This is a question that has come to me many times in different ways. What is the meaning of this life? Or rather, what gives this life meaning? In my early twenties, I met my first spiritual teacher Eunice. She spoke of “being a soul in continuous life […]
Excellence Reporter: Gloriji, what is the meaning of life? Gloriji: I don’t know, but I can share from my experiences. In our relative experience of being in the world, our search for the meaning of life begins as we mature. We’re acutely aware of the pain and suffering in […]
Excellence Reporter: Tree, what is the meaning of life? Tree: The ultimate meaning of life is to discover who we are. To have an embodied experience of, “I Am That.” We are all searching for this either consciously or unconsciously or is it searching for us. To experience […]
A shaman with the insight of a god came from Chi to settle in Cheng; his name was Chi Hsien. He knew whether a man would live or die, survive or perish, be lucky or unlucky, die young or live out his span. He would predict the date […]
For the Nepalese shamanic initiate, the calling to the path (deuta-aunu) can happen in one of four ways. The first method is the calling of blood, that is the ancestral call that comes from one’s place in a shamanic family. In this case, an initiate may be […]
Excellence Reporter: Mira, what is the meaning of life? MiraMichelle: Life has a particular resonance that is universal for us all. We meet this resonance daily and experience what is there to be experienced. Sometimes we rejoice in that what is and sometimes we despair. Whichever way the pendulum […]
Tuva, a republic in Siberia, is a land without railways and, until recently, without cell phones. A place that seems almost mythical, it came into existence due to a geographical error. This error occurred in 1727 during the signing of the Burinsky Treaty on Borders. Russia marked its […]
Excellence Reporter: Shaman Bhola, what is the meaning of life? Bhola Banstola: As life itself is difficult to understand, the meaning of life is still beyond our reasoning and thoughts. Our birth here, as we are taught is to learn, understand, live for ourselves and help others. However, […]
Shaman sickness represents an extreme nervous breakdown that cannot be treated by conventional medicine. Only initiation into shamanism can relieve the afflicted. Symbolically, it is the call of the ancestors who have chosen a particular person to become a shaman. If the chosen candidate refuses, they either die […]
Photographer Alina Desyatnichenko traveled to one of Russia’s most mystical regions, the Baikal area, where she conducted brief interviews with local shamans about their initiation into shamanism. Understanding the spirituality of the Baikal Buryats is not just difficult—it is exceptionally challenging. The dominant official religions in the region […]
WHAT IS SHAMAN SICKNESS, OR HOW DO SHAMANS LIVE IN THE BAIKAL (SIBERIA) How Does One Become a Shaman? Shamanism has existed for centuries. According to legend, the ancestor of the powerful shamanic tribe of Baikal was an eagle that transformed into a man. Interestingly, in […]
Alya, a Siberian shaman who wished to remain anonymous, shares her insights in this interview. The conversation was filmed by the TV channel Russia-Culture in collaboration with Ethno Taiga and has been translated into English by ©Excellence Reporter. Q: There are shamans in Siberia, but who are […]
Excellence Reporter: Patricia, what is the meaning of life? Patricia Cori: The meaning of life? How possibly can one compress into so few words the greatest mystery of existence … the most significant, and yet – the most elusive of our passing here. I am reminded of a […]
As a shamanic practitioner of 18 years, this is a question that weaves through my work. My core practice is something called “Soul Retrieval” that involves retrieving vital energy that has become separated or unavailable and restoring it to my client. One of my most asked questions is […]
In the day to day existence we struggle through, sometimes it feels as if we get no where. We try so hard just to stay afloat in this sea of hunger, panic, need and competition. It is an amazingly hard thing to keep one’s sanity and some sense […]
Excellence Reporter: Jan, what is the meaning of life? Jan Engels-Smith: We all seek meaning in life and we have different reasons to believe that we have found it or we resign ourselves to an existential belief that there is no meaning to existence. I cannot subscribe to […]
