Vision Quests for Everyone
For centuries, Native Americans have gone through vision quests in hopes of gaining guidance and direction. Several companies and organizations are now offering a similar experience for non-Indians. For a fee, anyone who is looking for a new direction in life can go to certain wilderness areas in Canada or the United States and go through such a ritual. The details may vary form one organization to another, but in most cases, experts in psychology or Native American culture help to prepare the person in advance. This preparation usually lasts for several days and includes meditation, natural vegetarian food, lessons in the meaning of a vision quest and perhaps dream groups, in which the seeker of the vision discusses his or her dreams with psychological analysts. As on a traditional vision quest, people on this new-age quest spend one four days alone in the wilderness. However, a difference is that they might choose to sleep in a tent and to bring drinking water. Some Native Americans are angry that non-Indians are doing this. They see it as a fad and say that the quest is meaningless to a person outside the culture, tradition, and religion.