Outside Reading: Shamanism: The Beginning of Arts

After reading this book, I got a new appreciation for shamanism and they people who practice it. In this book, it talks about how certain people become shaman and what that means for the rest of their life. Most people who become a shaman start at a very young age and most do not have a choice. To become a shaman, they give up living as normal people during their culture. While most shamans are highly revered by their tribe and it is viewed as an outstanding opportunity, it is still showed upon them whether it is because of birth or because they receive a dream at an early age. I have now started to view this as a service to their people instead of a privilege. Perhaps they do not view it this way but coming from a culture where everyone is encouraged to be what ever they want to be this is paying the ultimate price. Before birth, they are stripped of that right and are now supposed to serve the tribe the best they can whether they are qualified or not. When it's contrasted with priesthood, priests make the choice to leave all of their things behind so it is more of a personal choice. Shamans are more willing to serve their tribe and that is where their respect is derived from because the entire people know that they have not chosen to be the shaman but were in fact chosen.

Devin

Choice Topic: Accountability

Recently I have been rereading Game of Thrones and I stumbled upon the line where Ned Stark is telling his son that "whoever sets the punishment should be the one to swing the sword." This lesson has rung true so many times in my life since reading this book and I never realized it. While of course no one is running around swinging swords at people left and right like in the world of Westeros, it does have some real world applications. It is basically translated as taking responsibility for ones actions. It speaks about the person receiving the sentence as well as the person who is passing it. Both are being held accountable. For the one who is receiving the sentence, something wrong has happened and they were the cause of it. They have been tried and now the sentence is before them but the important part is that now they are before the sword. They stood and allowed themselves to be tried and now stand ready to accept the punishment that lies before them even if it means their death. The second portion is the more obvious lesson. It points toward leadership and being held accountable for actions and decisions that are made. My favorite part is that the sentence isn't said whether to be right or wrong but only that the leader stands by it. I think this is important because there is a lot of grey area that leaders move through and making decisions are never clearly right or wrong but doing what you perceive is right and stand true to it is what is important.

Devin

Class reading: Abram

"Every attempt to definitively say what Language is is the subject of curious limitation. For the only medium for which we can define language is language itself". This is a quote from Abram in The Spell of the Sensuous on page 73 in which he attempts to explain the mystery of language.  Language  which is English for us come from Latin roots which has developed over years and years through written word. I learned English from my parents as a baby and then when I entered grade school I began to learn its structure and the foundation for the English language. However these primal religions do not have to these structures and foundation based in writing. These languages have been passed down orally from parents to child for generations. This tradition of passing of language also allows for the passing down of ideals, traditions, and mythology. These mythologies allow for communication between cultures even if written language is not a factor.

Hunter

Assigned Reading: Bruchko

In this reading, what stuck out to me the most was the perseverance of Bruce to reach out and perform the mission that he felt he was called to do. He was constantly let down and had numerous obstacles that were placed in his path but he refused to be stopped. This kind of perseverance could be dangerous if his intentions had been in the wrong place. Other people that are usually trying to reach out to uncivilized people are looking to exploit them. Some of them just want to convert them but in the process leave no room for their own culture to take root in the new religion. However Bruce kept a steady pace and learned how their religion worked. This had to take time because these people are not simply throwing their culture around for everyone to witness and study. Through this patience, Bruce was able to find a way that Christianity could be related to their religion. In my opinion, this is no different from learning a different language and attempting to communicate with someone. The message is still the same but it is impossible to just repeat in your own language over and over until finally the message is received. It works much better when you use words and concepts that the people already know. While there are still the obstacles of the message being misunderstood because you don't really understand their tradition fully, I think it is because of that aspect that such perseverance and patience are important lessons to learn even if you aren't trying to convert an entire people.

Devin

Class reading: Abram

            “Indeed, in the absence of formal writing systems, human communities come to know themselves primarily by the reflection back by the animals and the animate landscape which they are directly engaged” (Abram 1996, pg. 123). Abram refers to this epistemological understanding of the people’s relationship with a particular place as totemism. This idea links the identity of these tribes with their respective “totems” or places of significance. As these Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist, we are finding more and more disrespect shown towards the Indians and their way of life.  In the film, the Lakota tribe lost their right to property of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, which held a ritualistic and symbolic purpose within their religion. When they tried to fight the government for the right to maintaining ownership the court ruled against them, claiming that the Government could not favor any one religion.  Now Devil’s Tower is a popular place for free-climbers who hold no respect for the Lakota people. It is almost impossible for us to express vividly the connection these people have to their sacred places according to Abram. 

Hunter

supplemental reading: Going Tribal

Iboga is a hallucinogenic shrub that grows in Africa and is used in the United States as a medical therapy in order to get rid of addiction. In African religions it has a different use. In Going Tribal, Bruce Parry decided to go live with the Babongo people in Gabon Africa in order to be initiated into the Bwiti religion. Part of initiation was for him to ingest Iboga as part of the ritual for becoming a man. When taken in small doses, Iboga is supposed to stimulate the central nervous system, but vivid hallucinogenic visions when taken in large doses.  This drug was first used by the Pygmies in Africa and then were spread to the Fang people, and also other ethnic groups in Gabon, where it begun to be incorporated into religious ceremonies.

This use of Iboga is used as a part of the Bwiti religion in order to initiate a man into the tribe. The idea of initiation is prevalent in many primal religions in order to show one's capacity for the religion. The drug induces a hallucinogenic experience in which  the consumer must confront painful memories from their past and awake fro the trance as a new man. This trip is considered a vision or spiritual quest in which the consumer must complete this task in order to achieve the goal of finding themselves or a spiritual awakening.

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Hunter

Movie: Avatar

In James Cameron's Avatar, the indigenous Na'vis from the planet Pandora feel an intense connection to their sacred home tree and the planet overall. The tribe has a literal connection to other living things through the fibers at the ends of their hair braids. All of the life beings feed off each other and they feel that they cannot survive without their home tree to continue the way of life they have followed for many years. 

When the military from Earth comes in, they come under the pretense of scientific exploration, but are actually going after the unobtanium that is most prominent underneath the Na'vis' home tree. When their home tree is destroyed, the tribe grieves and panics as if it is their own flesh and blood that is being destroyed. They almost give up on life entirely because of this intense connection that they feel. 

The concept of the Home Tree and The Tree of Souls represent sacred places for these indigenous people. When Home Tree is desroyed the Na'Vi experience a great identity crisis and must relocate as a broken people to the Tree of Souls. It is at the Tree of souls that people are able to reform and gather their bearings as a community by returning to the place that their people deems most sacred. It is at this place that the main character Jake Sully proves himself to be a part of the clan by becoming Turook'makto who was a ancient warrior who rode the most powerful beast on the planet. Once Jake returns to the Tree of Souls then we is revered as a warrior within the community and they rise up to fight off the "Sky people" or humans and send them back to Earth. 

Hunter