Shamanistic literature is open to the accusation, "there is nothing there" (so far as content goes), or else the writing "is all about the author" (that is to say -- nothing more). This misunderstanding is the result of the influence of ideologies throughout the ages, which makes dichotomies out of experiences, so that it seems as if something that is "about me" can never be of any service to others.
Nietzsche's shamanistic methodology does away with this epistemological dichotomy by using material that would otherwise be "just about me" as a means to understand cultural wholes. Even the imagery he uses -- namely, the "ladder of experience" - is shamanistic.
He describes the process of self-understanding as follows:
This method is to create a link between one's own evolving state of mind and the broader cultural needs of the community.
Thus, for the shaman, so called "self-involvement" is absolutely essential as the means by which the community is served. There is no moral dichotomy here: no moral schism that definitively separates the self from others.
--
* The ladder, by means of which one ascends the heavens, is part of ancient shamanic tradition.
Nietzsche's shamanistic methodology does away with this epistemological dichotomy by using material that would otherwise be "just about me" as a means to understand cultural wholes. Even the imagery he uses -- namely, the "ladder of experience" - is shamanistic.
He describes the process of self-understanding as follows:
Whatever state you are in, serve yourself as a source of experience! ... You have inside you a ladder with a hundred rungs which you can scale towards knowledge. Do not undervalue the fact of having been religious; appreciate how you have been given real access to art ... It is within your power to ensure that all your experiences -- trials, false starts, mistakes, deception, suffering, passion, loving, hoping -- can be subsumed totally in your objective. This objective is to make yourself into a necessary chain of culture links, and from this necessity to draw general conclusions about current cultural needs.*
This method is to create a link between one's own evolving state of mind and the broader cultural needs of the community.
Thus, for the shaman, so called "self-involvement" is absolutely essential as the means by which the community is served. There is no moral dichotomy here: no moral schism that definitively separates the self from others.
--
* The ladder, by means of which one ascends the heavens, is part of ancient shamanic tradition.
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