The Shaman as Artist


The shaman and the artist share parallel modes of action. They are both

able to access and communicate concepts from beyond the ordinary perceptions of everyday life. Through inspiration and sometimes altered states of consciousness they can peek into other realities and see beyond boundaries. There are also leaders and at the same time outsiders of society.

 

Below are several talks by Terence McKenna who expresses this perspective

rationally and clearly sheading light on everything in between.


The goal is, then, having attained that balance, that wisdom, that connection, to then rise up to a level of universal meaning; in other words, to break through the machinery of cultural conditioning, in the same way that the shaman does, and to attempt to discover something authentic—something authentic outside the self-generated language cloud... It is not shining from behind you; it is shining ahead of you. It is actually that the same organizational principles which called us forth into self-reflection has called forth self-reflection out of the planet itself. And the problem then is for us to suspect this, act on our suspicion, and be good detectives and track down the spirit in its lair. And this is what shamans are doing. They are hunters of spirit. Terence McKenna