a healing technique that I have begun to study.

It is impossible to study this phenomenon unless I, perhaps in a phenomenological fashion, I study my self as a subject in hopes of discovering a technique that is something that every human being is able to perform in order to heal themselves. Unfortunately, this flies in the face of scientific tradition. However, in certain intellectual circles, “objectivity” is over-rated by scientists of mind who wish to dig deeper into the profundity of the human being. It is impotent in areas laden with questions of meaning and value of human experience. This is an endeavor which is suited to the study of humanity, of human subjects, unobjectified in any way. What kind of a human life is one without meaning?

German philosophers have named us body and spirit- or geist. This spirit that geist refers to is mental, it is completely “natural” and of this world. It is psyche, it is consciousness. My goal is to write about shamanism in a phenomenological way in an attempt to circumvent the lack of hard science as of now to describe the dreams and visions used to transform energy which one feels in their emotions, present in illness.

I am in agreement with Freud’s theory in the science of mind, that sometimes energy in one’s psyche is bound up in a way that is not serving to the subject. This is not unlike a tenet within shamanism. This an ancient technique that functions on a very primary process, primordial, mythical level. In my study, building off of the work of theories of Freud, Jung, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and others, perhaps this healing technique will gain wider audience and be of service to more of my fellow human beings.

We are all animated by energy. We all have minds, emotions, physical bodies. Evidently these components interact, causing various degrees of well-being/illness. It is known that all illness is not merely physical, there are psycho-somatic disturbances. If we are to get at the depth of the interplay of these components, we must be willing to go beyond strictly empirical, objectivist science, to study the human geist, or spirit. When we get into realms of meaning and value, we often find spiritual questions hovering in the shadows as well.

Despite the boundary between metaphysics and natural science since the Enlightenment, it seems that lately science is coming upon quite metaphysical discoveries in quantum physics. This is an area which I still must explore in order to be knowledgable as far as the hardcore science of all this is concerned.

I could be my own test subject.

I feel a certain energy in my gut and in my altered state. I invite the memory of the first experience to come. I feel those feelings. I think through the experience in an intellectual way, guided by knowledge as to how to make the situation better. Sometimes, it involves telling myself that it’s okay, that I am safe. Perhaps my body will be sacrificed, but I will be okay. Sometimes, I need to call on some help, and help arrives. I see entities, faces, places, and what I do there with them, it helps me transform the energy.

After my journeys, I have felt like something within me has shifted. I will continue with myself on the operating table, and I will work with others in the future to see if they too can heal themselves using shamanistic techniques. Objectivist skeptics will then be hard pressed to argue, but they will.

Psychology, The Human Condition | 20.03.2008 21:37 |