Ego Boundaries, Shamanic-Like
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genuinely be considered shamanism. Furthermore, the personality traits thatinfluence individual susceptibility to shamanic-like techniques are unclear. Theaim of the present study was, thus, to investigate experimentally the effect ofshamanic-like techniques and a personality trait referred to as ego boundaries
on subjective experience including mood disturbance. Forty-three non-shamanswere administered a composite questionnaire consisting of demographic itemsand a measure of ego boundaries (i.e., the Short Boundary Questionnaire; BQ-Sh). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: listening tomonotonous drumming for 15 minutes coupled with one of two sets of journeyinginstructions; or sitting quietly with eyes closed for 15 minutes. Participantssubjective experience and mood disturbance were retrospectively assessed usingthe Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) and the Profile of MoodStates-Short Form, respectively. The results indicated that there was a statistically
significant difference between conditions with regard to the PCI majordimensions of visual imagery, attention and rationality, and minor dimensions ofimagery amount and absorption. However, the shamanic-like conditions were notassociated with a major reorganization of the pattern of subjective experiencecompared to the sitting quietly condition, suggesting that what is typicallyreferred to as an altered state of consciousness effect was not evident. Oneshamanic-like condition and the BQ-Sh subscales need for order, childlikeness,and sensitivity were statistically significant predictors of total mood disturbance.
Implications of the findings for the anthropology of consciousness are alsoconsidered.k e y w o r d s : shamanic, personality, ego boundaries, subjective experience, mood
&
i n t r o d u c t i o n
Shamanism may be referred to as a body of techniques and activities thatsupposedly enable its practitioners to access information that is not ordinarily
attainable by members of the social group that gave them privileged status(Krippner 2002:962). Noll (1985:45) states that shamanic techniques (e.g., mo-notonous drumming, hallucinogens, sweat lodges) are often used to cultivate
enhanced visual mental imagery, particularly during journeying (i.e., soulflight). The shamans mental imagery tends to reflect her learned cosmology
(Walsh 1995): a universe consisting of multiple worlds such as a lower world(land of the dead), upper world (heaven or sky), and middle world or earth
(Eliade 1964). However, Rock and Krippner (2007) state that it would be anovergeneralization to assert that all shamanic cultures liken the lower world
to the land of the dead, and the upper world to sky. For instance, Lepp(2004) contends that Moso shamans of Tibet supposed that souls ascend toheaven rather than descend to the lower world.
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Bittman et al. (2001) suggest that although shamanic techniques have formed
the basis of indigenous healing ceremonies since antiquity, such practices haveonly recently begun to generate interest as a complementary therapeutic strat-
egy in the traditional medical and psychological arenas. One particularly
relevant study in this context was conducted by Harner and Tryon (1995) whofound that the mood disturbance of 40 experienced shamanic practitioners
(measured by the Profile of Mood States questionnaire; POMS) was signifi-cantly lower after journeying with drumming compared to baseline. Given the
therapeutic potential of shamanism (Krippner 2002), it may be useful to inves-tigate experimentally the subjective effects of these practices on non-shamans
(Rock et al. 2007).Not surprisingly then, recent experimental studies (e.g., Rock et al. 2005,
2006; Rock 2006) have aimed to assess the effect of shamanic-like techniques
on university students. Rock et al. (2007:80) suggest that, Techniques may beconceptualized as shamanic-like insofar as they bear some relation to sha-
manic techniques and yet depart from what may properly be calledshamanism. For example, drinkingayahuascain order to descend to the lowerworld and retrieve a tribal members soul may be considered a shamanictechnique, whereas recreationally usingayahuascato produce purported alter-ations in consciousness is merely shamanic-like.
It is noteworthy, however, that previous research has not investigated whether
the therapeutic effects (i.e., the reduction in mood disturbance quantified bythe POMS) reported by Harner and Tryon (1995) may be replicated with a non-shaman population. Indeed, it may be edifying to quantitatively measure the
degree to which a particular shamanic-like technique (i.e., drumming) affectsmood disturbance when used by non-shamans, thus, providing an indication ofthe therapeutic potential of shamanic practices.
