virus: Re: shaman

kenpan@lurchinvault.com
Mon, 11 Aug 1997 17:15:08 +0000


Wade:
This is something I always do when I feel that people are throwing the
baby out with the bathwater. Please excuse me if you've already seen it
one too many times.

You said:
The shaman will always, and intentionally, be 'misunderstood' by the
reasonable. It is not in his interest to be understood.... He uses
'secrets' after all. That the shaman is tolerated is the paucity of a
culture, IMHO. Or at least the degree of toleration.
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I say:
The artist/lawyer/architect/plumber/auto mechanic/rock musician/
interior designer/priest/doctor will always, and intentionally, be
'misunderstood' by those who employ him. It is not in his interest to be
understood.... He uses 'secrets' after all. That the
artist/lawyer/architect/plumber/auto mechanic/rock musician/ interior
designer/priest/doctor is tolerated is because they are the gateposts to
information that lies outside of your segment of the heteroglot that is
modern culture.

I know that one can always say, "but these people have real knowledge,
NOT magic to peddle". And they do... some of them. I don't mean to
completely poke a hole in your statement. I think it's valid, if you can
make it work for yourself.

To illustrate: I have an acquaintance who is (I dare say) a socialist to
the bone. He thinks that all modern art should be burned down... it is
nothing but a giant hoax. And I have to smile when he says that, because
I think, "Well, yeah.... duh!" But how do you go about burning it down??
And can you do it in such a way that it won't just spring up out of the
ashes?

IMHO saying that one must control or tether participation in the
"imagined" (which I think is at the center of the impulse to participate
in the "magical") is a bit like saying you must control the urge to
copulate. If there is to be only productive copulation producing real
results... well then... I think you see where this is going.... I never
thought we'd end up being that kind of a church.

-- 
Regards
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  Ken Pantheists                 http://www.lurchinvault.com/ken 
  
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