AT THE EDGE
TIMOTHY GREEN
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