Constructivism and Shamanic Experiences: A Psychological Study

Abstract

Shamans are individuals whose souls purportedly journey to other realms in order to serve their community. A great deal of controversy surrounds the issue of whether the content of journeying experiences is simply an exteriorization of the shaman s cultural cosmology or referentially linked to entities that exist independently of the shaman s mind and body. Constructivism and Shamanic Experiences: A Psychological Study is an empirical exploration of the antecedents, epistemology and origins of visual mental imagery associated with journeying. The author describes a series of experiments designed to investigate whether naive participants (i.e., individuals devoid of a shamanic cosmological framework) are capable of experiencing ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery. A modified hypnoanalytic technique is also presented in an attempt to uncover the origins of this imagery. This book would be useful to humanistic and transpersonal psychologists, anthropologists and philosophers of religion.