Shamanism: The Core Perspective of Humankind

Shamanism: The Core Perspective of Humankind....

What is Religion?How does Religion scholar George Lindbeck define religion?

Is the answer: Religion is a dangerous system of beliefs that drives whole societies to kill for these beliefs

Is the answer: Religion refers to belief in a supreme being.

Is the answer: Religion is primarily

concerned with rituals.

Is the answer: Religion refers to

one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's

thoughts and actions

Is the answer: It is the time when ancient prehistorical humans first built totem poles to note the sacred center (axis mundi) of their world.

How does Jaspers define "Axial Age"?

Is the answer: It points to a time when humans discovered fire and began to worship

it as a supernatural divine force.

Is the answer:It makes reference to the

time when all human societies began waging

war to fight for the religion in which they

believed.

Is the answer: It refers to the culture of the middle of the first millennium BCE when

humans formed centralizing themes that synthesized the world into broad concepts such as "Tao", "Atman", "One God" etc.

Kikuyu history tells the Kikuyu God, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga

Since we now know that humans emerged from Kenya approximately 80,000 years ago and share a common great

etc. grandmother, which deity below references

the modern inhabitant of Mt. Kenya and thus, may well be the world's oldest deity worshipped on its oldest sacred mountain?

Shiva on Kailasa

What is the principal role of the shaman?

Is the answer:

He or she gives orders to the tribe

concerning the economy and

engaging in warfare.

Is the answer: He or she

finds answers to puzzling questions about the nature of

the observable

world.

Is the answer: He or she acts as a mediator between the spiritual and natural world.

Is the answer: He or she serves primarily to guide the day-to-day decisions of the tribe.

How does Mircea Eliade define the shaman?

Is the answer: The Shaman is in fact afflicted with a mental

disease that creates hallucinations.

Is the answer: The Shaman is primarily associated with the role

of "magician".

Is the answer: The shaman serves as priest, mystic, poet and doctor to a tribe.

Is the answer: The shaman only serves the function of

communicating with the spirit world.

According to the most ancient Sumerian Creation story, how does the world come into being?

Is the answer: The supreme God creates the world out of nothing whatsoever. All the things of the world are then placed on a cosmic

tortoise who is believed to support the earth.

Is the answer: the Unmanifest Way emanates our world

Is the answer: The world begins as the product of a "Big Bang" from nothing and explodes into the world we know, guided by an invisible

but all-encompassing force.

Is the answer: The world emerges from a primeval sea and from this a cosmic mountain emerges and gives rise to male heaven and female

earth.

1.  Buddha - seated in meditation.and holding a Lotus.

  2.  Shiva - seated in meditation smoking Ganja or Marijuana.

3.  Krishna - playing the flute as he plays out the world in his consciousness.

4.  Rama - shooting arrows at all the demons of the world.

Like all the sacred mountains important to Perspectives East and West, Mount Kailasa is sacred to Jains, Hindus and Buddhists. Among the great deities who are said to reside there, which Hindu diety is the

multi-armed and the most famous among them?

Joseph Campbell, famed religion scholar and advisor to George Lucas concerning religious themes in Star Wars, had what definition of

religion?Is the answer:

Religion is a set of superstitions about the natural world that were now to be abandoned in the age of science.

Is the answer: Religion is understood as that which binds or reconnects individuals and groups with a shared set of common values.

Is the answer: Religion serves as a source mass psychosis that provokes violence among believers against those of other faiths.

Is the answer:Religion is the belief in a supreme being that guides humankind and

creates and rules all the universe.

2.  2. 

3.  3. 

4.  4. 

5.  5. 

Polytheism Refers to a multiplicity of deities representing aspects of nature (water, fire, earth or sun god without a supreme deity among

them). All known ancient humans employed this perspective which is perhaps the earliest human religious awareness.

Henotheism Refers to supreme deity among many deities (for example, Zeus, Jupiter, Indra). As civilizations advanced, the divine world was

thought to represent the new human world of agriculture, cities and kings. There were still many deities, but one of them now ruled them

all.

MonotheismRefers to one supreme deity who alone creates and rules the universe;

this term denies the existence of any other deity but the one. The Abrahamic traditions epitomize this perspective.

MonismThis term refers to the idea of a single divine principle present in all

things, everywhere at all times. The term "World Spirit" is sometimes used to reference this perspective. Our Indian family of perspectives

lean towards this understanding.

Syncretism Refers to the conscious or unconscious mixing of beliefs. These days, the mxing of beliefs is common in the "shopping mall of religions." In the past, human societies mixed beliefs without realizing it. Especially well-known in this regard is the blend of Greek and Hebrew thought in

European Christianity and the blending of Daoism and Buddhism in China.

AgnosticismRefers to the idea first proposed by T.H.Huxley that no one can know about other than this world. There may or may not be any deities or

other worlds for this knowledge is impossible for any human.

AtheismThis term points to the denial of any deity or worlds beyond the human

world we perceive. Karl Marx is most famed for this perspective - religion is the soul of a soulless world, an opiate for the masses. It is

however a fiction.

Our Indian “Family” of Friends….

