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. Page 95This form of a journey, to be undertaken by the deceased, resembles very much the situationamong certain contemporary tribal societies, where the shaman, in his role as a psychopomp,guides the souls across the transcendental space into the antipodal World.59 The TukanoanIndian shaman helps the dead with their encounter of the frightful, black, women ancestors,through whom the souls will be reborn.60 In a similar fashion, the ancient Greeks, whoretained many shamanistic characteristics in their pantheistic religion, had the black femalespirits, or furies, as fright-inspiring entities, capable of terrifying a person into a maddeningfrenzy.Pausanias (viii, 34.3) provides us with a comment regarding his visit to the sanctuaryof the avenging Eumenides: "They say that when these goddesses would drive Orestes madthey appeared to him black, but that after he had bitten off his finger they seemed to himwhite." It seems that after the spirits (furies) were propitiated with the blood, flesh, andbone of his finger, the mad Orestes was allowed to pass through the danger zone of hisecstatic journey.It is very much the shamans concern that the human soul finds reprieve horn potential dangerawaiting it on its course to the Otherworld.In contemporary societies, the Greek OrthodoxChurch still manifests this shamanistic function of the psychopomp.The soul remainsundetached from the body until the Greek priest arranges for its release through a ritualcontained in the funeral mass.In the northwest Amazon and southeast Siberia, the soul, thusheed, pauses briefly on earth, and moves on to the Beyond and Nothingness to make roomfor the newcomers.The Beyond consists of complete nothingness, a transcendental spacetotally devoid of all Kantian forms of sensibilities and things abstract and materiala completevoid, analogous to Sartre's existential dialectic in Being and Nothingness, and to the mainphilosophical questions raised by Camus.Thus, by seeking the path of return, one will find theonly true reality in death, at which point the full potential of the person is revealed.However,the individuals who elevated themselves to higher planes of learning through the observanceof rituals and mores, as well as by espousing the traditional values, will act as guiding torchesonly for the living, casting light on the dark pitfalls of earthly existence.Yet, the journey to be undertaken by the soul is very perilous, with monstrous creatureslurking along the way.The shaman, as a psycho-pomp, enters into a trance by takinghallucinatory substances in order to guide the soul and abet in its confrontations with theharmful elements.Among the Nambas on Malekula island in the New Hebrides, it is amenacing female spirit who meets the transcended voyager at the portals to the Otherworld.In the case of the Tukanoans, the soul is encountered by the spirits of the female ancestors,"the black women;" Page 96who are instrumental in arranging for the souls rebirth once it enters the realm of the Beyond.The shaman's guidance is not only restricted to the Hereafter.He also assists his people ontheir brief journey of lifepointing the way and treading before them on the uncertain path.However, life in this world is treated as an earthly illusion.Through transformation, alone, theessence of substances can be uncovered (an alchemical concept), and behind this notion wefind the reason for the shamans all-important quest for the Other (transformed) Realities.This is where the truth is to be found.Like the Jívaro Indian, who conceives this World to bean illusion and does not recognize a reality separate from the Otherworld, the Tukanoan istransformed during a hallucinogenic trance to another reality of a shamanic state ofconsciousness, "whence he returns to ordinary reality on this earth with the firm conviction ofhaving had a glimpse of Paradise.And then he will know that it is Paradise which is realityand that life is but an illusion" 61 Irrespective of the fact that the image of the Otherworldencountered on his trance-journey may appear to him as a distorted reflection of this one, the"Tukanoan thought operates on the principle of analogy: man is central and nature is ananalogy of man."62 Here, the macrocosm is a projected image of the microcosm; not theother way around.As mentioned before, in the constant effort to absorb spiritual knowledge,the shamans almost everywhere seek to comprehend the enigmas of creation throughshamanistic transformations, which provide the individual with the experience ofunderstanding, knowing, and of creating a valid worldview [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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. Page 95This form of a journey, to be undertaken by the deceased, resembles very much the situationamong certain contemporary tribal societies, where the shaman, in his role as a psychopomp,guides the souls across the transcendental space into the antipodal World.59 The TukanoanIndian shaman helps the dead with their encounter of the frightful, black, women ancestors,through whom the souls will be reborn.60 In a similar fashion, the ancient Greeks, whoretained many shamanistic characteristics in their pantheistic religion, had the black femalespirits, or furies, as fright-inspiring entities, capable of terrifying a person into a maddeningfrenzy.Pausanias (viii, 34.3) provides us with a comment regarding his visit to the sanctuaryof the avenging Eumenides: "They say that when these goddesses would drive Orestes madthey appeared to him black, but that after he had bitten off his finger they seemed to himwhite." It seems that after the spirits (furies) were propitiated with the blood, flesh, andbone of his finger, the mad Orestes was allowed to pass through the danger zone of hisecstatic journey.It is very much the shamans concern that the human soul finds reprieve horn potential dangerawaiting it on its course to the Otherworld.In contemporary societies, the Greek OrthodoxChurch still manifests this shamanistic function of the psychopomp.The soul remainsundetached from the body until the Greek priest arranges for its release through a ritualcontained in the funeral mass.In the northwest Amazon and southeast Siberia, the soul, thusheed, pauses briefly on earth, and moves on to the Beyond and Nothingness to make roomfor the newcomers.The Beyond consists of complete nothingness, a transcendental spacetotally devoid of all Kantian forms of sensibilities and things abstract and materiala completevoid, analogous to Sartre's existential dialectic in Being and Nothingness, and to the mainphilosophical questions raised by Camus.Thus, by seeking the path of return, one will find theonly true reality in death, at which point the full potential of the person is revealed.However,the individuals who elevated themselves to higher planes of learning through the observanceof rituals and mores, as well as by espousing the traditional values, will act as guiding torchesonly for the living, casting light on the dark pitfalls of earthly existence.Yet, the journey to be undertaken by the soul is very perilous, with monstrous creatureslurking along the way.The shaman, as a psycho-pomp, enters into a trance by takinghallucinatory substances in order to guide the soul and abet in its confrontations with theharmful elements.Among the Nambas on Malekula island in the New Hebrides, it is amenacing female spirit who meets the transcended voyager at the portals to the Otherworld.In the case of the Tukanoans, the soul is encountered by the spirits of the female ancestors,"the black women;" Page 96who are instrumental in arranging for the souls rebirth once it enters the realm of the Beyond.The shaman's guidance is not only restricted to the Hereafter.He also assists his people ontheir brief journey of lifepointing the way and treading before them on the uncertain path.However, life in this world is treated as an earthly illusion.Through transformation, alone, theessence of substances can be uncovered (an alchemical concept), and behind this notion wefind the reason for the shamans all-important quest for the Other (transformed) Realities.This is where the truth is to be found.Like the Jívaro Indian, who conceives this World to bean illusion and does not recognize a reality separate from the Otherworld, the Tukanoan istransformed during a hallucinogenic trance to another reality of a shamanic state ofconsciousness, "whence he returns to ordinary reality on this earth with the firm conviction ofhaving had a glimpse of Paradise.And then he will know that it is Paradise which is realityand that life is but an illusion" 61 Irrespective of the fact that the image of the Otherworldencountered on his trance-journey may appear to him as a distorted reflection of this one, the"Tukanoan thought operates on the principle of analogy: man is central and nature is ananalogy of man."62 Here, the macrocosm is a projected image of the microcosm; not theother way around.As mentioned before, in the constant effort to absorb spiritual knowledge,the shamans almost everywhere seek to comprehend the enigmas of creation throughshamanistic transformations, which provide the individual with the experience ofunderstanding, knowing, and of creating a valid worldview [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]