The Shamanist and Human Tribal Dynamics

[kokopelle]

This is an article on the service dynamics of the shamanist. Service and shamanism are intricately bound. There are many aspects to service including non-human service, service to the shamanist (human and non-human) and more. This article is about the general aspects of the group dynamic encountered by the shamanist when they reach out to fellow human beings.

A person taking on the path of the shamanist will find themselves naturally drawn to serve somebody. Let's call this somebody the shamanist's tribe. The tribe can be an organized group of people or the tribe can be a random person needing help. The root of this call to service is that the shamanic path is one that is both personal and global. Deity stands at the side of the shamanist. Deity is both served and discovered by ministering to others. A shamanist's life is enriched and healed by their walk with deity. The tribe of the shamanist benefits from their association.

How can service be performed by the shamanist? This question of service a common one for those who are called to a spiritual path and is not unique to the shamanist experience. Every person or religious group must decide who they will serve. I have two general two models for this. These are "strongly serving a few people" or "lightly serving many people" models. The dynamic plays out in this way:

"Serving Few Greatly" Person
They see themselves as honest, stalwart guardians/stewards of smaller group of people. They see themselves as extremely passionate caretakers of those around them. The amount of attention that can be given to specific people is substantial, providing for maximum impact and growth. Those who criticize do it from a place of not understanding. In the extreme view of this model, the "serving many lightly" people are seen as scattered, uncaring, lazy, untrustworthy, unfocused, and so on.

"Serving Many Lightly" Person
They see themselves as compassionate, open-minded, dedicated, and sharing. With a larger group served, the person's resources of time, effort and material are split in multiple directions. Many are touched in some way, with the "whole" benefiting from the efforts. Those who criticize do it from a place of not understanding. In the extreme view of this model, the "serving few greatly" people are seen as xenophobic, insular, close minded, mean-spirited, aggressive, and so on.

Neither service approach is more correct, but one will tend to be predominate in the shamanist's place of service. There can be friction between the two service approaches. Each tribe will consciously or unconsciously ask for the shamanist to either serve the few greatly or serve the many lightly. The choice of who to serve can color the shamanist's view of the polar group dynamic, making them less capable of meeting the other polarity's needs.

Here is the tricky part of the shamanist's life. The shamanic path calls for the recognition of universal connectiveness. This is a fancy way of saying, "we are one". This is balanced against a tribe, larger or small, being the worldly vehicle for being of service to the oneness. IMO, deity does not really care who we serve. No matter what individual groups may say, there is no one road map to (re)connecting with deity. There are multiple signs in the immense spiritual room that say, "form a line here". In my estimation deity's most simple command is, "serve somebody and don't forget yourself". The shamanist will serve either the large or small group dynamic and there will be repercussions for it.

What are the repercussions of honorable serving many or few? Those working from the polar perspective will find it difficult to understand the motivations and actions of the shamanist. Allegiance to one can be seen as resistance to the other. This is unfortunate and largely unintentional on everyone's part. We human beings are motivated and driven by group dynamics. The negative reactions of others are understandble in the scope of human emotions, with the shamanist held to remaining honorable to both themselves and their tribe.

Life has its contracts. There are agreements made between energies. The shamanist makes such an agreement with a tribe when a commitment is made to operate within that tribe and serve it to the best of the shamanist’s abilities. Tribes have different requirements on the operational level. Remaining in integrity, the shamanist is held to respect and follow the rules of the tribe as long as they are in that tribe. Tribal membership does not have to be permanent. In fact, the fact that a shamanist is not fully recognized as a Shaman gives them a certain freedom in moving to the place where they should be.

The shamanist is a human being embarking on journey of understanding and connection. People will move in and out of the shamanist’s life. The shamanist will reach out and serve these people in some way, seeing the attention to the people, the tribe of the moment, as a touchstone to deity. Some people will not understand the service because the mode – many or few – will not fit their own experiences. This is OK and human. I believe that the shamanist has one best reaction. The shamanist is called to worship the larger expanse of reality, bear witness and service to their fellow human beings, and act from honor when grappling with the human expressions of tribe. It is in this place of balance and humility that the shamanist will persist in the right thing, serving who they will, and reaching out to the world as a true shamanist.

