Rather bleak and separated from nature sounding to me.We live in a world without fixed points of view. It is Einstein's legacy; there is no longer any absolute reference point from which to veiw anything. Like the postmodern literature critic, who does not believe that any story has a set message, or structure, or even author, we are postmoderns who can see no intrinsic point to life. Like the academic who believes that stories by themselves don't mean anything, that they are written by being read, we postmoderns look at life and see something essentially meaningless, something that we pretend has meaning in order to be comfortable.
This is of course a discouraging and depressing way to go about life. The postmodern view has much in common with the shamanic view. For most people, these views inspire nihilistic despair; for a few, if we agree with Nietzche, they inspire artisitic brilliance and creativity beyond bounds. Few are happy living according to the postmodern stance of a world without absolute references. This position works for a shaman, however, because he is a rarity in the context of a traditional society. The majority of Native people live with a structured set of ideas, within which life is simple and meaning is rather fixed and concrete. The shaman lives in a different world from his people -- this is what gives him a clear vision of what to do for those who are struck somewhere in their lives.
The shaman specializes in finding meaning by venturing outside its borders into chaos and meaninglessnes. Paradoxically, the venture is possible only because of the strong faith the shaman has in what is true, because of the traditions, teachings, and tools that aid in his spiritual journey. In his personal life, the shaman reverts to the premodern stance, finding comfort in the old ways, being surrounded by rituals he finds to be meaning-full.
The depressed person, or the person suffering from psychotic disorders of the self, is suffering from a lack of absolute reference points. Without limits or boundaries, emotion becomes unbearable -- it is out of control. Few are strong enough to survive without reference points. Those of us who try suffer from a loss of meaning, or loss of world, or loss of self. We look at the world and see nothing there. - Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., p. 164, Coyote Medicine.
There are at least eight things wrong with the above quote, who can find them all?
