Answer: In the past this was so because of the great distances, both geographic, linguistic and political between the far-flung practitioners of these arts. However, today we have a great deal more contact between people from all lands and there is no reason not to allow ourselves to communicate with and learn from each other. There is also a certain amount of hard work involved in the practice as well as a great deal of learning and research necessary to become conversant in any system. I believe that the shamen from all of the systems can learn a great deal from each other because the beings with which we commune are of a similar essence and the results of the practices we perform are identical.
I think most of us could benefit from working together occasionally, studying together occasionally, helping each other occasionally and even playing together occasionally. We could also benefit personally from helping the people in our communities. The suggested outreach programs are all aimed at education, not because we truly wish to ensure that all people think the same way we do, but because it is important to free people from the pain and suffering inherent in ignorance. People who have at least read about other cultures can more easily think of ways to help their own people and by extension their cultures.
The isolationist ideologies that prevailed in the past seem to be a good way to retain one's cultural identity, but I see the danger in protecting oneself from different ideas to be the profound shock to one's self-image and culture when the other cultures which surround one come crashing in. I believe that the shock is lessened by slowly conditioning oneself to change. This makes the shock come in small, manageable chunks, rather than in large unassimilatable chunks. We are in an excellent position to help our people survive cultural attack because we all have wider world-views than most of the people in our communities, we have distinct and strong personalities which have been tested by the fire of the ethereal experience which we share, we know how to choose the sites on which to meet our assailants, and we know how to find allies to help us handle unexpected attacks.
Reality Selection
Shamanism
URL: http://www.prairienet.org/gscc/fsw.htm