Monks and Shamans
I'm going to use this blog to create teaching journals for my Monastic Psychology class that runs from September 9 to October 14 2005. I'm teaching novices, candidates and juniors.
The first topic begins with the question: "Who were the first monks?" The answer is: "The shamans who created the cave paintings in Lascaux France and Altmira Spain, over 16,000 years ago."
The word shaman comes from the Siberian Tinglit language. It means "one who travels between the worlds", namely the physical Earth that we presently inhabit and the Spirit World from which we came to and to which we will return (most of us) at death. The very definition hints at the Christian monastic's understanding of "in the world, but not of it."
Just as a monk has duties that tie him to Earth, so does the shaman. What differentiates the two can be clearly seen in the Rule of Benedict: coenobitic community. Shamans traditionally have only one or two disciples, much like the early Fathers of the Desert, but Benedict came to realize that for most men and women to grow spiritually, they would need a larger community environment to do so.
What is common to the Christian monk and the Altamiran shaman of the New Stone Age? The quest for transcendance; that is, to discover the power of the Spirit World in the sufferings and struggles of the here and now. For the male shaman, the hunt was the most sacred and paradoxically practical event in life. Christian monks can be seen as a hunting party, hunting for God.
posted by Zinc Chameleon @ 8:40 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
1) how do you know the "shamans" of the wall paintings were monks?
2) most monks remain pretty naive when it comes to insight beyond their little worlds. only a handful that i can think of have verged into some sort of creative sphere whereby they were "enlightened" in the way that thomas merton was, perhaps.
3) to go it alone on the spiritual trail is perilous indeed. the penitential character of monastic life has held that the monk prays for his own soul and the souls of the benighted ones outside the cloister. it's a form of self imprisonment more than a locus of self actualization. understatement is more the way of most monk lives. most die in anonymity.
the greatest scholar and perhaps the wisest man ever to walk the cloister halls of st, john's, a conusmmate teacher and translater, a biblical wizard...had only a small handful of folks attend his funeral. i was busy filling in his grave when a student of his stopped by (having missed the funeral) and gave graphic witness to what i had intuited in conversation with the great man.
the rule offers discipline
the horarium is like a sonnet
everyday
the connection between the
altar
the table of communal eating
and the workplace
is a vital link to the cosmos
but it is tedium
compared to the phrenetic
bombardments of our day
3) we embody the crucifixion
if we do it well perhaps others can be healed and freed from the spiritual trappings of our day
4) the utilization of concepts deriving from elucidations of the human sciences are i find antithetical to the focus of spiritual practice in the monastery
we use them these days
but it all begins to look pretty stupid
the women are using the nuevo psychos big time
and they are wandering out in left field in complete belief that they have found wisdom
there may be some hope
but the superficial knowledge of our day
is a pathetic witness to our faith
most of it goes little beyond the idiocy of matthew fox
i discern that the only true way is to assent to the teaching of the church
therein lies a storehouse of wisdom
and enough to challenge any life
be it intellectually
or just in the day to day affairs of living with other people
no matter how close
i would far prefer a young spiritual trekker to comprehend the writings of the great canandian philospher bernard lonergan than speculate about the intimate designs of shaman guides
only by the cross dear ones
4) god is pure act
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