Sjaman.com – Forumarkiv

There are many religions in the world which all have their own way of thinking of the world with their own rituals and dogma. One follows scriptures that are believed to be holy and a gift from God. Religions are interpreted by leaders who believe they have the correct interpretation of the scriptures and should be followed by each religion´s members. Many religions practice missionary work and try to convince others to believe in their religion.

Shamanism is an individual practice which is based on each shaman´s experiences and knowledge about the energies in the universe and the spiritual world. The concept of understanding the soul is an important part of a shaman´s world.  A shaman is often called a soul healer and a soul traveler.

After having practiced shamanism for quite some time now I have found peace in my soul and evolved spiritually as a human. Shamanism don´t practice any missionary work or try to convey others to believe in anything but each person´s own soul and experiences. One evolves as a shaman by the experiences one have had in life which brings knowledge and enlightenment.

It is important for a shaman to have a broad knowledge of religions and other faiths so that he can understand and give soul healing to all souls. In today´s world a shaman must be aware of many different ways of living and believing to be able to bring knowledge and harmony to the community.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that shamanism is not a religion but an individual spiritual way of thinking, without any scriptures one need to follow and read. It is a way of living with oneself and others in harmony and peace in order to bring enlightenment to the world, spirits, souls and the energies in the universe.

Peace to you on your journey.

Vakker Forvandling

I started to write a lenghty response to this post, then I realised that this is an internet forum, and gave up. However, I will ask this:
What makes you think that the absence of scriptural (i.e. written text) material as basis for shamanic practice, renders it an individual spiritual way of thinking? There are rules and guidelines in shamanic practices, there are specific concepts and beliefs, there is, in short, very much of the same as is found in religions. Even though the transfer of these elements is often not done through the form of written texts within shamanism, this does not by itself separate the two completely, and render the one individualistic and dogma-free, the other collectivistic and dogmatic.

Just my lack of cents...

Light and free, forward and up!

As I stated above shamanism is an individual practice without any leaders or gurus based on the inividuals shamans experiences and knowledge such as you probably already have noticed here on the zone. The only thing we might have in common is the belief in the Soul.

Peace and love to you.

There exit many shamans who live in total isolation without wantig to meet another soul, I myself was such a shaman once.

Peace and love.

Here you will find some information about religion, I however do not agree with the author who is mentioning shamanism among religions. As you probably already know, this is a definition issue. I peronally do not define shamanism as a religion but an individual understanding of the world and the universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

Peace and love.

I believe the soul does not belong to any religion

even if some religions claim to have come up with the idea of soul or geist.

by this i also believe that healing of souls can be done

because it goes behind our  archetypal or symbolical inheritance

it works directly,without the "disturbance" or white noise of our faiths.

The spirit is free and understands the language of spirit

like a child understands how to breathe.

It is for the shaman,he ho knows,to shift the mode of his client,so he can attune himself once again with the spirit world

much like teaching a bird how to fly,the bird remembers deep down how to,but sometimes the shaman can imitate a bird

and bounce around waving his arms up and down,the birdie gets the picture,and off it goes on its own two wings.

If you consider shamanism a religion then each person on planet earth belongs to a religion. I belive many people on planet earth dont consider themself as belonging to a religion. Im such a shaman.

Peace and love.

i do not consider shamanism a religion so i dont have to belong to it,rather its my spirit that is attracted to shamanism
because it has the tools to explore it with.
My spirit wants me to know of its presence and its love
and will never cease to sing these songs of unity and freedom to all.


love yu all.

Wisdoms words from T.

I have a faith in the soul and use my soul to explore the universe. If you call that a religion then you can define me as a religious shaman.

Peace and love.

Ps. We all have our own definitions. The universe is infinite.

I think you missed the point. Your initial post expresses a dualistic sentiment. I am saying that shamanism and mysticism have some elements in common. There is no "either-or".

Thank you.

Here is a link from other shamans who also states that shamanism is not a religion.

http://www.shamanlinks.net/

Peace and love.

Hi there pachamama,

I believe shamanism is a very mystical practice with soul travelling and soul healing.

Peace and love.

I linken står det at sjamanisme ikke er religion fordi det handler om å gå direkte. Vet ikke så mye om de forskjellige definisjoner
av religion. Men vet at rundt meg, er det mange som definerer mystisime som religion, og ikke sjamanisme. Til tross for at
begge deler handler om direkte erfaring.

