The New Artist excerpt1
The New Artist excerpt2 published in "Quest"
What if ...
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the future order of humankind
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Thus the New Artist makes his/her entrance on page one of the book which “Artist’s Synergy Review “ calls “the most important and innovative thinking about the identity and role of artists--indeed our culture--since the beginnings of the Pop Art movement. This book is a rallying point for people who are concerned about the human future and the future of the world. Most are drawn to it by their own personal disappointment with our culture and the need to find an answer that is both spiritual and political. Much information, much food for thought, and lots of people sharing their ideas and experiences make this a great volume to visit and revisit.”
Preface of the Book
SHAMANISM
This book is about shamanism and shamans who, I postulate, are the models for a New Artist. For those unfamiliar with the term, shamans were and are exemplary individuals in "primitive" societies all over the world from the early Stone Age to present times who practiced the arts of trance, divination and healing. Their activities have been intensely documented by anthropologists beginning with Georgi Gottlieb's account of Siberian tribes in 1775. Recently, western man's awakening interest in the mental disciplines of Tibet, India and elsewhere and its promise for a renewed knowledge of self has led to a re-examination of and a new respect for the shaman. This revival can be seen in the recent publication of a multitude of "shaman books," the appearance of a national shamanism periodical, and the popularity of shamanic classes and workshops in almost every populous area of the U.S. and western Europe.
Of these works, however, none to my knowledge looks at the shaman primarily as an artist. That shall be one goal of this book. The advantage of shamanism as art is that it carries an esoteric practice into the mainstream of societies. Art is "mainstream," and we may then see how a New Art can play a crucial role in shaping a change in the human species.
I profess to be no expert on shamanism, world events, nor a scholar of the arts. My sole knowledge consists of meager attempts at practicing the transcendental trade taught to me by a few Native Americans and others--a crude mimic of the highly developed skills of priests and priestesses in age-old aboriginal worlds to which I, nor any modern man, can truly belong. I ask that the following pages be accepted as an attempt to raise some provocative and urgent questions. I ask that the final answers come from my readers and those who must grapple with tomorrow's soul.
Victor Greentree
Artesia, NM
After earning his doctorate at Ohio State, Victor Greentree began a career in biological sciences. But soon he was writing poetry and teaching creative writing to adults for the University of California. An interest in understanding himself and human nature better took him to the Jungian Institut in Zurich which, in turn, reawakened lost memories of the trance experiences he had as a child and his intuitive ability to speak with the powers of the earth and nature. This, and Jungian ideas of mythology, led him to ceremony, ritual and dance, and eventually to making trips to meet and learn from Indian shamans in Costa
Rica, Mexico and the U.S. Recently, he was featured dancing on the cover of a
CD of Zimbabwean Marimba music. But a deeper relationship to oneself, he
discovered, suggested the need for social changes that reflected and encouraged that depth. He began Circle of the EarthTM to institute a new and unprecedented amalgamation of Shamanism, Art and creative, innovative politics.
Victor's Writings, What Others Have Said
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