In shamanic terms, and even as Nietzsche recognized, it is our wounds that are definitive, in determining whether we see visions and rise to a challenge or do not. And in Paleolithic times the shamanic seer always had arrows through him. So it becomes clear that shamanic initiation involves a wounding to the the tree or person who has only just attained adulthood. After than, they either mediate their visions to society and become a true initiate, or they die. That is the true dilemma of shamanism – there is no middle path or solution of moderation. There is only heroic overcoming of one’s ordeal or death. And perhaps I should have said that earlier about Marechera, but I had thought it obvious at the time, although now that I see it, this was far from obvious to most people.
And to say what I have previously mentioned, I think the shamanic type has to be a constitutionally strong type to withstand that wounding and to make something of it. At any rate, the initiation experience will tend to shorten his life, whilst making it more productive in the short term.
But Bataille was born in Catholic France, with the French revolution in the background and lived through a couple of wars. He also had had a very authoritarian father and hated being dominated, even though in the material sense he saw this as a necessity (to make a living). So he wrote in this very aggressive way about life and death. He also had that same sense of flesh and spirit being totally separated, as did Marechera. Marechera was educated in an Anglican school.
Generally, I think there is a lot of intensity in those who have been brought up during war, who also have a religious background. They tend to express themselves more divisively and more maliciously in some respects.
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