Additionally, it is salient that previous experimental research has tended touse shamanic-like techniques to facilitate journeying by non-shamans to the
lower world (e.g., Rock et al. 2005, 2006). It may be such that the therapeutic
potential of journeying to one world may outweigh journeying to anotherworld. For example, Walsh (1990:147) suggests that, broadly speaking, thelower world is a place of tests and challenges where one may be required
to battle predatory creatures (e.g., jaguars) and traverse treacherous obstacles(e.g., infernal rivers). In contrast, the upper world may be populated with
celestial beings and akin to a heavenly realm (Kalweit 1988). Consequently, onemight expect that journeying to the lower world may be associated with more
negative mood (i.e., mood disturbance) compared to journeying to the upperworld. This hypothesis was not tested by Harner and Tryon (1995:92); instead
participants were merely instructed to lie down and make a journey for thepurpose of raising a specific immune response, rather than travel to a spe-cific cosmological destination.
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2. Is there a difference between the psygrams for each of the three conditions?3. Do condition and ego boundaries predict total mood disturbance scores?
&
m e t h o dParticipants
A total of 43 undergraduate students enrolled at Charles Sturt University partici-
pated in the present study (17 males and 26 females). The mean age for males was20.29 (SD5 2.71) and the mean age for females was 22.46 (SD5 6.40).
Participation in the present study was voluntary. Participants were treated in
accordance with American Psychological Association ethical standards.
Materials (or Apparatus)
Participants were provided with a pencil-and-paper precondition questionnaireand postcondition questionnaire. The precondition questionnaire consisted of
demographic items (e.g., age, gender) and the short version of the BoundaryQuestionnaire (BQ-Sh). The postcondition questionnaire consisted of the PCI
and the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF).The Rawlings (20012002) BQ-Sh was used to quantify the thinness of ego
boundaries. The BQ-Sh is an empirically derived shortened version of the
145-item Hartmann (1991) Boundary Questionnaire (BQ). The BQ-Sh consists
of 46 items with a 5-point Likert-type scale, and produces six subscales: unusualexperiences, need for order, trust, perceived competence, childlikeness, andsensitivity. The BQ-Sh has adequate psychometric properties as evidenced by
Rawlings empirical examination of the scale, and it can, thus, be considered asatisfactory alternative to the BQ. For example, the BQ-Sh strongly correlates
with the BQ (r5 0.88) and the a coefficients for the BQ-Sh subscales rangefrom 0.69 to 0.80 (Rawlings 20012002).
The 30-item POMS-SF (McNair et al. 1992) was used to quantify total mooddisturbance. The scale provides a total mood disturbance score plus additional
scores for six subscales: tension/anxiety, depression/dejection, anger/hostility,vigor/activity, fatigue/inertia, and confusion/bewilderment. The POMS-SF hasrespectable psychometric properties (McNair et al. 1992).
The 53-item PCI (Pekala 1991) was used to quantify subjective experience.Items cover 26 dimensions including 12 major (e.g., positive affect, altered
experience, attention, volitional control, arousal) and 14 minor (e.g., joy, alteredbody image, vividness of imagery, absorption) dimensions (Pekala and Levine
1981, 1982; Pekala and Kumar 1984, 1986; Pekala 1985). Participants wererequired to respond on a 7-point Likert-type scale (Pekala and Wenger 1983;
Pekala et al. 1985). The PCI possesses adequate psychometric properties. Forexample, Pekala et al. (1986) reported coefficient as between 0.70 and 0.90 for alldimensions, suggesting that the PCI has good internal consistency. In support
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the form of supplying participants with a written statement outlining the de-
tailed purposes of the research, participants being afforded the opportunity toask on-site researchers questions about the research, and participants being re-
directed to the phone numbers of the Chief Investigator and appropriate Ethics
Secretariat for further questions.
