Shamanism

https://deoxy.org/narbystew.htm    Shamanism… the cosmic serpent : DNA and the and the origins of knowledge Q&A with Jeremy. The following also contains such interview and some video interviews of Jeremy:

https://www.puppetgov.com/2012/05/22/the-cosmic-serpent/   Narby by Todd Stewart:  Videos and Summary of Narby’s book: Research indicates that shamans access an intelligence, which they say is nature’s, and which gives them information that has stunning correspondences with molecular biology…. Your hypothesis of a hidden intelligence contained within the DNA of all living things is interesting. What is this intelligence?… Intelligence comes from the Latin inter-legere, to choose between. There seems to be a capacity to make choices operating inside each cell in our body, down to the level of individual proteins and enzymes. DNA itself is a kind of “text” that functions through a coding system called “genetic code,” which is strikingly similar to codes used by human beings. Some enzymes edit the RNA transcript of the DNA text and add new letters to it; any error made during this editing can be fatal to the entire organism; so these enzymes are consistently making the right choices; if they don’t, something often goes wrong leading to cancer and other diseases. Cells send one another signals, in the form of proteins and molecules. These signals mean: divide, or don’t divide, move, or don’t move, kill yourself, or stay alive. Any one cell is listening to hundreds of signals at the same time, and has to integrate them and decide what to do. How this intelligence operates is the question. … DNA has essentially maintained its structure for 3.5 billion years. What role does DNA play in our evolution?… DNA is a single molecule with a double helix structure; it is two complementary versions of the same “text” wrapped around each other; this allows it to unwind and make copies of itself: twins! This twinning mechanism is at the heart of life since it began. Without it, one cell could not become two, and life would not exist. And, from one generation to the next, the DNA text can also be modified, so it allows both constancy and transformation. This means that beings can be the same and not the same. One of the mysteries is what drives the changes in the DNA text in evolution. DNA has apparently been around for billions of years in its current form in virtually all forms of life. The old theory—random accumulation of errors combined with natural selection—does not fully explain the data currently generated by genome sequencing. The question is wide open…. The structure of DNA as we know it is made up of letters and thus has a specific text and language. You could say our bodies are made up of language, yet we assume that speech arises from the mind. How do we access this hidden language?… By studying it. There are several roads to knowledge, including science and shamanism… The symbol of the Cosmic Serpent, the snake, is a central theme in your story, and in your research you discover that the snake forms a major part of the symbology across most of the world’s traditions and religions. Why is there such a consistent system of natural symbols in the world? Is the world inherently symbolic?… This is the observation that led me to investigate the cosmic serpent. I found the symbol in shamanism all over the world. Why? That’s a good question. My hypothesis is that it is connected to the double helix of DNA inside virtually all living beings. And DNA itself is a symbolic Saussurian code. So, yes, in at least one important way, the living world is inherently symbolic. We are made of living language.

Thirty-four people from Luzon to Mindanao gathered at the Vidar Garden 2.0 at Libongcogon, Iloilo to participate in the 5-day (Aug. 17 to 21) Biodynamic workshop facilitated by Nick Perlas.  Many were farmers, some educators, doctors, hobby gardeners, religious, mothers, and businessmen.

The first hours in the morning were spent in observation of nature. Learning to observe,  immersing oneself, listening.   Nick had thankfully prepared a narrow gravel pathway edged with bamboo.  Beside this pathway was deep muddy sludge.  Sunflowers and zinnias and mature okras lined the path.  The farm itself is edged by trees.  There is a river running nearby.  This is originally a swampy area with heavy clay soil.  Soil was dug up to raise the farming area thereby forming ponds and trenches.  A diversity of weeds and grasses abound making the area ahaven for wildlife.   Those who did not take the matter of bringing boots seriously had a surprise.  They had to trudge in the mud.  Joffel, a farmer, enjoyed being barefoot and we secretly admired his feeling of freedom.   Nick brought us to the compost piles, one a BD compost, another one, an organic compost.  Our untrained noses were challenged to smell the difference.

Every day early mornings and late afternoons were spent outdoors before the heat of the day descends in full blast.  We were blessed in that most days were sunny. As if by arrangement it rained before and after the workshop week.  We prepared a plot (1×10 m) from scratch.  Wild grasses were cut and their resistant roots dug up.  A trench was dug to bring soil up for the plot.  34 pairs of hands helped in crumbling the clay soil, our hands happily squeezing the mud.  We took turns making a vortex from a BD preparation with water.  Then this solution was sprinkled on the new plot.  The next day we transplanted lettuce seeds after which we spread a mulch of dried rice straw to prevent compaction from rain and from the soil drying up.

Following the BD sowing calendar, we started lettuce seeds by wetting tissue paper.  Each one also planted Terry’s sweet papaya seeds in black bags, including an avocado.  One afternoon was spent in preparing a BD compost from scratch which included using the BD preparations 502 to 507.  These preparations stimulate the life energies of the pile, and are used to “manage the formative life forces that abound in the farm”.

Our workshop indoors challenged us to answer questions like Why am I here?Why did we start with a walk around the farm? What did I observe on the field? What are the hazards of chemical farming? What and where is the plant?  A plant study was made by groups one afternoon.  We observed patterns in the plant growth (of expansion and contraction) and other phenomena.  We answered the question What is the spiritual function of food?, and came to realize that eating processed food, junk food, chemical laden foods or chemical-mimicking food is actually blocking the body from being a worthy receptacle for the divine.

A sharing from Gilbert of Dumaguete Mission Node with promptings from Teresa re China’s rice production problems….led us, in short, to the 3 gorges dam project in China is a failure.  Many parts of China is drying up, even lakes.  China is looking into other countries including the Philippines to lease huge tracts of land to grow rice to export and feed the Chinese.  They will use our land and our people to grow rice for them.  Many questions arise.  Will they require the use of chemical farming?  What about our own needs to feed our own people?  Gilbert is encouraged to write about this in more detail to the MISSION group.

We come up with more questions.  How do we revive the respect for agriculture?  How do we bring back the dignity due to the farmer?  We see that in working the land these past few days, we were sweating, huffing and puffing.  We are suddenly made aware of the hard work our farmers give to be able to produce and feed us real food.  We realize that, as the workshop ended, our baby steps towards biodynamic  farming are just beginning.

Report by
Esther Windler
MISSION Dumaguete