From: Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Date: Tue Jun 16 1998 - 01:44:46 MDT
Well, in many ways the cryonics community has these attributes. Cryonics
of course provides an alternative approach to death, and has the full
spectrum of experiences, solidarity and squabbles of any community,
with a nice stories about possible futures. And sacred ground in the form
of storage sites....
In another direction, most religions split into two components. One builds
churches, institutions, rules and dogma. The other stays close to creating
altered states for all of the members. Examples are Native American Church
and Santa Diamo - with peyote and ayhuasca being the respective agents
used for ASCs.
It seems that positive ASCs are an integral aspect of the healing dimensions
of religion, shamanism, and possible worth serious consideration for the
transhuman and extropian communities.
Shall I say, "Best be High when you Do It So...."
>
>Which of course suggests that we should seriously think about how to
>get the benefits from religion without the drawbacks. Most likely any
>form of comittment that provides a sense of belonging, a positive
>livable universe where temporary setbacks are just temproary (despite
>their severity) would have the same benefits. Can transhumanism become
>a "religion" in this sense, providing the health benefits? I don't
>think we need to attempt to imitate the outward activities of
>religions, but we better look at the community- and meaning-building
>parts.
>Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
O--------------------------------O
| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
| |
| Death is for animals; |
| immortality for gods. |
| Technology is the means by |
| which we make the transition. |
O--------------------------------O
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