AT THE EDGE
TIMOTHY GREEN

The Overlap Between NDEs and Shamanism Near Death Experiences
Near-Death Experiences and Shamanism-A Scientific View
by Dr. J. Timothy Green, Ph.D

By coming close to death, the NDEer has inadvertently and involuntarily been initiated into a shamanic journey. According to this view, the NDEers are modern shamans, and the NDE itself may be understood to be a classic form of shamanic initiation. In summary, the NDE is, in its form and dynamics, essentially a shamanic experience--whether the NDEer realizes it or not. Ring has also commented on the connection between the realm entered by NDEers and shamans, as well as the accessibility of that realm:
By taking this shamanistic perspective, we can appreciate that the plane of experience NDEers enter into during their near-death crisis is the same one that shamans learn to access freely during the course of their training. Therefore, strictly speaking, this realm is not one that awaits us only after death. It exists now and is in principle available in life to anyone who has learned the access code.î
Too often in the past, the NDEer not only failed to realize that he or she has had a shamanic experience, but may have never heard of shamanism. Regardless, shamans would agree with Ring that an NDE is a time-honored form of shamanic initiation [20, 25, 43]. Although shamanic initiations take many different forms, and not all are associated with a close brush with death, the literature is replete with examples of shamans who began their vocation following an NDE.
Too often in the past, the NDEer not only failed to realize that he or she has had a shamanic experience, but may have never heard of shamanism. Regardless, shamans would agree with Ring that an NDE is a time-honored form of shamanic initiation [20, 25, 43]. Although shamanic initiations take many different forms, and not all are associated with a close brush with death, the literature is replete with examples of shamans who began their vocation following an NDE.
However, students and practitioners of shamanism would be quick to point out that having an NDE does not, by itself, grant someone status as a shaman, a point Ring acknowledges in a footnote. While the NDEer has entered the same realm as the shaman, her or she did so only once, and does not always have the ability to repeat the experience. In contrast, the shaman has become, in Mircea Eliade's words, a master of ecstasy [11], i.e., one who is adept at consciously moving between the planes of existence at will and for a specific purpose. Following the shaman's initial contact with this realm, he or she would usually become an apprentice to a master shaman. In shamanic cultures, the young initiate is then slowly taught all of the techniques that comprise the art of shamanism. Only then does the individual begin to practice his or her craft within the community. Members of their community based on their performance confer the final status of shaman upon them.
Although there are a number of different types of shamanic practitioners, an individual is generally not considered a shaman unless he or she engages in shamanic journeys during which the shaman leaves the physical body and enters into the shamanic realm. Anthropologist and practicing shaman Michael Harner commented on the similarity between the shamanic journey and NDEs:
The shaman's journey starts with an experience of going through a tunnel of some kind, usually with a light at the end, and this is very similar to descriptions of so-called near-death experiences. But the shaman goes all the way through the tunnel and explores the world into which it opens at the end, the world that people feel themselves passing into at the time of death." [23]
Until recently, NDEers had nowhere to turn in order to understand and begin to integrate their experience. Prior to Moody's and Kubler-Ross's work these experiences were largely dismissed or, worse, were deemed pathological. Despite the intense interest in NDEs throughout the past two decades, there continues to be no formal method of integrating and understanding these experiences.
I believe that by studying shamanism, and incorporating it into out knowledge of NDEs, we will add important insights into our understanding of this phenomenon. First, individuals who have had deep NDEs may be able to integrate their experience more quickly by studying and practicing shamanic techniques. Many NDEers report problems in readjusting to physical existence following their near-death crisis, not the least of which is an intense desire to return to the state they found themselves in during their NDE. [1, 2] By learning the art of shamanic journeying, they are actually able to enter this state consciously, repeatedly, and at will. Many NDEers also return from their experience with an intense desire to help others. By developing the skill of shamanic journeying, NDEers can become shamanic healers. It behooves us, then, as students of NDEs, to take a closer look at the ancient art of shamanism.

Shamanism

Shamanism is an ancient tradition of healing believed to be at least 20,00 to 30,000 years old. [11, 21, 58] Although almost completely suppressed in most Western cultures, shamanism has been continuously practiced, in one form or another, in many tribal and preliterate cultures throughout the world. Despite differences in other aspects of culture, as well as vast geographical and time differences, many of the basic practices, techniques, and beliefs which comprise shamanism are amazingly similar cross-culturally. [21, 58] These similarities led transpersonal psychiatrist Roger Walsh to suggest that spontaneous NDEs, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), and lucid dreams may have been the inspiration for consciously induced shamanic journeys:
Yet around the world people who have never even heard of shamanism may be surprised to find themselves having journey-like experiences. These may erupt spontaneously and entirely unsought as out-of-body experiences (OBEs), lucid dreams, or near-death experiences. Such experiences have presumably occurred throughout human history. As such they may have provided the inspiration for consciously induced journeys, first in shamanism, then in other religious traditions, and most recently in psychotherapy.
The master shaman is a medicine man, a soul doctor, who has acquired a great deal of information about ancient techniques of healing a variety of physical, psychological and spiritual problems. Through their long apprenticeship, the shaman has learned a number of ancient arts of healing which they use in helping as well as maintaining the well being and the health of members of their community. Although there are a number of different types of practitioners, central to all shamanic activity is the shamanic journey.î

