Intellectual shamanism, as I trace it through my own extrapolations of Nietzsche and Bataille, is a means of breaking with the present, which has become "decadent"
In the case of Nietzsche, he sees that social mores are too delicate, too Christian in the respect of paying lip service to suffering. His shamanistic motifs in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen) , particularly in terms of "a dangerous crossing" are supposed to encourage a break with these attitudes:
Moreover, Nietzsche's writing presses for a different sense of being in the world. Here, the shamanistic "dangerous crossing" is not represented, as in tradition, as the spiritual goal of an isolated shamanistic initiate, but as the goal for the whole of humanity. The movement from "ape" to "superman" is a process of metamorphosis, where "humanity" represents the half way point. The end point represents a total change in character structure.
The recovery of one's wholeness through incorporating the lost primeval aspects of one's nature can be considered to be a fundamental principle of modernist shamanism. At times, as in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the idea of transformation is overshadowed by a motif of destruction. Nietzsche's shamanic concept of transformation is shown to be radically at odds with conservatism, in the following passage:
Shamanistic self-transformation is a creative act which (more or less) assures hostile reactions from those who are psychologically committed to maintaining the status quo.
No doubt, Bataille derived his idea of transgression from Nietzsche, whom he identified with to the point of asserting, "I am Nietzsche'. The very powerful motif of destruction in Bataille's philosophical theorising is, by virtue of echoing Nietzsche, given an implicitly shamanistic structure. The meaning of "destruction" in Bataille's works can therefore be viewed, shamanistically, as a means for heralding in a very different future. "Transgression" -- sometimes referred to as "sinning" -- is the means the individual takes to expand his freedom to rule himself. This evokes the idea of challenging one's superego's restrictions, to broaden the range of 'human nature', making it more diverse and complex than previously.
Given that a core principle of any shamanistic project is to transform the character, in order to make it in some ways 'better' (--in the case of Nietzsche and Bataille, more robust--) one can venture to understand how more traditional types of shamanism might have worked. The differences between traditional shamanism and the "intellectual" types of shamanism explored above are not so vast.
My studies have led me to see that traditional shamanistic practices very often evoke the notions of regression (to an infantile state), of death and rebirth, and of doubling'(an initiate crosses 'the bridge' as 'spirit', leaving his body in the here and now). Although these motifs are often taken very literally within the bounds of traditional shamanism, intellectual shamanists like Nietzsche and Bataille take approaches that are much more self-consciously psychological, rather than 'spiritual'.
Instead of 'death and rebirth', we have 'destruction of the old law tables' in Nietzsche and 'transgression' or 'sacrifice' in Bataille. The intellectual shamanists have modified the traditional shamanistic motifs, to make them relevant for those who live today. Yet, the nature of the shamanistic experience, itself, is not that different. Both Nietzsche and Bataille invite us to encounter reality in a way that is not mediated by our strong sense of society's mores. We are to encounter "nature" in a more direct way than we had previously been allowed to do (having been prevented from doing so by our own Superego).
Whether one 'crosses the bridge' through psychological dissociation (helped along by peyote) (i.e. traditional shamanism), or through 'self-overcoming' and a contempt of 'pity' (Nietzsche) or through a transgressive self-destruction of one's bourgeois character structure (Bataille), one develops a sense of self-awareness that previously was remote from one.
In the case of intellectual shamanism, the 'shaman initiate' is capable of seeing that our image of the world is actually fabricated by our actively imaginative minds -- that what we take for actual 'reality' is really just group consensus casting a hypnotic spell over us. (In his consideration of the nature of this 'spell', Nietzsche saw not 'spirits' exactly, but rather active and reactive forces -- with the active forces embracing joie de vivre and the reactive forces posing as righteous moralisers.)
This depth of knowledge of the world, which transcends narrow, conscious awareness was the basis for Nietzsche's supreme philosophising. He implies to us that he came upon it by an initiation whereby he was "almost sacrificed":
The use of the terminology here is, once again, shamanistic, especially in terms of the idea that Nietzsche had obtained his initiate's knowledge of reality in "many distant, dreadful worlds". The entry into "other worlds" is possible for the shamanistic initiate -- one who has undergone the horrors of shamanistic initiation. This involves an encounter with one's social and cultural limits, through the temporary shattering of a habitual, narrow frame of consciousness.
In the case of Nietzsche, he sees that social mores are too delicate, too Christian in the respect of paying lip service to suffering. His shamanistic motifs in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen) , particularly in terms of "a dangerous crossing" are supposed to encourage a break with these attitudes:
Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman--a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.
