Urban Shamanism

My #HiveTestimony

As I write these words, an ant is walking over my left arm. I've made a few attempts to take her to the table but it always moves away from my hand, so I decided to let it be and I can feel it roaming over my skin. Not so long ago, that would've been impossible for me. One day I'll be able to let a spider do the same, those are tougher.

I rewatched Christopher Nolan's Interstellar just a couple of hours ago. I finished it with renewed sense of purpose, and my first action after that was to unfollow all the news pages I kept track of on Facebook, turn off my PC and lie down on my bed to do an extensive breathing routine. My intent was to feel my entire body in full, and to open myself to Love. When I finished my exercise, I went out to the living room, kissed my sister's forehead and told her that I love her, then went to the window and did the same for my beloved Ávila, Caracas and my country, and extended it to the whole world. To all of humanity. To all of you.

Went back to my room and remembered that @theycallmedan had made an interesting proposal recently, based on an idea by @clivemartin, encouraging all Hive members to talk about their experience on the platform, so I thought it would be nice to tell anyone who reads this, that I've LOVED my nearly four months here. Cryptocurrencies have been a fascinating topic to me from the start, and I've wanted to work on them for so long, but somehow I couldn't get that channel to flow. Guess it wasn't my time.

Then suddenly one night back in April, @joseacabrerav gave me a call, telling me that he'd been seeing my content for a while, and asking me to join a team he was assembling, to start posting my stuff in here regularly. I was already doing that for free anyway, he said, so why not get some crypto along the way? It was precisely what I wanted to do, and it couldn't have come at a better time, right when this pandemic thing was starting in full swing.

Since then, I've been posting my daily Rune readings and a bunch of personal experiences in here. I've met more and more wonderful people from all over the world and I feel that I've slowly made a name for myself in the community. I feel that my content is appreciated even if that doesn't always reflect on the upvotes or the rewards. This whole community-building plan, the crypto-development, the networking on this platform, are inspiring enough to be worthwhile by themselves and, although I'd be lying if I said I don't care about the money, my main drive is to offer quality, to promote honest debate and to create lasting bonds across the globe.

In the times of COVID-19, we've had to deal with so much noise, so much fear. Horrors that have always been there just beneath the surface are now exposed in full for the bulk of mankind to see. But I don't want to add to that noise, I like meaningful connections, frankness and transparency. I've had more than enough opacity, shadow and dread in my own country already.

I choose to spread Love instead. And I love Hive, its members and communities, its structure and vision, its potential and prospects. I love what it represents for me personally, and for the world at large. I love the people behind it, the big whales that make it possible and the content creators like me who fuel it each and every day with their own energy. I love curating content and I love the fact that people here are allowed to be open and vulnerable with their most intimate perspectives and practices.

Sure Hive can and must be improved. For instance, if we want this platform to go truly mainstream, we need to deal with the systems that potentially scare away new users and discourage participation, such as the downvote and blacklist mechanisms, which have their uses but can be abused to the detriment of small players. More customization with regards to tracking interesting content and managing the feed would be nice too, and the search engine can be enhanced as well to be more precise and organized. But these are all details that can be figured out along the way, and I'm certain many are being addressed even now. In general, my experience has been one of wealth, empowerment, joy and wonder. This is a place where strangeness, diversity, spirituality, innovation and even seemingly mad ideas can flourish in peace, in an environment of considerable respect compared to most other public forums out there in the World Wide Web.

To me, Hive is a dream made manifest, and here I show my gratitude to the wonderful people that have been key to the manifestation of that dream. First, huge thanks to @joseacabrerav and @auelitairene who invited me to join, and also to @acurewa and @neyxirncn, all of whom have been powerful sources of inspiration and support throughout my process. Their trust is an honor to me, and their individual and collective knowledge, both at a human and a technical level, has been invaluable for my development in the crypto world these past few months.

A colossal shoutout to the great @riverflows, her passion and commitment have been extremely important for my understanding of the platform. My friend @vincentnijman has also been profoundly important in my journey here, always following my content, especially my daily Runes. My gratitude also to @trucklife-family and @artemislives, for their warmth, clarity and wisdom, and to the entire @NaturalMedicine community for the magnificent work they all do in exploring, preserving and sharing the love of Nature.

Thanks also to @Sidwrites, who has graciously allowed me to translate his Weekly Hive Newsletters to Spanish, thus granting me a channel to keep up to date with blockchain news and also to serve my Spanish-speaking fellows.

I love you all, and I'll continue to express that love with quality content, good vibes and responsibility!