shamanism

I coined this term, "shamanistic doubling" to describe how certain types of 'madness' can be productive states. One looks at oneself from the outside and gains valuable knowledge and experience by reducing or increasing the level of one's emotional involvement.   Traditional shamans take drugs in order to gain a sense of seeing everything from outside of the ego.  In conceptual terms, we can understand shamanism as a temporary departure from the here and now in order to bring something back from an experience of an alternative state of consciousness.  This could be a solution to a problem, a creative product or an intellectual idea.  Notably, The double helix was discovered on LSD.

Alternative states of consciousness are often experienced spontaneously by those who exposed to war or extreme episodes of violence.   My PhD thesis (2010) examines the experiences of Zimbabwean writer, DAMBUZDO MARECHERA, from this viewpoint.