“Otrovert” is a recent word, coined by the American psychiatrist Rami Kaminski, for people who feel no need to belong to groups, even though they can form deep connections with individuals. It is not the same as being an introvert. Paul Francis counts himself as both, and the shaman is often someone at the edge of society.
What does “otrovert” mean? #
Someone who does not feel the pull to belong. Kaminski, a psychiatrist in New York, took otro, the Spanish for other, and modelled the word on Carl Jung‘s introvert and extrovert. He uses it for people who do not identify with groups and feel no need to join them, but who are perfectly able to connect with people, and who can form deep one-to-one relationships.1 His book on the subject is called The Gift of Not Belonging, and a review describes his otrovert as someone facing in a different direction from the group.2
How is it different from being an introvert? #
They describe different things. Introversion and extroversion are usually about energy: where we spend it, and how we recharge. Otroversion is about belonging. Paul is both: as an introvert (and otrovert), after teaching he needs a lot of solitudeSolitude. Chosen aloneness from other humans: a healthy, essential Adult capacity, the opposite of loneliness (which is about the quality of relationship, not the quantity). Relational solitude is time away from the humans in the company of everything else. More about this and quiet to recharge.3
Is it a real thing, or just a label? #
Both, in the way all such words are. “The introvert-extrovert scale” is one of the human constructs we live by, yet “it is very important not to think that, because these things are constructs, that means they are not real.”4 Otrovert is a new word from a recent book, not a diagnosis, and it describes a way of being, not a problem to be fixed. See Is shamanic work suited to introverts?
Why might otroverts be drawn to shamanism? #
Perhaps because the shaman has always stood a little apart. “Although shamans generally always work for the good of the community, it is usually also quite a solitary path. The shaman is someone who is often at the edge of society and of the tribe.”5 Because the shaman is “somewhat outside of normal society”, they “can be of service by being able to see society clearly and more objectively.”6
Many shamans in hunter-gatherer times may well have met the otrovert description: “partly in the community, but always partly outside of it too”. The value of having people like that “was hugely understood and honoured in those times.”
Even at the edge, the shaman works for the community. Shamanic work also offers belonging of a different kind: with a Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer, GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this and the other Peoples, and with a tribe in the Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer. See What do tribe and belonging mean, and what is the shaman’s role in a community? and Who are the Animal, Plant and Stone People?
Does being an otrovert mean being a shaman? #
No. Most otroverts are not shamans, and the word says nothing about anyone’s calling. It simply names one way of relating to groups. See What is neurodiversity, and how does Therapeutic Shamanism see it?
