Dreaming With Open Eyes: The Shamanic Spirit in Twentieth Century Art and Culture by Michael Tucker

Dreaming With Open Eyes: The Shamanic Spirit in Twentieth Century Art and Culture Reviews

• 
  Kerfe

  The first half of this book was interesting, and it felt like the emphasis was on the art. The second half really dragged, with less art and more philosophy. I skimmed over much of it. I took it out of the library for the art references, and on that level I enjoyed it. Tucker made some good connections and introduced me to artists and writers that I will take a closer look at.
  
  But Tucker has an agenda. He is not trying to be neutral about the shamanic elements of art: he's on the side of creation as necessary connection to our ancient lost mythic transformative (and better!) selves. The tone becomes more and more new-agey and worshipful as the book goes on.
  
  I don't disagree that there's plenty to cause angst and alienation in the modern and post-modern world. But I do think that to idealize ancient cultures in the way Tucker seems to does not really make sense as an agent for change. We don't have to call in a shaman to know that the profit motive is bad for people, that governments and corporations are ruining the earth. Unfortunately, drumming and chanting and retreating from civilization are not going to stop them, and there's no way short of apocalypse that the world is going back to a pre-technological state.
  
  Perhaps on a personal level this art can help to connect us to our lost spiritual selves. But if we want to change the world, it's going to take action, courage, and hard work.
• 
  Kendra

  Good read on how shamanism isn't really lost in the modern day period, but is showing up in art and paintings, some intentionally, and others subliminally.