c. 1997 Religion News Service
UNDATED _ In 1968, John Perkins lay dying of an intestinal infection in the remote depths of a rain forest in Ecuador. A Peace Corps volunteer, he had lost 35 pounds and was days away from the nearest hospital.
But through the intervention of an elderly Shuar shaman _ a native healer and spiritual elder _ who secretly approached and offered to save his life, Perkins survived.
Thus began a 30-year odyssey into the mysteries of shamanism that ultimately led Perkins, a businessman, author and activist, to become a sort of environmental Indiana Jones.
In 1992, after gaining permission from the Shuar Indians, Perkins began regularly leading groups of”eco-tourists”deep into Ecuador’s rain forest. A veritable paradise on Earth, it is an explosively beautiful region of volcanos, emerald jungles and crystalline waterfalls whose indiginous tribes live in harmony with”Pachimama”_ Mother Earth.
Perkins’ quest touched a chord. He has become a leading figure in a burgeoning grassroots movement of environmentalists, health-care providers, and businessmen from around the world who are making similar journeys, drawn by a sense of adventure and a commitment to learning more about the rain forest in order to preserve it.
As exotic as these rain forest journeys may sound, they are no luxury vacations. Instead, they involve potentially life-threatening risks. Those who sign up for Perkins’ tours must sign a release form stating they are aware of the dangers _ such as poisonous snakes, insects and lack of immediate medical facilities.
Still, Perkins said the most dangerous leg of his journey to the rain forest is the drive to the airport from his urban neighborhood in Florida. And though many first-time travelers anticipate that the absence of modern conveniences will be a hardship, most, like Bethesda, Md., psychotherapist Joyce Ferranti, discover life in the jungle is far easier to manage than the complexities of civilization.
Even the lack of technology to which Westerners are so accustomed _ telephones, faxes, televisions _ serves to enhance intuitive faculties. Richard Schreder, a Baltimore psychologist who accompanied Perkins on a trip last year, says the Indians he encountered are gifted with finely-attuned psychic senses modern people have allowed to atrophy.
For instance, he says, simply by going into a trance state, hunters and fishermen are able to locate the game and fish they seek.
To some, it would seem the Indians of the South American rain forests would resent intrusions by curious Westerners. But their paradisal environment is already gravely endangered by the continuing encroachment of oil, lumber and cattle companies. It is estimated that these fragile ecosystems _ what some call the”lungs of the earth”_ are being destroyed at a rate of over 40 million acres each year.
Thus, tribes such as the Otavalan and Quichua of the Andes mountains, the Shuar of the Amazon River basin and the more urbanized Santo Daim’e of the Brazilian rain forest are _ for the first time in a long history of persecution _ welcoming foreign guests.
The decision to welcome visitors was made because the Indians have reached the conclusion their salvation rests with those from the outside world. For if consumer demands of modern civilization are the cause of the current crisis, they reason, then the solution lies in changing attitudes toward nature that facilitate environmental destruction.
The shamans ask only that visitors come with a willingness to learn. “If you want to save the rain forest,”Perkins said the Shuar shamans told him,”don’t try to change us. You need to change your people.” A fundamental basis of the shamanic belief system, said Perkins, the author of several books on shamanism, is that”the world is as you dream it.” Tribal shamans, for instance, say their cultural dream is”earth-honoring”: an awareness that every rock, tree, human and animal are linked as one being. Because of this faith, the living things of the natural world are as near to them as a mother or grandfather.
In contrast, the dream of the North, Perkins says, has been one of industry, growth and the pursuit of material riches. It is a dream, the rain forest shamans have warned him, that brings no happiness and is destroying the Earth.
But an ancient prophecy offers hope that these sharply divergent dreams are coming into balance. According to the Quichua Indians, who are descendants of the Incas, there exist 500-year-old cycles in time known as”Pachacuti.”Legend has it the fourth Pachacuti, which coincided with the Spanish conquest in 1492, would usher in a period of great destruction and enmity.
The fifth 500-year-old cycle, however, said to have begun in 1992, was predicted to herald a new era of peace and unity. This new age was symbolized by what shamans call the”dance of the eagle and the condor.”The eagle, an aggressive hunter, and the condor, a scavenger more peaceful in nature, respectively symbolize the harmonizing of the more material civilizations of the West with the indiginous cultures of the rain forest.
If the current cultural exchange spearheaded by Perkins is any indication, it is a prophecy that appears to be coming true.
At conferences and workshops across the country, South American shamans teach environmental wisdom to participants eager to live more closely to the natural world.
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In addition, many indiginous tribes are reaching out for help to earn income in a way that does not destroy their delicate ecosystems.
Because they need money to buy medicine to treat modern diseases, and because their governments do not support efforts to protect the environment, some tribes are forced to sell their cherished forests.
To support this endeavor, environmental groups are working hard to come up with nondestructive ways for the Indians to earn a living. POLE _ or Pollution Offset Lease For Earth _ is one solution Perkins has devised to compete on a cash basis against oil companies and cattle ranchers.
For example, for $29 one can lease from the tribes enough forest to absorb 425 pounds of carbon dioxide _ the amount each person produces in a year of breathing. Thus, the tribes no longer need to sell the parcel to timber or other interests.
While the tribes of the rain forest learn more about sustainable forms of development, Americans who travel there return with a transformed set of values.
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Ferranti, for instance, says she was forced to confront the”safe”suburban existence she had structured for herself: private school for her children, two houses, and a career as a private therapist that kept her isolated from the world’s problems. Today, she has scaled back her lifestyle, sold her vacation home and has become an outspoken activist on behalf of the rain forest.
Others report more subtle changes: a yearning to be in nature; a closer connection to pets; a heightened interest in spiritual healing.
Stephen Larsen, a New Paltz, N.Y. psychologist who has also led groups into the rain forest, sums up this historic phenomenon this way: The descendants of the colonists who conquered the New World, he says, are finally discovering the”real gold”their ancestors missed the first time. This gold is the precious wisdom these ancient, indiginous traditions have to teach humanity _ that the Earth is a living being, deserving of our sacred care.
Eds: For more information on the”POLE”project, contact: The Dream Change Coalition, P.O. Box 31357, Palm Beach Garden, Fla., 33420 or phone 407-622-6064.)
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