By Aaron Schafer
Noll, R. (1985) “Mental Imagery Cultivation as a Cultural Phenomenon: The Role of Visions in Shamanism”, Current Anthropology, vol 26. No. 4. pp. 443-461.
Mental imagery cultivation is at the core of indigenous societies as a primary element in their religiousness that can be trained to be a powerful procurer of visions. The significance or legitimacy of mental imagery cannot be verified psychologically yet culturally specific visions are commonplace. This would suggest that despite the inability of science to fully understand mental imagery it has played a deep and meaningful role in the history of human religiousness.
It has been argued that mental imagery activates similar areas of the brain to that of actual sensory perception. Shamans are trained to enhance their ability to experience mental imagery. In this enhanced state it has been claimed that they can view objects as clearly in this internal world as they can in the external and physical. This training also leads to the ability to control imagery that includes being able to interact with beings in the spirit world and to start and stop these visions at will.
There are no written religious scriptures in shamanistic cultures; instead, religious knowledge is passed through generations verbally and experientially via these visions. The shaman “Knows and Remembers”, as the purveyor of cultural history.
Goulet, J. & Young, D. (1994) “Theoretical and Methodological issues”, pp. 298-335.
The methods used by Anthropologists to study shamanistic cultures has evolved over time along with the attitude of western thought to the significance of dreams and visions. Dream significance was rejected in the 1800’s by popular western thought as an illusion as thought shifted from the importance of the spirit world to that of science and rationality. Freud famously rekindled the suggestion that dream states hold significance later on. Anthropologists also reworked their approach to shamanistic cultures moving away from being objective observers to the cultures they studied. They instead began to become part of these cultures, partaking in rituals and shedding new light on the significance of trance states experientially. If their experiences were truly reflections of their assumed culture then the data must be credible and unobtainable in any other way.
The philosophical results of this experiential method are that culturally specific groups believe whatever interests them or what they allow themselves to believe. To enter another universe of beliefs such as the shamanistic and adopt their spirit world as real is to adopt a reality separate from the western construction. The symbolism used to describe reality is different within different cognitive styles such as scientist or witch doctor and to switch styles via this experiential approach is to alter personal perception of reality.
From a psychological perspective Goulet and Noll present a similar thematic response. That is to say that typically, the psychological answer to suggestions that shamans are actually interacting with tangible entities in a spirit world is that it is a highly dubious presumption. They dismiss visionary states as phenomenology, however, they are assured that this is irrelevant. It is beyond the grasp of science to justify the “realness” of the visions.
Winkelman, M. (1997) “Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Behaviour”, Anthropology of Religion, ch. 15. pp. 394-428.
The use of altered states of consciousness as a religious tool is a universal social phenomenon that has been demonstrated most prominently in unrelated shamanistic cultures. The legitimacy of these trance states is found culturally in the local belief that such states have religious significance, and biologically in the proven alteration of brain chemistry that can be attributed to the reported visions.
In hunter-gatherer tribes the shaman is a spiritual leader, the link between the people and the spirit world. Magico-religious practitioners from across the world display these core shamanistic characteristics but differ in their specific religious beliefs, socio-economic and political circumstances.
The biological reasoning behind these similarities shows that the various methods used to induce trance states are decreasing the frequency of brain wave patterns. This allows the shaman to enter into a state where they can have visions that they relate to their specific cultural and religious context. There are a variety of methods that shamans use to achieve trance states and some of these methods have been linked to specific spiritual results.
Winkelman and Goulet then go on to give different in depth justifications for the reasoning behind the legitimacy of these visions. Where Winkelman shows that the results of scientific tests reiterate the occurrence of vivid visions with cultural significance, Goulet takes a philosophical approach talking of reality construction. He also downplays the scientific approach by stating that anthropologists are presently researching shamanism experientially.
All three summaries are quick to point out that there is a scientific explanation for the religious benefits of these altered states. Certainly, from a biological standpoint, they show how brain waves are slowed down, how training enhances imagery cultivation, and how particular ACS inducing methods are capable of producing such states. They also agree that shamanism is a universal phenomenon that occurs in non-interacting groups which affirms the ability for altered states of consciousness to induce culturally specific trance states.
The most problematic element within these articles is that they are validating the beliefs of a group of people to a western audience by revealing concrete scientific evidence. Then, after presenting this evidence, they proceed to refute that it is even necessary to approach the issue scientifically by taking a philosophical stance. They are basically saying that they have a wealth of scientific evidence to prove their point but that one should move beyond this approach and realise that the way a group of people constructs their reality presupposes what is real to them. Outsiders should view it as just another way of representing the reality that we all exist in. It would have been much easier for the three authors to simply surpass any scientific explanations and make cultural reality construction the primary point as it is a very admirable and important message that has been hidden by a mass of crowd pleasing scientific pop culture that the authors are clearly not devoted to.
