Animism and Core Shamanism

A blog

 

Just what is Animism?

 

Animism is a way at looking at the World, our Solar System, the whole Universe, where everything is alive with Spirits.   It is a different perspective to Science, but no better and certainly no worse.

 

Imagine if you will a person is walking in a desert.  They come across a rock that they can easily pick up.  They take it to a laboratory as it appears at first glance to be many millions of years old.  At the laboratory they take samples and poke and prod.  How old is the rock? What was the world like when it first formed?  How does it fit into the evolution of the World?  How had it evolved itself?  Answers eventually come.  However, what the animist would do is simply as the rock.

 

Put simply, Science is understanding through observation.   This is an objective practice.   We stand in a circle and observe an object and cone to a concensus through interpretation and looking again and again at the object; evolving our ideas but never coming to a final, definitive answer.

 

Religion and Spirituality on the other hand, is understanding through experience.  This is subjective, but also means that the evangelical approach people take on, whether Religious, Spiritual or not, is pointless.   Our beliefs may guide our way within the world,  but it is not for us to impress upon others what we feel to be right, our truth.

 

So What?

 

Animism is a new buzz word in new and alternative thinking.  It is probably as popular as the Western concepts of Shamanism and is equally misunderstood.   Animism is a way of looking at the World, not a t-shirt to be worn at weekends and suitable parties.   You either view the World this way, or, you don’t, it’s not something that you can just dabble in every now and again.  It is the basis of a path, not the convenient add-on to be dropped when the next fad comes along.  You can’t choose to be an animist, it’s just the way some people are.

 

But it is not a belief system, nor is it a Religion; yet it is the root of all spirituality.  Many indigenous cultures still see their environment through the eyes of animists and encounter many spirits this way either through everyday living or through spiritual practice, ceremony and ritual.  They can choose to develop deep, meaningful relationships or keep them in the periphery.

 

Why any of this truly matters is because,  like anything, if you use or become part of something the right way you get more out of it.