Techno and the shaman

It is consciousness that heals us.

That is why I consider consciousness

to be the ultimate medicine.

(Francoise Bourzat)

Good morning and hello to my dear audience and readers.

You are the few, the lucky few I may hope.

Anyway, I am currently reading a book by Francoise Bourzat and Kristina Hunter that came out just a few months ago. It is called ‘consciousness medicine’ and talks about plant medicine and other ways of expanding awareness, and how to approach such states of consciousness, as to preparation, the actual journey and the integration.

It is actually a topic that is very much of interest to me, as I am currently thinking about music a lot. Music as a way to move into trance.

I am addicted to music and I am attracted to trance.

In Belgium we are lucky to have Amelie Lens and Charlotte De Witte as two great female acid dj’s, and it is both with a sense of chauvinism and healthy pride that I am so very happy to be able to enjoy some local talent on my headphones. Their music always takes me places.

And, just to say, I also drum a lot, on the djembe for now, and coming soon, mixing it with my shaman drum and rattle. This also gets me places, perhaps even more than some piece of music someone else made.

Now I was thinking, and I am thinking a lot about the culture of raves and technoshamanism. People take drugs and go dancing to the beat, it is a culture that I know not fully and as an expert, but I have had my fair taste of it when I was a student.

For eight years now, I haven’t done any drugs myself no more, and have taken my resort and refuge in meditation. Sitting still, experiencing what comes up.

And although I do think my experience with entheogens such as LSD and magic mushrooms may have aided in loosening and opening my spiritual awareness, I am more inclined now to be an advocate of sobriety and soberness. No drugs, just mere awareness, patience, openness. Just the witnessing, not the hype.

For I fear all too much the culture of overcrowded dancefloors and giant raves, the mindless mass consumption of drugs in the spirit of being cool and being hip. Being there. Have you seen me? Man I am so cool. And bragging about all the dope you took and what party here or there you went to.

It cannot be all about display, it shouldn’t be about your ego.

It should be about losing your ego and finding your spirit.

It has been my personal experience, that getting high every day, first thing in the morning up until the last thing you do before falling asleep, is mostly a way of avoiding your feelings. Running away from what’s inside, and seeking to flee from your experience, rather than being open and receptive towards it.

And now, with the book and all, I think it is a very good thing that some professional people enter the dialogue. That it is about respect for the medicine, and about integrating it into your daily existence.

I also saw the documentary ‘the science of psilocybin’ and I am reading the book by Stanislav Grof on LSD psychotherapy findings.

All these professional people are not narrow minded and naïve. They do not just say drugs are bad. They are saying drugs can be a gateway to great and lifechanging spiritual encounters and adventures. But they are also mindful. They are very conscious about using them, meaning that they, as I mentioned, pay close attention to preparation, the journeying itself and the integration of the experience. They are care-full.

They do not say, yeah, take all the trips you can find in one great swallow and then go throw yourself into a radically insane crowd on some mega party where everyone is freaking out and acting weird.

No, they are about sensitivity and mindfulness, they are not about losing it, they are about finding it. Living it.

I am not saying it is wrong to dance. I am just saying that being sober every once in a while and standing still is as much part of the game as the shouting and the chaos.

As I feel it, it is important to look into your mind. To see what you are seeing, with patience, openness and the spirit of compassion. It may be hard, but that is only because you haven’t practiced it enough.

Joska Soos, a shaman I visited when living in Antwerp in my last year of college, said that his teacher had told him that all is sound. You have to listen, and attune yourself to the world of sound. That is the way to power.

So I am keeping my (inner) ears and eyes open these days, with patience, faith and compassion, and I no longer flee from what lives inside and what comes up, sometimes strongly, sometimes strange. And I still dance, and I listen to a hell of a lot of music.

But it is no longer about my ego, it is not about being cool. It is not about shouting the loudest and having the most interesting story to brag about as to what party you went to last week, or last night, or whenever.

It is not about the big things. It is about the little things. It is about attention, about being mindful and aware. You have to sense, you have to feel. You have to see the images you see and hear the voices and the words you hear.

