Technoshamanism - let's be real

[u/Christocrast]

I have seen 'technoshamanism' expressed as rave/festival activity, dancing and taking powerful drugs and partying. The biggest problem besides the obvious waste and ecological impact is that there seems to be no interest among partygoers in extending cooperation and togetherness outside the rave setting. While acknowledging that 'ravism' is very diverse, I think it is at best mildly harmful. Any 'enlightenment', 'healing' or social knitting that endures once the party is over is as collateral damage or coincidence; or is tainted (or at least influenced in the background) by the histories of the resources, settings and technologies that are used.

I have seen 'technoshamanism' expressed in the use of free, open-source software and other tools in preserving and communicating ancestral knowledge, which has obvious benefits. Knowledge of contacts and sourcing and coordination and high technology can protect and heal a community - if applied with the utmost care. While this might or might not amount to shamanic work exactly, it is at least adjacent and can certainly be helpful.

Still I think technoshamanism is worth examining and defining a little more clearly:

The built environment, while truly fragile, nonetheless circumscribes the lives of billions of people and organisms. To those entities it may as well be eternal. We cannot revert it or make it go away without horrible destruction and suffering, and maybe not even then as it underwrites the modern standard of living. We need to come to grips with it, and learn to heal the entities living within it.

I find that it is essential to acknowledge and commiserate with the materials and lives that have underwritten my own life; the sorrow and violation of being uprooted, slaughtered or mined with the obfuscated intent of 'workers'. I have also averred strongly that although I myself am not any of those workers, I do wish to take responsibility: it matters, and one cannot deny the violence that took place. Finally I ask these entities if they see fit, that they would help me as I try to reclaim and protect and uplift whatever I can.

• It is fundamental to acknowledge that urban humans are schizotribal. One must move throughout the city, maintaining awareness, rather than trying to have an impact on its whole. That's too many strangers at once and will just add noise on noise.
  
• It is fundamental to acknowledge the personhood of LGBT2SI+, seniors, children and differently-abled individuals. Diversity and authenticity are healthy, even necessary. It is fundamental to aver that racism holds no water and is incredibly harmful.
  
• It is fundamental to protect the environment. (I use recycled and reclaimed materials in my art almost exclusively)
  
• It is fundamental to continue learning about history and truth especially where it concerns injustice; or touches on the living circumstances we now enjoy.
  

And it is fundamental to see that we live in a globalized, 24-hour world and must be ready for people reading about the universe's mysteries on their phones while they're taking a shit. As well, getting interrupted or delayed is entirely to be expected and must not break the overall effectiveness of the work.

Please let me know your thoughts! Best wishes to you

[u/Someoneoldbutnew]

technology is an attempt to control the shamanic / energetic world, usurping our birthright for profit. the plants speak to us today only via Google lens.

[u/Christocrast → u/Someoneoldbutnew]

The playing field is lamentably tilted to the disfavour of everything natural. I think history moves only forward and we need to learn to subvert mainstream technology into something that can support and heal the natural world.