WEEK 3 - Pahuaja Thao
In week 3's readings, the most impactful reading that not only made me question what I thought I knew but had open my mind to another level of understanding was the readings of the tarot cards and the article "What a Shaman sees in A Mental Hospital".
Though it took more than once to read the tarot cards to fully understand it, it soon became something that can be re to human beings and reality. The Patient represented self awareness to understanding one's limits but also never restriction from "only being a body, only being a patient". It also represents us as humans living in reality because our life "has been full of rage as well as moments of clarity, fear as well as peace". The Survivor represents pains and struggles we have faced that have molded us to be who we are. However, these scars will never be our identity. Our response to our pain shapes us not the pain itself. The Prisoner represents sight when wanted and the support for knowledge to get rid of oppression. It gives us the gift of visibility when we do not want to be a prisoner ourselves. All of these tarot cards have to do with conflicts that we have all faced within ourselves and though we may only represent one or the other we will come to a point where all three is in us.
"What a Shaman sees in A Mental Hospitial" has changed my views on the mentally ill people. Having been only influenced by the western ideas of what causes these illness or the definition of it, I have never gotten the chance to think or see it through the shamanic eyes. Now that I have, after having read the article, I can say that it makes sense as to where the views of the shaman are coming from. Mental illness in a person is seen as a healer to be born. However, this acknowledgement from the West will be impossible considering that the mentally ill person being a healer to be born and such phenomena cannot be explained.
In all of the articles, they talked about conflict with the outside force rather than inside force. Such as the reading "Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic" where the author states that they would be seen as unusual than being labeled mentally ill. This article was not about just someone fighting a problem due to oneself but was fighting a certain scientific label given to them. Another example would also be"Attack on the Spirit by the "Rational World".
Question: What would happen to the views of the West if we were to allow shamans to help those who are considered to be "mentally ill"?
Though it took more than once to read the tarot cards to fully understand it, it soon became something that can be re to human beings and reality. The Patient represented self awareness to understanding one's limits but also never restriction from "only being a body, only being a patient". It also represents us as humans living in reality because our life "has been full of rage as well as moments of clarity, fear as well as peace". The Survivor represents pains and struggles we have faced that have molded us to be who we are. However, these scars will never be our identity. Our response to our pain shapes us not the pain itself. The Prisoner represents sight when wanted and the support for knowledge to get rid of oppression. It gives us the gift of visibility when we do not want to be a prisoner ourselves. All of these tarot cards have to do with conflicts that we have all faced within ourselves and though we may only represent one or the other we will come to a point where all three is in us.
"What a Shaman sees in A Mental Hospitial" has changed my views on the mentally ill people. Having been only influenced by the western ideas of what causes these illness or the definition of it, I have never gotten the chance to think or see it through the shamanic eyes. Now that I have, after having read the article, I can say that it makes sense as to where the views of the shaman are coming from. Mental illness in a person is seen as a healer to be born. However, this acknowledgement from the West will be impossible considering that the mentally ill person being a healer to be born and such phenomena cannot be explained.
In all of the articles, they talked about conflict with the outside force rather than inside force. Such as the reading "Fucked Up: I Would Always Rather be Abnormal than Holistic" where the author states that they would be seen as unusual than being labeled mentally ill. This article was not about just someone fighting a problem due to oneself but was fighting a certain scientific label given to them. Another example would also be"Attack on the Spirit by the "Rational World".
Question: What would happen to the views of the West if we were to allow shamans to help those who are considered to be "mentally ill"?
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