The Meta: Hunting Magic
After humans unconsciously destroyed their delicate balance with nature through the invention of cliff driving, they descending into what I call the "Crisis Meta," from 20000BC to 12000BC.
Ever wonder where religion comes from?
Hunting magic.
After humans unconsciously destroyed their delicate balance with nature through the invention of cliff driving, they descending into what I call the "Crisis Meta," from 20000BC to 12000BC.
Ever wonder where religion comes from?
Hunting magic.
In addition to cliff driving, the accumulation of new technologies like projectile weapons, started to tip food supply towards a chaos that was overwhelming.
Some of these technologies can be considered as “God-Technologies” because they *really* broke the “balance with God.”
Some of these technologies can be considered as “God-Technologies” because they *really* broke the “balance with God.”
As tribes warped their relationship with the evolutionary order, it forced on them a reality they were "consciously" unequipped to deal with.
Many tribes faced varying degrees of crisis, and new methods were discovered to help relieve the pain of being out of nature's balance.
Many tribes faced varying degrees of crisis, and new methods were discovered to help relieve the pain of being out of nature's balance.
The ultimate hyper conscious approach was "hunting magic." I say “conscious” to make parallels with the Garden of Eden story. After they eat the fruit they become aware of their nakedness. They are now “conscious." They are “aware," and “in charge," as scary as that is.
The first iteration of hunting magic was possibly cave art, but could have been dancing, singing or music.
Nonetheless, why did our ancestors draw animals on cave walls?
They were now aware, and naked.
Nonetheless, why did our ancestors draw animals on cave walls?
They were now aware, and naked.
This is the conscious mind clamouring for a solution, worried about the situation. This is humanity “missing” the delicate balance that existed before.
They called upon “magic” to bless their hunts to feel better, or more, to exert their will on nature itself.
They called upon “magic” to bless their hunts to feel better, or more, to exert their will on nature itself.
That said, the tribes weren’t destitute and on their way to destruction. In the start, the migrating herds were likely just reduced.
The rhythm wasn’t broken, it just wasn’t as plentiful. Hunting parties would still go out in hopes of abundance, just not as successful as before.
The rhythm wasn’t broken, it just wasn’t as plentiful. Hunting parties would still go out in hopes of abundance, just not as successful as before.
The size of tribes was likely deeply in balance with the rhythm of herds. Slight changes to this balance meant changes in the size of tribes. The weak possibly kicked out, select families ended up starving, and some possibly killed.
The brutal logic of evolutionary balance.
The brutal logic of evolutionary balance.
This crying out for the “way it was” through hunting magic like cave art and dance, likely led to the rise of people whose speciality was to wield this "magic."
These people we call shamans.
These people we call shamans.
Shamans would pray to animal deities like the Great Deer or the Great Buffalo and do rituals to please them, convincing the animal deity to give of itself, to let the hunters take one of his kind for nourishment.
Often these prayers and rituals were done with a sense of desperation as a hunter's family or tribe was without food. It was in need and desperation that ancient hunters would call on the spirits for help.
Shamans would be the result of the conscious lamentation for the previous paradigm, and they would act as “arbitrators” of human need and nature’s provisioning. Cave art, and other rituals, would then develop from the deep need for luck to descend upon the tribe.
This luck we call “blessing.” The shamans specialized in being the arbitrators of receiving *blessings* from the animal Gods that ruled “nature.”
Shamans represented a "conscious will" to control the environment/nature through hunting magic. Again, this hearkens back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This is what happens when you eat the fruit: You are choosing to manage delicate evolutionary balance (God).
This is what happens when you eat the fruit: You are choosing to manage delicate evolutionary balance (God).
As the crisis era deepened, shamans became more and more unsuccessful. They would history's first scapegoats. To save themselves, they would blame the tribe itself, that the tribe had not done right by these deities to receive blessing.
The concept of sin and sacrifice is born.
The concept of sin and sacrifice is born.
It is now God(s) who control the blessings of migrating herds (the evolutionary derivation of Christian “daily bread”), and the shamans arbitrate the sacrifices and the sins of the tribe to receive the blessings of "God(s)."
Religion, music, prayer, dancing, singing, sacrifice, and the entire corpus of art itself likely spawned from the crisis of over-hunting, and the deep need to call forth blessing that things would go back to the way they were.
Shamanism is the foundation of modern religion.
Pastors, imams, bhikkhu, etc. all arbitrate our relationship with God, praying for our “blessings,” highlighting valid sacrifices, and defining the rules of the “game” of reality so we can play in a way that is pleasing to "God."
Pastors, imams, bhikkhu, etc. all arbitrate our relationship with God, praying for our “blessings,” highlighting valid sacrifices, and defining the rules of the “game” of reality so we can play in a way that is pleasing to "God."
There are many who mock religion, but the shamanism of the crisis era means these instincts are deeply ingrained into us via sexual selection.
Have you ever heard the saying “We all have a God-shaped hole” in us?
It’s likely not a God-shaped hole, but a shamanism-shaped hole.
Have you ever heard the saying “We all have a God-shaped hole” in us?
It’s likely not a God-shaped hole, but a shamanism-shaped hole.
Ever hear of athletes doing weird superstitions to prevent the cursing of games, or to grant blessings so they’d win? This is the genetic machinery of shamanism.
This is hunting magic.
businessinsider.com
This is hunting magic.
businessinsider.com
The need for hunting magic is deeply ingrained in all of us, and has morphed into countless religions all over the world.
Religious instincts are part of our psychology, this is why in the absence of formal religion, humans place idols or governments in religion’s place.
Religious instincts are part of our psychology, this is why in the absence of formal religion, humans place idols or governments in religion’s place.
Hunting magic is the primary addition that occurred to our extended meta phenotype during the crisis era.
We'll see later how this morphs into human sacrifice in the Neolithic Meta, and ultimately how that's solved by Abraham's actions in the Bible.
Thanks for reading.
We'll see later how this morphs into human sacrifice in the Neolithic Meta, and ultimately how that's solved by Abraham's actions in the Bible.
Thanks for reading.
@myceloflux Meta Cat
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