Shamanism and the spiritual pursuit

From time immemorial, humankind has sought to understand the world in which we live. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, storms, earthquakes, wind and clouds were mysterious to those in the ancient world. Destructive forces were especially feared because there seemed to be no rational explanation. Thus, supernatural powers and eventually deities were ascribed to those aspects of nature. Most in the ancient world knew that water was essential to life, and if rain did not come and the land got parched, their very survival was in jeopardy. Surely there must be a god in charge of the rain, many thought. This belief system is known as animism, and it is perhaps the most ancient of all spiritual understandings of the world, where both living and inanimate objects alike were ascribed to contain some force.

Dangun, the mythical founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, was such a deity. There are sacred or holy mountains on which stones were designated for his worship. In Korea, in addition to Mount Mani on Ganghwa Island, similar sacred mountains were located near Incheon and in Hanam east of Seoul. There are similar mountains and sacred stones in some of the most ancient temples in Japan. The deification of mountain gods and the Big Dipper are found all over East Asia and beyond.

Spiritual pursuits are very much in practice today, despite the pervasiveness of organized religions’ attempts to suppress them. Many modern people believe themselves to be more sophisticated and superior to their ancient ancestors. Thus, many of the earliest forms of spiritual life have been discounted or rejected as “primitive.” Christianity is probably the most egregious in this realm.

Shamanism is still prevalent in Korea. I think it is just as legitimate a spirituality as Christianity or other organized pursuits. There are more than 300,000 shamans active in Korea today. That’s more than three times the number of Protestant and Catholic clergy combined. Shamans far outnumber police officers and elementary school teachers alike.

Shamans don’t typically have organized groups. They won’t be out en masse on the streets harping on some issue that evangelical Christians get so hot and bothered by. Shamans don’t have big fancy buildings and huge congregations that gather each week to congratulate themselves about how much more special they are than others. To be sure, shamans make up for the fancy buildings with shrines filled with colorful art, images and boisterous chanting and music. Many shamans rival some of the most popular Christian pastors in Korea in terms of personal wealth.

Human nature demands spiritual pursuit. Humans need to make sense of the challenges that life throws in our path every day. Readings, rituals and prayers by shamans can be just as important as the confessional in the parish church. Engaging in ritual, be it the shamanistic Gut, Catholic mass or Protestant communion, is an equally important connection between mortals and the spiritual realm.

Like the shamans of today, Jesus sought to make life meaningful for those who listened to his preaching. He healed them spiritually and sometimes physically. He cast out demons. He practiced alchemy, such as changing water into wine, and made a small picnic lunch expand in quantity to feed thousands. In the end, he turned common wine and bread into his flesh and blood. Jesus, referred to by his believers as God’s begotten and savior in their statement of faith, absent empirical evidence, was no different from present-day shamans. Remember, the Bible was written by believers, so we can expect it to be filled with statements of faith. There is nothing wrong with that. However, just because one believes doesn’t make them exclusively right and all others wrong.

As a pastor, I, too, am like a shaman. Parishioners come to me seeking answers for the challenges they face. They ask me to pray for their child, who desperately must pass a life-changing university entrance exam. They call me to their hospital rooms to anoint with holy oil and supplicate the powers of the spiritual realm to heal and cure. They demand my presence at life’s end to ensure their loved one passes to the immortal realm. I have been asked to bless new houses, to ward off ghosts. And a time or two, I’ve been asked to exorcise demons. When my colleagues and I raise the cup of wine and piece of bread in the ancient Eucharistic ritual, we are performing alchemy.

Shamanism is not the false religion some Christian superiorists want it to be — far from it. Shamanism is practiced with music, rituals and prayers, much like Christianity and Buddhism. Believers exercise great faith in that which is divine. Shamanism is only different in its outward appearance. That doesn’t make it any less legitimate than other spiritualities.

If you are a Christian, be a great one; if you are a Buddhist, likewise. Grant to others the right to find and understand “God,” or “nirvana,” or whatever the word is, for themselves. We must move beyond words and understand the deeper meanings and more powerful spiritual forces at work in the universe.

Rev. Steven L. Shields, FRAS (slshields@gmail.com), has lived in Korea for many years, beginning in the 1970s. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, he is also a lifelong member of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea, of which he was a director, vice president and president. He was a copy editor for The Korea Times in 1977. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect The Korea Times’ editorial stance.