During the writing of my dissertation on the Esoteric Dimensions of the Popol-Vuh, the question of the “who” that qualifies the shamanic status of the research had to come sharply into focus. For the Popol-Vuh itself warns us that its true light is not visible to the one who comes as an external observer or thinker. This is the question of existential hermeneutics, a mode of philosophical research requiring an engaged form of subjectivity, an involved sense of awareness, in contrast to the “disinterested” posture of the observer and thinker who maintains a safe distance from its research.