Week Four- Alesha Byrne

Shamanism has a variety of uses and benefits for communities that interact with each other and believe in the presence of spirits and their potential import on the world. In "Possessed By The Spirits- We Have Len Dong Too", Karen Fjelstad makes the point that Len Dong and it's relative components are reflective of a necessity to feel connected to the rest of the world; that people use shamanism during times of import- like illness and personal emergency. This alludes to the concept that we are not alone, that spirits either have control over certain parts of mortal life or the potential to impact mortal life even if they do  not have any personal investment in the goings on of humanity. Clearly, there are naysayers; Fjelstad writes that some members in the same ethnic group shun shamans, claiming that they are just waiting to take the money members donate when they are no longer looking. However, I wonder if the answer to the naysayer's doubts lie in the very concept of what a shaman is supposed to be doing. In the article "We are Not Alone" John Broomfield mentions that shamans are the link that balances out the interactions between humanity and nature. So whether spirits are at the root of what we don't understand, or nature, or even a separate non-quantitative force, there is clearly a part of our existence that we are missing out on or unable to see with our eyes.
According to Bob Berman, astronomer, scientific approaches often reach the same understanding; or rather, lack thereof. He tells us that there are some reasons why our methods of feeling out the universe are incomplete. Berman gives four examples of why, stating in the fourth example that "consciousness is the greatest unresolved problem in all of science. In every experiment, we're seeing, thinking, concluding—and it happens in our consciousness. Experiments go differently if we measure them and how we measure them. Where we measure makes a difference. It depends on us as observers." And while we "continue to study the brain and how it works, this doesn't answer the question of human experience". It is possible that the efforts of the Vietnamese in keeping their faith and spiritual practices alive may have just as much effect on our universe, and we are just unable to see what the spirits think of our existence.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/we-dont-understand-the-universe-scientist-explains-how-science-is-failing-us/