I am an ASH. I live by anarchy, shamanism, and heresy. This is no easy task in this society which is dominated by the nation/state patriarchies and the assorted religious patriarchies of christianity, islam, judaism, et al.

What is Anarchy?

Anarchy is a complete and total rejection of the right to power by any person or any group of persons over any person or group of persons no matter what the justification or rational. An anarchist not only rejects the right to centralized authority to power but he/she also rejects the very position of centralized authority. An anarchist rejects any claim to power by the authority of any king, queen, CEO, manager, supervisor, journalist, role model, judge, politician, doctor, police officer, soldier, or even God. An anarchist does not accept the authority of any person or any group of persons, the authority of anyone’s personal beliefs or belief system, the authority of anyone’s social position or claim to social position, the authority of any professed God or Goddess, or even the authority of the human society as a whole. An anarchist does not accept the authority of any culture or any belief system over his/her personal power of choice nor does an anarchist seek to impose his/her will over others.

For an anarchist, all government whether that of nation/state, religion, corporation, organized crime, street gang, international syndicates, science, nongovernmental organization, et al, is the source, not the solution, of all social problems. An anarchist does not accept anything until the government officially denies it.

Governments claim to be the one and only method to provide organization between people and within groups of people. For an anarchist, this is the great lie of government. An anarchist believes people can and should organize by the power of mutual need and mutual interest and not by the coercive power of centralized authority. An anarchist believes in consensus not force. An anarchist believes in cooperation not conflict. An anarchist believes that such cooperation is a very real possibility. Above all else, anarchist believes that such cooperation is the natural scheme of doing things and that this natural scheme is deliberately bastardized by the machinations of the centralized power of government.

An anarchist does not blindly obey rules. However, an anarchist does not blindly disobey them either. An anarchist follows rules insofar as it makes sense and produces positive benefit. If a law or rule is good, then it is followed. It a law or rule is bad, then it is not followed. Whether followed or not, a law or rule is never simply obeyed. However, if a law or rule is bad then disobedience is not an option but rather disobedience is an obligated duty. Still, at no time does an anarchist take to violence or force against any law or rule as is falsely claimed by many centralized authorities.

For an anarchist, personal choice is everything. An anarchist lives and dies solely by his/her own personal choices. For an anarchist, there is nothing beyond this power of personal choice. He/she gives credit to no one. He/she gives no blame to anyone. He/she lives solely by his/her personal chosen blueprint for life, which is his/her individual strategic inventory.

What is shamanism?

To start, shamanism is best described by what it is not rather than what it is. Shamanism is not witchcraft, not sorcery, and not magick. Shamanism is not science. Shamanism is not technology. Shamanism is not religion. Shamanism is not spirituality. Shamanism is not philosophy. Shamanism is not mathematics. Shamanism is not government. Shamanism is not economics or corporatism. Shamanism is not medicine, psychiatry, or any form of healing. Shamanism is not luck and it is not either wishful or positive thinking. Shamanism possesses no doctrines, no teachings, no traditions, no commandments, no prayers, no sacrifices, no laws, no mores, no rituals, no experiments, no proofs, no rationalistic arguments, no beliefs or disbeliefs of any kind, no social attachments including to the human society, no leaders such as presidents, CEOs, popes, priests, imam, rabbis, reverends, or any leader of any sort, and nothing is considered sacred or revered in any way. Shamanism accepts nothing as truth but it is free to use anything that the individual shaman considers useful for the moment and no longer.

Shamanism is individualistic. Shamanism is different for each shaman. Shamanism is what each shaman makes it to be. A shaman does not accept the conclusions of anyone or any belief system other than that of his/her own personal experience and even that is not accepted as final. A shaman does not accept anyone’s opinions, beliefs, or interpretation of reality. A shaman does not concern him/herself with the feelings or emotions of others. A shaman does not seek power, control, or even status or recognition. A shaman seeks only him/herself yet he/she considers him/herself as totally unimportant. A shaman desires nothing yet a shaman seeks everything. A shaman does not deny him/herself anything yet a shaman does not abandon him/herself to anything. A shaman is not antisocial but he/she does reject the human society along with its attendant cultures that serve only to imprison humanity physically, cognitively, and emotionally.

At best, shamanism is a variety of techniques unique to each shaman that are performed for the sole purpose of advancing the knowledge and experience of the shaman. A shaman practices his/her techniques only as long as they are advantageous. The only foundation of shamanic practice is practicality. That which is useful is continued. That which is not useful is discarded.

A shaman accepts that the reality around him/her is both beyond his/her knowledge and experience and beyond the doctrinal truths of science, technology, religion, spirituality, philosophy, and all other human cultural endeavors. A shaman does not wastefully indulge him/herself in the human society's collective fairy tales such as God, Goddess, patriotism, creation, evolution, et al. Consequently, a shaman does not accept any explanation of reality as absolute, unquestionable, complete, or final not even his/her own personal interpretation of reality. Everything within reality is beyond the knowledge of the shaman including the shaman him/herself and the actions of the shaman. Shamanic practice affords a glimpse of the unknown to the shaman and for this glimpse, the shaman is eternally grateful. A shaman can do great and powerful things but only because he/she does not know what he/she is doing.

What is heresy?

Heresy is the truest art of disbelief. A heretic is more skeptical than a mere skeptic. A heretic is more cynical than a mere cynic. A heretic is more disparaging than a mere disparager. A mere skeptic, or cynic, or disparager can and often will (however reluctantly) accept the doctrinal or personal beliefs of others. A heretic never does.

Heresy is a complete and total rejection of any and all forms of belief. A heretic accepts nothing as truth not even his/her own disbelief. For a heretic, nothing is ever proven, not even in rigorous mathematics, and every rational argument has some hidden (or not so hidden) flaw, and every action has some hidden (or not so hidden) agenda. For a heretic, behind every hypocritical mask there lies another hypocritical mask. The moment that anything becomes a belief or a claim to fact, the heretic rejects it. A heretic has faith in no one and in nothing.

A heretic does not believe in witchcraft, or in sorcery, or in magick or in science, or in technology, or in religion, or in spirituality, or in philosophy, or in mathematics, or in government, or in economics, or in corporatism or in medicine or in psychiatry or in either good luck or wishful thinking. A heretic often uses these doctrines as tools if they can be used at all, but, just as a shaman, he/she does not believe any of them as truth and rejects them as soon as is convenient if not sooner.

A heretic, just as an anarchist, does not accept the authority of any person or any group of persons. Rather, the heretic challenges any and all authority no matter what that authority might happen to be. Even though a heretic does not accept the authority of any person or any doctrine, he/she will use the authority of a person or a doctrine if such authority can be exploited in order to fulfill his/her own personal ambitions. However, a heretic, just as a shaman, has no personal ambitions other than expanding his/her personal experience and hopes only to glimpse the vastness of the unknown.