Re: Iteration Songtext
von The Shamen

If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed

Human history represents such a radical break with the natural systems

Of biological organization that preceded it, that it must be the

Response to a kind of attractor or dwell point that lies ahead in the

Temporal dimension. Persistently, Western religions have integrated

Into their theologies the notion of a kind of end of the world, and

I think that a lot of psychedelic experimentation sort of confirms
This intuition. I mean, it isn′t going to happen according to any of
The scenarios of orthodox religion, but the basic intuition that the
Universe seeks closure in a kind of omega point of transcendence is
Confirmed. It's almost as though this object in hyperspace
Glittering in hyperspace, throws off reflections of itself which
Actually ricochet into the past, illuminating this mystic, inspiring
That saint or visionary, and that out of these fragmentary glimpses
Of eternity, we can build a kind of map of not only the past of the
Universe and the evolutionary progression into novelty, but a kind

Of map of the future. This is what shamanism has always been about

A shaman is someone who has been to the end. It′s someone who knows

How the world really works, and knowing how the world really works


Means to have risen outside, above, beyond the dimensions of ordinary

Spacetime and casuistry and actually seen the wiring under the board

Stepped outside the confines of learned culture and learned and

Embedded language into the domain of what Wittgenstein called the

Unspeakable, the transcendental presence of the other, which can be

Sectioned in various ways to yield systems of knowledge which can be

Brought back into ordinary social space for the good of the community

. So, in the context of 90% of human culture, the shaman has been the

Agent of evolution, because the shaman learns the techniques to go
Between ordinary reality and the domain of the ideas, this higher
Dimensional continuum that is somehow parallel to us, available to
Us, and yet ordinarily occluded by cultural convention out of fear of
The mystery, I believe. And what shamans are are people who have been
Able to decondition themselves from the community's instinctual
Distrust of the mystery and to go into it, to go into this
Bewildering higher dimension and gain knowledge, recover the jewel
Lost at the beginning of time, save souls, cure, commune with the
Ancestors, and so forth and so on. Shamanism is not a religion


It's a set of techniques, and the principal technique is the use
Of psychedelic plants. What psychedelics do is they dissolve
Boundaries, and in the presence of dissolved boundaries, one cannot
Continue to close one′s eyes to the ruination of the earth, the
Poisoning of the seas, and the consequences of 2000 years of
Unchallenged dominator culture based on monotheism, hatred of nature
Suppression of the female, so forth and so on. So, what shamans have
To do is act as exemplars by making this cosmic journey to the domain
Of the Gaian ideas and then bringing them back in the form of art

To the struggle to save the world. The planet has a kind of
Intelligence that it can actually open a channel of communication
With an individual human being. The message that nature sends is "
Transform your language through a synergy between electronic culture
And the psychedelic imagination, a synergy between dance and idea
A synergy between understanding and intuition, and dissolve the
Boundaries that your culture has sanctioned between you
Become part of this Gaian supermind." I mean, I think

It′s fairly profound. It's fairly apocalyptic. History is
Ending. I mean, we are to be the generation that witnesses
The revelation of the purpose of the cosmos. History is
Who will live through this transition into hyperspace
Is that we will be privileged to see the greatest release
Of compressed change probably since the birth of the universe
The 20th century is the, the shudder
That announces the approaching cataracts of time
Over which our species and the destiny
Of this planet is about to be swept

If the truth can be told so as to be understood
It will be believed

The emphasis in house music and rave culture on
Physiologically compatible rhythms and this sort of thing
Is really the rediscovery of the art of natural magic with sound

That sound, properly understood, especially percussive sound
Can actually change neurological states
And large groups of people getting together
In the presence of this kind of music
Are creating a telepathic community of bonding
That hopefully will be strong enough then
To carry the vision out into the mainstream of society
I think the youth culture that is emerging in the 90s

Is an end of the millennium culture
That is actually summing up, uh, Western civilization
And pointing us in an entirely different direction
That we′re going to arrive in the third millennia

In the middle of an archaic revival
Which will mean a revival of these
Physiologically empowering rhythm signatures
Uh, a new art, a new social vision
A new relationship to nature, to feminism, to ego
All of these things are taking hold
And not a moment too soon