Discussion: Is shamanism Integral?

Integral Shamanism (transcript) — Gaia: The Integral Pod

[Wilber]"...the shamanic practices were the first true transcendental breakthrough practices anywhere on the planet; and they really pioneered particularly the subtle states. As Roger Walsh pointed out in his book on shamanism – which I think it's really brilliant – you don't get a whole lot of causal or pure emptiness states in shamanic work. There's some, but it's not terribly central. But you do get an unparalleled exploration of the subtle domain and subtle states. And so you'd want that to be foundational and a part of any overall path; and some people would want to specialize in that particular dimension, which is absolutely fine."

[Holden] "You simply cannot separate shamanism from it's cultural context. You can't just learn a “sun dance,” and think that you can separate it from it's total social and political meaning. ... All of this is comming from a very western and etic (external applied meaning) dialogue of shamanistic practices. One of the main aspects of shamanism for the majority of cultural groups that have shamans is for the express purpose of communicating with local spirits and the spirtual realm. Once you remove the specific practice from its particular historical landscape with specific spirits and forces, then your no longer practicing anything that can be called shamanism, i.e., that particular kind of shamanism. ... Shamanism and it's various practices have never been separate from the social and political functions and what we know as shamanism cannot be separated from the colonial-indigenous discourse."

[Pelle, for Julee]"Shamanism and Reiki both access and work with subtle energies. The energies themselves are “pure”, but the interpretation of the work is very much dependent on the level of the energy worker. Also, the recipient of the work con-structs or co-creates the images or experiences that come as a result of being flooded by subtle energies."