Words words words!

I had a conversation with my best friend Michael yesterday. I mentioned a book I was reading, which made the distinction between shamans and shamanists, it being that shamans are individuals working within an indigenous tradition, while shamanists are those who incorporate shamanic practices into their spiritual lives. Michael expressed frustration about the semantic nitpicking of the whole thing, and wondered whether or not it was the Ego that sought out this sort of hairsplitting.

Discrimination regarding word-choice is a fascinating area of inquiry to me. I sometimes agonize over the right words when I'm writing something creative, and also sometimes when it's something close to my heart politically or spiritually or in whatever way it might manifest. The distinction between "Shaman" and "Shamanist" probably developed over time, through the school of Trial and Error. It's partly a marketing tool--the book I was reading was written by a founder of the Faculty of Shamanics--that term also being a descriptor of the field wherein the Shamanist works. (Gets confusing when you realize the Shamanist practices Shamanics where the Shaman practices Shamanism. Yeah, you got that right.)

I also would guess that the terminology developed out of a desire not to step on the toes and belief systems of the indigenous peoples, but without abandoning the notion of a shaman- word-root for purposes of attraction and promotion. Word-deployment such as this gets to be manipulative, hence Michael's irritation. It's like the coiner of the term, while dismissive of those who would cobble together a "weekend spirituality" that strip-mines other cultures of their beloved practices to enclose them within parameters of "spiritainment" (shudder!), also attempts to appeal to these same spiritainment-seekers who may be lying to themselves about their spiritual practice. Sort of a hucksterish "we're different from them" approach designed to net some consumers along with the serious students.

Having read an autobiographical account of an actual shaman (Secrets of a Talking Jaguar by Martin Prechtel), I do see that an exquisite sensitivity and respect for more land-based cultures possesses paramount importance. People like Prechtel didn't ask to be shamans, and they slogged through what is ostensibly a training, internship, residency and then practice not at all unlike what allopathic doctors must endure. Within the Mayan culture Prechtel partook of, he functioned as a doctor/lawyer of the soul and spirit. Sometimes he wished the cup would be passed away from him. I'm deeply grateful to Mr. Prechtel for his book because it disabused me of the notion of wanting to be a shaman, much in the same way the notion to become a doctor evaporated once I followed one through the course of his day.

Still, in my meditations and journeys, I encounter animal figures and human guides who share with me insights into the incarnate experience I enact in these 3 dimensions. I suppose that makes me--shudder--a "Shamanist." I don't possess surety as to what it all means. The mask of Explorer covers my face as I gather information as to what my spirituality needs, what contours it inscribes. Other people's experiences and the reverence they bring with them into their lives tells me more about the nature of my own soul and spirit than anything else. I pick it up from all sorts of sources, some even Judeo-Christian. I sometimes joke that my "religion" is "Twicaltry". Take-What-I-Can-And-Leave-The-Rest-y. I have to tailor my spirituality to suit the contours of my soul, not try to shoehorn it into a prefab mold.

And perhaps my foray into neologism is itself an ego-move, though I recognize it's all kind of silly ultimately. Really what it comes down to is how do I work with others. Whether they get me or not is irrelevant--St. Francis of Assisi admonishes us to seek to understand rather than be understood in his awesome prayer. Language sometimes gets in the way of a truer understanding, but if I can sit with another's ego-moves and let them work themselves out, maybe even ask pointed and pertinent questions myself, the commonality will arise and a new point of agreement can be established. You say Shamanist, I say Shaman let's call the whole thing off...