Excellence Reporter: Byron, what is the meaning of life? Byron Metcalf: This feels like the proverbial ‘trick question’! I’m not sure I have any answers but I do have a few ideas and strategies that support my being fully engaged in life, and to that extent, the meaning […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Farmer, what is the meaning of life? Dr. Steven Farmer: 35 years ago I was witness to my oldest daughter Nicole being birthed. I was in shock, not quite finding a place for this miracle in the familiar trappings of my mind. Up to then […]
Man ponders life’s meaning endlessly This brief sojourn to the mystery Is tasted by many who engage a dance In an earthly garden of circumstance That draws us in to weave a story Engaging earth in all her glory A precious chance for ships to sail To greet […]
Excellence Reporter: Evelyn, what is the meaning of life? Evelyn C. Rysdyk: It is a scientific truth that we are inexorably connected to the entirety of life on Earth. For instance, every human alive today is a descendant of one particular woman who lived in Africa about 200,000 years […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Mehl-Madrona, what is the meaning of life? Lewis Mehl-Madrona: I suspect that life has no intrinsic meaning and that we are free to make meaning as we wish. This seems to me to be the project of humanity – to take that which may be random […]
Excellence Reporter: Itzhak, what is the meaning of life? Itzhak Beery: On my 19th birthday I woke up frozen by existential fear. “What if my life will be boring and meaningless?” I was petrified. A dark memory from the age of five crept in: “Why was I even born, […]
Excellence Reporter: Paulina, what is the meaning of life? Paulina Alanis: It’s a creative flow towards beauty, from the most simple to complex structures, life forms. It’s about light and darkness playfully meeting each other, colliding, shaping multiple light streams. We as humans are fortunate to have many […]
Excellence Reporter: Robert, what is the meaning of life? Robert Moss: For me, the meaning of life is forever under construction. The building materials are stories. No one else can do the construction work for us. We are required to find our own essential stories, and become authors […]
Make shamanic journeys to the Upper or Lower World to get the answer to this question. ~Michael Harner, internationally renowned anthropologist who pioneered the return of shamanism to the West and is the originator of core shamanism, a methodology founded on practices and principles shared by shamans across […]
“When everything loses it’s meaning, every thing becomes meaningful.” This insight arises when the mind after intense spiritual seeking unhinges itself and opens into its natural infinite expanse. Now stripped of all interpretations and opinions that previously masked the raw experience of life, the truth lies bare and […]
Excellence Reporter: John, what is the meaning of life? John Perkins: The meaning of life for me is to do my part in helping to promote the greatest revolution in human history, the Consciousness Revolution. This is a revolution that has been part of the prophecies of many of the […]
Excellence Reporter: Kari, what is the meaning of life? Kari Hohne: I find meaning with nature as my teacher. The sun offers a curriculum of how to rise each day, activating a chain reaction of abundance by simply shining. Light the fire, smile, see how the world responds. […]
Excellence Reporter: Mara, what is the meaning of life? Mara Bishop: The meaning of life is what we bring to it. Meaning can be made from anything at anytime. The intersection between the external and internal worlds, the physical and the spiritual, is the fertile place where we […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Wesselman, what is the meaning of life? Hank Wesselman: Years ago, I was drawn into connection with a Hawaiian kahuna elder named Hale Makua over the last eight years of his life. My book The Bowl of Light records many of our conversations during that time. Among […]
Excellence Reporter: Amy, what is the meaning of life? Amy Lansky: Much of my writing about homeopathy, consciousness, and now the ideas underlying Hawaiian shamanism, deals with the higher energy bodies. These include not only the so-called etheric body — the vehicle for the vital force (chi, prana, […]
Excellence Reporter: Don Trent, what is the meaning of life? FOUR ARROWS: The Meaning of Life is first a Great Mystery. Once this is accepted and embraced wholeheartedly, it can become the foundation for an adventure in discovery and humility. All that is required is intentionally and intuitively realizing […]
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