Meditation in the age of Facebook and Twitter is now almost close to the full launch(Oct/Nov). I am getting lots of great feedback for this book even before launch. Writing about the evolution of meditation is a complex undertaking since you have to look at the past and the future(as I said in the subtitle: from shamanism to transhumanism).
I have long been fascinated by anthropology, as the blog has often covered related topics before ex Discovering Ardi, but this book gave me the opportunity to really explore some of these ideas.
In writing this book, I had the opportunity to meet many interesting people beyond the technology sphere and follow their work, which had a wider impact on humanity.
One such online meeting was with the Foster brothers from South africa - Sense Africa
Brothers craig and damon foster are widely regarded as south Africa’s top documentary filmmakers. With over 16 years of experience shooting and directing, and having received over 50 international awards, the foster brothers have deservedly carved themselves a niche in global film circles.
For more than a decade the foster brothers have been at the forefront of the African renaissance, using media to turn the tide on negative attitudes. They have reached an audience of over 200 million by using Africa’s voice first hand. The brothers’ primary intent lies in telling stories with the voice of Africa herself, and creating film experiences that enable the viewer to gain an intense and deep insight into the natural and cultural dynamics of this ancient continent. They explore the timeless and universal themes of the relationship between man and animal, and the relationship between them and the environments that they share.
I referred to meditation as evolving from ancient Shamanic practices and in that sense, I was already aware of the San people of southern africa. Based on genetic studies, the San have the greatest diversity(hence oldest) genes (in general, greater the genetic mutations in a population, the longer it is established). And that makes the San people possibly the ancestors of all humanity.
And in trying to explore these ideas ie trying to find Shamanic roots for meditation, I stumbled on the Sense Africa site and related to the ethos from their site of: As we become aware of our threat associated with the “conquer by concrete” approach, it seems that we have the potential to awaken to the deep integrity of our original design- a design that accounts for all five kingdoms of nature- a sense of oneness- senseafrica.
Especially the documentary – the Great dance. This documentary is about an ancient practice called the ‘persistence hunt’ practised by the San and other tribesmen. As they say in the documentary, it is a strange and a meditative / trancelike process because : when you track and animal, you must become the animal .. tracking(animals) is like dancing, This is the great dance ..
From the Sense Africa site click on films and then – the great dance
Highly recommended especially if you like documentaries covering this subject
I travel a travel a lot and a visit to SA is long on the cards and this would be a real holiday to look forward to 
combining travel with a study of ancient cultures!
Below a video explaining the ethos behind the documentary