The Shamanic Journey

During a shamanic journey, the shaman enters into an altered state of consciousness, referred to by Harner as Shamanic State Consciousness (SSC), and wills himself or herself to have an OBE. There are a number of different methods of achieving this state, but the one most frequently used is prolonged drumming. Once having achieved the ecstatic state, the shaman enters into non-ordinary reality and travels to one of the three realms for a specific purpose.
Shamanic cosmology postulates three different, but interpenetrating realms of existence: the Middle World (which corresponds most closely with physical reality), the Lower World, and the Upper World. These realms are experienced as real, although they are also clearly different from the physical reality that most people share. Shamans believe that these worlds are populated by spirits who are accessible to people at death or in an altered state of consciousness. The shaman enters into an altered state of consciousness, thus using his mind to gain access, to pass through the door into another reality that exists independently of that mind.î The shaman becomes an active participant developing and maintaining an on going relationship with the spirits, while enlisting their aid and instruction in how to help care for the lives of the people to whom they minister.
Through repeated journeys, the shaman becomes familiar with both the geography and the inhabitants of these different realms. While doing so, he or she enlists the aid of helping spirits, often in the form of animals, who assist the shaman in learning the various methods of curing illnesses, disorders, or diseases. These helping spirits are called power animals. The shaman will also acquire a teacher, often referred to as a tutelary spirit, who acts as a teacher during his or her journeys. From the shamanic perspective, all things are thought to be endowed with spirit; animals, plants, even minerals possess a spiritual essence, and it is the shaman who has the ability to communicate directly with these spiritual entities.

Shamanic View of Illness

In the shaman's view, many illnesses are the result of being literally dis-spirited; either the person's spirit has left their body and not returned, or the individual has lost the aid of one of his her helping spirits. In either case, the shaman will undertake a shamanic journey in order to attempt to find and bring back the missing spirit. If the shaman is successful, the patient should then be relieved of symptoms and restored to health.
The shaman is also a psychopomp, a conductor of souls between this world and the world of the dead. Shamans believe that people who have recently died, especially under sudden and/or traumatic circumstances, are often confused and disoriented. The shaman enters a trance state, travels into non-ordinary reality, finds the wandering soul, and helps direct it to where it can find help. The shaman is also a seer (see-er), one who engages in divination to see into the future in order to help those in his or her community. This is often done with the help of a quartz crystal. The shaman will stare into the quartz while focusing his or her intention on a particular question and "see" the answer within the rock.
Dreams also play a major part in shamanic activities. The shaman believes that there are two different types of dreams: ordinary dreams and non-ordinary dreams that are also known as "big dreams." Harner describes a "big dream" as a "dream that is so vivid that it is like being awake, an unusually powerful dream."
Shamanism is, then, basically an applied therapeutic methodology. It is, however, a methodology based on a different, expanded view of reality, and dependent upon the practitioner's ability to enter into this altered state of consciousness and successfully execute a particular task. And one thing is clear: people who have had deep NDEs are excellent candidates for further training in shamanism. While many people who seek out shamanic training undergo difficult, even dangerous initiations, in the case of the NDEer, the worst has already happened! The NDEer has died, been to the other side and returned. And they often return expressing a deep desire to enter into the helping professions. What better way to express this than by building on their experience and training to become a shaman. Training is now available in the Western world.

Check out this site for more publication of Timothy Green
http://www.planetlightworker.com/articles/timothygreen/article1.htm

*Thanks to Timothy Green to have had the kindness to let me publish this text for my project on the N.D.E and Shamanism.

"Dear Francoise, Please feel free to use my writings in any way you feel would be useful toyou own work. I would be very interested in hearing about your NDE and your subsequent experiences/work. Sincerely, J. Timothy Green, Ph.D." Joe" Timothy Green, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Laguna Hills, California. A long time student of near-death experiences, Dr. Green is currently actively involved in experiential shamanism. The article entitled "Near Death Experiences (NDEs), Shamanism and the Scientific Method," first appeared in the Journal for Near-Death Studies and is reprinted here with the author's permission. Dr. Green can be reached at 25255 Cabot Road Suite 210 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 by telephone at - (949) 472-2353 email : jospeverde@aol.com.

Near Death Experience, shamanism and the scientific method
http://www.planetlightworker.com/articles/timothygreen/article1.htm

1999 IANDS North American Conference
http://www.iands.org/1999_vancouver_conf.html

The International Association for Near-Death Studies
http://www.iands.org/home.html

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