Shamanism: The Timeless Religion

(Hardback)

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From a talented young anthropologist and contributor to the New Yorker comes a fascinating investigation into the spiritual practice of shamanism What are the origins of shamanism and what is its future Do shamans believe in their powers What exactly is trance What can we learn from indigenous healing practices In this enlightening book, anthropologist Manvir Singh offers a new explanation for one of the most misunderstood religious traditions. Travelling from Indonesia to the Amazon, living with shamans and observing music, drug use and indigenous curing ceremonies, he journeys into the origins of shamanism. Fundamentally, shamans are specialists who use altered states to engage with unseen realities and provide services like healing and divination. As Singh shows, shamanism's ubiquity stems from its psychological resonance. Its core appeal is transformation- a specialist uses initiations, deprivation and non-ordinary states to seemingly become a different kind of human, one possessed with the superpowers necessary to tame life's uncertainty. Following a fascinating cast of characters, Singh tells a larger story about the ancient and modern expressions of this timeless tradition. He argues that biomedicine can learn from shamanic practices, yet that psychedelic enthusiasts completely misrepresent history. He also shows that shamanic traditions will forever re-emerge - and that by journeying into humanity's oldest spiritual practice, we come to better understand ourselves, our history and our future.

Reviews

Deftly interweaving memoir, journalism, his own anthropological fieldwork, and cutting-edge archaeology, Manvir Singh's Shamanism provides a bracing new look at one of our species' oldest and most characteristically human experiencesreaching into the spiritual realm through the powerful figure of the shaman. Traveling from the Indonesian forest to the wilds of Burning Man, Singh takes us deep into history and the human heart, showing us that this ancient religion is very much present in our lives today -- Charles C. Mann, author of The Wizard and the Prophet
Singhs Shamanism is a fast-paced, erudite, lyrical adventure through time and space that explores who shamans are, where they come from, what they do, and why we believeor dontin their supposed powers. This wildly enjoyable book will transform how you think about the human mind and the nature of culture -- Daniel Liebermann, author of Exercised
Way back in the Pleistocene, shamanic voyaging may well have ignited the strange kind of consciousness we call our own. We've been constitutionally shamanic since. Singh's splendid, vibrant, fast-paced account shows us what sort of creatures we were, are, and might be. Read it to know your ancestors, yourself and your descendants -- Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild
What does the practice of shamanism tell us about how the mind works Through vivid field encounters and cutting-edge research, Manvir Singh shows that shamanism is a psychological universal, emerging wherever humans gather, from Amazonian healing ceremonies to Wall Street trading floors. Singh is a brilliant young scholar and a gifted writer, and this remarkable book will change how you think about religion, spirituality, consciousness, and human nature -- Paul Bloom, author of Psych: The Story of the Human Mind
Singhs analysis of the timeless appeal of one of humanitys most peculiar practices is a gripping read. Shamanism is both a convincing explanation of enigmatic behavior in unfamiliar societies and a seductive gateway to rethinking some of the oddities of life in contemporary globalized cultures -- Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox

Author Bio

Manvir Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker, and his writings have also appeared in Wired, Vice and the Guardian, as well as leading academic journals such as Science. He has studied psychedelic use in the Colombian Amazon and conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Mentawai communities on Siberut Island, Indonesia.