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Anyway, it’s not clear what you’re asking. If by “position” you mean beliefs, then of course it was a bit of an obstacle, perhaps still is. If you mean principles, then I was always open to investigating these things (with a healthy dose of skepticism, of course) if I had reason to. I just didn’t have reason. And it might not have done much good if I had tried to investigate it earlier anyway, given that my knowledge was somewhat one-sided (and I knew it). I think I already mostly answered the question of why I “accepted” the call (to the extent I actually have accepted it, anyway): because I wouldn’t mind a life where I get to help other people, and because not doing it would leave me with the mundane, depressing life I had before. If I refused, I would also have denied and suppressed part of me, and thus probably killed my chance at ever feeling whole and finding my happiness. And, once I started to learn the extent of what I’m being called to do, I realized that if I refused, I would probably also let down a great many people, whose fate might be a bit dark if I refused (I’d rather not go into detail here). Thus, if it was real, I would never be able to forgive myself if I refused. And if it wasn’t real, then nothing would stop me from going back to a regular life later, once I had seen enough to be able to draw such a conclusion. So, a rather easy choice in that regard. And from the point of view of my conscience and my heart, there was really no choice at all. Now it’s “later”, and I still can’t draw the conclusion that it isn’t real. On the contrary, it does seem to be real, although I don’t quite understand the underlying mechanisms yet. It’s certainly very different to how ordinary physics works, but there’s of course also an interesting interaction with it, which might be interesting to explore once I’m in a position to do so. So I suppose my curiosity could also be considered a reason to investigate these things, if another one was needed. But my main reason is about the meaning of my life. Trying to help people. Okay, first of all, I’ve always been different, and basically alone, all my life anyway. There’s this thing with my relatively high intelligence, which in addition to the obvious like making you learn faster, understand things faster, and master things faster, it also just makes you think differently altogether. And as we know, different people often don’t play well together. And that’s before looking at all the other things I’ve since learned are unusual about me. Being different has always been a curse, I’ve always been alone, and I’ve always been afraid of going insane. After all, how can I be sure my view of the world is grounded in reality, without having trustworthy people around me who’s able to tell me when I am not? I’ve had to deal with this issue all my life. Fortunately, the scientific method provides a way to do that, if you truly understand it. In particular, the method implies that you should try to always question your hypotheses, your own beliefs. What evidence do you have for what you believe, and more importantly, is there evidence for the opposite? Could you be wrong? Humans have a tendency to never ask themselves the last thing. In psychology this is called “confirmation bias”: people only look for evidence to prove they’re right, they never look for evidence to prove they’re wrong. This is one of the most important reasons for all the insanity in the world, so if you can develop awareness of this tendency, you can become a saner person. Furthermore, by understanding the scientific method, as well as common cognitive errors and statistical phenomena, I no longer needed to rely as much on having trustworthy people around me to have a reasonable shot at seeing the reality around me for what it really is. When this spiritual thing happened, when I received “the call”, it was rather traumatic, as my entire world view changed. I actually wanted to believe I really was just going insane, it would have been easier. But I had no choice but to continue the scientific approach: question your beliefs. “This is evidence that your previous beliefs about spirits not being real is wrong, therefore you need to re-evaluate your beliefs.” (The alternative hypothesis of “I’m just insane” does not explain all parts of the evidence.) So I did, eventually, but I always maintain my scientific, skeptical mindset. Remember that a true skeptic questions, but does not deny. And a true scientist is open to all possibilities, regardless of his own personal beliefs. Finally, there’s the issue of what insanity really is about. We’ve already established that everyone is irrational, at least to some degree or other. Insanity doesn’t have a precise definition, so it can be thought of as a word for when your irrationality reaches a point where the people around you will no longer accept it, perhaps because it’s harming them in some way. And if that’s the case, it’s possible to draw the following conclusion: It