The TechShaman Initiation

ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｏｎｅ

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The Question That Broke Me

It was 2019. I’d been coding for over a decade. I’d built Android apps, web3 dApps, VR experiences. I’d deployed to mainnet, I’d watched gas fees eat my salary, I’d celebrated when transactions confirmed and rage-quit when they didn’t.

And I started asking myself: “What is any of this actually for?”

Not the functionality. Not the user stories or the tokenomics. Something deeper. Technology was accelerating faster than our wisdom to use it. We were building gods we didn’t understand, wielding forces we couldn’t control.

The Void Between Screens

I’d spent years in digital spaces. Discord servers, VRChat worlds, Slack channels at 3am. I’d felt connections there as real as any face-to-face.

But I’d also felt the hollowness. The dopamine loops. The manufactured urgency. The way attention economies grind human consciousness into engagement metrics.

There had to be another way. A way to use technology that served human flourishing instead of exploiting it.

Enter the Shaman

The word “shaman” gets thrown around a lot. Usually by people selling crystals or running $10,000 retreats in Costa Rica. That’s not what this is.

In indigenous traditions, the shaman is the bridge. They move between worlds—the seen and unseen, the mundane and the mystical. They don’t escape into transcendence; they return with medicine for the community.

The TechShaman does the same thing with code.

We move between:

• The technical and the transcendent
• The logical and the liminal
• The blockchain and the body
• The server rack and the sacred

The Initiation

There’s no certificate. No course on Udemy. The initiation happens when you realize that technology itself is a teacher if you’re willing to listen.

For me, it was building in VR. Watching people embody avatars. Seeing how identity becomes fluid when you’re not bound to your physical form. Understanding that “me” and “you” and “us” are constructs—useful ones, but constructs nonetheless.

ॐ

The symbol matters. It represents the infinite, the all-encompassing, the vibration that underlies reality. Atoms hum with it. Code executes in cycles that echo it. The universe breathes in patterns we barely perceive.

What TechShamanism Is (And Isn’t)

It IS:

• Using technology as a tool for consciousness exploration
• Building systems that prioritize human thriving over extraction
• Recognizing that every line of code has spiritual implications
• Creating digital spaces that feel sacred—not just functional

It ISN’T:

• Pretending blockchain solves enlightenment
• Slapping Eastern terminology on Western tech bro culture
• Ignoring the material realities of who builds and who profits
• Another framework to monetize

The Practice

Daily practice for a TechShaman:

Morning: Grounding

Before opening the laptop, ground in the body. The digital world is infinite; your nervous system is finite. Breathe. Feel gravity. Remember you’re here before you’re online.

Coding: Consciousness

Every line of code is a spell. It shapes reality. Who does it serve? What does it make possible? What does it make impossible? Code with intention.

Community: Service

The shaman doesn’t hoard medicine. Share what you learn. Mentor. Build open-source. Create entrypoints for others to find their way.

Evening: Integration

Screen time ends. The digital self dissolves. Return to the analog. Walk. Touch grass. Literally. The physical world is the root; everything else is branch.

Still Learning

The TechShaman path isn’t a destination. It’s a posture. A willingness to hold technology and mystery in the same hand.

I’m still learning. Still being initiated, every day. Still making mistakes, still shipping broken code, still finding moments of unexpected grace in the terminal.

The journey is the practice. The practice is the journey.

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“That’s the difference between a technician and a TechShaman. One builds systems. The other builds systems that remember they’re part of a living cosmos.”

— b0gie, Tech