Observations placeholder
Dr T Levin - Siberian shamanism - Sayan
Identifier
000941
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
There is nothing complex about the moral codes of the indigenous populations of this area.
The principle code is that there should be NO HURT and that the principle aim should be to LOVE.
When Manchen-Helfen visited Siberia in the early 1900s [Reise ins asiatische Tuwa] he met several shaman and found them ‘likeable, sincere and humane’ and so it would appear did many others.
Apart from some eastern tribes who had adopted a more warlike approach in self defence, the people of Siberia were peaceful, compassionate, generally kind to their animals and especially kind to their children. The boarding school system of harsh discipline sent shock waves through a population unused to any form of physical punishment or restriction. The Siberians also had extensive complex kinship rules that prevented genetic disorders and a social system that supported the old, widows and the sick.
Russians once viewed most of the indigenous population as simple, innocent and childlike, gullible and trusting. They viewed this as a fault not an asset. Sad.
A description of the experience
Sayan [quoted in Where Rivers and Mountains sing – Dr T Levin]
You let things happen and evolve and you don’t destroy. The nomadic way of life is set up for that. You put up your yurt and you haven’t harmed anything – not the grass, not the sunlight. It’s the same when you play music; you’ve taken from nature and you give back to it. Everything passes through you, and in the end, you’re back to zero – a big and beautiful zero