I don't know how many of you watch Jordan Peterson's interviews. He's helped me think my way through the current apocalyptic woke mess that we find ourselves in. And, shamanically, to appreciate the bounty that the earth offers us and the prosperity it gives us.
What tends to be missing in our world is gratitude for this bounty. As a result it is easy to be shamanic and to separate off from the modern world, to condemn it in comparison to a lost ideal, to see nature as fragile, and to dislike humanity. I love humanity: I think it crucial that we do so. I love our technological genius, I am sure we are here to continue unfolding it. It is part of nature, not separate from it. And nature is robust. She is red in tooth and claw, as well as pristine and benign.
One area I do not agree with Peterson is over God, specifically the way he puts pagan, polytheistic religions below the vengeful Old Testament God, who he seems unwilling to criticise. The guy who destroyed the god-fearing Job in a bet with the Devil. The guy who says that gays should be stoned to death.
My view is that indigenous peoples from time immemorial understood balance and gratitude and the sacred. Which doesn't mean they didn't also slaughter and do terrible things to each other and view other peoples as less than human. But for them the natural world was inspirited and sacred, and if you bring everything back to that, then you can always find balance.
The Old Testament God is the new kid on the block. He arose amongst an oppressed people living in the desert, and he reflects the harsh reality of their lives, and the strict, unforgiving rules that can be needed to survive.
The reason Peterson puts God above 'pagan' religions (a word that for him has pejorative undertones) is because he thinks that one God reflects a deeper understanding of reality than having many gods.
What he seems to overlook is the underlying unity of Spirit within pagan religions. Amongst the Native Americans, you have the Great Spirit. In Norse mythology you have the Web of Wyrd that connects everything. Spirit helpers are a lens through to the Great Spirit. Just as are the saints a reflection of God in Catholicism.
Peterson isn't stupid, so I think there is something unconscious in his attitude, a blind faith that needs Yahweh to be The Man. As a very rational, scientifically-trained guy (but not lacking in humanity and empathy) he is searching for a deeper metaphysical underpinning. The solution he has found has been, in a way, what was nearest to hand, and authoritarian: that to me says something about the level of his unmooring, brilliant as he can be in other ways. In this respect, he is a man of our times.
The reason I am Shamanic is because I believe - I experience - the world to be alive. It arose from deep within me, irresistibly, 30 years ago after 11 years of a Buddhism that had made me ill, and it changed my life completely. Both Buddhism and Christianity have a tendency, each in their own way, to separate off spirituality from the natural world. It serves the interests of organised religion to do so, because then people lose their power, and will give it instead to the religious authorities. It is a dark 2-way deal that is pretty normal, and often a stage along the way for people.
But unnecessary. If you begin by remembering your connection to the natural world by putting yourself in it, and if you have a teacher who has been dismembered enough not to need pupils, then I think one is off to a much better start. And essentially a teacher is nudging you towards your own wisdom. There is not really much to teach. All you need is your sense of belonging to, and love for, the natural world. Everything comes out of that, and we can find it ourselves.
The Christian God died for a reason. He arose in the context of an oppressed people, and gained currency through military means (Islam) and by becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire (Christianity). He was always corrupt, always out of balance. Away with him!
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