&
r e s u l t s
Research Question 1 (a) and (b): PCI Major and Minor Dimension DifferencesTo address Research Question 1, and to avoid violating the assumption of mul-ticollinearity, separate multivariate analyses were performed on the PCI majorand minor dimension scores (Woodside et al. 1997). A one-way between-sub-
jects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a statisticallysignificant difference between conditions with regard to the combined PCI
major dimension variables,F(24, 58) 5 3.98,p 5 .000; Pillais trace 5 1.24; par-tial eta squared (partial Z2) 5 .62. Subsequently, an a5 .01 was used to assess
the separate univariate effects (Woodside et al. 1997). Separate univariate ana-lyses revealed statistically significant results for visual imagery, F(2, 39) 5 7.32,p5 .002; attention,F(2, 39)5 6.11,p5 .005; and rationality,F(2, 39)5 10.11,p5 .000. As can be seen from Table 1, the U-Group reported significantly lower
visual imagery intensity ratings compared to both the L-Group and the C-Group; the U-Group reported significantly lower attention intensity ratingscompared to the C-Group; and both the U-Group and the L-Group reported
significantly lower rationality intensity ratings compared to the C-Group.Pallant (2001:219) asserts that for a reliable multivariate equation the number
of cases in each cell must equal or exceed the number of dependent variables.Given that the present study examined 14 PCI minor dimension-dependent vari-
ables with a sample size of 43 (consisting of between 12 to 17 cases per cell), twoseparate multivariate analyses were conducted for the PCI minor dimensions.
A one-way between-subjects MANOVA revealed a statistically significantdifference between conditions with regard to the combined PCI minor di-mension variables of altered time sense, altered perception, altered meaning,
imagery amount, vividness, direction and absorption, F (14, 68) 54.33,p5 .000; Pillais trace 5 0.94; partialZ25 .47. Separate univariate analyses re-vealed statistically significant results for imagery amount, F (2, 39) 5 11.01,p5 .000; and absorption,F(2, 39) 5 6.78,p 5 .003. As can be seen from Table1, both the U-Group and the C-Group reported significantly lower imageryamount intensity ratings compared to the L-Group; and the U-Group reported
significantly lower absorption intensity ratings compared to the C-Group.In contrast, a one-way between-subjects MANOVA revealed no statistically
significant difference between conditions with regard to the combined PCI
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there is an increase in altered state, arousal, memory, and vivid imagery; a de-crease in rationality, self-awareness, internal dialogue, volitional control, and
inward absorbed attention; and no change in positive affect, negative affect, oraltered experience. As regards pattern relationships, the configurations evident
in Figure 2 are noticeably different from those depicted in Figure 1. Thestrength of the relationship between negative affect and arousal has doubled,
and the strength of the relationship between memory and self-awareness hasdecreased. Additionally, rationality and memory; altered experience and posi-
tive affect and self-awareness; and self-awareness and volitional control are allnow strongly coupled. Furthermore, it is evident that many of the pattern rela-tionships present in the C-Group are no longer present in the L-Group.
fi g u r e 2 . p s y g r a m a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e l - g r o u p .
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Figure 3 depicts the pattern of relationships between pairs of PCI major di-mensions reported by the U-Group. With the exception of self-awareness,
volitional control, vivid imagery, and internal dialogue (which have increased),and memory and inward absorbed attention (which have decreased), intensity
ratings across the 12 major PCI dimensions are identical to the L-Group. De-spite this finding, several changes in pattern relationships are evident. Altered
state is now strongly coupled with altered experience, inward absorbed atten-tion, and arousal. Internal dialogue is now strongly coupled with rationality and
self-awareness; whereas volitional control is strongly coupled with vivid imageryand negative affect; and altered experience is strongly coupled with inwardabsorbed attention.
fi g u r e 3 . p s y g r a m a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e u - g r o u p .
