Bushman n/om-kxaosi

The Elders Speak


Rock Painting Pic

Here the Ju/'hoan Bushman n/om-kxaosi (shamans, healers, traditional doctors) express their ideas, beliefs, practices, and teaching. They hold the oldest spiritual, shamanic, and healing practices on Earth. Unlike most other cultures, they do not believe that "words" can change the world. They give little importance to written or fixed oral tradition, but emphasize the way n/om (the vital force or spiritual power or shaking medicine) touches the whole of our mind/body/heart/soul. They see the rest of the world as largely ignorant, blinded by the trickster nature of thought, and starved for the living presence of n/om. As the oldest living culture they have not harmed the Earth and they have never declared war on other people. Perhaps they offer a true alternative to the language games of other cultural religions, philosophies, and ways of being.

Public presentations by Dr. Keeney and donations are the means of raising funds for ongoing fieldwork with the Kalahari Bushmen. The fieldwork aims to record and help conserve their healing wisdom.