TechnoShaminism

Technoshamanism

I think Technoshamenism is a really delightful term because it grounds technology into the most delightful practise that any human being can take part in, which is Shamanism. We have still alive with us on the planet traditional Shamans living in the rain forest in the Amazon - they're absolutely wonderful creatures and maybe the most valuable resource alive on the planet today. More valuable, maybe than the plants in the rain forest but they're just living embodiments of pure consciousness flow. And if you get near them and you take part of their assembling you will experience extraordinary experiences which turn out to be a natural state of consciousness for every living human being but very few ever get to touch it as Shamans are still wild, rare, strange creatures at this moment in time.

Technoshamenism says we honour that heritage. We come from that. That is the most valuable way of experiencing reality. And we are going to dance the Shamenistic dance in a new moment in time, in a new place with new toys. But it's actually got its roots in the Shamans original dance. Now we're just going to take these new toys that we've created, these new inventions that we made, under hypnosis, cameras, guns, airplanes, computers and we're going to grind them up with our new Shaman's pestle into an interesting brew and we're going to drink that brew and we're going to dance the technology dance - with the full Shamanic mind.

So Technoshamenism to me means, here we are in this moment in time and Shamans who are alive today and being born at this time are forced to be Technoshamens just because technology to us is what the rain forest was to a Shaman in that time. These are the plants, these are the leaves, these are the jungle animals but now they're missiles and computers, now they're virtual reality worlds, now they're psychedelic music videos, now they're all-night DJ events with tremendous pumping sound. This is the jungle we're living in right now, and a Shamen uses the tools and the parts of its environment to share that kind of insight with his fellow beings.

 

- from interview with Dan Mapes - original page:

http://www.dprogram.com/dan_mapesp3.html