doesn’t matter if you’re a little insane, as long it only helps others, and doesn’t bother or harm them. Nobody will care. And what do you really want out of life? Would you prefer a rich life, filled with adventure, with helping other people, and making a difference, even if it’s a life with some risk and uncertainty? Or would you conform to whatever people around you say is “sane”, and have a relatively safe, but otherwise mundane life, where all you can become are whatever other people allow you to? And let me tell you, the latter kind of life made me clinically depressed for most of my life. Thus, choosing the former at least gives me a small shot at one day finding my happiness. Even if it might be a little insane. Hmm, I suppose. Shamans were professionals, the ones appointed by the gods to dedicate their lives in service to their community. Sorcery was more for crooks. You could use sorcery to cast spells on people you didn’t like, or use the threat of such spells to rob people (although ways to defend yourself against this were also passed down through the generations). On the other hand, “wise old women” often also knew a few sorcery tricks for curing various things, but this was typically a bit hush-hush, as far as I know. Also, a spell for instantly stopping bleeding has always been fairly common knowledge among the Sámi. So, clearly, that kind of knowledge was sometimes useful. But the ones you’d call if all else fails, were of course the professionals, the shamans. It’s not my impression that “acceptance of shamanism” has much to do with Sámi consciousness, no. Certainly not for shamanism across the world in general. But even for Sámi shamans, not really. Spiritual-minded Sámi are often Christians who shun shamanism, and to the mainstream Sámi, modern shamanism is just a fringe phenomenon with a few weird and crazy people, not to be taken seriously. And those left who do accept shamanism, were always there, I think. Rather, I would attribute any increased acceptance of shamanism in Western civilization simply to the general progress of human rights and secularization. With greater separation of church and state, combined with ongoing enforcement of the religious freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Church no longer has the power it once had to crack down on other belief systems. So fewer people now grow up with Christianity, but some still seek answers to spiritual questions, and now nobody has the right to stop them from exploring the supernatural phenomena and magic associated with things like spiritual healing, witchcraft, and shamanism. It’s probably not any more complicated than that. When it comes to what the Sámi people will accept, I don’t think I can really speak for them, especially since I’ve never heard of this Johnsen. But I’d certainly hope the Sámi would resist any efforts to allow their symbols to be appropriated by the Church, if that’s what you mean. They didn’t fight persecution and oppression for hundreds of years for nothing. We do have the power to “realize the hazards” with our planet. That’s not a problem. We’ve been able to realize such hazards for thousands of years, long before “modern” civilization. And we’re certainly able to do it with modern technology. So there’s no escaping the question: How is it that humanity as a whole can be so stupid? And no, I don’t think we can “uncover” rationality somewhere. It simply cannot exist, not even in theory. (People can’t have “full access to the consequences” either, that’s the mathematical and physical impossibility I mentioned before. With science you can predict some consequences, sometimes quite accurately, but you can never predict everything.) Not even God (for any definition of God) is, or can be, rational. It’s logically and spiritually impossible. Even the Christian Bible denies God’s rationality. For example, according to Genesis, God created stuff in seven days because he saw “it was good”, which is an emotional assessment, not a rational one. He also gets irrationally angry from time to time (like in the story of Noah’s ark, where God even admits to making an error because he was upset). But Christians like him anyway, because he’s generally loving and forgiving (i.e. God is a person driven by emotions). Also in other religions and beliefs which worshop some god, people will generally hold that “God is love”, which again, is an emotion. So again, rationality, in the usual sense people use the word, simply does not exist. It’s just a persistent delusion. Oh, the folly of man, thinking we can be rational when not even God is. Note that I do not really consider Johan Kaaven a shaman/noaidi. There’s no evidence of him working in that way (he didn’t need a drum, for example). Shamans (and others) distinguish between different types of magic users by whence their power come, and I believe Johan would fall into the category of “sorcerer”. A shaman, or noaidi, is granted healing powers by the grace of higher spirits/gods. A sorcerer, by contrast, takes power by manipulating