Death and the Shaman Part II

Traditionally Shamanic initiation will involve some form of ‘death’ which in turn is followed by rebirth into the new life, the new state of being. For the Shaman death is another state, another way of being in the Universe; this one or any of any number of others. The valley of shadows is a journey undertaken by the Shaman for many purposes. They choose to cross the bridge that spans the worlds.
Occasionally, through trauma mental or physical the veil may be pierced by those unaware of the existence of the other worlds. Unbeknown to them as it does not form part of their belief system. They are shown that there is something else, somewhere else.
Some catch a glimpse of what is on the other side of the veil or membrane of that parallel Universe and others are catapulted right into the belly of the Void with all its magnificent potential. Each experience is subjective and coloured again by the belief system of the person involved. This may be the reason that it does not sit well with some.
This is life through a different door, and like Bluebeards’ wife we may find that once we have gone through that door our perception of what life is on this side of it will be changed forever. As found the curious spouse, once something is seen it cannot be un-seen, once a story is told it cannot be un-told it may be changed and adapted but it will still have been brought into conscious awareness.
Le Barre said ‘There were Shamans before there were Gods’; it is a kind of Schrödinger idea, the situation doesn’t exist until it is seen, and once seen it may be believed – but only by those who have experienced the sight of it. Depending on whom these people are, their relationship to whomever they tell and the evidence they produce of how that experience has changed their own perception will govern the acceptability of the event to a wider audience.
That this idea remains unacceptable for some is to be expected since it may fly in the face of certain belief systems. There will be those who will question such ability or the experience of it due to fear, dogma or their opinion of the person relating it.
Let’s get this straight Spirit doesn’t care if you have a degree in theology or not, Spirit speaks to the heart and soul; Spirit is its own qualifier and quantifier. Ordinary Joe Blogs round the corner has as much chance of an epiphany as does the Pope the only difference is in the expectation and perception of their audience. The Pope is expected to deal in epiphany; it is a recognised and widely held belief that this guy has the ear of God; therefore it’s his job to deal in the less than tangible. Joe Bloggs on the other hand, he has the ear of his wife and family and his epiphany can easily be brushed off as a dream or nonsense by family and friends even should this be the result of a near death or indeed a death experience.
It is others’ beliefs as to what right Joe Bloggs has to claim a life changing spiritual experience that will govern how many times he tells it, and to an extent his own continuing belief in his story. If he believes he has witnessed/experienced a miracle and it was sent to him by God it is most likely that he will seek out the counsel of a priest. Should the priest be dismissive of his experience it will fall to how much he believes that he is deserving of such an epiphany and what it means to him.
It is understood that even Jesus Christ had a hard time being accepted as the Messiah in his home town, because people knew him as only the son of a carpenter.
It is the human condition to seek out those who with whom we share experiences, this is proven by the amount of support groups that are around brought into existence by people searching like for like. There are indeed groups of people who give each other support due to dying on the operating table and having the post resuscitation blues. They stay within this ‘circle’ and are comforted. Some see it as a miracle some really do not like the idea of it at all – a door has opened and they’ve had a peek, a bit like Bluebeards’ wife, once she knew what was on the other side of the door she had no idea how to deal with it only that she wanted to undo it, which of course is the one thing she was unable to do. She had no way to know how to be, everything was different now, and she was different.
For others the way to understanding the concept of death is less dramatic – they may not remember the event or indeed they may not consider it memorable enough – one persons’ near death trauma is another’s extreme sport.
It is within these parameters i.e. being human, being curious and being experiential learners that the whole thing gets tangled up like a big ball of string the kitten’s had for a week.
Generalising is one thing, feeling, being, doing, touching, hearing and seeing is another.
Oh, and one more thing before I go on...there is a theory that we cannot imagine anything we have not already experienced...if you could just keep that idea in mind for what comes next and if you are not sure then perhaps you could imagine what that would feel like now, or not either is better.
We cannot speak our minds for fear of ridicule
We cannot love for fear of being hurt
We cannot move forward for fear of losing what we leave behind
We cannot stay for fear of what we may miss
We cannot be ourselves for fear we offend another
We cannot die because we fear..... DEATH

Death and the Shaman Part 1

Death and the Shaman

The Shaman has a kind of symbiotic relationship with death, a concept that some find less than easy to understand.
This relationship is integral to the work of the Shaman, that life and death exist together in harmony is unacceptable to some who will not venture to become comfortable with the idea of their own mortality or that of their loved ones.
Fear and dogma is the veil which obscures our understanding of this subject; curiosity is the key to overcoming the inevitability of our demise. We really are the only animals on this earth that fear death because we are the only ones to quantify it, deify it and philosophise it. We endeavour always to control it, to avoid it at all cost and to what end? We still die.
Really, we cannot have life without death– for without either there would be no existence – no ability for rebirth. The seasons change and things die, we see the cycle of life as they are born anew, not the same as before but part of the same species for plants and trees, they would be the forebears of the original – carrying the double helix to the next generation. So I suppose that we would call life and death a co-dependant relationship, the fruits of which give us the space to bring forth new life, and still allow us to honour what went before.
Anais Nin said, Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
This equating death with a permanent state of non-function is not unique; it may however be more than a little unfair. As with most things we have to realise that our experiences form our opinions of things. Those things we do not have experience of we depend on other authorities’ views to explain. Authorities that we have deemed worthy of the position; so much so that we invest in their belief and make it our own, sometimes less than wisely. This again is a matter of opinion. However, when it becomes a consensus of opinion it can jump from the realm of belief into the realm of fact. Ask any room that has a cross section of Creationists and Darwinists. Though what if they are both correct? What if it is the time frame that we humans have given that is the bone of contention and nothing else?
As Kuan Yin posits People believe that death is punishment from God rather than a natural progression, a doorway to other realities. By having such grim perspective on death, they make it a fearful and painful experience.
Belief is the key.