| from IF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD, KILL HIM! by Sheldon B Kopp
Bantam Books 1972. copied without permission.
The earliest form in which the guru appeared was that of the shaman, who
arose in the hunting and gathering societies of the paleolithic era (and among
their contemporary Eskimo and Indian progeny). Before the advent of God and His
priests in the more stable agricultrual societies of the neolithic era, the
shaman acted as spiritual leader to the nomadic, Stone_Age hunting band.
Such a guru starts out on his own tortured pilgirmage as a deeply
troubled,misfit youth. In amstering his personal affliction, he gradually
comes to the position of being able to help others on their spiritual trips.
Unlike the later priests who were ceremonially trained in ritual acts and
verbatim incantations, the shaman has been inspired by the visions that arise
during his oown pilgrimage. The power of his growing self-awareness and the
spontaneity of his improvisations fit the hunters' needs for daring and
imagination (just as the priests' ritual intonements and predetermined
social proscriptions fit the planters' needs for stability, achieved by the
sacrifice of the individual to the greater good of the group).
The source of the shaman's moving inner vison is a journey deep into the self.
Usually in a trance-like state, he experiences the struggle within his own soul
as an encounter with the spirit world. In the religion, myths, and literature
of every culture, the personal motives and conflicts that men would disown are
represented by gods and ghosts, by spirits and visions. A young Exkimo neophyte
shaman tells of his own transformation experience while out on the pilgrimage
of a lonely wilderness vigil:
I soon became mealncholy. I would sometimes fall to weeping and feeling
unhappy without knowing why. Then for no reason all would suddenly be
changed, and I felt a great, inexplicable joy, a joy so powerful that I
could not restrain it, but had to break into song, a mighty song, with
room for only one word: joy, joy! And I had to use the full strngth oof
my voice. And then in the midst of such a fit of mysterious and
overwhelming delight, I became a shaman, not knowing myself how it came
about. But I was a shaman. I could see and hear in a totally different
way, I had gained my enlightenment, the shaman's light of brain and
body, and this in such a manner that it was not only I who could see
through the darkness of life, but the same bright light also shone out
from me, imperceptible to human beings but visible to all spirits of
earth and sky and sea, and these now came to me to become my helping
spirits.
After his pilgrimage, the shaman them returns to the community of his tribe,
"reborn" by way of his self-healing process. Now he is able to liberate the
ordianry hunters of the band by revealing to each of them his own personally
enlightening inner vision.
The shaman can also bring spiritual calm and confidence to a troubled tribe by
helping them to work out the merited misfortunes that have befallen them.
He will usually go into a trance at such times, his helping spirits speaking
through his mouth in those poetically cryptic ways in which spirits (and gurus)
speak. They ask the troubled ones what is causing the unhappiness. The power of
the shaman's personal experience leads the troubled person to acknowledge that
his thoughts have been bad, and his actions evil. The helping spirits of the
shaman then make veiled references that evoke the whole story.
.
.
.
This purging brings peace to the tribe through constructive human interaction
mediated by the inspiring power of the shaman's confidence in his own inner
vision, and by the metaphorical evocation of the troubled seeker's own tale.
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| Yes, the last reply to this topic has been 2 years ago, however
I met him about 5 years ago. So, it's fairly fitting.
Richard Shining Thunder is his name. Thinking about all the occurances
that have happened, well, it makes you wonder.
Anyway, to begin, my wife and I had just moved to Mass. She is from the
area, I'm from Philly. We had found an apartment in Bridgewater. We had
been married, oh, say 5 years. We were just beginning to wonder why
we had no children. Well, we were trying to meet people in the complex
by doing the meeting thing that the management put together. You know,
parties, hayrides, things. Well, one night, we went to a halloween
party. That's where we met Mary and Steve. They're from Ohio, you see.
Everyone at the party wore costumes and masks, or had their face
decorated. Steve came up to me and said "I know you.". That's how it
all started. At the time, Di and I were kind of floating around,
spiritually speaking. By that, I mean, we knew we didn't like or
believe in traditional religion. But Mary and Steve opened the doors
to love, peace, past lives, tarot cards, auras, vibrations and our
minds and hearts. Well, Mary, Steve, Di and I developed a good
solid relationship.
Mary and Steve arranged for a shaman they had heard of in Ohio
to come out here and speak. I was amazed. He was blind. Yet he
walked like he could see. He spoke of love and energy transfers.
And the teflon mind. He spoke of healing and peace. Of cyrstals
and their powers. He spoke of the good and bad in everyone's life.
But to concentrate on the good. After the gettogether, we went
back to Mary and Steve's house (they had subsequently bought a
house in Rhode Island) along with Richard and his wife. He met
with Di and I seperately and alone. My wife had discussed our
concerns of having children. Even though he is blind, he did
a tarot card reading on both of us. I discussed my problem,
you see by then I was five years impotent.
Well, we said our goodbyes. We gradually lost contact with Mary and
Steve. Then, about a month ago, four years from last seeing Mary
and Steve, I am sitting at this same terminal. The one I'm typing
in now, at home. At about 10:00 p.m. at night, I get this feeling
in my mind that I must contact Steve. It was so strong that I had to
dial off and wash the kitchen to try to get rid of it. Only it was
persistent. Finally, I called the number we had. It was disconnected.
Still, the thought was there. Then I made a deal with it. I said, look,
I'll write a letter to the address. If they've moved, then maybe it'll
be forwarded. OK, I SAW in my mind. Needless to say, 10 days later,
I receive a letter from Mary. They had moved back to Ohio.
(I must explain something here. My impotence was still with me. I was
seeing a psychologist. Actually, a psychiatrist in NY, a licensed
social worker in Arington and a psychiatrist in Worcester. My
motor cordination was getting not good. Made worse by fevers.
In fact, in January, I had the flu and a fever of 104+. I was
literally on the floor and could not get to a couch, even with help.
My wife called the doctor and subsquently arranged an appointment
with a nuerologist.)
Then, a few days later(after receiving the letter), I saw a nuerologist.
He diagnosed me as having MS. I had an MRI the following week. Saw
the doctor yesterday and he confirmed the diagnosis.
Believe it or not, what a relief! All the symptons I was having over
the years, answered. My wife and I choked up. All these years, after
delving into my childhood, how my mother did this and that, how this
thought relates back when I can remember, etc. It was ALL related
to the MS. My wife finally believes me now when I tell her she's
beautiful and I love her. She finally has something to explain it.
Not some mysterious mind thing.
Anyway, I called Mary and told her. She said, I should call Richard
and talk to him. She gave me his number. He had moved also. He
had opened a haloustic center in Kentucky. Anyway, I just got
off the phone with him. He remembered us and what he said to us.
Gee, I'm impressed. He said he's going to do a special ceramony
for me, but he needed my permission. He's going to enter my
subconsisious and draw upon my energies and help me focus them.
He said he'll also meet me in my dream state.
I gave him that permission. I hope I see him in my dreams.
By the way, he mentioned he'll be in the area soon.
love
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