My friend Josh believes that shamans and this tribe in Africa that has this super advanced astrological system. They have extensive knowledge about the stars, planetary alignments, and past lives, and yet shamanism is still such a primitive practice. He doesn’t think their accessibility to this knowledge is alien, but that they are able to tap into another mind state.

I think that this may be true, since the expansive nature of Buddhism is dedicated to understanding the aspects of the mind and realizing the limitations of consciousness. Maybe these shamans are just better at it than most people are.