Since the rational dimension of the mind's functioning enables us to grasp reality really effectively due to inappropriate moral inhibitions inculcated during childhood development, the ego destruction one experiences during shamanistic initiation implies madness. However, the madness that one undergoes as a shamanic initiate is temporary. The final outcome is that one's grasp on the forces that produce reality is strengthened, not weakened. This is because of what is clarified in the psyche or removed from it through shamanistic experience.
Misunderstandings about shamanism often need to be dispelled, since some people may assume that shamanistic rituals involve a moral purification process or process that refines the personal character. Outcomes such as an increased awareness of the value of ethics are more than likely, although not in the way of contemporary Christian thought or New Age ideologies that emphasize the development of the individual.
A deep shamanistic experience reveals only that there are no pre-existing pathways that decide which way you should go in life. There are, however, limits . Also, the very idea that one could purify oneself morally, or of obtain anything resembling an absolute truth, is challenged by real shamanistic experience.
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An additional note: shamanism deals also with memories. Any sense we might have of something unidentified, lurking in the background of the mind, needs to be attended to, for good health. We're traditionally taught to blame ourselves for these sorts of feelings or to try to contain them using moral measures such as by attempting to cut off the body from the mind. This would be like somebody stung by a bee assuming they must necessarily have a dodgy constitution. Distraction or self blame (otherwise known as "morality") is not advisable : effective removal of the bee sting is.And, sometimes the "sting" that has to be removed is a moral concept, value or idea that is falsely construed in the psyche..
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