It certainly smacked of the economically minded, and sounded like a
reference. Thanx for it.
>I am curious as to your comment that the definition of shaman was expanded
>too far into the "politic". Please explain your comment as it would help me
>to further modify this model. I am wondering if you mean that you are
>surprised that shaman, as I have defined it, has "equal" control over the
>community as does the priest, teacher, warrior and/or government. Perhaps,
>you feel that material resources are of greater importance than mental or
>spiritual resources...or that recreation is not a valid concern for an
>economic model?
Well, recreation is a valid part of an economic model. Yes, I am
surprised to see an equality for the shaman, a role I certainly see as
anachronistic, or at least fading fast. The valuation of 'spiritual'
resources in any economic model is troubling, though, yes? We have the
additional problem of 'community' in this model. It may be asking too
much of an economic model to bother with these terms. The resources paid
to a shaman I certainly view as parasitic.
>I am also intrigued by your comment on the "non-physical". Would you
>include influence, power, and community assets (schools, etc.) as
>non-physical? Do you now see the shaman as being misunderstood in similar
>fashion to the college professor being misunderstood by the construction
>worker (ie. because they fall within different subcultures)? Or, do you
>still think that the shaman somehow performs "magic" and that it is for
>*this* that he receives compensation?
Yes, I think the shaman, within my definition, does indeed claim to use
'magic' and expects to be paid for this. The shaman is never
'misunderstood' by _his_ culture. So this part of your question I view as
irrelevant. But- influence and power are certainly intangibles in many
instances, although I think we have contained 'non-physical' to mean the
'spiritual'... or 'magical'.
The shaman will always, and intentionally, be 'misunderstood' by the
reasonable. It is not in his interest to be understood.... He uses
'secrets' after all. That the shaman is tolerated is the paucity of a
culture, IMHO. Or at least the degree of toleration.
*****************
Wade T. Smith
morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
morbius@cyberwarped.com |
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