A village somewhere in African savanna. I'm a shaman. There's one other man in the village who does magic. He's young and ambitious. And he has a grudge toward a man and woman I know--a brother and sister?

While I'm here, they feel safe enough. They know I'd punish him and take off any curses he put on them. But I want to travel and I feel trapped. Held indirect hostage.

And what about when I die?

He's young, wants to be the village wizard. Privately, I don't think he has the insight--just formulas. The only danger he poses to them is the power of suggestion. But they believe in him, so that danger's real.

So I teach them spells of a sort--chants like

"If he overhears this chant,
let him feel how small his soul is,
small and sour as an ant,
for eavesdropping and petty vengeance
are not worthy of a great magician."

In devising the words, I was mainly out to convince my friends that harassing them is beneath him and would rebound on him if word got round, which of course is quite true. No need for magic--it's just a fact.

I don't aim to reform him--that's too ambitious. Just to protect them against his power of suggestion.

A WEEK OR TWO LATER, IN THE WAKING WORLD

I'm reading an interesting old book--Henry Reed's "Getting Help from Your Dreams." His examples of group work still feel cutting-edge decades later.

I do have some philosophical differences with his approach... and this dream shows how we diverge.

By Reed's standards, I blew it right and left with these dream entities. You have to show them who's boss. I don't fight, don't kill my enemy, don't seek pleasure very directly, don't demand gifts.

But I agree with shamans--dreams are real events in a real world we visit. I'm not there for my own fun or growth alone, I can't assume that those I hurt or kill are just shadowy parts of me, other masks of God. Charlie Manson asserted that!

So I try to prevent violence and oppression, not just fight it after it's broken out. And try to defend othersm, not just myself. Giving that couple a spell to shame the young sorcerer if he harasses them does give me freedom to leave and gets me peace of mind, too. By shamanic standards, it's a win-win outcome, though a great shaman would have phrased my little jingle so it embarrassed that sorcerer right into enlightenment! I don't think my doggerel would reform a flea. Still... not bad.

Yet Reed's formulas (admittedly written back in the 1970s) can only measure the benefits to me, me, me. And it isn't just Reed, or the Me Decade. All the Americanizations of Senoi dreamwork, like Gestalt dreamwork, and Freud before them, underrate common sense, fairness, community. They assume dreams are an extension of the self. Arrogant!

The early work of Stephen La Berge has it too. Take control of your dreams, realize they're simulations...

But what if dreams are just what they seem--a world full of others? Respect is the default attitude you should have toward people (or worlds) you meet... till they're proven hollow. Even then, be skeptical. Remember colonialism?

Going around acting selfish, assuming dreams aren't real... that's colonialism all over again. It's just plain low, and it'll come back to you.

It is not worthy of a great magician.

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