Medical Materialism

I have written this paper and hypothetical study, and I am currently searching to have it published.  I thought I would post it here for comments.

Medical Materialism:

Exploring the allopathic paradigm through shamanic practices 

Shawn Tassone, M.D.

 

Introduction

            Western medical practice has become a struggle for survival.  Physicians are combating the rising costs of managing offices, while the specters of malpractice insurance, combined with decreasing reimbursements are leaving physicians and their patients disillusioned in a fractured system.  “Our bureaucratized and materialistic medicine – this mechanical model with an active therapist and a passive patient that reduces the patient to an object and relegates healing to the long corridors of the hospital has failed.” (Kalweit, 1987, p.2).  Western medicine has lost its roots, and in so doing, has become devoid of the natural processes on which it was founded.  The care of the patient and community has been replaced with business reports and evidence based medicine (Block, 2007).  In fact, many western medical societies have gone so far as to state that there is no place for religion or spirituality in medicine (p.9).  The concept that medical practice has become pure science has completely removed spiritual or transpersonal experiences from the ability of the healer.  Individuals who have wrung spirituality out of medical practice in the name of scientific exploration state that there is no place in medicine for spirituality and are thus committing medicine to the pre-trans fallacy (Wilber, 1983).  Within the confines of the Pre/Trans Fallacy Wilber makes the argument that scientific or medical materialists assume that human beings do not have access to transpersonal experiences.  “Once this confusion occurs – the confusion of “pre” and “trans” – then one of two things inevitably happens: the transitional realms are reduced to prepersonal status, or the prerational realms are elevated to transrational glory” (Wilber, 1999, p.333).  Thus peak experiences or extraordinary healings achieved by shamanic practitioners are reduced to scientific relationships.  These medical materialists have, for centuries, attempted to explain the healings and psychopomp of saints, mystics, and shamans as simply reactions in the human brain to external stimuli. 

Medical materialism finishes up Saint Paul by calling his vision on the road to Damascus a discharging lesion of the occipital cortex, he being an epileptic.  It snuffs out Saint Teresa as an hysteric Saint Francis of Assisi as a hereditary degenerate. (James, 2002, p.16).

 

            Indigenous shamanic practitioners on the other hand practice healing with an eye towards imagery and community. (Achterberg, 1985)  In his monumental work Shamanism: Archaic techniques of Ecstasy, Mircae Eliade discusses the three stages of becoming a shaman: election, instruction, and initiation.  Michael Samuels, M.D., has also stated that shamanism has a fourth stage, the practice of shamanism (Samuels, p. 15).  The calling and election of a healer is the stage of the process that stems from the family and the community.  Allopathic physicians have similar stages of development; the calling to become a physician is the first stage, followed by the structured teaching of medical school, the initiation of residency, and finally the practice of medicine.  In exploring the similarities between allopathic medicine and shamanic practice I will emphasize the call to be a healer. 

     Is there a reason that one is called to the practice of medicine?  Like the indigenous shaman, there are many reasons one receives the call.  Whether one is a healer in the allopathic framework or based in the imagery of the shamanic states of consciousness, there is a healing that is taking place between the healer and the patient.  The premise of this article is that allopathic physicians share the calling to become a healer with that of the indigenous shaman.  While the mechanisms and the practice of medicine will differ from country to country, the calling to become a healer has similar roots.  The roots of the calling to become a shaman are the hereditary transmission of the shamanic profession, spontaneous vocation, or the response to the prompting of one’s own free will or the will of the clan (Eliade, p. 13).  The calling and election of an allopathic physician is also deeply rooted in the ancestral transmission, spontaneous call, or by the needs of the community.  I hope to bring shamanic ritual and healing imagery back into advanced Western medical practice by showing that the healing call for both shaman an medical doctor is based on similar patterns.  Bringing medical practice back to its shamanic roots can reinstate the spiritual practice currently lacking in medicine.  This despiritualized state is contributing to many physicians closing their doors and retiring or changing professions.  The call to become a shaman, on the other hand, is a life long commitment.

Stages of Shamanic Training

     As stated earlier, the stages of shamanic training are the calling, instruction, initiation, and ultimately shamanic practice itself.  It would be my assumption that one could compare the levels of allopathic medical training with shamanic healing and find similarities and differences.  In this paper I will compare medical training with the call to become a shaman. I will briefly describe the four stages of shamanism.

