Week 3: Me vs. Them - Mary Moua

(meditation, one of the methods used to practice spirituality as mentioned in Esaki's article)

In Week 3’s readings, Stephanie Marohn and Esaki’s articles note the differences in western expectations and norms of “rationality” and spirituality versus individuals and their viewpoints on spirituality and religion. Both articles “What a Shaman sees in a mental hospital” and “Attack on the Spirit by the ‘Rational World’ pointed out what was already well known in society which is that the demands and wants of society will ultimately overpower your wants and needs as an individual and anything that you believe is rational is irrational to the rest of the world.

This concept is demonstrated in Marohn’s article where she points out the differences that an indigenous Shaman experiences and sees in regards to a mental health hospital as compared to Western views and opinions of patients in a mental health hospital. Whereas mental health hospitals are usually thought to consist of patients who are crazy and in need of help, Shamans view these patients as healers who are suffering because of the need for the alignment between their energy and the spirit’s. However, because mental health hospitals have such a negative connotation, the belief of patients as healers is widely disregarded and unknown. But as Dr. Some in Marohn’s article demonstrates, patients in mental health hospitals hold so much power and have the ability to make the world into a better place with their rituals and powers. It’s unfortunate that western views have such a contorted and ridiculous view of mental health hospitals and this might be so because of the fact that “...the West are not trained in how to deal or even taught to acknowledge the existence of psychic phenomena, the spiritual world.”

The dominance of Western ideals and beliefs can also be shown in Esaki’s article “Attack on the Spirit by the ‘Rational World’ where she talks about the impact that academia rationality has on Asian American women in academia and the coping mechanisms for spirituality they use to overcome the pressure they face in academia. Once again, anything related to spirituality is looked down upon in academia and Asian American women have to continue to face obstacles and expectations in this space just like how they are expected to for everything else in society. It’s unfortunate that Asian American women and Women of Color in academia are expected to uphold the expectations and rules which they have no control over and can potentially lose their job for if they do not comply. They continue to be limited and restricted to things even in spaces like these and as ironic as it is for universities to claim that they care about their staff and their students, actions like these demonstrate otherwise and like the article illustrates, staff, faculty, and students do not get a say in what they believe is normal and rational to him - the university and administration unfortunately and unfairly decides that.

My question after reading this week’s articles are what solutions can be implemented to challenge the popular Western notions and ideals that have dominated and shaped society to think and react in certain ways in regards to spirituality and how so?

Sources:

Marohn, Stephanie, and Malidoma Patrice Somé. "What A Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital." The Natural Medicine Guide to Schizoph 178 (2014): 189.

Image: http://solybreath.com/meditation