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table2
:
standard
multipler
egression
of
u-group
,l-group,unusual
ex
periences,need
foro
rder,
trust,
perceived
competenc
e,childlikeness,and
sensitivityon
totalm
ood
disturbance
Var
iables
TMD
(DV)
U-
Group
L
-Group
UE
NFO
Tr
PC
Ch
Se
B
b
Sr
2
(un
ique)
U-Group
0.22
1.00
3.41
.3
0
.07
L-Group
0.13
0.42
1.00
3.72
0.2
4
UE
0.1
5
0.18
0.26
1.00
0.23
0.1
3
NFO
0.43
0.11
0.10
0.2
4
1.00
0.22
0.3
3
0.08
Tr
0.18
0.07
0.06
0.22
0.18
1.00
0.4
5
0.1
9
PC
0.03
0.02
0.07
0.01
0.27
0.26
1.00
0.28
0.2
0
Ch
0.11
0.1
5
0.2
4
0.47
0.18
0.02
0.02
1.00
0.52
0.3
6
0.13
Se
0.43
0.08
0.09
0.16
0.42
0.01
0.31
0.29
1.00
0.8
4
0.4
0
0.16
Intercept
5
14.62
M
11.10
0.33
0.26
17.21
20.33
10.9
5
17.62
13.31
4.33
R2
5.5
0
SD
11.69
0.48
0.4
5
7.67
7.43
3.49
5.8
5
3.29
2.07
Adjusted
R2
5.3
7
R5.7
0
UE5U
nusua
lExperience;NFO5
Nee
dfor
Order;Tr5
Trust;PC5
Perceive
dCompet
ence;
Ch5
Childlikeness;
Se5
Sensitiv-
ity;TMD5
TotalMoo
dDisturbance.
po.05
;po.0
1.
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decrease during shaman-like stimulus conditions relative to the control condi-
tion (see Table 1), participants with a high need for order may have found thatshamanic-like techniques facilitated feelings of, for example, confusion or be-
wilderment that contributed to total mood disturbance.
Childlikeness was significantly negatively correlated with total mood distur-bance, suggesting that participants who have thicker boundaries in the sense
of childlikeness reported more total mood disturbance compared to thinnerboundary counterparts. Childlikeness reflects the tendency to hold beliefs
about the importance of remaining childlike (e.g., function without strictroles; Rawlings 20012002:140). It is arguable that participants who have thin
boundaries in the sense of childlikeness are more open than their thickerboundary counterparts and, thus, less likely to become distressed by potentiallynovel stimuli (e.g., subjective experiences associated with exposure to
shamanic-like stimulus conditions).Sensitivity was significantly positively correlated with total mood disturbance,
indicating that participants who have thin boundaries with regard to sensi-tivity reported more total mood disturbance compared to thick boundary
counterparts. Sensitivity involves, for example, the tendency to be easilyhurt, or the feeling that one is falling apart (Rawlings 20012002:134). Walsh(1995) suggests that the affect associated with journeying is partly contingent on
the content of the journeying imagery encountered. Imagery may have
more impact on highly sensitive participants and, thus, result in higher affectintensity ratings compared to less sensitive participants.The preceding findings suggest that the concept of ego boundaries is a com-
plex one; apparently the positive correlation between ego boundaries in one sense(e.g., sensitivity) and total mood disturbance is not indicative of a positive corre-lation between ego boundaries in all other senses and total mood disturbance.
It is also noteworthy that the upper world stimulus condition was positivelycorrelated with mood disturbance in the present study, suggesting that, for
example, participants in the U-Group reported more mood disturbance than
their C-Group and L-Group counterparts. This result is broadly inconsistentwith Harner and Tryons (1995) finding that journeying was accompanied by astatistically significant reduction in mood disturbance compared to a baseline
condition. The disparity may be explained, at least in part, by the fact thatHarner and Tryon (1995) used experienced shamanic practitioners whereas
the present study used non-shamans. That is to say, shamanic-like techniquesmay be counterproductive if applied in the absence of shamanic training (e.g.,
learning a cosmology, cultivating a mastery over mental images; Walsh 1995).Indeed, it is possible that some non-shamans found, for instance, the cultivation
of specific mental imagery sequences rather demanding thereby elicitingfatigue or inertia whereas others may have been overwhelmed by what maybe conceptualized as a novel stimulus condition, and reported confusion, or
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bewilderment. This partial explanation is supported by the finding that the
lower world stimulus condition was also positively correlated with mood dis-turbance in the present study. However, it is arguable that mood disturbance
may dissipate with intermittent exposure to shamanic technologies (e.g., mo-
notonous drumming) over an extended period. Consequently, it might beadvantageous to compareFvia retrospective quantitative assessmentFthe
upper and lower world journeying experiences (including fluctuatingmood states) of shamans versus non-shamans.