Comments

[lupagreenwolf.livejournal.com]

I like this a lot. It allows both for the traditional cohesive tribe of a few people, and the modern urban state in which the people one serves may number in the thousands.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I wrote this because I see a tension between the cohesive tribes and those who seek to be of service to a modern urban state. There are well known teachers who are vilified by one group and seen as the passionate teachers by other groups. It seems a paradox that the same person can be a liar and oath breaker to some AND be a speaker of truths to others. While this is a simplified statement (there are specific nuances to each side), the concept is not an uncommon paradox. I've thought a lot about how these states of dueling perception coexist in a marginally honorable and intentional (spiritual) society.

[lupagreenwolf.livejournal.com]

*nods* There's of course the question of how the information of a tradition is conveyed. If part of that tradition requires that it only be passed on within a limited format, then I can see where the tension of new forms of communication arises.

I think a lot of it is becasue you have people with disparate backgrounds in a highly individualized society attempting to fit traditions into our lives that were created within a much more choesive society. We don't have generations of experience of working with such huge numbers of people behind us, and so the modern traditions haven't really yet coagulated.

Then, of course, we get into neophobia, and the very real danger of an older culture being obliterated by misunderstandings brought on by the diluting of what remains of their culture.

It's such a complex issue. But I really like how you pinpointed the social structural aspects of it. Very well said!

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

like most of this but I strongly disagree with "... deity does not really care who we serve..."

IMO we all have very specific gifts and it is a betrayal of ourselves, community, and spirituality to "serve" in a "whatever" way out of an obsessive desire to serve. IMO that's really "purchasing acceptance" through a role and is therefore a human herd socio-biology strategy. I think it's valid interpersonally, but a dangerous "cheat" spiritually and especially shamanicly. It's easy to see the Christian version of that with a quick glance at the problems of ministry.

I believe we each have an obligation to "find out who you are and BE that" and that part of the understanding is who we are in and out of social strategy.

It's like a fireman staying at his desk and filling out paperwork because fighting fires is hard and dangerous. It DOES matter who and where we serve.

(If this sound harsh it's because the problem I'm describing is a one of my big ones)

[greensh.livejournal.com]

IMO, the truth of the matter is somewhere in-between "deity is OK with anything you want to do" and "deity has a very specific plan for you". My thoughts on this balancing point go in several directions.

I agree that we are given gifts, and there is a sad degree of waste when a gift is not fully explored. I grieve when I see people living far below their potential. I grieve when I don't do as much as I can. I've written (too much?) about spiritual leaders not rising to their places. I get really really frustrated, so I feel your problem. So, it is with a very weighted heart that I agree with you.

That said, I have to settle on a position somewhere away from the strictest interpretation of "find out who you are and BE that", because I've known so very few people who fully have achieved this. The karmic present-life or after-life would be strewn with tortured souls if this was the highest commandment. Though... perhaps it is.

The good news is that most of us cannot do a "whatever" thing. Specific gifts call for specific actions. The gifts form "least-action" paths in our lives, acting as escalators to moving to the potential heights. When I read a natal chart for somebody I tell them that their astrological DNA speaks to the potential - good or bad. Most people will succumb to the average possibilities of a chart. People with lots of potential, those specific gifts, will find a way to using the gifts. To work with your analogy, the young(er), brave and hardy fireman will not be content to fill out papers, but his elder supervisor, arthritis creeping up on his joints, is more than happy to shuffle the forms.

In the end I feel that we are called to reconnect to Deity in some way. Evading the most probable paths will evoke some karmic result and for good reason. Between natural ability, and a karmic elbow every so often, we end up finding the person or people who we are destined to serve and do our service in a way that is complimentary to our abilities.

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

this is wonderful !

[greensh.livejournal.com]

Thank you...

That is such a cute picture of you!

[jagboh.livejournal.com]

Great view of contrast between to views of service. I would love to have a longer discussion about service and no service; and what does a life of no service look?