Blog 7

After watching the documentary Other Worlds on Monday, I realized the common Shamanist rituals discussed in our book. It was similar in many ways but few things stood out the most, which were the hallucinogenic plants (“devil’s weed” in The Teachings and “Ayahuasca plant” in the Other Worlds), the animals seen in these visions (“lizards” in The Teachings and “snakes and alligators or crocs” in the Other Worlds).
Furthermore, I realized that Don Juan as well as Questembetsa talks about the negative aspects, the “near death experience” a person could have if these rituals are not performed accordingly or systematically. They also shared that the animals are representing a deeper meaning then what people take them as. In addition, People who master these rituals have unimaginable powers in controlling animals, finding out information about the past, present or future as well as to the extent to even heal others people.
I thought about these things in detail and felt what I have been discussing in class as well as my blog, (referencing to power) watching the documentary, and the reading the book further along, made my input about what people do for power? even more obvious…
Furthermore, rather than us trying think whether these notions are real or not, I think we as humans can gain insight from the Shamans as to how we all are different and unique and we don’t all have to be the same or have the same goals. However, we can all have clarity in life as well as disciplining our way of life.
We can also learn what things make our personality weak and what makes them strong. In addition, Don Juan talks about the possessiveness of the Datura plant. This made me think about people, objects, foods and drugs. How we as humans get addicted all these things very easily. May be all these things hold the Datura plant nature and possessiveness????
May be further reading the book, and researching this question might answer my question.
I cannot wait to read the next few chapters to see what happens…