Coping: Woo-Woo Rising Department
Shamanism is making a comeback in Mongolia, turns out, according to a story off Eurasia.net.
I’ve sent a note to our correspondent in Ulaanbaatar to look into this and report back, but there was one part of the article in particular which seemed to hit a funny (as in ‘odd’ not haha) kind of resonance in me.
Specifically the part about:
“Eventually, she, or the spirit, asked Degi to come forward and explain his situation. “This could be difficult,” she said. But she told Degi what the spirit wanted him to do: she put a white thread and a black thread in some milk, told him to drink the milk and then keep the threads “until the grass grows again,” the next summer. She gave him a small bowl of water, told him to take it outside the house and throw it out under his left arm, toward the northeast. She gave him some small stones and told him to carry them with him and drop one every three days, and also sacrifice a small amount of vodka and chant an incantation every night. And he was to gather any “black and shiny” clothes he had and use them as a pillow for the next seven days. “
These elaborate instructions may sound strange, but if you have ever read any of the Don Juan Matus books by Carlos Castaneda, you can find similar strange sounding bits here at there.
One of the core concepts of the nagual - a kind of Mesoamerican shaman/healer type - is that they too work on something called “the assemblage point” and the field of subtle energies around people. It’s kind of like an ‘egg” of energy around people. Think of it as your ‘personal energy space’.
In the world of shamans and naguals, things like sickness, misfortunate, poverty, and so on are due to disruptions in how you are assimilating yourself into the overall flow of the Universe. In Castaneda’s books, the odd sharp thump on the back near the left shoulder blade by a skilled practitioner/Nagual, is said to be all that’s necessary to induce a sudden shift in consciousness of the student. (Helps to have dropped a hit of datura (dangerous toxic stuff! Warning!) or peyote ( see legal issues) here, of course.)
Nevertheless, the field of shamanism seems like one which ought to be studied in a more methodical manner than we presently do; a consequence, I suppose of academic specialization.
Remember, the concept that humans arise in holographic fashion from waves within a sea of energy is not exactly a new concept. It’s been around for thousands upon thousands of years (and longer) and may be found in Vedic, Jain, and Hindu traditions and embodied to some extent quite literally in traditions like Yoga.
What I would propose, therefore (and give credit if you make the ultimate best-selling book and academic career out of this if you would, please) is that a scientifically rigorous study of all religions and shamanistic practices be undertaken with an objective of quantifying and codifying direct manipulation of our immediate circumstances.
In other words, build up a huge SQL database of practices for various conditions and using the multidisciplinary approach, sort out what the common elements are among the practitioners and then reduce this do outputs anyone can perform.
It may be that upon study across languages and cultures, that it’s the throwing of a liquid in a certain way, while facing in a certain direction, that bring about significant effect.
Not saying it is the case, but it is possible that much of the power of a religion or shamanistic tradition may come from simple physical acts, such as cutting the air in front of a practitioner in a sign of the cross, or tossing water left-handed over that way.
Design of the project would be somewhat complex since each of the practices would need to be analyzed and inputted, along with generalizations. Maybe in one culture, water is thrown, in another goat’s milk, or some fermented juice or other. The database would need to be built-up using not only the specifics but then would need to be generalized to cardinal positions, solids, fabrics, liquids, metals…that kind of thing and the results cross-tabbed.
Would such a project be worthwhile? To my way of thinking Hell Yes!
It would be tantamount to converting religion to Open Source if the outputs were worthwhile.
And since we have the theory (Radin’s work on entanglement, the multiword’s interpretation of quantum mechanics, etc.) it seems all we need to do is run some diagnostics/analytics to get more direct access to a whole lot more horsepower for humans to use.
I know, I know. “George, sounds fine and all, but you’ve missed the point that true ‘assemblage’ takes place in the mind, not in the physical world…”
That may be, materialistic reductionist fool that I am, but why not go do a thorough study of physical commonalities cross-culturally, just to check? Could be just like a Twilight Zone episode, that the levers to manipulate reality are really physically at hand, just we haven’t spent any time for the most part, focusing with intent on pulling them this way or that. We might just be brushing them in passing once in a while - which might be why so many religions have ascetic practices; as they develop conscious awareness of potential levers in the vicinity of.
