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Identity and Power

The idea of identity - who we consider ourselves to be - is something that I am starting to regard as central, not only to mental health, but in fact any kind of conflict between �superior� and �inferior� in any political and social sense.

We live inside a social structure - of relationships with family, friends, colleagues, managers, politicians, stars etc. All of these people have their ideas about �who we are� - sometimes we are happy with them and sometimes extremely unhappy. This social structure is hierarchical - at work, in immediate social contacts, and in wider society there are important people and unimportant people, ranging from T.V. personalities to cleaners.

People often go mad when they choose an identity in conflict with the identity they are allocated by society - like choosing to be a messiah, a reincarnation of a famous person or any kind of rebel. Society usually doesn�t allow people these kind of identities and anyone choosing one is in for a hard time. People in these and many other kinds of situation are fighting to assert the right to publicly define who they are - be it in psychiatric hospital, Steve Biko�s black consciousness movement in Apartheid South Africa, someone at work trying to demand a bit more respect from those around them, or even teenagers in conflict with parental authority.

Someone I�ve come across recently who really impresses me is King Arthur Pendragon, who is part of the new age traveller movement. (His web site is very interesting) I suppose you could get very caught up in asking whether he is �really� the reincarnation of King Arthur - for me it is enough that that is who he has decided he is - and I really respect the integrity of what he considers his path to be - if I disagreed with him I would oppose him, but not by questioning his identity.

For the last couple of years I have gradually been exploring shamanism. (A shaman is someone who goes into an altered state of consciousness by using visualisation techniques in conjunction with repetitive drumming, and tries to obtain guidance or healing in this other world.) Shamans normally try to restore power and self-worth to someone who has become disempowered by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune - traumatic events or being trapped in oppressive relationships at work or with people around one. I have so far had difficulty in using shamanic techniques and I don�t consider this an appropriate place to consider whether or not shamanic techniques work (although I think they do). But for anyone interested, I suspect that they may have a relevance for mental health - both to the crises that bring people into hospital, and to healing some of the horrors that people can be subjected to, particularly electroshock.

As a rough guide to finding a shaman - many people claim to be shamans because they�ve had some sort of bizarre spiritual experience, but there�s a bit more to it than that. If you meet someone with outlandish clothing and an intense stare who talks in a mystifying and esoteric fashion, they�re probably not a shaman, although I�m sure that there are exceptions. However if you meet someone who is nice, makes no extraordinary claims and who you can have a sensible conversation with, you�re probably on the right track. A couple of organisations in London are the Centre for Shamanic Studies - with a web site in Denmark (www.shaman-centre.dk) and Eagles Wing (www.shamanism.co.uk) There is a link from Eagles Wing to an Irish site called �3 Worlds� that I particularly like. There are many books on the subject in bookshops like Mysteries and Watkins in Covent Garden - I recommend �The Way of the Shaman� by Michael Harner, as a starter.

N.B. I realise that some people who read this may feel that shamanism is in opposition to their belief in one of the major world faiths, and I would be na�ve to pretend that there isn�t a problem. However there is something of a tradition of shamanism in most of the world�s religions - be it Christian mystics, Islamic sufis, the Jewish Kaballah or any of the Eastern religions. Shamanism is wholly opposed to using power against people, putting spells on them or any kind of trickery and manipulation.