The structure of shamanism

The structure of shamanism

INITIATION

Shamanic initiation seems to involve a dissolution or even a "dissipation" (temporary degeneration) of the being, through violence. By "violence" I do not necessarily mean external force. The force can well up from the inside, or be a result of partaking of extreme chemical substances. If one's nerves are extremely overextended, such as (for some people) meditating on some aspects of violence they have experienced, or something suddenly changes, like a fly landing on the hand of a Zen monk whose mind has already become incredibly stretched, through the rigors of contemplation, the violence from the outside enters the inside and there is no longer a differentiation between outside and inside.

Through the initiation process, the relationship between the individual and the external world is changed, as he or she is no longer embedded in the reality defined by earlier social conditioning.  This does not mean that the initiate may not return to VISIT such states as one who has departed from the old mindset -- that is quite possible.  But the embedded and comfortable status in relation to one's home no longer exists.   A shaman is, then, effectively homeless -- and perhaps spiritual homelessness is one of the essential features of the shamanic type.  Along with this, though, is the more important psychological component of ADJUSTMENT to homelessness, which completes the initiation and gives the (now) initiate the tools to wander.

Where to go?  There are two axes and four directions.  One may go back into the past, or into the future.  One may ascend into the heavens (transcendence) or descend into hill (immanence and below, into the psychological roots of our existence).    This freedom not to have to remain in present time and space but to move into other zones (representing modes of consciousness) is attained through successful shamanic initiation.  (Of course, one hesitates to speak of the unsuccessful outcomes, where a dissolution of being is not followed by the acquisition of additional knowledge that would make homelessness possible or even palatable.)  Successful shamanic initiation, especially these days, may be an accident of fate -- if one is weak enough to succumb to rupturing violence and yet strong enough to put oneself together afterwards, one can be said to have undergone a successful shamanic initiation.

But the loss of being, even temporarily, is not to be taken lightly, and the wound that it inflicts, although bringing wisdom, may be permanently debilitating, for instance, by adding a dimension to being that makes it more difficult to socialize, in some instances.  Traditional shamanic literature (quoted by Mircea Eliade) speaks of the difficulty of regaining the contents of one's being in very grueling terms.  For instance, all the organs from the body are taken out and boiled and then replaced.  One must be sure to count all the body parts to make sure none are missing, or otherwise one fails to make the "difficult crossing" that would facilitate a return from the dead.   This kind of language, which is really the language of torture, is not that different from that of Nietzsche when he speaks of the initiate into knowledge as one who was "almost sacrificed".   Similarly, there is a shamanic obsession with wholeness, which appears as nothing if not a life and death issue.  (Bataille, a disciple of Nietzsche, was himself concerned with psychical wholeness and wrote about his obsession in his introduction to his book, "On Nietzsche".)

So the return to wholeness, having lost one's ability to be embedded as part of the herd, is one of the most difficult tasks of self-development.   It may take many years, if it is completed at all.  Nietzsche's "On the way of the creator" in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, details some of the travails that such a would-be initiate will meet on the way, such as confrontation with the condemnation of one's own conscience for taking a path that doesn't have the prior approval of the herd (and of the herd's voice, which cautions one within, concerning the danger of one's necessary enterprise).

The point is that the enterprise of achieving wholeness on one's own becomes absolutely imperative once one has faced disintegration, since the herd and its wisdom cannot reach one anymore, from this position on the verge of complete psychological destruction.  One has, in effect, outgrown the herd, but is not yet strong enough to stand completely on one's own -- a difficult time, then, has been guaranteed!  (And members of the herd, sensing the vulnerability, will often do their best to make sure that this time is not just a bit trying, but distressingly hard.)

This is what it means to experience shamanic initiation -- but afterwards one is much more free in many ways, and more whole.  Of course there are other stages of development, too, such as learning to move more effectively between the different zones of consciousness that one is now more free to explore. One can learn to enjoy the process and develop dexterity in the mode of action.

ADDENDUM:

The physical expression of force and psychical violence are different things, although both experiences are terrifying.

The point of the particularly shamanic experience, is that the psychical terror changes the perspective from an outside-in perspective, to one that is inside-out.  That is, it intensifies subjectivity (inner sensations) and also prioritizes them.

Once one has become shamanically alive, through this prioritizing of the inner life, everything seems changed and more alive than before.