The Struggle for the Sacred
Description:
Cultural appropriation is a topic that brings heated debate nearly every time it’s mentioned. Quite often, ignorant westerners who were raised to purchase meaning on a shelf or through a TV set can trigger sensitivities within traditional or sacred cultures, while at the same time individuals that seek in earnest to experience authentic meaning by transcending that very same commercial culture are easily stereotyped as insensitive or as frauds. The word “shamanism,” for example, is taken for granted and thrown around casually in festival culture, and yet who can agree on what it truly means in our context or who it legitimately offends?
We’ll uncover the complex history of this term while exploring a vision for planetary culture that integrates the profane and materialistic west with the sacred magic of the indigenous and the archaic. The story of the west is surprisingly rich with culture heroes (including the Cacophony Society and Suicide Club groups that Burning Man emerged from) that point the way towards a rich and meaningful cultural future, despite the overwhelming totality of capitalism. In fact, in the development of a global psychedelic culture, the world market has actually paved the way for a diverse confluence of neo-tribal adaptation and integration much the same way as the Romans built the roads that ultimately spread Christianity. Authentic cultural appropriation is the way forward and superficial cultural appropriation is a natural evolutionary byproduct.