Jack
Kornfield and Shinzen Young on Shamanism
"Shamanism
has been misunderstood in the modern times because it is associated
with antiquated ways of thinking and superstition but the reality is
that it was shut down primarily by colonialism and by organised
religion. One of the great Catholic mystics of our time who I talked
to said that the Catholic Church for example had hidden all their
mystical practices after Martin Luther and the reformation because
they didn't people to talk directly to God. They needed people to go
through the intermediaries of the priests and the church. So the
church was the one that could intermediate between the higher world
and lower world and sell indulgences but nobody else could. The truth
is that shamans and shamanism has always existed in cultures. They
are the healers, the sages, the ones who live in between the two
worlds and can open them to you and it's scaring people but now we
need them more than ever". - Jack Kornfield, buddhist
teacher and author, https://vimeo.com/220889134
It
blew my mind to learn that shamanism has been the original religion
or way of life since ancient times, literally for tens of thousands
of years. World religions such as buddhism, christianity and islam
are lightweight compared to shamanism, in terms of history. Shamans
have existed in all native cultures, everywhere in the world.
I
haven't studied shamanism per se but through healing practices and
tantra, I instantly see many similarities with shamanism. Of course
many practices and rituals of tantric yoga have shamanic origins, or
perhaps I should say presence? It was also news to me that, according
to Shinzen Young, another pioneering buddhist teacher, in shamanism
there are two branches: 1. the style that is concerned with powers
and 2. the style that is concerned with knowing oneself. Apparently
Mr. Young has been a practicing shamanist for 40 years. See video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33u14OjeHpE
I
do not subscribe to the secular, nonmystical worldview and I think
that while rationalisation and common senseness needs to be a solid
foundation of any type of path, the nonmystical and secular worldview
is insufficient to people because it removes wonder and fascination.
By wonder and fascination, I refer to a way of seeing human beings in
a greater way than just as a sack of muscles and bones, brain and
nervous system which is the view of modern science. To see human
being purely as a physical-material organism is precisely what
prevents understanding our humanness in a profound way, with all its
nonmaterial depth and potential for self-healing and self-empowerment
in psychological and spiritual ways.
-Kim,
3.8.2019
