new to the forum, posting a piece I wrote a few years ago might be a good way to introduce myself I am living in Peru, ayahuasca tourisme here made me write this piece: \
Wake up call.
A wake up call. Not allways welcome, you might be sleeping well. Now that western believes and religions have been loosing ground,the children of the new age searched for new answers on the ancient questions; ``Where do we come from, what is the meaning of life, why are we here? etc``
Head over heels they run into new/old believes. Shamanism, curandism,eastern thought,tarot, astrology, entheogens and so on, provided the answers.But actually just substituted the old superstitions for new ones. The patterns didn`t really change. As in the old ways a new clercy developed of guru`s, shaman`s, spiritual leaders etc., who just like before, claimed to have the answers and a patent on the truth. Again it proved to be a pretty provitable busines. Again power and greed rules the mind of most these new age profets, just like the clergy of before, from whatever culture the came, hindus, buddhist, shamans, cristians all the same. Sadly enough nothing really changed. Occidental materialistic thought managed to change whatever alternative it met, into a commodety, a way to make money. Shamans pulled out of their places, turned into busines. Often lost their mind and forgot their own people. A funny, but sad example: After been visited by americans, sharing ayahuasca and been taken to the US, a shaman returns home with plenty of $$, built himself a brick house, bought a radio, tv etc. Than when the money was finished, he just missed a bit to buy the iron bars to be placed in the windows, to protect his new wealth. Couldn`t leave his house, afraid someone might steal his new stuff. Another one, now quite famous, also bought a brick house, far from his tribe, whose healer he was, just forgot about them. How do you find a meastro in Huamcabamba, a little town in northern Peru, referred for its holy lakes and the meastro`s who work there with the help of San Pedro, a mescaline containing cacti? Well, the meastor`s are quite easy to recognize in this terribly poor place, where hunger was and maybe still is a problem, by their multi$$ leather jackets and excessive big houses. New Age books make millions. A Guru collects Rolls Royce`s, others build ashrams like palaces. Western people go to the jungle, or fly in a shaman, everything quick, quick. Drink ayahuasca and think, pretend or make themselves believe to have had an authentic experience, as if that can be bought. The story of king Midas. Shamanism, curandism can teach us a lot about plants, but most of it is mainly interesting for ethnobotanists and anthropologists. More superstitious baggage is not really where we are waiting for. What is it that makes us fool ourselves over and over again. Shouldn`t we know by now that real knowledge, the truth cannot be bought? Ayahuasca, entheogens are powerful medicine. As are the words of Christ, Buddha, Lao Tse, the ancient rishis who wrote the veda`s, and the enormous knowledge of the true shamans and curandero`s. But as long as the user, listener expects those substances and words, healers to do the job for them, they are worthless, worse even; just another obstacle, another veil. The Light is inside. Any substance or teacher who claims to have the answers,who can heal anything, should be avoided, beware of those guys. What is it that makes us search every where, but not where it is,inside. Why we prefer a beautiful lie, above the maybe hasrh truth (which actually is far more beautiful)? How come, we are so deluded, So much so that people kill one another, fight holy wars, burn witches over superstitions, called the cross,allah or whatever. Shamans call other shamans brujo`s. How painful and all that over superstitions, misleading thought patterns. As if life itself is not hard enough by itself from time to time. Or is it just that, what makes us so desperately persue phantoms? For fear. Fear not to know, fear of life. Not to know why we are here. There is such a freedom in not knowing, might be scary at first, but if you dare, the universe opens itself for you. Take a deep breath, take a broad view, drop all preconvictions. Try it when taking ayahuasca or any other entheogen. Forget the shaman, the icaros, the healing, your own misery, the fear. Just listen, listen attentively with an open mind,drop all prejudges. Learn to listen. It is all there, waiting for you, for god knows how long. You don?t need anybody. Seeds waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow. It takes courage not to know, not to hang on to some believe. You believe what you don?t know. If you knew , there would be no need to believe. Isn`t