Now a world that has room for the “shaman” or whatever that would be called in the modern era…

The memes you see going around would be actively engaged and refined. Organized practices of social story telling would incorporate the shifts in social perception and mood that show up in this material, underscoring the unity of spirit that leads to production and dissemination of these ideas anyway, and they would go one further, deliberately seeking inside themselves, and in an intuitive experience of the world, for “dreams” or symbolism that would guide their communities in a positive and healing way. Strengthening communities rather than simply diverting them.

The shaman is just an immersed dreamer, dedicated to experiencing and sharing the world as we collectively are dreaming it. They would note social changes and organize ceremonies (sort of like the DJ at a night club is metaphorically thought of as doing) in which people would gather together in dance say, or rites of commemoration or passage. Imagine if night clubs weren’t just dens of aimless hedonism, and instead were places of deliberate, directed catharsis. Places where people could trust the environment, not have to worry they would be inappropriately targeted, slipped a date rape drug and lead off. They could even be places where our newest understandings of the brain are utilized, and the mind stimulated in such a way through light and sound, as well as physical practice, that we could literally dream together while still awake. What would this be like?

Three cheers for Bacchanalia… Perhaps an enlightened Bacchanalia?

Is not the thing we are missing a genuine sharing of our internal worlds, as individuals and smaller communities?

People are desperate for that sharing, I think, even though they might resist it.

I read an article that ‘cuddle’ parties are a trend in big cities where people can go and get a hug in a safe environment. Yes, just hugging and supportive conversation. Everyone understanding that that is what everyone is there for.

Some of us have pets for that. Pets can’t really replace human contact, but I say that pets fill a very real need also having their own unique place.

One example of this “ritual” and how it would affect socialization… Let’s look at intoxication.

Science has discovered that during intoxication the person’s actual personality is not in fact compromised, but instead a form of psychological tunnel vision is induced. The brain minimizes all it’s perceptual and cognitive windows because it’s sleepy. Now yes, this does compromise judgement, but it also allows a form of experiencing the person that would otherwise just not be possible.

In vino veritas. When philosophers got to thinking too much some of them would seek out a stiff drink. Not because it made them any more wise, but because it imparted clarity by in part blocking out human arrogance. Egotism goes by the wayside as your emotions become dis-inhibited.

I think horniness does that too. Sex drive can either inhibit ego or enhance it. It tends to go either way.

Horniness is a form of intoxication, perhaps. It is, even from a strictly scientific point of view they are coming to understand it very well, and why it also tends to lead to bad relationships and fragile marriages.

But the point is, the shaman dedicates themselves to understanding these things experientially and can thus foster the same insights in others. This is perhaps why people who have gone into tantric practice tend to report it as such a powerful experience, and they reject notions that they should discard it despite often intense social pressure.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~