We are all, in a sens, idolaters of this recent western cultural artifact called "shamanism"; we love, we cherish, we dedicate our self to it, but as much as we get involve, so little we have something to do with the original, indigenous shamanism; we've created a lie, an illusion and we keep doing it just because this is how our culture works... you don't practice shamanism to sell it and to achieve personal transformation, shamanism it happens to be practiced because the world has unmanageable situations and because life is precarious and unforeseeable , because some people (the shamans) are forced to talk to the spirits and to heal the sick people... they are not doing it for fun or for them, they are doing it because there are some forces beyond them that affects them. I'm not speaking about the "real" shamans, it does not matter this point of view, it only matters our illusion, our lie, our self-limitation. This is what I want to know about and I want to fight against.
My point is that the only accurate perspective or maybe the only "right" place of shamanism in our culture, can be found in the scholarly literature of ethnology, sociology, anthropology, psychology and history of religion, but not as a proclamation of scientific objectivity of our powerful western culture, but because this is the only really "fair" usage of this cultural artifact called "shamanism", meaning - the only aspect of our shamanic intelligibility that is not intentionally mixing indigenous culture with western culture, that is just acquiring information. I'm interested in scholarly literature at its most psychological or subjective (read it "weak") level, as a culture who tries not to conquer, to engulf another culture but just to understand it.
Note: this is an important shift of my search. Perhaps this blog will die or will become something else.
03.02.2009
I'm returning to this blog and leave it as it is, it's ok as it is...
I'll add some more links at the bottom.
30.12.2009
Doar ce am vizitat seiturile lui Ross Heaven si Howard G. Charing si am simtit din nou ecoul chemarii lui Flavio. Apoi, vazind ca exista o "consistenta" a acestei chemari pe care nu am banuit-o pina acum, am dat un search google la "shamanis" si am gasit http://www.shamanicteachers.com/welcome/welcomeromanian.html. Sint uimit de faptul ca e tradus si in romaneste si ca poate exista invatatori si in Romania :)...
Am privit shamnismul prin prisma contraculturii psichedelice, a gindirii lui Mckenna in deosebi. Nu am banuit ca shamanismul ar putea fi o credinta si o practica vie in lumea occidentala. Incep sa ma simt atras si de aceeasta parte a problemei, cu toate ca am anumite rezerve visavis de simulacrul ontologic pe care notiunea de samanism si practica ca atare o dezvolta vrind-ne-vrind in mintea si sufletul nostru.
(Imi dau seama ca exista de fapt cel putin 2 nivele ale simulacrului ontologic: anume unul estetic sau adus de interesul prin el insusi, de placerea prin esa insasi - asa cum ar aparea in cultura psihedelica de exemuplu, si unul etic sau practic, adus de modul in care este folosit, uzat lucrul, gindul sau fapta cu pricina - un exemplu cum asa cum am declarat deja ar fi coreshamanismul...)
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I've just saw the websites of Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing, and I've felt again the echo of Flavio's calling. There's a real deal going on with this type of calling among a lot of people, I've never imagine it could be so "heavy"; so, I've googled about it and found this http://www.shamanicteachers.com/welcome.html. I'm amazed that this is also translated in romanian and I presume that there may be some shaman instructors in Romania :)...
I've always looked shamanism through psychedelic counter-culture glasses, mostly through Mckenna's eyes and thoughts. I've never belived that shamanism could be a faith and a practice in the West. I begin to feel more and more attracted by this side of the issue, 'though I have some reserves concerning the ontological simulacrum of the notion of shamanism and the usage and the practice of what shamanism means to Europeans and westerners.
(I think there are at least two kinds of ontological simulacrum: one is related to aesthetics and to the shamanic study itself and the pleasure itself produced inside us - as it is in the psychedelic culture, for instance; and one that is related to practice and the ethic of how shamanic knowledge is used by the soul and it is reflected by the facts - an example as I already wrote is the coreshamanism...)
About
This is the log of a
work in progress. I'm tryning to keep here acount of all my quasi-shamanic inspiration -
the medium - so, please, do keep in mind that
these posts are in fact the actual WORK that some day will be presented as a finished work -
the message - (I hope it will be a book, but I certanly see this only as a last "bagage" that I have to throw away to free myself).
You can email me at -mariustoica_at_gmail_ dot_ com- for any question or opinion that you might have regarding my work.
Some info about myself: My name is Marius Stoica, I live in Timisoara (Romania), I'm 27 years old. Next week I'll get merried and my wife is pregnant in 4 months :) I've studied philosophy with an emphasis on contemporary french philosphy and some on phenomenology. In fact, I'm pretty influenced by authors like Battaille, Deleuze, Husserl or Marc Richir. I also don't like corporatism and imperialism and I try to resist to all the crap that the world is more and more filled in.
8 September 2007----------------
Trecem la modul freestyle
7 Octombrie 2008
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