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Shamanic World View

The Shamanic World View

In developing a shamanic world view, a contemporary practitioner faces a huge conceptual leap. Most people grow up in one or another ‘normalizing’ socially reinforced world (through the teaching of family, school, government, etc.) that we (more or less) learn to accept. The product of such a world view are understandings and agreements that many times unconsciously constitute and thus construct our world view. Every world view has positive and negative consequences. These are 'filters' that precondition what we think we see.

Shamanic reality is engaged by means of a world view that is heavily weighted towards such things as the following:

1) Everything has a life-force, spirit, ‘being-ness’. This has been given the term ‘animism.’

2) ‘Reality’ includes far more than what is physical. In other words, our ‘concrete’ world is just the start of it.

3) Everything is our teacher: our Earth is giving us lessons all of the time!

4) You have the right – and responsibility – to communicate the spirit-world directly. Unfortunately, giving you back this right discomforts a number of established religious organizations. So be it. What they don't want you to know is that it is completely unnecessary to go through a religious representative who serves as an intermediary between you and the Divine. In fact, to do so would irreparably alter the direct experience of the Divine so that it becomes someone else’s experience of it, not your own.

There are more, other important features that 'round out' the nature of a shaman, provide a shamanic world view, and basically 'rock your world'. These would be covered in detail in class, and are actually quite different than our contemporary, ordinary ways of looking at things. Something like a change in world view takes time to digest and integrate, which is why I have come to insist on providing coursework over time, and which finally directed me to make this training more widely available and over the internet.

There is also an important posture that the shaman must take towards the world that includes a deep measure of compassion. Remember, the shaman 'sees with the heart', and that her or his compassion illuminates all that they see and do. Again, the 'posture' of a strong, well-grounded shamanic practitioner is not something that can be handed over in a weekend workship. To develop this, you deserve a teacher's support over time.

All this is true, unless of course, you had the wonderful opportunity to grow up in a society that already knew how to see our world in such a way. As a shamanic practitioner, you will gradually move towards this view as your eyes become opened through shamanic experience.

There is no hurry. It is a natural process!