The Original Technologist

In the communities of the Paleolithic, archeologists often find a single dwelling, isolated from the others, at the boundary between the community and the wilds of the world beyond; this is where we find the shaman, the original technologist. Even today those cultures which have practicing shamans keep them far away from the day-to-day communities. Shaman are weird, scary, reminders of the existential terror of the ineffable, mad with 'god-shatter', the psychological condition of ego-fragmentation caused by repeated exposure to the unadulterated numinous. But if madness is the occupational disease of shaman, consider their function: they take in the raw energies of the transhuman current, and step them down, so that the common people can retain their connection to that which is beyond them. Shamans stand between the worlds. Like a gnostic Janus, a shaman has one face turned toward the transhuman, while another looks upon humanity.

Mark Pesce, Becoming Transhuman

I'm a Mop
Living
As if half-sane and half-insane.
The whole universe is being shattered into pieces.
I feel so lonely
That I dance gently up and down.

I'm a Mop
The carp in the Namhan'gang River
Is fresh
Load a barrel of rice wine and
Set a boat afloat.
Stars, moon and fish
Gather together:
Stars sing songs
The moon plays an hour glass drum,
The fish with knives
Carve out a slice of raw meat.

I,
Downing a cup of rice wine,
Dance lively and joyful
Dance in high spirits.

I'm a Mop.

Jung-kwang, The Mad Monk