Earth-bound spirits, such as spirits of the dead. (Some say that Johan did this by cleverly and fearlessly surviving an encounter with the Wild Hunt, thus making the Wild Hunt spirits obey him. Not sure how much to believe that, though.) Several stories about Johan concern how he had an army of the dead at his command, which he could order to do gruesome things if he wanted. A shaman/noaidi wouldn’t be able to do that, because higher spirits wouldn’t allow their power to be abused in that way. But Earth-bound spirits might. (This also relates, I think, to why nobody in the Kåven lineage became noaidis after Johan: the power he possessed, was tainted. Any new host for them would need to possess great mental strength, wisdom, and willpower in order not to be consumed or destroyed.) Anyway, monotheism. As some shamans have said (maybe I read this in Ailo Gaup’s book, not sure right now): religion is what you get when you combine spirituality with politics. I think religions might come into existence when, for example, a particular spirit decides to interfere with how humans live their lives (some of them like to do that). Also, some spirits just love being worshipped. When humans allow this, monotheistic religions may happen. But true shamans will of course know that all such religions are false; the religion’s “god” might very well exist in some form in the spirit world, but its nature is severely misrepresented, usually in order to push some sociopolitical agenda (e.g. Jesus Christ essentially pushed a socialistic agenda). Which is, of course, part of the reason why it’s always been so important for the Church to destroy all witches, sorcerers, and shamans, and their books and things. Monotheistic religions don’t necessarily create a gender imbalance, since the Creator does not need to have a particular gender (and in many religions, it doesn’t). The problem with that is that genderless deities tend to be abstract and hard to relate to. They’re hard to personify. Thus, it seems almost all gods that people actually worship and pray to have a gender. And, of course, once you assign a gender to the Creator, people can take advantage of that to establish power structures that will favor that gender. The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) consider their god male, along with their first human, and it has been used to justify systematic oppression of women and their rights and dignity. There’s no spiritual reason women should be restricted like that, it’s just politics from the time the religion was founded. Which, in turn, is partially rooted in men’s fear of the spiritual power that women actually possess. (See the table in my article The Meaning of Life, part 2) And, yeah, why do humans not learn? I don’t think it necessarily has to do with spiritual guidance. We consider ourselves the most intelligent species on Earth, or, well, at least the most innovative. We solve problems on a large scale, we should be smart enough to understand the following without guidance: don’t make your own home an inescapable death trap. Not even if doing so would gain you time, money, energy, or other resources. Just don’t do it. This is simple enough that you shouldn’t need spiritual guidance. A little bit of common sense should be enough. How is this so hard for humanity to understand? Don’t make your own home an inescapable death trap. How can all of mankind combined be too stupid to understand this? Do I have a clue? I’m not sure. Maybe. I’ve spent years, decades, on what is essentially the question: how can humanity be this stupid? I’ve tried exploring the issue from many angles. Scientific, logical, psychological, evolutionary, and so on. It’s one of the reasons I, for example, reached the conclusion that rationality isn’t a thing that exists. So stupidity is enabled, for example, when people believe too much in rationality, particularly their own. (It’s of course possible to be fair, objective, unbiased, and prudent, to some extent (depends on the situation), and you may be able to use logic to reach certain conclusions (which is good if you can), but you can’t really be rational. It’s mathematically, logically, computationally, practically, biologically, and physically impossible.) I’m still looking into it, though, So maybe I’ve started to get a rough idea, I hope, but I’m not clear on every detail yet. And then there’s still the question of what to do about it, which I certainly can’t answer yet, sadly. For that reason, I’m not really in a position to personally judge his work. All I’m in a position to say about him, is that I have to respect his commitment and dedication, and that I’m sure his work has the power to inspire generations to come. While I’m not sure he managed to fully bring the ancient wisdom to Sápmi on his own, I’m sure he did manage to plant many of the seeds that needed to be sown. Perhaps they will turn out to be important for the things that are to come. (And the way things are going with our planet right now, perhaps those things will come