I en bok om sufisme, leste jeg at noen sufier definerer seg selv som muslimer, og at dette etter deres mening var den
rette form for islam, mens andre sufier mente at deres praksis ikke hadde noe med islam eller religion å gjøre i det
hele tatt. Forskeren mente at grunnen til det, var at noen sufier hadde dårlige erfaringer med fundamentalistisk islam i deres
område og defor ikke kunne sammenligne seg med de andre muslimene.
De andre hadde ikke de samme dårlige erfaringene, og mente bare at ikke teori kunne hjelpe dem dit de ville. Og det at
de definerer seg selv som muslimer, har rett og slett blant annet noe å gjøre med hva som ligger i begrepet islam.

Kan ikke gå noe dypere inn i det, men vet at folk har forskjellige definisjoner av hva religion er. Så for min del, spiller det
ikke så stor rolle om noen velger å kalle det jeg praktiserer for religion. Men hvis noen jeg møter definerer det jeg praktiserer som religion, vil jeg
spørre hvorfor for å kunne oppklare i tilfelle det skulle være noen misforståelser. Det er veldig lett å ta ting
som en selvfølge når forskjellige definisjoner og begreper bare blir slengt rundt i hytt og pine.

"pachamama":

I started to write a lenghty response to this post, then I realised that this is an internet forum, and gave up. However, I will ask this:
What makes you think that the absence of scriptural (i.e. written text) material as basis for shamanic practice, renders it an individual spiritual way of thinking? There are rules and guidelines in shamanic practices, there are specific concepts and beliefs, there is, in short, very much of the same as is found in religions. Even though the transfer of these elements is often not done through the form of written texts within shamanism, this does not by itself separate the two completely, and render the one individualistic and dogma-free, the other collectivistic and dogmatic.

Just my lack of cents...

Light and free, forward and up!

På hvilken måte vil du si at regler og retningslinjer innenfor sjamanistisk praksis, kan sammenlignes med regler og retningslinjer
innenfor religioner? Selv tenker jeg at regler innenfor religioner ofte baseres på dogmer, på hva autoriteten mener rett og galt.
Nå kan jeg heller ikke noe særlig om regler og retningslijer innenfor sjamanistiske retninger, men tenker at dette
er regler basert på andre ting, for eksempel veilederens erfaring om hva som kan gå galt med en på veien, om man gjør
sånn eller sånn, fordi det finnes risikoer med åndelig arbeid.

weiki ! porque pides tantas cosas a pachamama y a apu ?
N0 sabes que depende a ti no las cosas afuera ?


con amor en la corazon se responde !

B3ndicion3s

"kristin":

På hvilken måte vil du si at regler og retningslinjer innenfor sjamanistisk praksis, kan sammenlignes med regler og retningslinjer
innenfor religioner? Selv tenker jeg at regler innenfor religioner ofte baseres på dogmer, på hva autoriteten mener rett og galt.
Nå kan jeg heller ikke noe særlig om regler og retningslijer innenfor sjamanistiske retninger, men tenker at dette
er regler basert på andre ting, for eksempel veilederens erfaring om hva som kan gå galt med en på veien, om man gjør
sånn eller sånn, fordi det finnes risikoer med åndelig arbeid.

I kraft av at det i begge tilfeller er snakk om tradisjoner, helt enkelt. Disse retningslinjene behøver ikke være uttrykt som dogmer, faktisk er det mulig å argumentere for at det vi kjenner som religiøse dogmer er perversjoner av opprinnelige beskrivelse av direkte erfaring gitt i endrede bevissthetstilstander, jf. sufiene du refererer til, eller for den saks skyld bibelske tekster. Dogmer kan til og med tenkes å være forårsaket av mange menneskers manglende evne/lyst/vilje til å erfare direkte på egenhånd. Jeg vil påstå at det er god grunn til at sufiene mener at mystisisme er religionenes kjerner, mens det politiserte varianten man lærer om i media er lite annet enn misbruk av mystiske tradisjoner, bevisst eller ubevisst. Et moment som kan tas i betraktning her er hvordan de "politiserte religioner" uttrykker så mange kontradiksjoner i henhold til tekstene som mystikere har skrevet for å forklare deres direkte erfaringer av det guddommelige. Men hva vet jeg, det er bare mulig å tenke seg, derfor finner jeg det vesentlig å legge til i denne debatten.

Hele poenget mitt er at det ikke er så simpelt å si at A er helt forskjellig fra B. I alle fall i tilfeller som dette.