enchantment
Ever since reading Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown by Michael Taussig a few years ago, I’ve been fixated on the concept of enchantment. The idea that modernity is plagued by disenchantment, or the demystification of the world as a side effect of scientific progress, is often attributed to Max Weber, but Taussig’s text is the first I’ve come across it. (I should note that I have a habit of purchasing dry texts published by academic institutions and am often missing the basic foundation of whatever area of study I’ve decided to poke around in.) Taussig’s text argues that there is a human impulse to dominate nature and that mimicry (and subsequent disenchantment) of nature allows us to exploit it.
An easy example of re-enchantment in my personal life is found in (almost) every occasion that I’m stoned. I am lucky to live in California where recreational marijuana is legal and have found that it enhances the experience of listening to music and my art practice. I feel a sense of childlike wonder as I drag a colored pencil across a page and don’t feel encumbered by insecurity like I do while sober. It is easy to experiment while under the influence, and I care less about the reception of my drawings. There are times that I’ve deluded myself into thinking that I’ve cured my depression with weed, but it’s really the ability to overcome anhedonia by seeing things with fresh eyes that puts me in a better mood. Moreover, I usually still like my drawings the next day. I will forever argue that stoned logic is much more productive and good, or at least “less bad,” than drunk logic. I can’t recall a time where I’ve made anything of value while drunk… there’s a reason the phrase is write drunk and edit sober.
Of course, being perpetually stoned is not practical (as much as we Californians want to believe it is), so I try to think about enchantment when I catch myself slipping into nihilism. Curiosity is at the root of re-enchanting the world and my hyperfixating on things like spiders, beadwork, and 90s cartoons is important when I need to ground myself. Sometimes taking a walk outside and staring at a flower is enough to snap me out of a mildly depressive episode. (I’m reminded of a headline I read a while ago that said even looking at photos of nature is good for your mental health, so change that PC desktop background… but don’t you DARE leave that cubicle…) If you think this sounds stupid, I challenge you to draw a toilet from memory. You’ll probably find that you don’t observe your surroundings enough to do that well. I’m not saying toilets are beautiful, but I’m also not saying that they’re not beautiful, because I haven’t taken the time to really l👀k at one recently. Therapy is expensive, try re-enchanting the bathroom.
One final thought before I end this rambling post: I’ve found that a lot of people don’t like it when you’re curious or an expert of a niche topic. I can’t really figure out what that is or why it happens. I believe in the idea of each individual living in their own “reality tunnel,” a coin termed by Timothy Leary and expanded upon by Robert Anton Wilson. (I first learned of it while reading Quantum Psychology by RAW, another book I picked up a few years ago.) I see consensus reality as being populated by people who don’t like niche interests because it disrupts what consensus reality stands for, which is probably why so many people are sad, because they’re not me, a stoner idiot waxing poetic about curosity on bearblog dot dev.