JAMES M. GLASS
(University of Maryland)
THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE SHAMAN:
The Political Vision as Incantation
WHY THE ANALOGY between the shaman and the philos-
opher? I have in mind three examples where some correspondence exists:
it is on the matter of the use of a vision or image as incantation,
specifically in the case of philosophy in Plato's Republic, Rousseau's
Social Contract, and Marx' Future Society.
I maintain that the shaman, unlike the philosopher, does not create a field of uninterrupted eros, free of the catastrophes of thanatos.
Rather, the shaman seeks to understand the world experientially, in both of its erotic and destructive proclivities. Cordoning off one part of experience in order to create a realm of 'the sacred' does not allow one the experience of taming and mastering the spirits. Thus one NEEDS to experience thanatos, in order to understand how it functions. After that, one can make assessments about the function of thanatos in others.
No comments:
Post a Comment