Moreover, Nietzsche's writing presses for a different sense of being in the world. Here, the shamanistic "dangerous crossing" is not represented, as in tradition, as the spiritual goal of an isolated shamanistic initiate, but as the goal for the whole of humanity. The movement from "ape" to "superman" is a process of metamorphosis, where "humanity" represents the half way point. The end point represents a total change in character structure.
The recovery of one's wholeness through incorporating the lost primeval aspects of one's nature can be considered to be a fundamental principle of modernist shamanism. At times, as in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the idea of transformation is overshadowed by a motif of destruction. Nietzsche's shamanic concept of transformation is shown to be radically at odds with conservatism, in the following passage:
Whom do [the good; the 'pharisees'] hate most”? The creator, hate they most, him who breaks the tables and old values, the breaker - him they call the law breaker. For the good - they cannot create; they are always the beginning of the end: - They crucify him who writes new values on new tables, they sacrifice to themselves the future - they crucify the whole human future!
Shamanistic self-transformation is a creative act which (more or less) assures hostile reactions from those who are psychologically committed to maintaining the status quo.
No doubt, Bataille derived his idea of transgression from Nietzsche, whom he identified with to the point of asserting, "I am Nietzsche'. The very powerful motif of destruction in Bataille's philosophical theorising is, by virtue of echoing Nietzsche, given an implicitly shamanistic structure. The meaning of "destruction" in Bataille's works can therefore be viewed, shamanistically, as a means for heralding in a very different future. "Transgression" -- sometimes referred to as "sinning" -- is the means the individual takes to expand his freedom to rule himself. This evokes the idea of challenging one's superego's restrictions, to broaden the range of 'human nature', making it more diverse and complex than previously.
Given that a core principle of any shamanistic project is to transform the character, in order to make it in some ways 'better' (--in the case of Nietzsche and Bataille, more robust--) one can venture to understand how more traditional types of shamanism might have worked. The differences between traditional shamanism and the "intellectual" types of shamanism explored above are not so vast.
My studies have led me to see that traditional shamanistic practices very often evoke the notions of regression (to an infantile state), of death and rebirth, and of doubling'(an initiate crosses 'the bridge' as 'spirit', leaving his body in the here and now). Although these motifs are often taken very literally within the bounds of traditional shamanism, intellectual shamanists like Nietzsche and Bataille take approaches that are much more self-consciously psychological, rather than 'spiritual'.
Instead of 'death and rebirth', we have 'destruction of the old law tables' in Nietzsche and 'transgression' or 'sacrifice' in Bataille. The intellectual shamanists have modified the traditional shamanistic motifs, to make them relevant for those who live today. Yet, the nature of the shamanistic experience, itself, is not that different. Both Nietzsche and Bataille invite us to encounter reality in a way that is not mediated by our strong sense of society's mores. We are to encounter "nature" in a more direct way than we had previously been allowed to do (having been prevented from doing so by our own Superego).
Whether one 'crosses the bridge' through psychological dissociation (helped along by peyote) (i.e. traditional shamanism), or through 'self-overcoming' and a contempt of 'pity' (Nietzsche) or through a transgressive self-destruction of one's bourgeois character structure (Bataille), one develops a sense of self-awareness that previously was remote from one.
In the case of intellectual shamanism, the 'shaman initiate' is capable of seeing that our image of the world is actually fabricated by our actively imaginative minds -- that what we take for actual 'reality' is really just group consensus casting a hypnotic spell over us. (In his consideration of the nature of this 'spell', Nietzsche saw not 'spirits' exactly, but rather active and reactive forces -- with the active forces embracing joie de vivre and the reactive forces posing as righteous moralisers.)
This depth of knowledge of the world, which transcends narrow, conscious awareness was the basis for Nietzsche's supreme philosophising. He implies to us that he came upon it by an initiation whereby he was "almost sacrificed":
270. The intellectual haughtiness and loathing of every man who has suffered deeply--it almost determines the order of rank HOW deeply men can suffer--the chilling certainty, with which he is thoroughly imbued and coloured, that by virtue of his suffering he KNOWS MORE than the shrewdest and wisest can ever know, that he has been familiar with, and "at home" in, many distant, dreadful worlds of which "YOU know nothing"!--this silent intellectual haughtiness of the sufferer, this pride of the elect of knowledge, of the "initiated," of the almost sacrificed, finds all forms of disguise necessary to protect itself from contact with officious and sympathizing hands, and in general from all that is not its equal in suffering. [My bolds]
The use of the terminology here is, once again, shamanistic, especially in terms of the idea that Nietzsche had obtained his initiate's knowledge of reality in "many distant, dreadful worlds". The entry into "other worlds" is possible for the shamanistic initiate -- one who has undergone the horrors of shamanistic initiation. This involves an encounter with one's social and cultural limits, through the temporary shattering of a habitual, narrow frame of consciousness.
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