A Ternary Process
May 25, 1994 DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520081321.003.0015 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that ecstatic or visionary shamanism is the fullest expression of a questing religious impulse common to all tribes, coexisting with other rites and persisting on the margins even after priestly officiants displace the shaman. Contends that priestly ritual emphasizes the collective, future-directed "aspiration" of Bergson's second source, while divination and spirit possession open ritual toward the encompassing unknown. |
Abstract
Ecstatic or visionary shamanism is not a discrete phenomenon but the form of the experience of religion in tribes in which the questing impulse, common in some measure to all, finds fullest expression. It customarily coexists with calendar rites, sacrifice, divination, or spirit possession, and even when the shaman has been displaced by priestly officiants, he or she may reappear on the fringes as the still-indispensable, if more and more suspect, exorcist or medium, sorcerer or witch, clown or soothsayer, storyteller or poet. However, the principal emphasis of priestly ritual is on the invariant and collective, future-directed “aspiration” of Henri Bergson's second source: the “forward thrust” and “demand for movement” that subject the precarious entities of self and society in an uncertain world to inherently unpredictable transformation. Divination and spirit possession likewise serve to open the closure of ritual toward exploration of the encompassing unknown, the wildness that can never wholly be tamed.