Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrity.
The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly
submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
intelligence.

Albert Einstein

they leave they drop upon new nation
they freesell your soul upon creation

there shall come a day when we shall all be free
and see the beauty in your heart in your heart
and from a far i can see the tropycal is a million magejsty
oh god

rasta man wo wa
what's a groundation
in this iration
(x2)
forward forward forward forward....
to i..
leaving the love for the land
please belive me when i say there will come a day when everyone just see inifacation
from shore to shore they shall see the light acros the oceans acros the world shall unite will unite

and the
rasta man wo wa
what's a groundation
in this iration

well the
rasta man wo wa
what's a groundation
upon this iration

trada trada ride on ride on i see
reach trought words reach those words reach those words all the truth tonight

and we shall jump on the ship taking you back home in another nation again again run run
and they shall run away far away all the head up to another day sing i i to the valley i i to the valley

rasta man wo wa
what's a groundation
in this iration
(2x)

“We are the children of the 80's, haven't we grown
We're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than stone
And the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden

Some of us may offer a surprise
Recently have you looked in our eyes
Maybe we're your conscience in disguise
We're well informed and we are wise
Please stop telling us lies
We know Afghanistan's invaded
We know Bolivia's dictated
We know America's inflated
And although we do not move in masses
We have lit our candles from your ashes
We are the warriors of the sun
The golden boys and the golden girls
For a better world

We are the children of the 80's, haven't we grown
We're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than stone
And the age of our innocence is somewhere, somewhere in the garden”

Joan Baez, Children of the 80s

"In the beginning, there was the dark purple light at
the dawn of being. Spider Woman spun a line to form
the east, west, north, and south. Breath entered man
at the time of the yellow light. At the time of the
red light, man proudly faced his creator.

Spider Woman used the clay of the earth, red, yellow,
white, and black, to create people. To each she attached
a thread of her web which came from the doorway at
the top of her head. This thread was the gift of
creative wisdom. Three times she sent a great flood to
destroy those who had forgotten the gift of her thread.
Those who remembered floated to the new world and climbed
to safety through the Sipapu Pole the womb of Mother Earth."

~Navajo Creation Story~

The Huichol shamans say we are perdido, lost. They say we are bringing doom and destruction to Yurianaka, Mother Earth, and that Taupa, Father Sun, is coming closer to the earth to purify it. They are concerned for the future and for the life of their children. They are holding great ceremonies calling in shamans from many areas to try and "hold up the sun." But they know they cannot do it themselves, for they are not the ones soiling the collective nest. We are. We are the ones who have to wake up, who have to find our lives.

For the Huichols, this is the purpose of their sacred pilgrimage to the holy land of Wiricuta--to find their lives. This is what all their ceremonies involving the ritual use of the peyote help them to accomplish. Their technology of the sacred enables them to change channels and access "state specific information" available only on the wavelengths of specific channels. For shamanic peoples such as the Huichols, the purpose in changing channels is not for escapism, to get lost in imaginary hallucinations that have no basis in reality. Their purpose is to get a more accurate reading of the nature of reality. They seek entrance through the nierica into the numinous universe underlying the limited, material world of the sensory--the "mysterious, ubiquitous, concentrated form of non-material energy . . . loose about the world and contained in a more or less condensed degree by all objects" (Bob Calahan in his introduction to Jaimie de Angulo's Coyote Man and Old Doctor Loon).

Why?

To obtain information, healing, and power, which they can use here on this plane of existence to better their lives and the lives of their people.

Entering into the depths of the mystery is not something to take lightly, for the mystery is all about power and power can manifest itself in many ways. Out of respect, the Wisdom Elders observe, listen, and commune with this power in all its manifestations. From this base of phenomenological data of mind in nature, nature in mind, they came to learn the order and structure of life's connectedness and that all things are dependent upon each other and thus related. Recognizing this, the norm of reciprocity in all interactions is raised to the status of sacred. Balanced reciprocity with all of creation is observed at all costs, for without this practice, the fragile web of life is irreversibly damaged, a fate that faces us today.

The eminent theologian Thomas Berry addresses this fate:

"The earth asks us to accept greater responsibility. We must exchange mindlessness for mindfulness."

It's an initiation process, says Berry. Humanity is "moving from a state of childhood into its adult stage of life and human community must now assume adult responsibilities."

Respect, humility, clarity of intention, right relationship with the appropriate psychospiritual technology, and sustained, focused mindfulness are all key components of successful channel-changing to access state specific information. The shaman is the state shifter, the channel-changer par excellence, for the shaman is the master technician of ecstasy.