It is perhaps also salient that Harner and Tryon (1995) created a contextualvariable (i.e., instructing participants to embark upon a journey for the purpose
of raising a specific immune response), whereas our participants were blind tothe studys aims. The contextual variable may have linguistically conditionedparticipants to, for example, report subjective experiences implicitly held to be
consistent with raising a specific immune response (e.g., increases in positiveaffect). It might be beneficial to partially replicate the present study by com-
paring non-shamans who are informed with regard to the purpose of thejourney with non-shamans who are blind to the purpose.
Implications for the Anthropology of ConsciousnessThe results of the present study suggest that Pekalas (1991) methodology is a
valuable means of investigating the subjective effects of shamanic-like stimulus
conditions. The PCI has the advantage of allowing one to quantify, diagram,and thus comparatively analyze the intensity and pattern of PCI dimensionsassociated with a variety of stimulus conditions. Consequently, anthropology of
consciousness scholars may benefit from applying this methodology to otherconsciousness phenomena (e.g., trance, possession, and dissociative states).
The finding that various BQ-Sh subscales (e.g., need for order) were statisti-
cally significant predictors of total mood disturbance suggests, in general terms,
that ones personality traits may influence ones receptivity to changes in mood.This salient result may encourage anthropology of consciousness researchers to
consider the importance of personality when investigating the subjective expe-rience of what are typically referred to as altered states of consciousness reportedby, for example, shamans, mediums, and mystics.
Possible Methodological Limitations and Suggestions for Future ResearchOne important caveat in this study is that one cannot control for the length oftime it takes participants to enter the upper and lower world. Consequent-
ly, some participants may have spent longer descending to the lower world orascending to the upper world and, thus, less time traversing the landscapes
than others. This extraneous variable may account for some of the within-groupand between-group variability associated with various PCI dimension intensityratings (e.g., imagery amount).
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Furthermore, the present studys sample size (N543; n 5 1317) was toosmall to allow very thin versus very thick boundary comparisons withineach condition with regards to subjective experience. It is arguable that by re-
moving the second and third quartile of the total boundary scores and, thus,
retaining only the very thin and very thick boundary participants, themagnitude of the treatment effect with regard to variables quantified by the
PCI and the POMS-SF would have been larger.Hartmann (1991) suggests that thin and thick boundaries constitute a broad
personality dimension that encapsulates measures such as absorption, opennessto experience, and schizotypy. It may be edifying to partially replicate the pres-
ent study to investigate whether the inclusion of personality measuresconceptually related to the boundary construct serves to account for a largeramount of variability in total mood disturbance.
Traditionally, shamans have used a plethora of techniques to facilitatejourneying experiences (e.g., plant hallucinogens, sweat lodges, pain rituals,
sensory deprivation) (Jilek 1982; Achterberg 1987; Dobkin de Rios and Winkel-man 1989). It may prove useful to partially replicate the present study by
incorporating a variety of shamanic technologies rather than merely monoto-nous drumming.
&
c o n c l u s i o n s
Overall, stimulus conditions consisting of sitting quietly with eyes closed andshamanic-like techniques were associated with statistically significant differ-
ences in subjective experience. Notably, there was a significant differencebetween the U-Group and the L-Group with regard to the PCI major dimen-
sion of visual imagery and the PCI minor dimension of imagery amount.However, the shamanic-like stimulus conditions were not associated with a
major reorganization of the pattern of PCI major dimensions compared to thecontrol condition, suggesting that what is typically referred to as an altered stateof consciousness effect was not evident. These results suggest that Pekalas
(1991) methodology is a valuable means of examining the subjective effects ofshamanic-like stimulus conditions. Finally, condition and various BQ-Sh sub-
scales were significant predictors of total mood disturbance. Specifically, theU-Group, childlikeness, need for order, and sensitivity made the largest unique
contribution to explaining the variance in total mood disturbance. This findingsuggests that shamanic-like techniques may be counterproductive if applied in
the absence of shamanic training. Furthermore, this finding emphasizes theimportance of evaluating participants personality traits when investigating thesubjective effects of shamanic-like techniques.
