Thursday 8 October 2009

Shamanism's and the Westerners' respective returns to Nature

Shamanism, in its temporary return to Nature, does not do any particular damage to the subject, for such a return is designed to reveal Nature for what it is -- that is, as both the source of our emergence as well as a source of our limitations and thus oppression.

It is the contemporary Westerner's naive trust and belief in the principles of Nature that does him damage. For it is his current system of faith that so long as he proclaims himself a creature of Nature and does "naturally", that others will see him, fondly, as he is.

In this naive trust in Nature, he goes about blindly, expecting not to be rejected for anything he does, so long as it seems "natural" to him.

Yet, in taking this approach, he puts himself in a very vulnerable position. For, In answer to his self-justifying cry: "But I was only acting according to Nature!", an appropriate condemnation may be issued: "Yes you were! But, I was only rejecting you according to the dictates of Civilisation!"

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Cultural barriers to objectivity