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Imagery in Healing: Shamanism and Modern Medicine, Jeanne Achterberg
In Imagery in Healing, Jeanne Achterberg attempts to discuss the ancient practice of Shamanism in the context of modern, scientific analysis and terminology. The very thought of this immediately put me on guard and I became incredibly skeptical, but decided to dive into the reading with an open mind and open heart, ready to learn as much as I can while doing my best to set my prejudices aside. What I found was a sense of mental confusion and emotional confliction.
When allowing herself to speak freely, it’s obvious that Achterberg has skill with words. Several passages were absolutely beautiful and spoke of eternal truth, as this passage early on:
“Nowhere is there such a concrete manifestation of the illusionary stuff that is mind and soul as in the human body. It is there, in the body, in its state of relative health or sickness, that the harmony of the person with the cosmos is portrayed. The body has no secrets; it never lies. Neither the sins of omission and commission in the environment, nor past and present thoughts, can pass without leaving their corporeal mark. The treatment of this complex landscape of thinking, feeling, and being has been the province of medicine, fr better or for worse. “
People have entire planets, stars, galaxies, and universes behind their eyes, and can be conduits for bringing about such beauty, joy, and magick into the physical realm of existence. By acting as a transmitter and mediator between this world and the sacred ethereal of the cosmos, we can accomplish miracles greater and more extraordinary than anything our minds are capable of conceiving. Shamanism is one of the practices that works toward helping us achieve these miracles.
Achterberg says that she aims to treat shamanism, “the medicine of the imagination”, appropriately, “but with a scientific eye.” This made me uncomfortable. Is it even possible to fairly hold up such a practice, which has to do with realms infinitely beyond what we can perceive with our eyes and numerical calculations, to the same scrutiny that we do for a practice like open heart surgery?
How can science possibly measure something like this? I agree with Achterberg in that, when used for it’s greatest good, Science “... is a ballet of discovery, an elegant accouterment to the rest of the world’s knowledge” p.8
I do not, however, think that science often lives up to it’s ideal as “the pursuit of knowledge” and in fact often seems to work it’s hardest at making that search as difficult and bureaucratic as possible. Nor do I agree with Achterberg when she says, about science, “More important, it provides a prohibition on self-delusion, which distinguishes the scientific methods of observation from other ways of seeking information” p.8
I’m naturally and equally distrustful of anything that claims to be able to provide all of the answers in an infallible, unquestionable way, whether it be science or fundamental Christianity, who, in their mutual disdain for each other, at times act in disturbingly similar fashions. I feel, although theologians and scientists alike may argue vehemently against this, that science and spiritual paths are essentially one and the same, and rely on faith as the primary basis for them to be effective. Faith in the fact that your eyes don’t deceive you, that microscopes don’t tell lies, that cameras sent out into space are sending an accurate image of what they’re actually seeing, that making an incision in a certain part of the brain will make a person feel better, not worse.
This conflict of science versus spirituality is one that has been going on for centuries, whether it be Galileo against the Church or a Hmong family against western doctors. Lia’s situation clearly illustrates that practitioners of science, the realm of rational and logical thought, when questioned by, in a sense, a “non-believer”, will often display behavior that is neither rational nor logical. The refusal of either side to accept the validity of the other seems to be one of the biggest sources of concern and danger to humanity as a whole.
I’m not sure why I have such negative associations when thinking about shamanism being scrutinized by science - why should it matter to me?
I can take a lot of things on “faith”, and don’t need scientific “proof” to dictate what constitutes my reality - reality is what I make of it. However, why should I deny the chance of new discovery and potentially wonderful new insights to people who do require more physical evidence before allowing their reality to expand and incorporate new ideas and beliefs? If the study of shamanism in a scientific way can spread it to more people and make it more acceptable, and work toward merging it together with more modern ways that can only, in the long run, benefit all who are involved, isn’t it a good thing?
Part of my discomfort is a source of pride. Shamanism is one of the most ancient of mankind’s practices - I feel like something that has withstood the test of 20,000+ years doesn’t need to justify or prove itself to a relative newcomer. Also, the ideologies of the two different systems are so far apart, I fear that rather than reaching a common ground of understanding and mutual acceptance, it may serve to push the two even further away.
Something Achterberg mentions that hadn’t occurred to me previously is, “Avoiding death is not the purpose for the practice of medicine in the shamanic traditions. Our Western mistrust of these systems often comes from the observation that shamanic healing may not have resulted in an extension of life.” P.17
Because I’m a person of “faith” - faith in the power of good, faith in a God/dess, faith in the fact that I have an immortal spirit that has existed from the dawn of time, I’m not afraid of dying. Rather than let this become a morbid fascination or lead to lack of desire to live when I know something better awaits me after this moment of consciousness ends, it has had the opposite effect. Because I don’t have to be tied down to any one plane or method of thinking, I feel free to live life as fully and wholly as I can, taking risks physically as well as emotionally and live in a way that’s guided by my heart and guided by love rather than intellect. I think modern medicine’s goal of prolonging death at all costs, regardless of the quality of life - an idea which leads them to hooking up machines to keep hearts beating on their own before admitting that the spirit has passed on - stems from the fact that most people aren’t certain, aware, or believe in their own immortality. This fear that this may be it - no other lives, no other worlds, just this one shot, and then blackness - I feel, is a large part of both modern science and the average modern person’s reluctance to accept some of these “crazy” ideas.
Science is an amazing gift that we have discovered, and yields a source of tremendous power. Like all things, the essence itself is neutral - it’s those who wield it that can use it to transcend boundaries toward higher levels of existence and a higher quality of life for all involved, or who can use it to destroy and pervert truth to satiate it’s own narcissistic, ego-centric whims. I appreciate what Achterberg has tried to do in this article, and although relegating shamanism to the realm of white lab coats and three letter acronyms (or TLAs) doesn’t jive with me personally, I respect the right of all people to travel the path that feels most comfortable to them, and on which I have no right to tread. I’ll close with one last quote from Achterberg, which brought me to tears on my initial reading. Health is something that no one knows all the answers to - and I hold firm to my belief that communication and an open mind will bring about the long awaited Age of Aquarius, the partnership between science and faith, that will usher us into a beautiful tomorrow.
“Health is being in harmony with the world view. Health is an intuitive perception of the universe and all it’s inhabitants as being of one fabric. Health is maintaining communication with the animals and plants and minerals and stars. It is knowing death and life and seeing no difference. It is blending and melding, seeking solitude and seeing companionship to understand one’s many selves. Unlike the more “modern” notions, in shamanic society health is not the absence of feeling, no more so is it the absence of pain. Health is seeking out all of the experiences of Creation and turning them over and over, feeling their texture and multiple meanings. Health is expanding beyond ones singular state of consciousness to experience the ripples and waves of the universe. “