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&
n o t e s
1 Monotonous drumming at eight beats per second for 15 minutes was used in the
present study because Rock et al. (2005) found that that it was associated with a sta-tistically significantly higher number of ostensibly shamanic journeying images
reported by non-shamans compared to a control condition, whereas, for example,
four beats per second for 10 or 15 minutes and eight beats per second for 10 minutes
were not.
2 The type of control condition used for consciousness studies is a contentious one.
The primary area of dissension between authors is the issue of sitting or lying, eyes
open or closed. As regards to sitting versus lying, Harner (1995:258) advocates the
latter, utilizing a control condition referred to as the resting condition in which
participants were instructed to, Just lie down and rest for about 20 minutes. Ha-rners (1995:103) rationale for this condition was to allow participants to reach
baseline levels prior to exposure to the active treatments and to have such a compar-
ison condition in addition to their off the street baseline measures. Similarly,
Harner and Tryons (1995) control, or baseline, condition involved lying on the floor
for 30 minutes resting. Conversely, Pekala (1991) sets a strong precedence for a sitting
control condition. Pekala (1991) outlines several studies relating to hypnosis, absorp-
tion, and out-of-body experiences, all utilizing the sitting control condition.
Correspondingly, Pekala et al. (1985) use sitting quietly with eyes open as their con-
trol condition, arguing that this is a condition similar to normal wakingconsciousness. Pekala (1991) discussed extensively the issue of whether a control con-
dition should involve participants having their eyes open or closed. In research
developing the Dimensions of Attention Questionnaire, Pekala (1991) performed a
comparative analysis of the conditions of sitting quietly with eyes open and sitting
quietly with eyes closed. Pekala (1991) argues that sitting with eyes open simulated
normal waking consciousness, while sitting with eyes closed was akin to daydream-
ing. Results of this study showed few phenomenological, attentional, or intensity
differences between these conditions on the PCI, a result Pekala (1991) interpreted as
suggesting that the PCI was unable to make such subtle discriminations. Though no
between-group differences were found, Pekala (1991) did find, however, significantdifferences across the same participants between having eyes open and closed. Sub-
sequent analysis performed by Pekala (1991) identified the conditions of eyes open
and eyes closed as identity differing (I-D) states in reference to each other. Pekala
(1991:231) defines identity states (I-states) as those where stimulus conditions have
the same (nonsignificantly different) intensities and patterns of phenomenological
experience. I-D states are those with the same pattern structure but varying intensity
values for some sub-dimensions. At the conclusion of this discussion, Pekala (1991)
suggests that the issue is in need of further analysis and subsequently has used both
eyes open and eyes closed on several occasions.
3 Psygrams are graphical representations of the squared coefficients of the correlation
matrices, also depicting the dimension intensity scores.
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4 The Jenrich (1970) test is the appropriate statistical procedure to assess pattern differ-
ences associated with the 12 major dimensions of the PCI (Pekala 1991). However,
Pekala (1991:235) asserts that the Jenrich test is a large-sample multivariate proce-
dure requiring a minimum of 60 participants per condition (provided that
all 12 major dimensions of the PCI are being examined). Given that the presentstudy consisted of between 12 and 20 participants per group, the Jenrich test
was not appropriate. Consequently, a Box Test comparison was performed (Pekala
1991).
5 The Box Test is typically held to be overly sensitive with regard to the detection of
differences between independent correlation matrices. Consequently, convention
dictates that the a level associated with the Box Test should be set at po.001
(Tabachnick and Fidell 2007).
6 Coakes (2005) states that categorical variables may be entered as predictors in a
standard multiple regression equation provided that they are recoded asdummy variables.
r e f e r e n c e s
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Eliade, Mircea
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