Karma and rebirth are critical features of them all Gods are all over the place…infinitely They are all hyper-inclusive – you are on their

path whether you want to be our not! Ethical doctrine of ahimsa – non-harming -

common to all Sacred Language: Sanskrit, one of the oldest

extant Aryan languages, along with Hittite

Indo-Aryans, Indo-Europeans

(Pre- Columbia) The grey swath from Ireland to North India points to a family of languages established by Aryan conquest stemming from the Black Sea (in the middle of the family). One may see a streak of Turkish (Altaic) cut across the linguistic terrain, but also, a Russian and thus, Aryan one, cutting through traditionally Turkic terrain.

Hindu castes: from High to Low

Brahmin priests, Kshatriya warriors, Vaishya merchants and Shudra peasants

Two Prinicipal avatars – Krishna and Shiva

Vaishnavismand

BhaktiNo one can say that Christianity is the only religion of devotion, for devotion to this very playful deity – Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu – invites you to a life of play and enjoyment. Through devotion to and love for him, you may find yourself pleasantly ensconced in his world the next life ‘round.

He is known for having stolen clothes from the celestial cow-girls – they had to kiss him to get them back!

Krishna and wife Radha

Radha (right) with Krishna at Krishna-Balarama Temple in Vrindavan.

For incredible miracles, you can hardly beat Krishna who is said to have held up a mountain to protect a village from demon attack!

Rama and Sita

with brother Laksmana and Monkey God/General Hanuman

Demon King Ravana, beware!

ShaivismThe Divine FamilyShiva, known to the Vedas as

“Rudra” or the “Howler”. This “wild man of the woods” shares an existence quite humanoid. He has a family, expresses emotions yet also acts with total dispassion through his feminine counterpart, Shakti – “Power” or “Force”, a woman with many other faces…. In spite of his masculine character, (the true god of the Rastas, as I call him), note his feminine qualities.

Shiva and ShaktiShiva’s family. The Elephant-headed Ganesh has this head because Shiva ripped off his old one and mom could only find a nearby elephant’s head as a replacement. He, though not so important in terms of central doctrine, is nevertheless valued as a good luck god. Mom, who begins her career as Divine Mother as Parvati or “she of the mountains” ends as Sati – “Presently Being” after immolating herself to coerce Shiva to action for humans. In this devotion, she serves as a model for wife-burning sacrifice to the modern period.

Kali

– or “Time-woman” the overpowering presence of the ferocious aspect of Shiva’s consort. She even overcame him. This tradition inspires the tantric tradition in other Indian cultures and rather than being afraid of sex or denying it, find the union in this act incomparable for understanding the divine.

Kali – the “Dark Woman of Time”subdues Shiva

Here, Shiva has a vision of the infinite universe seeing Kali’s yoni or female generative organ. In around her body are the heads of assorted slain gods. A feminist deity for sure….

The sramana or “Striver” movements: Jainism and Buddhism

Both are anti-caste – especially anti-brahmin Both reject the Vedas as authorities Both were founded by members of the Warrior or

Kshatriya caste Both aim at individual liberation

Jainism: the example of the “Victor” the “Great Hero” the Mahavira

The The Jiva aJiva and nd AAnekantavadanekantavadatirthankara – tirthankara – fordmakerfordmakerover the torrentous over the torrentous river of samsara – the river of samsara – the world of dissatisfaction world of dissatisfaction to kevalajnana - to kevalajnana - “wisdom alone” and “wisdom alone” and liberation of the liberation of the jivajiva from the “karmic dust” from the “karmic dust” of ignorance. When of ignorance. When one desires nothing, one desires nothing, anything is enough.anything is enough.

Ahimsa

The story of Bahubali Svetambara – for women too! Digambara – clothed by the environment…. Ascetism – rejected by Buddha, the Jains pull out

their head-hairs rather than shave them like to potato-killing Buddhists!

Buddhism and awakening:The Doctrine of Reality and the Discipline for his

“beggars” ( or “monks”)

Buddha’s Temptation

Mara: daughters discontent, delight and craving overcome

1.  A figure of the Great Emperor, seated in Imperial clothing, giving advice on how to govern the entire world.

  2.  A replica of the imperial palace.

3.  An image of the T'ai Ch'i, or "Yin-Yang" so popular among Daoist peasants.

4.  The image of the Jade Emperor can be seen, manifesting the creation of all that exists through his universal Chi energy.

Among the Chinese, Mt. Tai is the most renowned. It is one of only three places in the Chinese cultural sphere to have a model of this:

Taoism / Daoism

Lao-tzu: balance and harmony of seemingly opposing elements = wu wei or “non-action”

ConfucianismConfucius: a Hierarchy of Six Relationships = stable society = the figure of the “gentleman”

1.Ruler- 2.Teacher- 3.Friend4.Subject 5. Student 6. Friend

The end of human sacrifice:

Abraham is stopped from sacrificing Isaac

- Rembrandt

Jehovah and

Sinai

1.  The Talmud says God Jehovah sits there in prayer on the Ark of the Covenant.

2.  Mt. Sinai is enveloped in a cloud of perpetual love in which God Jehovah is seated on the Bible itself, giving commandments to the world.

  3.  The mountain top itself expanded to contain the God Jehovah and his angels.

4.  Mt. Sinai is considered to made of the Law of God itself and over which the God Jehovah presides.

The Abrahamic Traditions also have a number of sacred Mountains, among the Mount Zion and Mount Sinai. Among the accounts of the meaning of this mountain, which of the

following is among the views held in the Mekhilta section of the Talmud, how is god Jehovah (God of all three Abrahamic Traditions) viewed to live on that mountain to give laws to Moses

deemed holy by Judaism, Christianity and Islam?