Shamanic Calling and Election

            In many indigenous cultures, shamanism is a hereditary practice and can be transmitted along male or female lineage.  Within many of these cultures, even when the shaman is born into a lineage there are gifts from spirits or gods that instruct the future shaman through dreams and visions (Mikhailowski, 1894).  Those who have the calling based on familial transcendence will have a different course from those that are called based on vocation or those that are asked by the community.  Other types of callings are illness and tragic life events.  It has been proposed that an individual who experiences severe illness are merely being prepared to become a shamanic practitioner, and that by becoming the wounded healer they are preparing themselves for the practice of becoming a shaman (Halifax, 1991).

Shamanic Education and Training

            For the shaman, the process of training occurs over many years or a lifetime.  The training may begin in young adulthood and continues through experiences in nature and solitude, the teachings of elders, or by apprenticeship to a shaman.  Among the Zulus there are twelve stages of training, and the Blackfoot novice must pass through seven “tents” to become a fully accomplished medicine man (Kalweit, p.20).  Exposure to severe elements or situations is utilized in certain cultures.  Japanese medicine men are made to stand under cold waterfalls or immersion in cold water intermittently for 100 days. (Blacker, 1975).  The basics of education in the ways of shamanism, or that of a medicine man, is the transmission of knowledge and the ritualistic tools that have been either orally or physically transmitted throughout generations.

 Shamanic Initiation

            Shamanic initiations vary from culture to culture and can occur as part of a training series or spontaneously.  Initiation creates shamans from those who have been called, and not all who are called will become shamans (Pratt, 2007).  Four general forms of initiation have been described:  traditional or cultural, instantaneous, wounded healer, and dismemberment (p. 227-229).  Traditional initiation is the ordered progression that is most similar to medical residency, where the shaman will go through stages.  Instantaneous initiation can occur with near death experiences.  The wounded healer may have physical, emotional, or mental challenges that result in an insight or awareness that comes when they have surrendered to the process.  Dismemberment or spiritual dismemberment occurs within the confines of shamanic states of consciousness.  As stated above, the initiation of the shaman is irreversible, whereas that of an allopathic physician is terrestrial.

Shamanic Practice

            The Western physician is an active healer in the sense that they diagnose and treat with the patient following instructions.  The shamanic practitioner is a healer who becomes a passive participant with an active patient; the patient is simply guided in the direction of the healing. This practitioner now has mastered control of themselves, has become an advocate for the patient between the worlds of spirit and physicality, and they are participants in the community’s need to heal.

 Stages of Allopathic Medical Training

            The many rigors of allopathic medical training have similarities to the shamanic practice.  There is the calling to become a physician, the education and initiation, and finally, the practice of medicine. 

The Calling and Election of the Physician

            The multitude of applicants to medical schools has remained stable over the last five years according to reports from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).  The reasons behind the quest to become a physician are as multiple as the applicants.  The percentages for genders are fairly equal according to the AAMC’s Applicants and Matriculants Data for 2007.   This data is obviously not a representation of the American community as a whole and this represents a discord with shamanistic practice as most shamans are pulled or chosen from their community.  Physicians may not represent the community where they ultimately practice.  Medical students are groomed by their parents, have desires for stable incomes, in helping the human condition, and ultimately are drawn to the field because of the lure of healing.

Medical Education and Training

            Medical training is also a lifelong process that begins in medical school.  The educational phase of medical school is followed by the initiatory phases of residency, and the growth of private practice.  The education received by medical students is similar to the shamanic practitioner, as one cannot practice healing without passing further tests and initiations.  One receives a degree upon graduation, but this does not confer the power to practice medicine in Western cultures or shamanic cultures.  In Western culture, after completing medical school, one must obtain a medical license after completing multiple exams and a minimum number of years in graduate education (“Anonymous”, 2000).  In union with shamanic training, the allopathic healer learns through ceremony and ritual.  One of the most prevalent learning rituals is that of the surgical suite.  The allopathic trainee enters the healing theater of the surgical suite.  The patient has instructions to fast before the surgical ritual, and at times the physician is without food due to laborious schedules.  The room itself is structured with the patient at the center lying with outstretched arms in a Christ-like posture while the room is continuously sanctified with air filters.  The attending physician will bring the initiate into the surgical ceremony after they have cleaned and garbed in traditional surgical gowns, and for many years the procedure will be performed with the residents and medical students simply visualizing the teacher.

