The Origins of Shamanism - Tracing Humanity’s Oldest Spiritual Technology

The episode explores shamanism as the world’s oldest spiritual practice, defining it not as a religion but as a global technology of consciousness centered on entering altered states to gain knowledge or healing. Archaeological artifacts, such as the 40,000-year-old Löwenmensch figurine and ancient rock art, indicate that the practice has roots that may be predating modern humans and are simultaneous with the development of symbolic behavior. Its universality is explained by a neurobiological substrate in the human brain that makes trance states, characterized by rhythmic drumming and the collapse of the default-mode network, naturally accessible across all cultures. The classic template for this practice was established by the Tungusic peoples of Siberia, involving symbolic death, helping spirits, and a three-tiered cosmology that subsequently spread into regions like the Americas and Africa. Although the rise of organized, written religions during the Axial Age led to the systematic erasure of shamanism, the techniques never truly vanished and are now experiencing a modern resurgence as people seek psychological and ecological connection."Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". George Santayana