Interfaith Voices: Shamans practice knowledge, respect, humility and art

We all have the abilities of the Shamans, and yet they often go neglected, even for a lifetime, so Shamans say. Why? The first reason is that people do not know that they have such abilities.

Some of that can be cleared up right here by reading, and yet such knowing has to have the firm foundation of realizing that knowledge is a form of power.

Such knowing leaves no room for doubt, and thus produces a certain joy of simply knowing. The more we abandon doubt, the happier we become.

Still, there is an insidious side: fake knowing. We can be lazy and substitute assumptions for knowing, ultimately finding ourselves back at the beginning, swamped in the confusion and misery of being misled by oneself and others.

As we begin to know things, we detect real dangers and fear creeps in. Shamans are circumspect and respectful of danger. We don’t try to pet the jaguar. In times of real danger, the Shaman acquiesces, knowing Spirit is present as a witness and a guide.

Surviving dangers and hardships, we often want to turn around and pat ourselves on the back, thinking it was somehow our own virtue, our ego that courageously pulled us through.

The Shaman knows that it was Spirit that made the difference, not some personal superiority. Yet many people fall into the vanity trap, trying to gain the esteem of other people, invariably losing their close connection to Spirit in the process.

Shamans stay humble, Shamans stay grounded. A majority of Shamanic practitioners are women, stable and grounded in the world, and humble travelers of the Universe.

When vanity is removed, there is an inner peace that allows one a true enjoyment of the marvelous moment that Time is unfolding right now.

When vanity overwhelms a person, they have entered into a push-pull situation with the world where hostility dominates. Violence, cruelty and warfare characterize people and societies that have fallen off the deep end into hostility.

In the end, such destructive energy destroys itself, yet at a very real cost.

Shamans don’t fall for the violence revenge cycle. Shamans turn their considerable energy to art. Art, whether it is with materials or through music or dance or storytelling, is carried out for the pleasure of the performers and the public. There is no malice in art.

We can all see the results of ignorance, fear, vanity and hostility, and yet we seemingly play with them as if they were requisite to being human. With the same energy we can practice knowing, respect, humility and art, and all have a much more loving time in our lives here.

With our eyes open, we read this and the whole world seems present. And yet, do we consider that our vision is just a window before us? Close our eyes and it disappears. Our view is surrounded by darkness; beyond our sight, behind our eyes, somewhere in our head, the darkness and Mystery lies, unknown.

Still, everything we see around us made and organized by humans started in the darkness of someone’s mind. We are surrounded by Mystery, ancient and sacred. Shamans see and know this; it is fundamental and functional.

Shamans lovingly free their energy in this world through knowledge, respect, humility and art, in order to fly freely into the Mysteries that lie beyond this world, accepting their true citizenship in the Infinite and Eternal Universal Beauty of Creation.