The theme that we have been following for the semester is th

The theme that we have been following for the semester is the idea that Art is at heart a Shamanistic practice. From the Chauvet Cave paintings to the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, it can be argued that the greatest works of Art are attempting to achieve a transcendental bridge to the world of Spirit. Human beings through the ages have had an inchoate sense that there is a reality out of the sight of our physical senses. We can call this reality, the Spirit World, or following the ideas of modern string theory, we can understand it as ‘higher dimensions.’ For ancient and aboriginal cultures, this is the realm of Shamanism, for ‘civilized’ societies, it became the source of religions, but these religions mostly become political tools of hierarchy and oppression.