Allopathic Initiations

            Similar to the shamanic initiation, the physician will be transformed based on cultural norms.  There are also practitioners that are called and initiated based on their own wounds; occasionally those with personal wounds will choose the profession in order to assist others with the same disease (Jackson, 2001).  Traditional initiation is the residential format that medical students enter upon receiving a degree.  The residency is based on the physician’s core needs and what most resonates with them as healers.  The residency will last from three to five years and is a graded system with more responsibility based on the ability of the provider.  The major difference in the initiatory processes of shaman and physician is the fact that shaman are called for life.  Recently, physicians are leaving medical practice or changing fields due to socioeconomic and cultural pressures. 

Allopathic Medical Practice

            In my own experience, the practice of medicine is a continuation of the process in medical training.  Unlike the indigenous shaman who usually practices alone in a community, the physician will join a larger group of healers.  This practice is now without the supervision of the initiatory processes of residency, however, the allopathic healer is in a sub-clinical phase at this point until they become board certified.  This certification is a process by which the elder healers confer the rites of healing upon the initiate physician.  Of note, shamanic practice also undergoes a form or board certification.  “Before the shaman-in-training of the Tenino, of northern Oregon, can begin his practice, he must prove his gifts before a committee of older shamans” (Murdock, 1965).

Methods

     The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the healing call of medical students and residents.  These students were part of an integrative medicine elective sponsored by the University of Arizona.  Throughout the month students were exposed to different healing practices and modalities of healing that differ from the allopathic model.  The students and residents that participated in this elective were in allopathic medical training programs, but open towards different healing modalities.  At the end of this elective rotation, five students and three residents were taken to Sedona, Arizona.  In Sedona they were exposed to the Huichol healing traditions through the teachings of James Endredy author of Ecoshamanism and Beyond 2012. 

            The day consisted of exploration of ancient ruins in the red rocks surrounding Sedona while performing healing ceremonies with indigenous techniques.  The students and residents were invited to not only become the patient in the ceremony, but to heal and bless their colleagues as well.  At the end of the healing ceremonies there also time for a traditional Huichol fire ceremony where the participants were invited to speak to the fire and participate in ritualistic dancing.  Each participant was encouraged to discuss with the fire their past and future.    This initiation with fire captured the spirit and essence of the place, and allowed the participant to explore the spiritual essence within themselves.  The purpose of exploration with the earth and fire is to categorize and bring to light the initiation.  By bringing this ceremony back into the conscious thought of the students and residents, it was the feeling that this may ignite memory of their call to become healers.  The sacred fire as described by Endredy allows a primal connection that creates a holistic state of consciousness with the power to advise, heal, and nurture us on our anointed path (Endredy, 2007, p. 311).  It was after the exposure to the elements and the surrounded by the blessings of the earth, and fellow colleagues that the students were asked to privately reflect on their call to be a healer.  The students were asked why they decided to follow the path to become an allopathic healer.  Students and residents were told that their responses would be handled as a group and that there would be anonymity not only within the data but also within the group.  There were four medical students from different parts of the United States and one from Canada; all were in their last year of training.  There were three residents that were also in their last year of training and from different areas of the United States.  All of the participants had spent at least three weeks in each other’s companionship and thus they were comfortable sharing personal reflection.

Results

            Five of the participants claimed that they had either one or both parents that were physicians.  Some of these responders claimed that they were not certain how much their parents played a role in them becoming a healer, but that there was definitely lineage involved in their decision.  The remaining three were called by vocation.  Healing practice called to them and they were uncertain as to the cause.  None of the respondents claimed that an illness had been the reason for them to go into medical practice; this was neither their own illness nor that of a family member.  More than the nature of their written responses was that of my observations during the course of their shamanic work.  Throughout the day there was a distinct decrease in the amount of resistance of the students and residents to the ideas of shamanic practice.  Most of the respondents claimed that they were skeptical of shamanic practice prior to the exposure, but all stated that they felt an increased awareness of themselves and their surroundings at the end of the exercise.  There was a general cohesiveness among the group as a whole that seemed to culminate when they performed healing rituals on each other.  During the healing ceremony each student called upon the ancient ones; Tate Wari (Grandfather Fire), Takutsi Nakawey (Grandmother Growth), Kauyumari (Deer Spirit), and Tatei Yurianaka (Mother Earth).  Each participant was also instructed to let the healing ceremony become a free flowing instrument guided by him or her.  They were asked to invite the spirits to become part of the healing ceremony to help empower each participant, their families, and the universe.

