Shamanisam (was RE: Imprecision in religious conversations )

[Guest guest]

Shaman, religious specialist, originally found in hunting-gathering

cultures, which are loosely structured, technologically simple, and

homogeneous. The word shaman is derived from a word in the Tungusic

language of Siberia, one of the areas in which the classical form of

shamanism is found. Several forms of shamanism have been observed in

widely distributed nonliterate societies located in Central Asia, North

America, and Oceania.

Although a shaman can achieve religious status by heredity, personal

quest, or vocation, the recognition and call of the individual is always

an essential part of that individual's elevation to the new status. The

shaman, usually a man, is essentially a medium, a mouthpiece of the

spirits who became his familiars at his initiation, during which he

frequently undergoes prolonged fasts, seclusion, and other ordeals

leading to dreams and visions. Training by experienced shamans follows.

The main religious tasks of a shaman are healing and divination. Both

are achieved either by spirit possession or by the departure of the

shaman's soul to heaven or to the underworld. Shamans also divine the

whereabouts of game, the position of the enemy, and the best way of

safeguarding and increasing the food supply. Shamans may occupy an

elevated social and economic position, especially if they are successful

healers.

Attempts to explain the shamans and their cures have been numerous. Some

scholars have drawn parallels between shamanistic healing and

psychoanalytic cures and have concluded that in both instances

efficacious and therapeutic symbols are created, leading to

psychological release and physiological curing (see Faith Healing).

Several anthropologists, rejecting a theory that shamans are basically

neurotics or psychotics, have suggested that shamans possess certain

cognitive abilities that are distinguishably superior to those of the

rest of the community. Other scholars simply explain shamanism as the

precursor of a more organized religious system or as a technique for

achieving ecstasy.

 

This is the reference I got from my encyclopedia.

 

Regards, Madhava

>

> Gregory Goode [sMTP:goode]

> None

> advaitin

> Re: Imprecision in religious conversations

>

> new list. One is, many paths (Vedanta, Zen, Taoism, Christism, Toltec

> shamanism [i'm not familiar with that one, any references?])

[Guest guest]

At 11:20 AM 9/2/98 +0300, Madhava Kumar Turumella wrote:

>Madhava Kumar Turumella <madhava

>Shaman, religious specialist, originally found in hunting-gathering

>cultures, which are loosely structured, technologically simple, and

>homogeneous.

 

Thanks for looking this up! Doesn't look like these forms are especialy

non-dualistic, does it?

 

--Greg