oh_me_ghost

I'm interested in the word "Shamanism," I guess, and the spirit of the word, rather than with the dogmatic and religious aspects. I'm more into metaphors, than a literalistic interpretation that there's spirit-animals, and spirit-guides, that are physically real. Even if they did exist, i don't get the glorious wonderfulness of it. Why are they better, and perfect, just because they don't have a body, that's seems kind of an arbitrary and overly literal way of thinking about it.

What is Spirit. Does it exist as an independent and self-conscious being, so that a spirit is truly a living entity with its own unique destiny and way of life, or does it exist as both a living being and as idea, or does it exist primarily as an idea, or a kind of personally relevant assortment of ideas that give off the impression that they are always present, and that they are motivated to help.

If we believe that spirit is mostly metaphorical. Does that take away from its dynamism, or it's aliveness. Does spirit need to be independent of our minds in order to be considered "alive". or does our mind naturally, and necessarily, play an important role in calling the spirits into being, and giving them a residence in which to exist and potentially help us achieve some kind of change in how we feel,

If the sun engulfs the earth as it expands into a red giant, destroying everything as scientists predict. Would the spirits continue to exist or would they disappear, without the presence of human minds that could perceive them. Or does the universe also have a mind, so that the spirits could exist inside of that universal mind. They say that spirits want to help. But do spirits suffer too. Do spirits ever cry out towards the sky for assistance. And if they do cry out for help, should we care.