Page 57 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure
"Spoken like a true shaman," Liliat said. "Although, to be honest, I have no idea what shamans of different traditions do. My ancestors practiced shamanism which was a form of magic and divination called seiðr. It involved communicating with spirits, prophecy, and healing. But I've only read about that in fiction, so I don't trust the accounts."
Eluheed considered his answer carefully. These women had lived for millennia, and they would spot shallow pretense immediately. He would have to lean into his knowledge of human shamanic practices, which wasn't as extensive as he pretended it was. What humans expected from their shamans was very different than what had been expected from him where he'd come from. "I think that shamanism is pretty universal, but some focus on one of the aspects more than the others, so it depends on who you ask. To some, a shaman is a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. To others, we're simply healers who understand that body and spirit are inseparable."
"What is it to you?" Tamira asked.
"To me, shamanism is about seeing the fundamental truths of everything and seeing the connections others miss. Understanding that everything is interwoven. Plant, animal, and person. Earth, water, and sky. Past, present, and future." He paused. "Though I suspect that sounds like mystical nonsense to those raised in this age of technology."
"Not at all." Sarah leaned forward, adjusting her unnecessary glasses. "Modern physics is just beginning to catch up to what shamans have known for millennia. Quantum entanglement, the observer effect, the possibility of parallel universes—it all points to a reality far stranger than pure materialism suggests."
"Have you studied physics?" Eluheed asked.
He'd read extensively on many subjects, including physics, but some of the topics were too complicated for him to grasp. Humans had advanced so much during the last two hundred years or so that it was hard for him to wrap his head around the progress.
Eluheed often wondered if his people, or what was left of them, had progressed at the same rate. If he ever returned home, would he find that they lagged behind humans, or would he be surprised that they'd leaped ahead?
"I wouldn't call it studying," Sarah said. "We don't have teachers here, but I read a lot and understand some." She smiled. "When time is not an issue and you are afforded the ability to procure books on every subject imaginable, you can gain a lot of knowledge. I've been particularly fascinated by how modern science keeps rediscovering ancient wisdom. It's like the connections you spoke about. I'm thrilled each time I find them."
"Like morphic resonance," Tony said. "A famous biologist proposed that there's a field of collective memory that influences form and behavior. That sounds a lot like what a famous psychologist referred to as the collective unconscious, which bears a resemblance to what shamans have long described about the spirit world. It's all the same thing with different names."
Eluheed hadn't expected such depth from the American, and he wondered if Tula had anything to do with it. So far, she hadn't said much, seeming preoccupied with something no one else was privy to, but he had a feeling that Tony had learned about those things from her and not the other way around. From his brief interactions with the guy, he'd gotten the impression that Tony was highly educated, but he was the type who knew a lot aboutthings in his narrow field of study and was not interested in much beyond it.
Sarah's eyes lit up. "Or consider the placebo effect. It's really proof that belief and intention can create physical changes."
"Which brings us back to that book you were reading about manifestation," Rolenna said to Tamira.
Tamira nodded. "The claim is that focused intention can reshape reality. Elias and I were discussing it in the garden earlier."
All eyes turned back to him.
"What are your thoughts on that?" Beulah asked. "As a shaman, you must have opinions on whether we can will things into being." She wiggled her fingers as if performing magic. "Perhaps we can will ourselves out of here. I for one would love to see America."
He was accustomed to the dismissive attitude with which people usually treated his calling, and he wasn't offended by it. They were just ignorant about the multitude of wonders the universe had to offer and sure that science had already discovered everything worth discovering.
It was such arrogance to think that the limited minds of humans could ever uncover all the secrets in the universe.
Eluheed took a sip of wine while preparing his answer. It required a careful balance between the echoes of common beliefs and knowledge and what he knew that none of those present did and sounding like he had a lot to contribute to the discussion while not delivering anything earth-shattering. "Every culture has stories about the power of will and word. In ancient Egypt, they believed names held the essence of things—to know something's true name was to have power over it. The Aborigines of Australia believe that they sang the world into being. Hindu and Buddhist traditions speak of maya, the illusion of reality."
"Do you believe in any of it?" Raviki said. "Can we actually change reality with our thoughts?"
Eluheed smiled. "I think that the separation between thought and reality is superficial. Consciousness is fundamental to the universe, not just the byproduct of our brain chemistry, and our intentions are part of the fabric of reality, not separate from it."
"That's a clever dodge." Liliat nodded with approval. "But you didn't answer the questions about what you believe."
Smart lady. He'd hoped that the big words would do the trick. "Then let me be more direct. Yes, I believe intention shapes reality, but it's not as simple as thinking really hard about riches or freedom or both and having it become your reality. It's more subtle than that. Focused intention can rewire the way our brain perceives opportunities and what possibilities we notice or ignore."
"The observer effect," Sarah murmured. "We collapse probability waves just by looking."
Eluheed nodded, vaguely remembering what he'd read on the subject. "What shamans learn through practice, physicists are discovering through mathematics. Consciousness and the cosmos are inseparable."
That sounded profound enough without really saying anything. Of course, consciousness was not separate from the cosmos because the cosmos contained everything within it, or as some believed, consciousness contained the cosmos.
He waited for someone to call his bluff, but no one did.
"How did you become interested in shamanism?" Tamira asked. "Were you born into the tradition?"
The question required an even more careful navigation. "No one is born a shaman. My people had old traditions." He shifted his gaze to Liliat. "Like your ancestors. They had old ways of seeing, but they were lost, so I had to develop my own."
Liliat's eyes were sharp as she regarded him. "How did they get lost?"
