An Astrophysicist and educator by profession, I have had a longstanding interest in how spirituality, shamanism and other indigeneous practices shape the relationship of societies to nature, time and the cosmos. Not only in terms of their rites and...More
An Astrophysicist and educator by profession, I have had a longstanding interest in how spirituality, shamanism and other indigeneous practices shape the relationship of societies to nature, time and the cosmos. Not only in terms of their rites and rituals, but also in terms of the cosmographies, heterotopias and their usage of entheogenic substances to access these realms, unaccessible to the sciencetific method. In my pursuit of an understanding of the beginning of the universe, I have tried to unpack the cosmology of many cultures, putting them into context with the lives of the people withing their societies and time frame. As an outdoorsman I have great reverence and respect for nature, whether experienced when paragliding above Mont Blanc, or during the seamless integration that occurs when moved by the mountains on a backcountry snowboard run. It is the attainment of what Zen Buddhism refers to as samādhi and the amalgamation with what these cultures would loosely term 'The spirits of nature', that drives me to discover how these much earlier cultures initiated and experienced these connections. These connections are an important part of the social and religious structure of these cultures and a major impetus in their cultural, social and spiritual evolution and hence understanding these structures helps us to elucidate factors about the people in place and time.
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Religion in Society
Vivencio Ballano
Nicholas Kyeremeh
Ansar Abbas
Gyan Shrivastava.png "Farhan Mashraqi")
Farhan Mashraqi
