| Speaking
the Unknowable in Understandable Language Why
would Jan Kounen, director of "Dobermann," want to do a documentary on
Shipibo Shamanism?
My film "Dobermann" allowed me to express my visceral anti-establishment
convictions with a joy usually reserved for bad, little kids. After that,
I started thinking that the time had come for me to examine the reality
of what has so far been my joyfully chaotic existence and to ponder my
place in the universe…
Where
would I begin ?
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Boxed
in by our senses, we only see a single dimension of reality. Our
eyes only allow us to perceive a minor part of the light's reflection
of the specter of what matter truly is. Our other senses restrict
us in exactly the same ways.
I've always held the conviction that other dimensions exist, and
that our brains and our central nervous systems function as filters
for our consciousness. These filters are necessary to grasp the
material world, but their makeup is all too often weighed down by
cultural, moral and scientific doctrines that provide us with a
much too limited image of the Universe.
So I was continuously plagued by the question: "Can we tear away
the veil, just for one second?" |
Shamanism
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With
the exception of Buddhism and the Tibetan Dzogtchen tradition,
which include terribly constraining techniques, current religions
offer little in the way of approaching the "Invisible."
So I then delved into reading the scriptures by the mystics.
Along the way, I came across Shamanism.
As I read their scriptures, I came to learn about the lives of
these men, these Shamans who use plants, meditation, chants and
rituals to journey into the Invisible. In contrast to what I had
read previously, I learned that Shamans do not provide answers.
All they do is record their observations and, based on their own
experiences, establish their belief systems. Their role is simply
to guide souls on their own, personal quests.
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Our
Western sensibilities tend to make most of us scoff at Shamans or to consider
them with fear or amusement. They are nothing more than witch doctors
who use powerful drugs to induce trances, and can not function in reality.
Despite all this, I set out to meet them in Mexico. High up in the sierra,
I sought out the Huichol Indians, widely known for their active Shamanism
and its sources which go back several thousand years.
This gave me the opportunity to frequent Shamans and share their peyote
ritual.
This initial experience left me disturbed, but unsatisfied.
We had not bonded on a personal level.
So I set out again. This time I went to the jungles of Peru, where a powerful
form of Shamanism exists, using the sacred plant, called the "soul's creeper."
Following several encounters and experiences with "curanderos" (healers)
and "brujos" (witch doctors), I met "Questembetsa."
Shipibo-Conibos
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Questembetsa
is a Shipibo-Conibo Shaman, who enabled me to experience Shamanism
from the inside. There are 45,000 Shipibo Conibos living together
along the Amazon River in Peru. Questembetsa is the spiritual
guide of all Shipibo Conibos. He is the Master Shaman who trains
all of his people's Shamans. Questembetsa enabled us to film a
summer solstice ceremony, which lasted for three days and three
nights. This traditional celebration has never been recorded on
film, and justly so. It has not occurred for 70 years and has
obviously been seen by very few "non-Indians."
Using night-vision cameras, we were able to immortalize the shots
of these unique moments.
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Under
Questembetsa's protective watch, I participated in ceremonies and experienced
what can be characterized as a "near death experience." For me, this was
a powerful consciousness experience, where I crossed over, to the other
side of the mirror. Once my initiation began, it would continue for over
a year. Having experienced this journey of initiation and learning, I
am now able to speak about Shamanism.
A
consciousness technology
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Conceptual
thinking is a limited tool when one truly attempts to develop
one's consciousness.
Indeed, human consciousness has a natural tendency to identify
with thoughts and reason - stopping there. Shamans use a technology
or an outside element, generally consisting of sacred plants.
Using powerful psychotropic substances, the Shamans guide individuals,
enabling them to "peel away" consciousness from thoughts and reason.
The subconscious is gradually unveiled. During these experiences,
a different reality appears and is observed through the prism
of our consciousness.
Are we remembering who we are, or are we simply discovering who
we are?
Without words, this reality is sometimes expressed through terror,
suffering and tears. At times it comes in the form of beauty and
tears of joy inspired by the magic.
It comes from within one's being, in the form of archetype images.
Each and everyone's personal history and culture individually
determine this reality.
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We all share a universal mythology, which serves as a source for the visions.
Each and every one of us is an infinite universe, where angels and demons
make up our thoughts, emotions, memory and our body. My journey deep into
the jungle continued when I met scientists from the "Aton Institute" in
Norway. The Aton Institute studies consciousness, quantum physics and
the molecular chemistry of sacred plants as well as past civilizations.
Sacred plants or drugs
?
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Psychotropics
are drugs or narcotics. In our culture, the word "narcotic" is
synonymous with decadence. In past civilizations such as the Incas
or the Egyptians, these hallucinogenic plants were considered
instruments of knowledge, magic plants or "master plants."
Scientists
agree and have demonstrated through modeling that the key lies
in the DNA, genetic programming, the pineal gland or the famous
"third eye," located between the brain's hemispheres. They believe
that the molecules of the Ayahuasca plant are a molecular nano-technology
that activates the consciousness. Angels and demons are the archetype
contacts with the negative and positive encoding of our DNA. Presently,
Shamans know how to use the Ayahuasca plants. The Shamans consider
these plants as instruments made available by the Universe for
men to be able to pass through the Invisible and enter into contact
with the Universe.
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Developments for the
documentary
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This
documentary film will be the testimony of a personal and subjective
adventure. It will also show the dangers and risks involved in
Shamanism: (1) losing yourself in the light or the darkness of
your recently awakened emotions or (2) misinterpreting the feelings
or visions. This could lead to schizophrenia in the event these
journeys not be guided by competent Shamans or compliant with
an unyielding discipline and strict diet.
The
film will primarily show the therapeutic power of the Shamans
and their plants. This power is a type of ancestral psychoanalysis
or human psychotherapy backed by 4,000 years of experience and
practice.
The film will allow the Shamans to speak for themselves. It will
show how their cultures and their belief systems culminate from
their knowledge of the Invisible.
CGI sequences will reproduce the power of the recurring visions
and the unfolding of the poetic story I witnessed. We will also
convey the humor and terror I felt while experiencing these visions.
The film will include investigative interviews with therapists,
ethnologists and specialists in molecular brain chemistry. In
the interest of understanding the invisible interaction between
a Shaman and a "novice," we will record the brain-wave interaction
between Questembetsa and myself during a ceremony this spring.
This will enable us to identify them and study their meaning.
Finally, the December 1999 interviews, with Western individuals
in therapy, will be repeated. Over a year later, we will compare
the results of these two sets of interviews.
My personal experience will be told on the parallel of selective
testimony, somewhere between Western science and Indian therapy.
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Only
recently has Western culture reluctantly come to recognize that Tibetan
Buddhism has garnered knowledge of the spirit. The objective of this documentary
is to impress upon viewers that these little-known Indians developed veritable
cognitive technology through their own sciences of the spirit, thousands
of years ago. To me, these men are warriors in the battle to unlock the
mysteries of consciousness. Shamans consider the greatest ally and the
worst enemy of every individual to be one and the same… himself or herself.
In conclusion, I personally guarantee this film will not turn out to be
a new age Sermon on these Indians and their culture. All "Other worlds"
are not worlds of light…
Jan
Kounen
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