The notion of a life-affirming business is
central to Shamanic Tonics. We view business as a potential bridge
towards a more full life for the individual, society and the world
as a whole. We aspire towards that developing common good which benefits
both (the so-called opposites of) pleasure and health, private comfort
and environmental guardianship. This of course utilizes the `cooperator'
model of interacting with each other and the world rather than the
`dominator' model. The Planet Plant Plan (a phrase coined by the late
philospoher Terence McKenna) for us incorporates countlesss skills
and traditions into developing an economy and society which not only
sustains but enhances our natural resources. This uses the most ancient
principles and methods along with the most innovative and modern ones.
Obvious aspects of this would be the photovoltaic (solar electric)
conversion of water to hydrogen gas fuel and free oxygen for the atmosphere
to counteract the greenhouse gases caused by the burning of unrenewable
fossil fuels. The use of plants (fungi, bacteria, etc.) for biomass
fuel, most other fossil-fuel purposes and waste reclamation is a further
aspect of this integrated life-style. Shamanic Tonics believes that
for tens of thousands of years herbs (plants, fungi and minerals)
have been used in 5 special ways by humans:
 Spirituality
(via countless worldwide sacraments and holy wines,
ointments and incenses)
Recreation
(almost every culture on earth has its daily-favorites list,
often outlawed by competing cultures)
Medicine
(aside from petrochemicals and synthetics, plant-formed compounds
still are the greatest documented resource of modern pharmacology)
Economics
(food, clothes, shelter, etc., ...)
Protection or war
(repellents, weapons, poisons, traps, etc, ... )
As a society progresses and integrates, more time
and energy is spent on the first ones and less on the later ones.
In fact, herbs are only one of the 5 special things that were each
used in those 5 special ways. All together they form the `25 artistic
sciences' (5 x 5 = 25). This is the woven fabric of human history
and culture.
The 5 special things are like the physical woof and the 5 special
ways are like the metaphysical warp in the weave of this cultural
cloth. Through their overlapping interdependence they hold together
this (consciously or unconsciously) unfolding fabric of humanity.
The 5 special things are potentially lifegiving or deadly. They can
make an individual or a society flourish or wither. They are the,
"Make `em or break `em", elements in the human situation. Their danger
and their profundity are opposite sides of the same coin.
The 5 special things are:
 Sexuality
in all its forms
Drugs
including all herbs and food (which affect
consciousness)
Art
in its sensual, intellectual and intuitional
aspects
Fire
giver of light and warmth
Water
the nurturing universal solvent.
The first of these is the most difficult to
master and the last is the easiest. Even now we have only begun to
unlock the energy in `water' through working with it as the source of
hydrogen gas fuel. Photovoltaic solar energy collection is an example
of working with `fire'. We are even further away from facing much less
working with the true powers of music, drugs and sex. Our world is
equally in danger from our foolishness, as well. This earth is our
treasure. Together we can create a lasting celebration worth staying at.
The ways without conscious things may be useless,
but the things without conscious ways can be dangerous
Thank You
"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution,
the time will come when medicine will organize into an
undercover dictatorship... To restrict the art of healing to
one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will
constitute the Bastille (prison) of medical science.
All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no
place in a republic... The constitution of this republic should
make special privilege for medical freedom as well as
religious freedom".
Benjamin Rush, M.D.
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Personal Physician to George Washington
Shamanic Tonics |
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