Creative Concept — Sha(wo)man of America
The shamanistic tradition — the ability to gain insights from the under and upperworld, reveal secrets of the under consciousness — have been with us as long as we humans have been able to understand the idea of metacognition. The shamans, warlocks, wizards, witches, priest or any way you want to call them have been helping us ‘mortals’ to understand why we think, feel and do the way we do. The formats, rituals and practices have changed. The tools used to understand the metaphysical world have changed.
American gods are great example that we do have — still — the ability and imagination to think beyond the current world. Jungian philosophy describes that we live and feel according to very old myths and legends and in fact the same big stories span across cultures. The philosophy of science itself is in constant move. What we call the actual science — the empirical knowledge — is the truth, but everyday the actual knowledge is challenged by the alchemy of the mind. What if? is the question that takes us from the real world to the borders of our imagination.
Psychotherapy, solution-oriented therapy, mindfulness, mediation, spiritual retreats, medical fungi, laughter yoga, positive psychology — all names for the same shamanistic practice of today. Just recently neuroscience has been able to empirically study the brain and nervous system collaboration and validate that yes — the way we think and feel — affects reality. Metacognition is an actual thing in the world and can be tracked to biochemical observations. We know by heart that if you want to heal then it is more likely for you to heal. Invisible processes are having real life effects. (I don’t even have to mention quantum physics)
This march (2024) I had an honour to take part in the Gross Happiness Summit organized by the University of The Peace. Summit took place in beautiful Costa Rica and Summit participants were all around the world but everyone had an interest of what makes us happy and how to increase happiness in the world. I was the only one from the happiest country in the world so I had to answer the question why. (I will reveal my answer the end of the article)
The revelation that I had in the workshops is that I felt that I met sha(wo)man of america while at the summit. While talking with people I ended up having talks with professors, researchers and practitioners of psychotherapy or coaching and mentoring. More and more I had conversations with the persons (mostly women) I started to realize that what they actually do is a) listen carefully what people say b) elegantly nudge thoughts and ideas that may open new doors of perception c) are delicate of not to jump into conclusions d) try to ignite the better thinking process/ healing from within the humans itself. Does this sound familiar? To me all this sounds like shamanistic principle or at least a continuation of the human practices of helping others to feel and think better.
Let me give you few examples:
Coralis (first Puerto Rican that I have met ) now in Florida doing laughter yoga, which I recommend everyone to take, but also assistant professor on mental health
LoriAnn — Virginia — science of mental health and core faculty member at the Universti fo the Cumberlands.
Claire — a writer of horror stories but the stories have good intentions.
Denita — From Ohio — Everyday wisdom for better mental health
Alexis — Positive Psychology and gratefulness
Edith — Post Traumatic Growth — mystical way of resilience.
My dream would be to do a documentary of what they do and how they think.
On 24th of April in Kamppi we will discuss this together with Good Spirited people around this. Welcome to join the event.
https://www.lyyti.in/Rauhan_yliopisto__Jannaa_mutta_mika_se_on_1638