uncomfortably soon. Why is it so hard for humanity to learn?) For starters, the Sámi weren’t warriors. Unlike with Native Americans, there were no military conflicts, no peace treaties, and no reservations. Furthermore, in the case of Native Americans, white man was mostly interested in their lands and valuables found there. It wasn’t about ruining their culture as such, it was about material goods. Possibly a few missionaries may have been interested in changing their ways, but they didn’t have much real power over them. So the Native Americans were at least in a position to defend their culture, if not their lands. (Not that this makes it okay, of course. It was still very coldblooded and cruel.) The Sámi were assaulted in a quite different, and more sophisticated, way. It wasn’t about territory, valuables, or power. It was only about destroying their culture, for various reasons. It may be obvious why the church was interested, but the secular authorities also had their reasons, namely “social darwinism”, the idea that some cultures are superior to others, and that progress happens when inferior ones die — with the implication that actively destroying inferior cultures is both ethically justifiable and a good idea. Since the Sámi people and culture were considered primitive, Norwegians authorities wanted to convert them to Norwegian culture “for their own good”, because, as they saw it, the Sámi culture was bad for the Sámi people. Essentially, destroying their culture was seen as an act of benevolence, of “uplifting” them. It had no other particular purpose, it wasn’t about money or land or anything (although some greedy people took advantage of it, naturally). It was only about people thinking their own culture is superior, and that this made it okay for them to destroy other cultures by any means necessary. And, with secular authorities on their side, missionaries did have a lot more power in Sámi areas than they might otherwise have had. In the latter half of the 20th century, Norwegian authorities finally started acknowledging that this was wrong. In 1997, the King of Norway made an official apology. However, Norway is still resisting a full public investigation. As for Isaac Olsen, as I recall, there were things von Westen wrote that suggest that one of the reasons Isaac was so effective at destroying Sámi religion, was because Isaac had special “insights”, i.e. shamanic powers, himself. Which may help explain how Sámi shamanism managed to hold on through hundreds of years of persecution before Isaac, but lost against him. Johan Turi (1854 – 1936) is generally considered the first proper Sámi author (meaning someone who wrote Sámi books). He wrote several books with stories about Sámi life. He was also a talented artist, and a (shamanic) healer himself. The book that specifically covered shamanism (“Sámit ja noaidevuohta”) was immediately translated into English, with, I think, the title “Lappish texts” (1919). Note that this was during a time that the Christians had already eradicated much of Sámi shamanism, although perhaps not yet all, and this affected some of the content. (It was also published in Denmark.) Another interesting Sámi personality may be Ailo Gaup (1944 – 2014), a more modern shaman, who had the misfortune to live in a time when Christianity had won and Sámi shamanism was almost completely extinguished. Thus, his quest became to travel the world, visit other cultures, rediscover the roots of shamanism, and bring its essence back to Sápmi. Almost all shamanism that’s practiced in Sápmi today, now exists because of Ailo Gaup’s work. He wrote several books on shamanism, some of which have been translated to English (“The Shamanic Zone”, 2014). Other books have been written about the subject matter, of course, but at the moment, these are the only ones I am aware of that have English versions, are about Sámi shamanism specifically, and were written by people who presumably knew what they were writing about. (Edit: In case blogs may also be of interest, I probably ought to mention my sister and her shamanic friend’s blog, Beneath Northern Lights.)
You say that it is a curse being alone. Like what you say about yourself, I’ve been different myself through my entire life so far. I have been mitigating my situation with pretending. From early childhood I realized that my ways wasn’t like the others. I pretended my way to peer acceptance. In retrospect I consider that solution suboptimal. Being part of a group where the others have mindsets that is incompatible with your own mindset is taking a toll. But I was the only person who had the capability to adjust.
I’m not that familiar with science, not to the extent you are, at least. I’m though familiar with the the term “confirmation bias” from my profession, and questioning hypothesis is the main task of my work. I guess that’s sort of a scientific approach. Of course, doing it at work doesn’t mean I’m able to utilize it in another setting. Especially not in a setting which could potentially change my life.
