History and tectonic technology

Shamanism does have a political dimension actually, because it enables you to see id structures that form battle lines.

It’s my view that if we come asunder on one of the boundaries of these broad, historical id structures, we will either be destroyed or be forced to shamanize.

But to shamanize is to see, for the first time, the outlines of these id structures, and how they dominate the lives of whole sectors of the community.  That is why Marechera’s insights into the ID structures of contemporary Zimbabwe were so useful to me.  You have to know where people are inclined to draw a line and fight you with the irrational parts of their beings, rather than taking in what you have to say in an open and objective spirit.  If you don’t understand these kinds of things, AND you happen to be situated right at the boundaries of these broad historical structures, you will end up succumbing to others feints and false alliances.

So, to me, shamanism does open up a sphere of a higher level of knowledge, which is basically political and bounded by the limits of reality aligned to historical necessity.

This is something Westerners do not see, as a rule, because they, themselves, are at the center (not the boundary) of a huge political landmass, which causes them not to have to experience any degree of historical change or disruption.  They remain undisturbed by such sensations, which feeds into their notion that we are all just isolated individuals, who have no essential relationship to history or to historical change.