The structure of our lives in modernity is immensely different from the hunter-gatherer way of life, but much can be learned from their way of life by understanding the role of the most respected member of their social caste, the Shaman, or medicine man.

Before reading further, I encourage all to see these people from outside of the judgements of our own cultural sentiments. Their teachings and beliefs might sound like superstitions and nonsense to someone who’s used to having everything described in literal terms, but through their values and traditions they’ve managed to find a way of life and thought that finds harmony with the rhythm of nature so profound they might as well be part of it themselves. Looking into their way of life can teach us much of what we lack in our own ways of thinking.

Shamans are, as well as in the distant past by members of their societies, seen as mediators between the world of mortals and the world of spirits. They take on themselves the power of the gods and can see with their eyes, using spirit guides and helpers to bring deistic wisdom into society. They are said to be able to treat illnesses, ward off evil spirits, search the spirit world for solutions and answers to social problems, and even predict the future and offer prophetic messages.

They have taught throughout time that the physical world is the manifestation and home of many spirits, some good and some evil, and that through various techniques of guided mantra and dancing one can enter a trance whereby they may contact the spirits themselves which can guide their lives.

To the Shaman, everything is living and has a respective spirit. Nature is the great bosom of all life and behind all apparent differences there is one great spirit that flows through all. Plants and animals aren’t seen as objects or lesser, but part of the body of the great One that sustains themselves, and everything taken out of nature must be done at the permission of the spirits. Hunters and gatherers in such cultures make sure not to overtake from the world around them, as they believe every action in nature has a consequence back to the perpetrators in some form or another.

Ceremonial rites are based off of the folklore of the tribe, portraying the creation of the world through their respective deities and important stories in the lives of the gods. Participants would play as animals and spirits in the drama, sometimes acting as their own spirit-animals as assigned to them by the Shamans. In the action of the ceremony, participants claim to enter a dream-like state where they can receive guidance from the spirit world. The neurological nature of this dance-induced trance-like state still eludes modern psychology today.

Dancing ceremony is not the only method of obtaining spiritual insight. Native American cultures are known to induce these states through practices such as social isolation or fasting. Those is South America and Siberia are well known for their uses of psychedelic plant concoctions, boiled tree saps and wild mushrooms. Some well known to the West are Ayahuasca and Psilocybin mushrooms.





The belief that gives the Shaman their respect in based in the idea that Shamans can fully integrate and experience the power of the powers of animal nature. South American Shamans are closely associated with jaguars, believed to be able to transform into them at will, and jaguars themselves are considered re-incarnations of Shamans or the spirits of dead Shamans moving in the physical world, and many African tribes share similar beliefs about lions as well.

Civilized religion vs. Shamanism

Shamanism was the only form of spirituality for the first one million years of human culture. Until around 9000 BC, religion was left to the technique of the guide to take the people through visions and ritual ecstasies. There were no temples beyond the temporary dancing grounds and campfires. Because of the lack of a written language they had no texts or ‘holy books’, but instead kept the tradition of their beliefs in tact by the effects and profundity of their rituals.

Their deities and guides were representatives of the nature around them, and through nature’s powers and qualities the people could contemplate and see those forces in their own lives. Shamanism’s ultimate judge and deity is the entirety nature itself, and its morals are shaped by the idea of harmony between spiritual and natural forces.

Art of the Australian Aborigines

Christ as a king figure, and pope is his ordained representative

This differs from more structured religions in the fact that civilized religions are not created to bring humans in harmony with nature for their greater healing, but for the maintenance and growth of the economic unit in a walled society. Stone temples are built for official worship, and idols and official symbols are crafted to act as representatives of divine forces which are entirely separate or domineering over nature, and the primal energies of the human are used to craft a way of thinking which ensures the stability of the social hierarchy and coherency between a larger group of people which would otherwise be impossible in a nomadic or hunter/gatherer society.

Instead of humans being seen as a sacred spirit, citizens are treated like building blocks for the economy. Until the rise of ideological religion, there was no practice of animal or human sacrifice, no building of temples, and no scapegoats for the ailments of society. Those within the society who do not accept the precepts of the religion were ousted, sometimes beaten, burned or killed regardless of their talents or gifts. They are seen as threats to the health of the system, yet the system created provides more for us materially in return.

What we consider as the ultimate will always drive us into its way of thinking, even in our modern age where religion is seen as a thing of the past, science, material development and entertainment are worshiped as the end-all be-all and scientists are the new portals into the unknown like the priests of old. We’ve maximized our comfort to the point of sickness for many, leaving out the feel for living nature and simplicity once known by our distant ancestors.





Can a middle-ground be found? How can the two ways of life be reconciled so we can know the benefits of both? And if not, which kind of society would you rather live in? We can only search ourselves for the answers.

Stay Posted!