Mental imagery cultivation is at the core of indigenous societies as a primary element in their religiousness that can be trained to be a powerful procurer of visions. The significance or legitimacy of mental imagery cannot be verified psychologically yet culturally specific visions are commonplace. This would suggest that despite the inability of science to fully understand mental imagery it has played a deep and meaningful role in the history of human religiousness.
It has been argued that mental imagery activates similar areas of the brain to that of actual sensory perception. Shamans are trained to enhance their ability to experience mental imagery. In this enhanced state it has been claimed that they can view objects as clearly in this internal world as they can in the external and physical. This training also leads to the ability to control imagery that includes being able to interact with beings in the spirit world and to start and stop these visions at will.
There are no written religious scriptures in shamanistic cultures; instead, religious knowledge is passed through generations verbally and experientially via these visions. The shaman “Knows and Remembers”, as the purveyor of cultural history.
Goulet, J. & Young, D. (1994) “Theoretical and Methodological issues”, pp. 298-335.
The methods used by Anthropologists to study shamanistic cultures has evolved over time along with the attitude of western thought to the significance of dreams and visions. Dream significance was rejected in the 1800’s by popular western thought as an illusion as thought shifted from the importance of the spirit world to that of science and rationality. Freud famously rekindled the suggestion that dream states hold significance later on. Anthropologists also reworked their approach to shamanistic cultures moving away from being objective observers to the cultures they studied. They instead began to become part of these cultures, partaking in rituals and shedding new light on the significance of trance states experientially. If their experiences were truly reflections of their assumed culture then the data must be credible and unobtainable in any other way.
The philosophical results of this experiential method are that culturally specific groups believe whatever interests them or what they allow themselves to believe. To enter another universe of beliefs such as the shamanistic and adopt their spirit world as real is to adopt a reality separate from the western construction. The symbolism used to describe reality is different within different cognitive styles such as scientist or witch doctor and to switch styles via this experiential approach is to alter personal perception of reality.
From a psychological perspective Goulet and Noll present a similar thematic response. That is to say that typically, the psychological answer to suggestions that shamans are actually interacting with tangible entities in a spirit world is that it is a highly dubious presumption. They dismiss visionary states as phenomenology, however, they are assured that this is irrelevant. It is beyond the grasp of science to justify the “realness” of the visions.
Winkelman, M. (1997) “Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Behaviour”, Anthropology of Religion, ch. 15. pp. 394-428.
The use of altered states of consciousness as a religious tool is a universal social phenomenon that has been demonstrated most prominently in unrelated shamanistic cultures. The legitimacy of these trance states is found culturally in the local belief that such states have religious significance, and biologically in the proven alteration of brain chemistry that can be attributed to the reported visions.
In hunter-gatherer tribes the shaman is a spiritual leader, the link between the people and the spirit world. Magico-religious practitioners from across the world display these core shamanistic characteristics but differ in their specific religious beliefs, socio-economic and political circumstances.
The biological reasoning behind these similarities shows that the various methods used to induce trance states are decreasing the frequency of brain wave patterns. This allows the shaman to enter into a state where they can have visions that they relate to their specific cultural and religious context. There are a variety of methods that shamans use to achieve trance states and some of these methods have been linked to specific spiritual results.
Winkelman and Goulet then go on to give different in depth justifications for the reasoning behind the legitimacy of these visions. Where Winkelman shows that the results of scientific tests reiterate the occurrence of vivid visions with cultural significance, Goulet takes a philosophical approach talking of reality construction. He also downplays the scientific approach by stating that anthropologists are presently researching shamanism experientially.
All three summaries are quick to point out that there is a scientific explanation for the religious benefits of these altered states. Certainly, from a biological standpoint, they show how brain waves are slowed down, how training enhances imagery cultivation, and how particular ACS inducing methods are capable of producing such states. They also agree that shamanism is a universal phenomenon that occurs in non-interacting groups which affirms the ability for altered states of consciousness to induce culturally specific trance states.
The most problematic element within these articles is that they are validating the beliefs of a group of people to a western audience by revealing concrete scientific evidence. Then, after presenting this evidence, they proceed to refute that it is even necessary to approach the issue scientifically by taking a philosophical stance. They are basically saying that they have a wealth of scientific evidence to prove their point but that one should move beyond this approach and realise that the way a group of people constructs their reality presupposes what is real to them. Outsiders should view it as just another way of representing the reality that we all exist in. It would have been much easier for the three authors to simply surpass any scientific explanations and make cultural reality construction the primary point as it is a very admirable and important message that has been hidden by a mass of crowd pleasing scientific pop culture that the authors are clearly not devoted to.
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