     During the healing ceremony, participants reported emotions such as love, anxiety, fear, anger, and sadness. Many of the participants, as the healing was being given, claimed they were able to sense the immediate surroundings more easily.  There was a consensus of becoming more in tune with one’s body and that hearing and touch were increased.  They were also able to feel emotions from the officiator and the group surrounding them.

     Final analysis reported through written communication showed that each participant felt more in touch with the healing practice of allopathic medicine.  This was not reported as an opening to shamanic practice as much as it was an opening to the healing practice for which they were trained.

Conclusion

          Medical students and residents become wounded healers as they train and practice medicine.  They are wounded by long hours and a disconnection with the basic health, healing, and holiness that medicine has offered them.  “Healing itself has little to do with the surgeon’s scalpel or antisepsis.  Wholesomeness and basic health are attained, rather, only through inner purification.” (Kalweit, p. 1).  Through the process of shamanic ritual, medical students and residents may learn that healing is more for the community first, then the person and finally the illness itself (p.1).  This shamanic medical model is a reversal of the allopathic model that focuses on the illness in order to heal the person and thus the community.  Materialistic medicine is not humane medicine.  The humane healing practitioner becomes a passive participant in the healing process and acts in accord with the patient’s destiny and individual intent (Meyer, 1996).  I have attempted to show a correlation between the call and initiation to becoming a shaman and the call and training of an allopathic practitioner.  Exposure to the healing shamanic arts opens the allopathic healer to their own inner healing.  The training for the shaman is one that involves the community.  Medical schools have an important role in reducing the isolation of their students from alternative health beliefs like shamanism that are a part of our community (Poland-Laken, 1995).  The call to be a shamanic healer is similar to that of the allopathic physician.   At some point in the medical training, students and residents lose their connection to the community where they reside.  This disconnect or wounding can be healed, or the wound utilized, by bringing the trainee back to the shamanic roots of medical practice.  Shamanic practice is the portal for recovery of the wounded healer.  The realization of the call, and the wounds of the initiation can unfold into the power of the wounded healer.

                  “We could say, without too much exaggeration, that a good half of every treatment that probes at all deeply consists in the doctor’s examining himself, for only what he can put right in himself can he hope to put right in the patient.  It is no loss either, if he feels that the patient is hitting him, or even scoring off him: It is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal.” (Jung, 1951, para. 239.)

 

       The call to heal comes from the familial bonds of the shaman-physician, the vocation, or the wounds of the past.  In any case, it is the spiritual glue that provides these physicians with the ability to become healers.  The continuation of spirituality in medicine is critical as a conduit to the process of the inner healing of the physician.  The inner healing of the physician is a crucial aspect of bridging the gap with the community.  Shamanic practice is the link that will bridge the gap between the wounded healer and the disembodied local and global community. 

 References

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Anonymous. (2000). “Your Doctor’s Education”. Journal of the American Medical Association, 284(9), 1198.

 

Association of American Medical Colleges. (2007, September 9).  U.S. Medical School Applications and Matriculants by School, State of Legal Residence, and Sex  Retrieved April 26, 2008, from  http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2007/2007school.htm

 

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Block, M. (2008).  Allopathic or Allopathetic Medicine? The impact of non-evidence based disciplines on allopathic medicine.  Arizona Medical Association’s AzMedicine, 18, 8-9.

 

Eliade, M.  (1992). Shamanism; Archaic techniques of ecstasy. Bollingen Series LXXVI.  Princeton University Press. Princeton, N.J .

 

Endredy,J. (2007). Ecoshamanism: Sacred practices of unity, power & earth healing. Llewellyn Publications. Woodbury, MN.

 

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Jackson, S. (2001).  Presidential Address: The Wounded Healer.  Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 75(1), pp. 1-36.

 

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Kalweit, H. (1987). Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men.  Shambhlala Publications, Inc. Boston, MA.

 

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Mikhailowski, V.M., (1894).  Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia, Being the Second Part of Shamanstvo.  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 24, p. 60-100.

 

Murdock, G. (1965).  Tenino Shamanism.  Ethnology, 4, pp. 165-171.

 

Poland-Laken, M., Cosovic, S. (1995).  The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 1(1), 93-98.

 

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Samuels, M., Rockwood-Lane, M. (2003).  Shaman Wisdom Shaman Healing; Deepen your ability to heal with visionary & spiritual tools  & practices.  John Wiley & Sons.  Hoboken, N.J.

 

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