My right ear LOVED this.

Some shamans are called at a much younger age. I almost died at birth and started seeing and interacting with spirits, had prophetic dreams when I was 3. Shortly after this started I was deaf for almost 2 years, before my hearing was restored.

For those of us who've used psychedelic drugs, this reminds me of set and setting. Yes, it can feel as though you're crazy when you're tripping (and sometimes you are), but the revelations can be extremely helpful in various ways. I believe some may be better off untreated, if that's what they prefer. That being said, some mental illness is very dangerous. It depends on the behavior and ideation of each person. If the "voices" are persistently encouraging suicide or something like that, anti-psychotic medication may save a life. Let's remain open minded and scientifically informed!

Hi, this story describes me exactly...I had a “psychotic break”, or that’s what I was told anyway. But the story of the guy who said he was thinking things and then it would happen describes what I experiencing after this happened to me. I felt very euphoric at first but the more people would tell me I was crazy even after I showed them the things happening after I verbalized things they still called me crazy...I had lots of proof that these things happened to me and when I went to the hospital they believed me so then I was happy and content. But when I got back home, I was still faced with my entire family calling me crazy, which put me back into the hospital two more times. I became very afraid to speak to people also. How is it that the same experiences can be experienced by two people who don’t know each other and they can totally relate to each other. Things were happening when I was in a state of pure happiness. People saw similar things I was seeing. To me it means we are all connected on a subconscious level. They were other people in the hospital who experienced the same thing I was experiencing, and they verbalized things I saw in my mind and wrote down. Everyone had something to say that was in my mind already. Something was happening to me but only when I was in that euphoric state of mind. It really upsets me when people say I’m trying to relate something to things I experienced or thought about because nobody cared to listen except the doctors and other people who were experiencing it. I didn’t know what it was so I chopped it off to be something to do with religion or spirituality. I don’t know how to explain it all because it was happening all the time, and as soon as I lost all confidence in myself because I let everyone talk me into believing I was crazy it all went away. I am trying to believe again but it’s hard without talking yourself into thinking your crazy again. There is too much to write about and if I could talk about it without feeling crazy it would be a whole lot easier.

I love this talk and Phil, your compassion and open-minded perspective is awesome xx

You cannot excise a shaman from the culture he was born into. As a modern urban North American shaman, he almost nails it. But calling them "hallucinations" seems to downplay the giant sacrifice a shaman makes to serve his people. The shamanic death is no joke and is one of the most hideous things a human can go through since the spirits rip you apart. They rebuild you of course but he doesn't get into how shamans are made. Both today and for thousands of years.

So beautifully said, thank you so much for spreading the word ❤

Thank you for this eye opening, loving testimonial. It was a pleasure to watch. And the photography is breathtaking!

I can't imagine the impact it would have on a young person who is scared of their own mind to be told that they would be helpers and essential to their community instead of becoming a pariah or feared. The West could stand to learn something from that, I think.

Very similar circumstances happened to me between the ages of 8-13. I would get a stream or flow of thoughts, pictures, sounds etc that I used to write out throughout my teenage years. For a long time I thought I was going mad but kept it concealed to avoid being diagnosed with a mental disorder. Yesterday a friend I attended high school with sent me a poem I wrote in 1998. After rereading it I realised it was a word for word emotional account of my current divorce. There are so many of us who experience this in the western world and have to find our own ways of transcending and changing the western mythos.

I think that shamanism is such a beautiful part of indigenous spirituality

This was a great talk, fascinating and very informative!

Awesome talk! Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures of your experience.

There is a shaman in each of us, but to realize this requires an awakening. For me, it was learning to reject most of what I was taught as a child and most of what I see and hear today. Western society is all about stifling the inner voice and severing our connection to mother earth. Money is the drug that is largely responsible for this. You can only choose one or the other.

A respectful and insightful observation of a beautiful sacred way. Thank you Philip.

i heard voices.... and i fully belive this lecture. it was not fun being labeld crazy and put on pills... i wish i had the opertunity like these shamans

Thank you for this talk, these talks are needed.

Shamanism comes in with the soul as an ancestor connection.

Beautiful message thank you

I really enjoyed his other talks I've seen on TRshow but, I'm not totally sure what to make of them. I think maybe these are two separate ideas which are both partly true being taken to be related and mutually exclusive. I don't think mental illness should be seen as some hypersensitivity to ghosts and the spirit world but I also believe mental illness shouldn't be stigmatized. My assumption is that I don't have a body but that I am a body, and that there is no undetectable spirit in me that makes me human. The human experience of being able to feel mystical sensations despite them not being there is what makes me human. The fact that love feels like something magical and that with it 2 and 2 can equal 5.