I don’t have 60 years to run off into the woods an be a practicing ascetic to figure out which levers do what and become a wizened one. So can we throw some code at this and go open source, please?
You’ll please excuse me now: I have to go throw a bowl of water. First, a check of the Open Source Religion database to see if there’s a correlation between bowl shapes or if a glass of water (tumbler) would work as well. Let me build the query here: Is this a form-based ritual (throw from bowl) or an action-based ritual (throw liquid from anything handy)? See how useful Open Sourcing traditions out of all religions could be?
As long as we’re at it, let’s also gather data to see if there’s any correlation between general level of health between people who bless their food in some way before eating it and those that don’t…if it’s statistically significant, that oughta be in our Open Source Religion project, too, I’d think. Along with levels of health between people who use incense and…..and….
Mark on Your Calendar
November 14th - a week from tomorrow: If you live in Dallas, Houston, or any city within a couple of hours driving distance of Elmwood, Texas, be sure to plan a family outing to c the best slow-cooked BBQ you’ll find. Google Map link here. Elmwood’s Volunteer Fire Department (web site) puts this on twice a year (fall & spring) and there’s a big-screen LCD TV being raffled off, too. I think it runs from 11 AM till about 2 PM…or whenever the BBQ runs out.
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Send your comments, electricians, and Grimm tales to george@ure.net
The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Peoplenomics This Week
2012 - The Bigger Picture
Think you have a handle on 2012? Ha! Not hardly! On Tuesday night of this week, Cliff High will be rolling out his research - along with some spiffy graphics on his site www.halfpasthuman.com as part of an interview on the Jeff Rense show. We will hold off on “the Single Person’s Marketing Plan” until next week because I wanted to spend some time this weekend bridging the gap between the historical basis of 2012 - and the critical issues of survival of possible events in that timeframe. What do the Dogon People and their stories about Sirius (Later Osiris in Egyptology) have to do with the breakdown of the former Soviet Union? And what does that have to do with economics? Get ready to grab your blinders firmly…you ain’t gonna like this at all.
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“Live on $10,000″ Updated
With another round of layoffs due to start later this month…a round which will start to axe many of the middle managers who have managed to avoid the HR grenades…might I suggest a preemptive tactical move? Voluntarily dropping your lifestyle back a bit, since we’re all being marched down that road by either circumstances or some out-of-control-PTB types who write checks to Washington lobby and to anti-reformers in California! A good starting point, at least if you’ve still got $10-bucks is my e-book “How to Live on #10,000 a Year…or less!”
It’s an automatic download. It’s written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left… Click here for the index and details.
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It’s an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few ‘dollar stores’ and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space - like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It’s just $10 bucks here…
No, when you tell your browser to ‘empty your cookies’ of web sites you’ve visited, it probably won’t get them all. Why? Because there is a whole class of ‘browser-independent’ cookies that will gobble up space on your hard drive, but more important is they will sneak out information about you without you being aware of it. Ever week I get emails like this one:
“Thanks again for the Maxa Tools recommendation, I never knew how much additional garbage gets attached every time I browse. “
Test drive it free by downloading it. To upgrade to full functionality will be $35 bucks. Is your privacy worth it?
Once you try it out, click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those nasty and highly intrusive ‘non-browser specific’ cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster. I’ve taken 1,000 37,970 41,837 cookies off my machine now. It’s just amazing. (I might ask their CTO to add one more digit to the “Total deleted till now” window…)
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world….so far. Given Jens and the other engineers time…
Feeling Thorny?
Want to be a thorn in the side of the Old World Order? Simply click here and send a link to this site to everyone on your distro list…Nothing more dangerous than sharp, clear-thinking upstarts who ask a lot of questions, eh? Unless you believe WTC-7 fell over on its own, of course….
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Last week’s report is here. For back issues of this site, click here. (Goes back to 1997!)