Sawmi

[Buy the Sawmi's Book | To the Bookstore | Back to Enneagram | Next]

Who is Sawmi Sensei? Sawmi Sensei is a present day wandering holy man, in other words a person much like yourself. At some indeterminate time in the past he claims to have been psychically contacted by a spiritual entity calling itself the Great Black Shark. The Blackshark allegedly then proceeded to reveal to the Sawmi "The Great Shark Plan" for humanity, which has supposedly guided human history from its earliest beginnings to the present day. This uneasy relationship between the Sawmi and the Blackshark resulted in the Sawmi's "shark book," If You Meet the Buddha, Eat the Buddha. See FAQ for some further personal details about the Sawmi.

What is the Sawmi trying to tell us in his book? The Sawmi seems to have at least three main themes.

First, human history is very largely the result of the activities of creatures the Sawmi calls "sharks in human form" who are characterized by a completely materialistic worldview and who place a very low value on human life. The sharks have guided human history, and produced our current technological society for the purpose of inducing us to burn fossil hydrocarbons. This has been done to raise the temperature of the planet, which is currently a bit chilly for their taste.
Second, there is not much we can do about this at this point, but our technological society does produce an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to attain liberation and enlightenment. The Sawmi recommends the Gurdjieff Work as the best means available for most members of Western technological societies to accomplish this.
Third, the Sawmi believes that recent scientific advances in our comprehension of the world around us (physics) and in our knowledge of how our brain operates, allow us to understand ourselves and the purpose of our existance more fully than was possible even as recently as fifty years ago, if we are willing to grasp the opportunity. As a first step, the Sawmi presents his ideas about the significance of these advances in human understanding for our quest for liberation and enlightenment.

So what else does the Sawmi talk about? Below are a few of the Sawmi's comments on various topics.

Alcohol and Drugs. "The Sawmi. . .(and everyone else connected with this book) all approve of the suppression of psychoactive drugs (in our society). The question is, why is alcohol an exception?"
Christ. "The life of Jesus Christ is not simply a strange moral fable from the distant past. It is a specific, more or less understandable, historical event that laid the foundation for whatever immediate hope of cognitive liberation anyone living in a Christian society has, whether they acknowledge themselves as Christian or not."
Consciousness.

"The first question is, 'What is consciousness?'"

"The second is, 'How does our imperfect "human consciousness" simulate or approximate consciousness?'"

"It is very important, when reading what follows, to keep in mind that these are two completely different questions. In fact if there can be said to be one key that opens the door to the liberation of human consciousness, then, in my opinion, finding appropriate answers to these two questions, which must be done in the proper order, is it."
Higher states of consciousness. "[John Lilly's] description of the levels of consciousness associated with the various vibration levels described by Gurdjieff, for example, can be very helpful if used correctly."
Hypnosis/advertising. "Advertising, a modern and highly refined variant of the ancient practice of casting spells, is a good example of the more sophisticated forms of behavior control in use today."

"Those in the advertising profession will almost surely object to the use of the word hypnotism to describe what they do, but they would be hard pressed to deny that their messages contain suggestions, where a suggestion can be defined as a communication about a perception or belief or action that is intended to be accepted without critical thought."

"Since it is generally accepted today that hypnotism operates through suggestion. . .it is difficult to ignore a connection between hypnotism and advertising."
Shark veneration. "Even the Blackshark does not advocate shark worship, which seems to have undesirable effects at best, only veneration. In this context veneration could probably be best described as "a very healthy respect," something close to what is sometimes called "the proper attitude" in prison camps and other similar unfortunate environments."