 |
|
|
|
|
| Robert D. Milcher #15705-018 |
 |
My dear friends and colleagues:
For innumerable centuries, we who have adhered to the archaic shamanic traditions have been abhorrently persecuted. Repeatedly, tyranny and genocide have been employed as the "final solution"; which thus far, has denied us actualization of our most basic spiritual birthright: our freedom. Those of us who utilize Entheogens - particularly psychedelics - as an adjunct to our spiritual path, continue to be the primary target or this oppression. However, as dissenters against this senseless madness, you and I are facilitating the universal process of emancipation. As we endeavor to extricate ourselves from the bondage imposed by avaricious political and religious systems, and from the violence and fear wrought to enforce their unjust edicts, we are awakening to an ancient alliance of kindred souls.
It is quite probable that you and I differ only marginally in our philosophical paradigms and their applied experiential dynamics. Nevertheless, our most marked dissimilarity is a weighty one: I am currently a prisoner of this country's unconscionable political regime. This travesty of justice is a direct result of my traditional shamanic religious practices and spiritual conscience being at odds with a very recent, and exceedingly myopic, dominant worldviaw.
As my punishment for deviating from the status qua, the Federal Government not only had my freedom wrest from me, but my familial home and estate of three generations,. a successful business, land holdings, life savings and investments, even my personal effects. Literally everything I owned, all acquired legitimately, was stripped from me under the guise of justice.
At this juncture, I've been imprisoned approximately fifty months, with another fifty remaining (The eighty five percent required to complete my ten year Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentence ). This banishment is particularly arduous for those like myself, who have been additionally victimized by these unconstitutional asset forfeiture "laws". Now bereft of resources, I must rely upon the beneficence of others for what most take casually for granted.
As a diversely educated forty four year old man of combined Native American and European lineage, I greater appreciate your continued advocacy of issues pertinent to our lives. As comrades in the struggle for spiritual freedom, I implore you not to forget your fellow Psychedelicists, such as myself, who are currently imprisoned for the pursuit of our ecstatic religious heritage. Commemorate the casualties of this Unholy Inquisition by opening your hearts to us. I know our noble objective will be furthered and greatly facilitated through your beneficent response to this entreaty - help us to maintain our link to the global shamanic community.
In my position as a representative for our Native American/Naturocentric spiritual community, existent behind these walls, I can assure you that I will continue to network with fellow political prisoners all relevant correspondence, and donated texts and journals (specifically those of the Entheogenic, Shamanic genre). Consistently, I have urged my "free world" colleagues to expand their support of our movement's outreach efforts. Thus herewith, I now humbly solicit to reestablish an ongoing personal dialogue with my peers within the Neoshamanic, Entheogenic movement. As you are well aware, communication is the very sacrament of this communion of kindred souls.
Through sharing our experience, understanding, and the power of our empathy, we will significantly diminish the isolation which so often overwhelms those held in captivity. On the whole, and contrary to popular opinion, we prisoners of conscience are a determined people who speak from a guileless wisdom imparted by our respective experiences - so many of us imbued with the insight that only adversity begets. Each one of us, in our own way, is dutifully striving to impart to our fellow seekers the discernment necessary to view beyond the hypnotic spell of the dominant worldview - that which makes prisoners of us all.
There is an ancient mythic theme which has surfaced repeatedly in countless cultures. It reveals a great truth about our ultimate nature. It asserts that when the Breath Giver(s) dreamed the Universe into manifestation, it shattered the secret of the conundrum of life (the Breath Givers) into as many holographic shards as there were forms - sequestering a slumbering piece of itself in each. Implicitly, the mystery underlying and sustaining our very existence resides, predominately dormant, throughout the collective sum of our fellow sojourners. All of creation awaits the application of the requisite stimuli - our compassionate action - for the sleeper to awaken.
In closing, I would like to reiterate that you and I are integral to the eventual success of our continuing struggle for individual autonomy and the establishment of sacred community. In the light of this wisdom, I beseech you to endure with the tenacity befitting the humane inspiration, that which we both strive to embrace.
|
|
 |