I don’t dare questioning my hypothesis on shamanism, or more correctly, my calling. I’m scared to see it confirmed. Up until now I’ve created all sorts of explanations for what I have experienced. Law of large numbers, law of coincidence, law of luck, law of bad luck/Murphy’s law, law of hope, law of pessimism/optimism and so forth.
As of now I can create an illusion of it being a dream. A reality which doesn’t really exist. I’m writing a lot about it, and by writing it out I’m sort of keeping it under control. It’s just like something prosaic in my diaries.
The coin has two sides, though, and the two faced pleasures of living my current, mundane life really is wearing me out. From what you have said, I obviously have a picture of why, but I still have to ask why you chose to accept your calling.
Forgive me for being blunt, but was your then/now position an obstacle to acceptance of it, or did/does it allow venturing into perspectives like, say, shamanism?
Best regards,
Jenny
I’m aware that the Sámi society is influenced by the church. As you have probably already guessed, I’m of Sámi descent myself. My grandmother was and my mother is a native speaker. Knowing them, and others of the Sámi society, the Christian faith is the only way. Of course, my knowledge regarding others is anecdotal, but it’s my impression that Christianity has strong armed the people into shunning what comes not from Scripture.
I don’t flash my connection to shamanism with my family and kinfolks. My mother flat out denies the existence of shamanism. My grandmother did too. Thing is, though, that my mothers brother, my uncle, was a man with powers. For some reason he chose me to succeed him. Maybe because I was like the only one in the family who shared his spiritual views. The downside is that I don’t want to succeed him. One thing is being interested in the subject, quite another story is living it. I am content with studying shamanism, but I’m no shaman and I’m not mentally capable of handling it. How are you maintaining sanity confronted with what the spirits are unloading onto yourself?
Best regards,
Jenny
I grew up in an evangelical setting, and the fear of spirituality outside the boundaries of the reverend or pastor’s preprinted doctrines was frowned upon. Sorcerers was of the devil, and shamanism was just considered mumbo jumbo. To put it simple, does the Sámi society consider sorcerers more like loose cannons not as trustworthy as shamans?
Do you think the establishment of a greater Sámi self consciousness is contributing to the acceptance of shamanism? From what I’ve learned shamanism has gotten a way more significant position compared to a couple of decades ago. To my knowledge the church did draw a line in the sand between the Sámi religion and Christianity for a long period of time. As of late I have read somewhere that the representatives of the church has been expressing a desire to share religious symbols with the Sámi religion. I think the name of one of these representatives is Tore Johnsen. Would this sit well with the Sámi people? Or would it be regarded as the church consuming a religion which is considered a threat to the monotheistic church?
I think one has to realize the hazards before one can think of not turning one’s home into an inescapable death trap. The tearing down the earth process is scattered across the earth and the pieces are hard to put together. Yes, organizations and people are screaming from the top of their lungs about what damages we are inflicting on ourselves, but the powers that be are committed to their own rationality, which doesn’t necessarily take into consideration the well being of our planet. Their first commandment is usually themselves staying in office. Besides, they have to make sure other nations ain’t taking advantage of them.
So yeah, I agree with your sentiment, or at least this is how I interpret your thinking, that rational behavior is connected, and limited, to the place of origin, which, inevitably, leads to questioning the entire existence of a universal rationality of mankind. Therefore I agree with you that rationality may not exist, alternatively we have yet to uncover its existence.
I will also add that there might could be some sort of human rationality present, granted that people had full access to the consequences of the ill doings, and was capable to comprehend it. Unfortunately, in my lifetime I haven’t seen much indicating such capabilities in mankind, which further supports your conclusion.
What’s your take on the monotheistic religions compared to shamanism? On a slightly related note, would you say that those monotheistic religions are creating an imbalance in neglecting the feminine side of society? (I know, it’s a leading question and quite imbalanced as well).