believing a bit childish? So what is the use? Why not prefer the experience over some childish believe? The truth is so blatantly in front of you, in you, that it is hard to see. Like the taste of water, or the smell of oxigen or your own smell. It is so much with you, that it is hard to see. In Hindu nad Buddhist thought there is this concept of Maya. Maya is the biggest trip, the strongest hallucinogenic, the most powerful illusion. The mother of delusion. Compared to her Ayahuasca, LSD, ibogaine or whatever are just toys. Everything conceivable falls under the reign of Maya. Whatever takes place in Time and Space is Maya. As soon as the awareness of ``I`` pops up, in a living being the spell is there,Maya`s spell. In Sanskrit, if you swap the syllables, you get Yama, which is death or the king of death. Ma for the mother, creation, that which gives birth. Ya for death, destruction, anhilation. Isn?t that what we experience as live, this constant ongoing of creation and destruction. Two sides of a coin, one cannot exist without the other. What is this delusion? It is the misconception that you are, the idea that you are an independent being, separated from the rest. Which you are and you are not. Maya causes a world of contradictions, a world of causalities. When her spell is broken, All is One. All is One, of course, everything is interconnected and interdependent. Nothing can be independent. You are connected to the planet, the sun, the universe. Can?t live a second without this connectedness Remember this when you go on a Journey. By grace, sometimes, the plants, entheogens might give you a glimpse,a moment of timelessness, feeling whole, healed. For a moment timeless, a contradiction in itself, a koan. If you just could let go, forget yourself and all you think you are, drop the fear of life and death. Don`t let yourself be fooled, don?t mistake the messenger for the message, in whatever form he/she might presents himself or itself, a shaman, a guru, holy words, god all mighty . The postman doesn`t have to know the content the letter, for the content to be off value to you. Don`t worry, have no fear. There is nothing to loose, except deceptions.
Suppose, believe, know, whatever you want, a tree has a soul. Takeoff a branch, plant it and with a little luck it gets roots. Did the tree`s soul diminish, got split in two? Or did a new soul pop up? A basic law of fysics is that energy is never lost. From the viewpoint of Maya, questions like these can be made. But if All is one, which this law of fysics also suggest, the question itself makes no sense. If All is One , there is neither coming, nor going. No Death or birth. No beginning of live, no end. No past or future, just now. The big bang is still banging Time and space are the result of the spell of Maya. Time and Space, Maya, the law of cause and effect are all one and the same. The only freedom there is, is beyond these, beyond the law of cause and effect. Think about it, what in you is not ruled by cause and effect. The only freedom, healing is within. Healing, that which is broken, repaired, back to oneness. Forget the guru`s, shamans, curandero`s, holy books, holy places, pilgrimages. Heal yourself. Become aware that you are whole, already healed.> Made of stardust, a universal being in the true sense of the word. There is no god outside, all is. It sound pretentious to say or write anything, since the> great vedic truth had been written: Aham Brahma Asmi, I am Brahman Tat vam asi , I am That. Or Lao Tse: The Tao that can be spoken, is not the true Tao. He who sais he knows, don`t know. He who knows, doesn?t speak. Or Neti neti, neither this, nor that. Think before you spend your money on some exotic trip,> shaman or guru. It might do more harm than good, both to yourself and the others. It seems often decadent to see how, people throw around $$/Euro`s in places where many have a hard time to make a little, just to be fed.
Listen to the plants, nature, they can`t lie. Learn to listen. Let`s develop our own ceremonies, pathways to understanding within our own occidental frame of mind, Use what can be useful for us from shamanism use it, maybe our own art, music psychology, science. Fysics does get close nowadays with quantum mechanics. As does astronomy. Instead of blindly copying old,exotic pathways, which often are soaked in superstition. So, please Wake up!! For your own sake, the sake of others, the sake of our children, the forest, the sake of Mother Earth. All is One and you are beautiful. Please, Please, wake up!! There is no time (to waste).
Thanks to my teachers, mother Nature, the great and most feared teacher: Death, and mama Coca for keeping my pen going
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