Double vision

Double vision isn't just what happens to you when you get hit hard over the head. It is also the basic function that facilites shamanistic knowledge. We have two eyes, and so it is easier for us to judge distance than if we had only one. Each eye passes information to the brain, which is cross-referenced, in order to facilitate depth perception.

One may be completely at ease with one's social and public identity -- as arbitrary these kinds of identities are. In that case, one will see no significant discrepancy between the characteristics that are routinely attributed and expected by those whose thinking processes are quite schematic, and those characteristics that are actually part of one's life.

If that isn't the case, however, and it turns out that there are discrepancies between the two systems of thought -- yours and those who think according to socially conditioned mores -- then you will be one who, in shamanistic terms, experiences "double vision"

The good news is that having two sources of data concerning such an important thing as one's very identity gives you a way to put your finger on society's pulse, to take its temperature and to work out whether it is politically sick or thriving.

A thriving society is one that is open to change and sensitive to new information. However, for a long time I was not permitted even to say I was Zimbabwean, as this was deemed by the majority to be too threatening. My double vision gave me the co-ordinates of Trouble, and I learned a great deal more about Australian society than they would have liked me to know.

A shaman does not choose her vocation.