I don’t know why humanity don’t learn. Maybe we have strayed away from spiritual guidance? The balancing act from being conscious of the spirits is maybe lost? Whenever no higher power is making you aware of the bigger picture, you may not take that broader picture into account? Everything becomes arbitrary actions entertaining your immediate pleasure. I believe most people don’t realize that there is a bigger picture. A politician who really sees the big picture will never make it to office if he or she is campaigning for a healthy earth in an eternal perspective. Neither would a corporate CEO survive the wrath of the stockholders displaying visions like that. Politicians of such mindsets are being ostracized on a daily basis for thinking about that out loud. The kids want their candy now.
Bottom line? I don’t have a clue. Do you?
Best regards,
Jenny
Thanks for telling me about Ailo Gaup. I was able to find his old website and had an interesting time reading his texts and the comments from a myriad of people posting there. Unfortunately it came to and end with his disease and then death.
Mr Gaup appeared to be a spiritual soul and a leader, but also a businessman and a most talented communicator. What is your stance on his work?
Best regards,
Jenny
Yes, “Læstadianism” is what I’m referring to, but also the impacts of “Finnemisjonen”.
I was not aware that Isaac Olsen was in possession of shamanic powers himself. I have read an article on Idunn.no written by Skjelmo and Willumsen “Isaac Olsen - Lærer og Forkynner”, but the text is partly quotations from Isaac Olsen’s handwritten texts and not very easy to get if you’re not well versed in 18th century Norwegian/Danish. Nevertheless, from what little I managed to comprehend, I got the impression that he knew a great deal about what the shamans was doing, where they performed their rituals and etc, but they did not say anything about him being a person who had shamanistic powers himself. From the context of the article that is maybe not so surprising. I’m not familiar with the authors, but my gut feeling is telling me that the piece is written from a Western perspective which is not emphasizing phenomenons from outside of that frame.
Would you say that the missionaries were treating the Sami people like Native Americans were treated by the Europeans? I know there’s a tremendous amount of differences between missionaries vs. the Sami and Europeans vs. Native Americans, but the creating of an environment of exploitation sounds somewhat similar.
I’m sorry about asking you all these questions, but my curiosity is oftentimes overriding my manners.
Best regards,
Jenny
Thank you for the information about Johan Turi and Ailo Gaup. I will sure be studying their work. What you said about the missionaries persecuting and exterminating traces of shamanism sounds like a sad story. This also made me investigate the period when the persecution was taking place, and a friend of mine from Finnmark offered me an update on this whenever I asked her about it. Amongst other things, she particularly shed some light on what happened in Eastern Finnmark back then. She specifically mentioned one Isaac Olsen, he entered the scene in cooperation with Thomas von Westen. From what she said this here Isaac Olsen was literally using a wrecking ball to demolish the ancient Sami shamanism.
I have heard that there’s a presence of conservative Christianity in Sápmi. Could this be traced back to the missionaries or is it merely a consequence of social conditions during the 19th and 20th century?
Best regards,
Jenny
I have been reading your views on shamanism with great interest. For some time now I have been trying to educate myself on the matter, and I’m particularly interested in shamanism in a Sami context. Unfortunately, to me leastways, information regarding this is not always available in English. Now, I sort of read and understand Norwegian and even some Sami, but it’s not like I can be getting through a text somewhat more advanced than a news article and actually comprehend it in a sufficient way. I’m aware of google translate and stuff like that, but older texts tend to give electronic translation services a hard time on accuracy. Pretty much like my own rudimentary understanding of Norwegian and Sami. This is leading me to my question to you: is there any information about Sami shamanism in English written by people who have first hand knowledge about Sami shamanism? I have heard of Johan Turi. Would he be an author worth considering?
You also expressed that you have experienced things beyond the frame of western minds, if I got you correctly. I share that experience which is why I’m getting more and more devoted to looking into this.
Best regards,
Jenny
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