FRANCOIS THE

9/7/2010
SHAMAN
A sickness that is understood as a process of purification, as the onset of enhanced psychic
sensitivity giving access to the hidden and highest potentials of human existence, is therefore
marked by very different characteristics than those ascribed to pathological conditions by
modern medicine and psychology, namely that suffering has only negative consequences.
According to the modern view, illness disrupts and endangers life, whereas the shaman
experiences his sickness as a call to restructure this life within himself so as to hear, see and
live it more fully and completely in a higher state of awareness. (Dreamtime and Inner Space:
The World of the Shaman by Holger Kalweit, p. 91)

We are born into material existence as limited individuals. People are afraid to
truly look within themselves for answers. People are afraid of what they might
find. Many people are afraid that there are forces outside of themselves that
speak to them and maybe at some point could exert some sort of control. For
many people the point is to constantly stay as busy as possible for their entire
lives so as to never have to think about or look towards the inner self.

Meditation which truly really means only to be fully immersed in contemplation

with the inner journey instead in the world today rather is an exercise at ignoring
this contemplation. The western world is so ignorantly fooled by the powers of
big business and their total control over the arts of healing and public
imagination. The true path of spirituality is almost completely lost to the modern
individual. Whereas in ancient culture, sickness of the mind, psychosis and
schizophrenia, were viewed as 'holy illness', the inflicted individual truly seen as
someone who was called to the world as a future healer and shaman.

In shamanic cultures, such crises are interpreted as an indication of an individual's destiny to

become a shaman, rather than a sign of mental illness. If the illness occurs in an appropriate
cultural context, the shaman returns from the crisis not only healed, but able to heal others.
http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/dsm4/lesson3_8.html
The "self-cure of a psychosis" is so typical of the shaman that some anthropologists have
argued that anyone without this experience should be described only as a healer. The
concept of the "wounded healer" addresses the necessity of the shaman-to-be entering into
extreme personal crisis in preparation of his/her role in the community as a healer (Halifax,
Joan. Shamanic Voices. New York: Dutton, 1979)..

On the spiritual path 'enlightenment' is discovered at the very moment the

'limited self' is destroyed. Devoid of everything we have built up inside of our
minds, devoid of what people wrongly believe is their 'sanity', we finally find
truth. When the limited self finally admits defeat on the spiritual path then the
clouds of human illusion finally dissipate leaving only the inner soul, God, to
remain in plain sight. It is impossible for the limited self raised in the material
world to see ultimate truth within themselves because humanity and society has
so ignorantly clouded this reality. In this light there is only one true spiritual path.
And this is the shamanic path. As the new age of humanity dawns in the world
the personal crisis that pushes the shaman-to-be to finally push towards true
transformation, like the butterfly pushing out of it's cocoon, becomes a global
crisis pushing human society and thought towards a higher reality. One of
reintegration with God and pure consciousness.

Shamanic initiation is probably the least understood of all the spiritual processes. Despite the
recent (disrespectful, erroneous) New Age idea that Shamans can be created by courses and
workshops, true Shamans are born, not made. A Shaman does not initiate other Shamans, as
occurs with Yoga and Wicca. Rather a Shaman may recognise that another has been chosen
or born a Shaman, and assist with the unfolding. The primary teaching happens through the
spirits directly, although it is not unusual for a new Shaman to be drawn to a more
experienced one, to have a hand to hold to make it easier to accept the process. Usually one
is also lead to information and Spirit provides a commentary for enhanced understanding.
http://www.kundalini-teacher.com/awakening/shamn.php

The path of the shaman is the same as the path that the Buddha underwent.
There is only one path. The inner path through death and rebirth. We learn our
way through this process through instinct because it is a natural process. Just
like the caterpillar doesn't need to read and gather information about becoming
a butterfly. And ultimately studying the spiritual path will keep you further
removed from the reality of it all which is ..... just doing it. Another person can
not teach you to reach complete unification with your higher self. This is your
journey. As the Buddha underwent the journey within himself to discover life
after spiritual death. Yes the Great Spirit within yourself can help guide you to
the right information and the right people which can help keep you enveloped in
a positive environment. I can offer you wisdom and good advice and help you
have faith that you will come to the light at the end of the tunnel but still
ultimately it is your journey. You will cure yourself and then attain to the ability to
help the world approach a higher reality. Basically if you are approaching
spirituality and are becoming confused don't worry. This is the path. The more of
us who can promote true spiritual reality the easier it becomes for the rest of the
world to uncover themselves as well. As eternal beings of true light and
illumination.

Our species and its civilization are currently in the throes of a collective (nervous) breakdown.
If what we, as a species, are doing to ourselves (destroying the biosphere, the very life-
support system of the planet, to use one example) isn't collective madness, then what in the
world is? Our underlying institutionalized and incorporated structures that are helping to keep
us asleep are breaking down and coming apart. Just as with an individual's psyche, only writ
large en masse on the world stage, we are going through a collective shamanic initiation
process, a genuine “death/rebirth” experience. The false, illusory separate self, which
experiences ourselves as alien from one another is “dying” as the fundamental framework by
which we relate to each other and the world, as we incarnate and give “birth” to a truer sense
of who we are, realizing our deep interconnection and interdependence with each other and
all living beings.
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/artis/we%20are%20all%20shamans.htm

By embracing, assimilating, and metabolizing what has gotten triggered in them, however, the
shaman is able to heal themselves and in so doing non-locally sends healing to the whole
“community.” In our current moment in time, as interdependent members of an ever-more
interconnected global village, our “community” is the entire planet. The shaman is operating in
the realm of the collective unconscious, a “no-place” where information travels in “no-time,”
faster than the speed of light. There is no part of the universe that is separate from the whole,
which is to say that a change in any part of the universe is resonantly registered in no time
whatsoever throughout the whole universe. Though the healing effects of the shaman’s
process manifests “over time,” the shaman’s self-healing, transcending the seeming
limitations of space and time, instantaneously insinuates its in-form-ation and informing
influence faster than the twinkling of an eye throughout the entire universe in ways that can
only be imagined.
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/artis/we%20are%20all%20shamans.htm