Santa Cruz Shaman

“The shamanic path is not a path traditionally intended to achieve enlightenment. It has never been typically a path for self-improvement. It has been a path followed because people cared for other people and felt compassion for them and wanted to help them through healing and alleviating their suffering. In following that path, gifts were then given them that were totally unexpected. By working the way that spirits seem to want us to work, they help us in alleviating suffering and pain, and give the healers gifts to help them work even more successfully. This then changes them, and they are never the same again; they are indeed enlightened. But that was not the intention; it was just a result. And as the shaman works to heal others, the shaman himself or herself is healed because of that desire.”  — Michael Harner,  Foundation for Shamanic Studies (as posted on Shaman Portal).

This so perfectly captures my thoughts that I am happy to begin with it.