And after many many hours and years of making this a habit, the scenes sometimes come to feel like they are not so personal, just like you are watching a movie. Not dulled, simply aware, simply witnessing. Even real life can be experienced with more detachment and less personal agitation.

You become cool, you become chill, you become relaxed.

And as for the sounds, and as for the voices, words can become a game. Poetry. And the voices turn to not only words but more like sounds, sounds that vibrate like when they are sung. You pay more attention to the rhythm of the words, the tone of the words, the movement of the volume. Words become a way into music, play.

And when your inner senses grow sharper, they align with your everyday awareness. You see things clearer, from a perspective of beauty, love and admiration. Everything is art. The leaves that grow on the wall of the brewery, in their yellow and red autumn colors, you could get lost in that sight forever.

And the music, if you love music, you will only appreciate it more fully, with more of your spirit, consciousness and sensitivity.

You will dance without moving, and it will thrill you and it will tickle you.

And you will laugh, and you will open up, in ecstasy. Like a baby, loved.

You have to find your inner world. You have to open up the doors and look inside. See the visions, take in the landscape. Hear the birds, the machines, the songs and the voices. And then you have to step inside and be yourself within yourself.

And you will find that you are smart, and you will find that you are sweet and funny, and you will find that you are strong.

You do not need someone else to tell you you are cool, you don’t need thirty thousand men noticing you dancing wasted on too much dope. It is not about that. It is not about the ego trip.

It is about humility and allowing things silently, honestly, courageously.

Anyone can dress up, ingest some shit and act like they are having a good time, just to be acknowledged on the outside by some people dressing up, ingesting shit and acting like they are having a good time. But where does that get you in the long run? It’s empty! You will not come to know yourself, you will not grow to love yourself, you will not find yourself. You will lose yourself, and you will hate yourself. And you will always be insecure and dependent.

It’s just not cool man. I hate it. These fucked up gatherings where everything is about me me me and being all the same sheep listening to the orders of the day, going by the image of the time and living for appearance and approval.

That’s what everybody does!

It’s nothing special.

But when you cultivate your spirit, maybe after you’ve tried all of the raves and the acid, when you just sit in your seat and do not run away from yourself, when you just sit there and accept that there are things you are afraid to feel, voices you do not want to hear, memories you don’t want to see…

Just know, it changes.

It changes as you look at it, it changes as you listen to it, it changes as you feel it.

You could not keep hearing, seeing or feeling the same thing all day long. Listen, feel, see! It always changes. Opening the doors is a sure trip man.

But maybe to you, the trip is all about keeping the doors shut, keeping the windows shut, making so much noise that you don’t have to hear anything and all that shit you’re just not feeling.

It is about the small things, not the mass, it is about sensing, not being rude and loud and all that ego shit. It is about love love love. Loving yourself as you are, as you go through the doors and walk the inner worlds, fly the inner skies and explore the inner oceans, shifting shapes.

It is a spontaneous process, but you have to stop fleeing. You have to stop getting stoned every day, and you have to accept that life is not always a party. You have to care more about sensing and sensitivity than about sensation.

It is not about all you can get, or all you can take. It is about all you can be. All the vision, all the music, all the love and light that lives and dwells within your spirit and your soul.

There is a way, and the way is just to sit. Just to be with yourself, to be there for yourself. When all else fails.

It has failed for me, and I thought it was the end, but it was just the beginning.

I do not regret not being part of some people mass shouting and being loud and caring about ‘have you seen me’. Nobody sees me. I am alone. But I laugh and I cry, and I live a hundred lives in just one hour, I walk a thousand walks every time I step out the door.

You are so much more than a mindless drug-taking party-going consumer sheep, you are a being that has so many dimensions it would be a shame to keep the doors shut all your life, and never notice your spirit and your Self.

Drop out, tune in.

For real man.

And you will find your spirit alive, sensitive, intelligent, responsive. You will find the heart of the universe talking to you. And you will love it, love yourself, and you will be in peace. Just a wise, sensitive person with a jewel that is always shining as it should.

You will shine bright like a diamond.

Om mani padme hum.

Find the jewel inside.

Find the life within your spirit.

Just open the doors.

When all else fails.

Breathe.

Be you.