The following are excerpts from
The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Some. Malidoma has had the rare experience of being immersed in both Western culture and African tribal culture. Through his writings, he brings a great gift of speaking to the strengths of each culture and how important it is to balance these aspects. There is much to be learned from tribal beliefs. They hold an ancient wisdom that we have lost in our present-day society. If incorporated into our modern technological world, we could achieve a much more peaceful, balanced and healthy way of living. The following writings from Malidoma provide a view regarding technology that I believe our culture can benefit from immensely. I am not against technology at all and believe that society can benefit greatly from it. I am against the way in which some technology has been developed and thrives at the expense of the natural world and human health and well-being.
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In the indigenous world, technology takes a radically different form than in the West because its intention is not to disturb the natural world. Indigenous people tend to be familiar with the sorts of technology that do not assault nature, do not compete with the natural order, and do not tend to show them as superior with respect to nature. Indigenous technology, which focuses on working with the world of Spirit, requires the same awareness for safe operation as does Western technology focused on manipulating matter. It doesn't make you want to settle in here with a mountain of possessions and a large mortgage.
Technologies in the indigenous world are developed in order to fulfill basic human needs, such as community health, harmony, and a sense of meaning and purpose in life. In this sense technology is oriented toward Spirit. This seems to contrast with the West, where the craving for connection with the deeper sense of meaning and the yearning for spiritual vitality are most diluted amid the noise of traffic and factories. Yet it is obvious that the one wants or needs the other. Villagers in West Africa who are taken on a tour of a factory often come out of there silent for days, unable to put in words what they saw. They are mesmerized at the power of the machine and its ability to make things. Some are confused as to whether there is a spirit behind all this or if the machine is not the spirit in disguise. They report that they feel as if their spirit was sucked out in the factory and that they need healing to recover from their encounter. This recovery often leads to the person returning to the city in search of the god of the white man whose power they have seen. But enchantment with technology can work in the other direction also. A Westerner is introduced to village "magic" and decides to settle there.
Many ecologists and environmentalists in the West say that technology sets itself up as an enemy of nature. They fight to close a nuclear power plant here or there because they understand that the purity of Nature is being contaminated by these plants, and the consequences to countless species, including humankind, are serious. Westerners talk about rivers of pure water having become like sewers. One gets an image of industry abandoning its droppings anywhere it wishes, knowing full well that what it cannot digest, nothing can. Some suggest this is the price to pay to get the results needed. Hasn't modern technology, overall, contributed to bettering human life? The problem is that wherever there is a yet-undamaged piece of the world, modernity tends to regard that place as primitive, archaic, and, at best, pre-industrial.
By contrast, indigenous technologies look rather non-aggressive. In producing anything, indigenous people make it a point to inquire with the Spirit World as to whether this product is appropriate. For indigenous Africans, dream and vision are evidence of the Spirit pointing the way to us. What is shown to you in that manner is actually an invitation from a higher realm to consecrate yourself to the production of something that is going to benefit the greater community.
A culture that is in touch with its spiritual connection is a culture that is poised to evolve. In the indigenous context, change is tolerated, even welcomed, because it originates with Spirit. If evolution originates in a spiritual source, then it does not disrupt stability. If evolution is seen in terms of the modern definition, concerned with ascendancy, acquisition, and control and mastery over the material world, then evolution becomes destructive to stability. The modern notion of stability has a heavy load of military hardware associated with it. This contrasts sharply with the indigenous view of stability, which is a state of alignment with Spirit, with cosmic rules and regulations.
The very word cosmos implies evolution, and in this context, evolution means discovering new things and learning new methods of handling the affairs of life. This is one purpose of technology, to help human beings increase their awareness and consciousness. In this sense precolonial indigenous cultures, even within their apparently primitive technologies, were heavily involved in an evolutionary process. In the interest of their own evolution, it was essential to maintain cohesion within the culture, for you have to stick together to evolve together. In the development of Western technologies, we cannot allow some among us to evolve while some are left behind, because that is not community. Community is the common handling of the journey. Attention to community and to Spirit in indigenous technologies has meant, however, that the evolution of indigenous cultures takes place quietly, without the explosive and destructive side effects of Western technology. When your ties with Spirit are strong enough your evolution has less visibility. A good portion of modern technology is extremely destructive, probably because of the lesser presence of Spirit within it. The larger the presence of the Spirit, the subtler and less polluting technological evolution will be.
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On one of my trips to my village I brought a VCR, a small TV, and some videotapes of this popular science fiction show [Star Trek]. During one of the scenes where people were being dematerialized and moved around by the transporter machine, I asked the elders if they understood what was going on. They were rather taken aback, replying that of course they knew what was happening, but could I please explain what all of the machines were for.
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