Although it appears that our paleo ancestors inhabiting temperate and tropical ecosystems had no modern diet-related diseases, they did suffer dis-eases, and universally had "medicine men," also known among anthropologists as "shamans." As a medical system, shamanism maintains that many apparently physical dis-eases have spiritual causes. Indigenous/shamanic tribal cultures "believe" that spirits exist and play roles in individual, tribal, and ecological health. Shamanic interventions address traumas affecting the soul/spirit
through direct interaction with the spiritual realm, achieved through altered states of consciousness that provide entrance to a non-ordinary reality.
All this talk of spirits certainly makes anxiety for modern "scientific" atheists and Judeo-Christian religionists alike. The former will dismiss such talk as mumbo-jumbo without empirical basis, a threat to rationality and logic. They will tend to dismiss shamanism as dealing with non-existent "supernatural" entities. The latter believe that for some odd reason the One True God chose to reveal himself and the Rules for the Right Way of Life only to the members of several middle Eastern desert tribes, leaving everyone else in the dark. They also believe that this God gave these chosen people not only the right but the duty to convert all other tribes to their faith and way of life, if not by persuasion then by force. These people call non-believers by various names like heretic, infidel, heathen, pagan, and so on, and have called shamanic culture "demonic."
In either case, shamanism directly competes with the "authorities." Atheists may consider shamans a threat to the authority of "reason," science, and scientists, and religionists certainly consider shamans a threat to the authority of their faith, dogma, and priests. Shamanism comes from non-hierarchical tribal culture in which no one has ultimate authority over another, and thus it conflicts with civilization and all types of authority.
To illustrate the modern discomfort with shamanism, in 1892, in a speech at the Smithsonian Institution, John Bourke called shamans "an influence antagonistic to the rapid absorption of new customs" and said "only after we have thoroughly routed the medicine men from their entrenchments and made them an object of ridicule can we [whites] hope to bend and train the minds of our Indian wards in the direction of civilization."
Comment: Psychologist John Schumaker points out in his book
The Corruption of Reality that human beings seem to come hardwired with a need to dissociate. This brain's capacity to dissociate could represent a means of shutting down the physical and connecting with the spiritual.
It also seems clear from the evidence that Schumaker presents, that it is a hard-wired function that is just waiting to be taken advantage of by any "snake-oil salesman" that comes along. It is also abundantly evident that those who do not utilize this ability of the brain - those who suppress it - suffer from other disorders.
For more information on this topic and how to heal your body, mind and spirit, see the
Éiriu Eolas website.
Comment: Andrew M. Lobczewski's book is available from QFG Publishing. Get your copy today and protect yourselves and your loved ones from the evil that is eating this world inside out.