REPOST

An understatement commences right here: shamanism is not an approach designed for self-esteem building.

Nor is it a means for moral edification. Whilst building self-esteem through worthwhile activities or edifying oneself morally are necessary and valuable, shamanism is still not the means for this.

A good analogy: the paint work in one's house has become worn and shoddy. There are already too many layers of paint to call for a simple repaint, so a paint-stripper is advisable. Shamanism is the chemical reagent that will remove the glossy sheen from inside your house.

Shamanism is inimical to the project of building an identity, since it eschews self-deception.  But social identities are useful fictions at best. Shamanism holds that one does not earn an identity or develop self-esteem from others. To attempt this approach would make one a victim, since others can freely deny you your very identity.  So long as one wishes to "command respect" from others, you give others power to control you.

Shamanism is the paint stripper that breaks down the illusions -- it removes the gloss of your psychological attitudes that keep you in a mode of sadomasochism. It removes the paint that you and others, through social collusion, have long been smearing over reality.

What's underneath may not be to our liking, but in time it can be polished, to radiate.

Nietzsche's Zarathustra advised his readers that some people ought not to lose their illusions as they are better off with them. To be free in this way could lead some people to commit suicide. Nietzsche thought  most were not free enough for this freedom; that they needed to limit their capacity to be honest with themselves.

One's self-esteem needs already to be high to manage life without the typical self-deception that is the belief in the redemptive qualities of a moral system.