Authored by Stanley Krippner*
Abstract
Shamanic rituals typically consist of induction, deepening, suggestion, and enactment, the same stages that characterize most forms of contemporary hypnosis. Shamans claim to obtain information in ways not typically available to their peers, such as “visions” and “journeys.” They use this information to help and to heal community members. Tribal members who did not respond to the shaman’s treatment may have lacked the ability to mobilize their self-healing processes, thus their genes would rarely be passed down to future generations. Contemporary humans are able to respond to placebos, suggestion, imagination, hypnotic induction, and other adaptive traits that had their origins in prehistoric shamanism.
Keywords: Hypnosis; Placebo; Imagination; Shamanism; Suggestion
Introduction
When Pickren WE [1] selected the “250 Milestones in the History of Psychology,” the earliest landmark was the development of shamanism. Shamans can be defined as community-sanctioned practitioners who obtain information that is not ordinarily available to their peers and use this information to help and to heal members of their community. Shamanic visions and journeys are not commonly reported by other community members; however, both yield information of value and both utilize shifts in consciousness related to hypnosis. The earliest shamanic ceremonies were very important in the lives of community members. By engaging in group dancing while drumming, rattling, and chanting, shamans often exhorted spirits to come to the aid of those in need; and to the community as a whole. The shaman sang, spoke to animals, expunged malevolent spirits, located game, healed the sick, and asked for protection against enemies. These ceremonies were usually carried out at night when internal opioids are higher than during the day [2]. The release of opioids was also facilitated by repetitive activities (such as drumming and chanting), sweating (e.g., in Native American “sweat lodges”), extreme emotion (e.g., viewing terrifying masks, self-inflected wounding), and storytelling – especially if the story has a positive ending. These opioids reduced pain, allowing the body’s natural healing processes to operate.
Evolutionary origins of shamanic ceremonies can be seen in the behaviors of various animals besides humans. They include rodent foot drumming, ape group shouting and foot stomping, and chimpanzee calling, posturing, marching in a circle, and scaling hills, behaviors also manifested by many other primates. A male chimp might stamp his feet against the ground, throw rocks and sticks, escalate to a bipedal stature, and swing through the trees. These activities display the health, vigor, and fitness of the chimp, attracting females and scaring enemies or rivals. However, human children have a capacity for quickly copying the step-by-step behaviors that characterize complex rituals, a capacity not seen in other animals. Many of these rituals define membership in a group and engender social support, thus aiding human survival [3].
Visionary Experiences
Imitation and miming are basic to shamanism, providing enactments that serve as signal systems [4]. The human body can be entrained to certain rhythms that enhance social bonding, sharing of information, and provide a basis for metaphors (activities that have a deeper meaning) and symbols. The adaptive quality of ceremonies created a group bond, forging a common identity. These behaviors evoke a pattern of phenomenological properties that can be referred to as an integrative mode of consciousness, producing brain wave synchronization especially in the alpha and theta ranges [5,6]. The integration connects cortical hemispheres as well as higher and lower brain centers.
Shamanic visionary experiences engage a capacity for selfrepresentation similar to that found in dream reports. In both, a scenario is constructed that is risk-free, yet provides an examination of options for future behavior. Symbolization and metaphor-making are found in both experiences, and are used to process daytime emotional residues, often dispersed in novel settings. This symbol system engages in processing recent events and their emotional concomitants, enabling the recall of valuable information when it is needed. Dream symbols integrate body awareness into waking consciousness and create a “spirit world” filled with benevolent and malevolent agents. Spirits can arise from dreams, but also from projecting human qualities onto other forms of Nature. This process allowed the shaman’s community to create meaning from what was unknown, hence coping with that which was perceived as dangerous. Meaning and intentionality were projected onto the natural world, both living and non-living.
The assumption of spirits to adapt to a social context helps in understanding the behavior of others and explaining why these fellow humans react in predictable ways. This is a “theory of mind,” one that is needed to provide explanations and to make inferences. Spirits expand human abilities to construct scenarios and predict consequences. Spirits are part of this “theory of mind” providing a way to explain bizarre and puzzling behavior and events. Spirits also allow for the expression of unconscious needs and regulate functions that are beyond volitional control. Power animals serve many of the same function as spirits, providing a visible means to represent human qualities. These animal guides also allow one to identify natural agents such as game, severe weather, and medicinal plants.
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