Anyhow, my life improved a lot when I no longer projected innate wisdom onto skillful shaman that I'd meet, but instead took them as they came, with foibles and all. And I've benefitted greatly from really wise shamans, along with the fairly foolish ones.
Sage advice. I can say I have ran into some shaman who definitely donāt have their ego straightened out nor are wise, but are more like technitions. Infact, the odd thing is that I seem to find more and more of them lately. Shamanism is a skill, and like any trade there are wonderful people in it and not so wonderful people in it, wise and not so wise, caring and selfishā¦
In different traditional cultures, there are different levels of internal balance and selflessness that is needed in shamanic work. Some cultures require the shaman to be a very well balanced and selfless individual who works for the people when they request his help. That is what I found is and was required in the Hawaiāian traditions. There is a great qoute from Hank Wesselmanās book VISIONSEEKER that captures the challenge of being on the path very wellā¦
The greater our personal advancement along the path of power, the more vulnerable we become to the flaws in our own character.
I am thankful to have had the pleasure of being taught by and spent time with Shamans who were bright, light-hearted, humble human beings with a knack for understanding people and helping them when they are asked too. These same people live regular lives like the rest of us, and donāt hold a high opinion of themselves.
Being able to practice shamanism doesnāt make one a shaman, either. To me a real shaman is one who is out there to help, has reined in his or her own ego and is willing to put it aside at a moments notice, and who is also able to admit just as swiftly that they donāt really know. That has been the slice of the pie that I have been most inspired byā¦
If you go to a place like Peru (where I spent the month of August in 2006) you can run into shamans left and right. Many of them are sadly out there to make money, and even more sadly the best way for them to make that money is by doing negative sorcery on others at a clients request. Not all of them do this, but many do. There are also those who compete with other shamans to be the best and will go to war against them to be top dog. Like any craft or trade, this one can be influenced by the human ego.
In the same mouthful, I can say that the shamans I had the pleasure of working with really did healing work only to help others and feed their families. Many of them have had to deal with the negative side of things and some even continue to work to heal others at great personal risk. Such is life in the Amazonā¦ where shamanism is part of everyday.
The book recommendation sounds excellent. I will put it on my booklist. Thanks.