A big part of being a Shaman is knowing how to conduct a ritual properly. We all have an idea of how a ritual can look, but from a logical point of view, what are the people present intending, believing, pretending, etc? Are we summoning higher forces? Is it a delusional exercise that at its best can create some sort of placebo effect through mass hypnosis?
The answer will surprise you, because it is none of the above. A seasoned Shaman no longer thinks in those terms, so those questions never enter his mind. Shamans have witnessed the results of rituals in their training and it is a process so alien to mundane thinking that it is a completely different category unto itself. Rituals are neither logical nor illusional. They are an activity that is enacted to facilitate harmony in being. The activity in itself may include impersonating or pretending certain behaviors, but this is not analysed, it is just experienced.
Rituals command a sense of reverence that supersedes critical judgement. They create an atmosphere that allows for awe to surface. This state of being is engulfing, even enchanting, and so one allows that sensation to float us into the theme of the ritual. It’s a pleasant state that is chosen consciously.
In my opinion a ritual communicates with the essential symbolism of how we think at our deepest and almost unconscious levels. It accesses a language that is Universal and that transcends identity. This can be observed when scientists go and live within these cultures and they come back changed. They don’t just focus on the aim of their research but something else activates within them. To me this is also the reason the “Mysteries” will always remain mysterious. It is literally paradoxical for scientific research through its established mechanisms to be able to dissect these processes. We, the ones that have lived through rituals can understand with sympathy the misconceptions of those disengaged trying to define it.
Conscious Performance Mastery 
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