Thursday, August 4, 2016

Engaged Shamanism: lessons from the road.....



For the last 25 years I have been for the most part trained to see and listen. These skills are hard won... take time and the results have made me a better person ( I think). The challenges I find today  in how my work is affected by social media is profound. Social media for all it's good has en-trained most people to react with emotions and judgement.... this instant response and emoting has consequences. Like posting a reaction before really processing the details of what was read or seen. This is an exercise in ego building.

The Ego exists only to serve itself. It judges everything in its struggle to survive at all costs. It will lie, cheat and steal to make sure it has the edge for survival.... flight/fright... a complete adrenalin  rush all the time. This is the world we live in... The Ego tells us what to eat,... who to sleep with... who to cheer for... who to have sex with.... who to destroy.... run from... etc... constantly dividing the world in to little bits to control...It's a kind of  drunken madness with out end... it leaves the individual exhausted and fearful... thinking the world is  against them... in extreme cases it flames the conspiracies of crazy paranoia...

Sound familiar?

The shadow of social media is its progression towards reaction and this over time serves to divide people. This also can  flame  the seeds of righteousness and extremism. Every topic whether true or false become a point of contention.  It feeds and provokes often  an instinctual response  and discards the reasoning and  intellectual response. We become clever not insightful... combative not curious... This will be the on going challenge of  navigating  this kind of technology so it nurtures growth and connection with out oppressing it's potential for expression and meaningful discourse...

The answer will come from us and how we want to continue to use  social media


I get asked all the time how do shaman's do what we do? What makes me a shaman? As I stated at the start of this blog... I listen and see...  What is there? What is going on? What am I hearing? These are simple yet powerful ways to assess a situation and make a discerning response....

The other thing is to meet people where they are at. That is harder. It takes a lot to listen and really see some one  especially, if you can not stand to be around for whatever the reason. It brings up all your own prejudices and judgments...  it's a lesson in self awareness and compassion. Really listening to someone's story can deeply heal that person even if we do not agree with their perspective... or ideology... or actions... The concept of "healing" is pretty abstract... there are some base rules which define the various schools of "wellness" and "medicine"... yet in my work the question I ask most is: How do you feel in your world? The answers vary yet fall into a few categories:
1.  Disconnected
2.  Confused - Loss of purpose & loss self
3.  Unseen & Unheard
4.  Drained by the circumstances of their life

From this point of recognizing the "dis-ease" in the person's life you start a process to bring them back to feeling connected/loved, part of a community, part of the solution... etc... and that is the road toward personal empowerment, reconciliation and change. This also requires actions that heal the situations that brought about the issues to begin with. Some of this is personal work, ceremonial work and community work.

It all starts with seeing and listening... everything else is branch from that.




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