By Theo Ferguson, founder of Vital Systems
After seven years of advocating true cost pricing and true cost accounting to help people understand the impact of their purchases on community, environment and the economy, I embarked on a Central and South American sabbatical to investigate how indigenous people live with life rather than exploit it. My hope was to understand how their perspectives, philosophies and behaviors create ways of living in a society based on interrelated economies and the values on which they base their well being and prosperity.
During four months of travel, I had the honor of experiencing deep introductions with three indigenous communities, including the T\’sutujil Mayan people in Guatemala with whom I lived for two months. The Pachamana Alliance [1] introduced me to the Achuar peoples in Amazon Oriental in Ecuador. Finally, I visited with a family in Cusco, Peru for a week to acclimate to the 14,000 foot altitude and participate in The Four Winds Society\’s [2] Spiritual Expedition to the Andes led by Kkechuwa people and the Q\’ero shamans.
What became evident through my intimate experiences with these indigenous groups were three fundamental principles that form the essence of their socio-economic foundation:
- They live in fully integrated spiritual temporal worlds.
- They are completely interconnected and interdependent with all life and understand the consequences of not honoring that connection.
- Because they live interdependently with spirit and each other, many live with qualities of being fully present: “awake,” “aware,” and “alive.”
Deep Connection with the Spirits of Life
Indigenous people live in fully integrated spiritual temporal worlds. Their daily lives include performing rituals that attract the spirits\’ attention to guide subsequent experiences and daily actions—including recognizing danger, hunting, healing, negotiating, celebrating, and foresight. The Achuar ritualistically express gratitude to the spirits of life for the blessing of sustenance, personal relationships and community well-being.
The Achuar in Amazon Oriental share their way of living with Spirit at all times. Their food, eating processes, community relations, connections with those outside their communities, and daily rituals of gratitude are spirit-driven and deeply connected to all other living beings in the lands they co-habit.
For instance, a supportive community practice evolved based on absorbing the Achuar\’s primary sustenance derived from matioch roots, which are ground into a liquid pulp. Wives chew the pulp and spit it into bowls. This process accelerates the fermentation of “Chicha,” which they drink. However, a residue builds up in the stomach and thus, about 3AM every morning, community members gather to drink a purgative tea to clear the Chicha residue, and then share their dreams. In the culmination of this daily ritual, those gathered listen and interpret the messages from their dreams, and drink Chicha again as they prepare for a new day together.
In my Four Winds Peruvian expedition to Salkantay the Holy Mother Mountain—one of the endangered Andean glaciers [3], the shamans of the Q\’uero people (Q\’uero Laika) introduced the Expedition\’s shaman participants to seven levels of Peruvian Shamanic Rites. The morning following the Rite of Anchoring Actions out of Time, one participant shared a dream that Salkantay communicated to her to release her lifelong fears of unworthiness and inadequacy: “I am waiting for you. You are welcome. I will hold so that you are supported and never doubt your path in the world.” Our trip leader shared that this communication was meant for the for entire “aynu,” or group, of participants and we all took the message to heart. Indeed, within these indigenous communities, dreams from the spirit world guide behavior and action in the conscious realm.
Interdependence
Those who live completely interconnected and interdependent with all life know that they are wounding themselves if they pollute Mother Earth. Guatemala\’s Lake Atitlan, a rain-filled caldera, is the source of water and fish for 22 pueblos surrounding the Lake. This includes the pueblo, San Pedro la Laguna, inhabited by the T\’sutujil Maya people from the south side of the Lake.
Although some residents deeply understand their connection to the lake and the importance of the lake\’s survival, the introduction of imports and “modern” systems and products from international traders is killing the caldera by layering the lake floor with toxic sediment from raw sewage. The trees and shrubs are challenged to hold the banks, smothered in plastic and aluminum foil snack wrappers.
In support of long standing efforts to heal Lake Atitlan by many organizations, my organization – Vital Systems – has the honor of partnering with a local school, Casa Rosario, to facilitate and support a conversation to heal the lake. This pilot project, “Paths to Health, a System to Cure Lake Atitlan,” conceived a decentralized education effort called Asociación Ambiental, Social, y Cultural—the Association of the Environment, Society, and Culture.
Part of this collective process includes sharing stories of T\’sutujil culture, vitality, and interdependence. One of the components in the opening circle of local, diverse groups from San Pedro la Laguna included a skit ably acted by adults and children called “The Farmer, the Llama, and the Condor”. This Kkechwa teaching tale from the Peruvian Andes presents the way of living in which humans and animals are equal as they share the same rigorous judicial system.
The collective effort to heal the lake will have important outcomes for the T\’sutujil and Cakchiquel communities surrounding Lake Atitlan. Some of the community representatives and groups in the Pilot Project—Caminos Hacia Salud–include the following:
- A non-profit organization teaching children about ecology
- A local religious organization that opened a school to teach young people Mayan spirituality, cosmology, and healing in T\’sutujil, the Mayan language on the south side of the Lake
- A non-profit organization that is mounting a recycling effort for every household in San Pedro la Laguna
- The Association of Fishermen that rallies community members in regular Lake Atitlan clean-up days
- A popular local restaurant that founded and operates a fair-trade, locally grown, organic coffee export business
- A school that is both an archeological site and botanical garden where Spanish has been taught to international students for 18 years
- Artists
- A co-director of a program for challenged children
- A city Museum, Museo Tz\’unun Ya\’
Through a pilot project, Paths to Health—a System to Cure Lake Atitlan, the people of San Pedro la Laguna are creating a systemic community collaborative process to heal the lake to ensure its destruction will not occur again. Since all the lake\’s residents must drink the water, eat the fish, and increase the quality of life and prosperity of their communities, they aspire to conduct this effort rigorously with the intent to replicate it in other 21 pueblos around the lake.
Pilot project participants in San Pedro are considering in what ways their future survival is based on showcasing the principles of their T\’sutujil Mayan heritage as they are only one generation removed from the influence of the capitalistic model of the developed nations. Those involved see the opportunity and are inspired by the actions in the south—Ecuador and Bolivia—and recognize the possibility that the project can serve as a case study for the Rights of Nature—also called the Rights of Mother Earth. An active agent in this endeavor is the southern node of Pachamama Alliance, Fundación Pachamama, which participated in ensuring that the principles of the Rights of Mother Earth was embedded in Ecuador\’s constitution in 2008.
Practicing Presence
In the Peruvian Andes at the Solstices, vast populations climb mountain summits to connect with and offer gratitude to the holy Mother Mountain glaciers on which the continent depends for water. The Four Winds Society Expedition\’s “peak experience” was the Q\’ero Laika shamans performing the culminating Rite of the Creator on Winter Solstice (in June) at the Lagoon, formed by the glacier melt of the Holy Mother Mountain Salkantay at 15,750 feet. As the smoke from our burning “despacho” swirled together with the frozen water and air of Salkantay, we knew our offering was well received as we were blessed with a thick, flowing blanket of fog while navigating the steep-cliffed, muddy, and chert-lined paths to our upper camp at almost 15,000 feet that became a hail storm just after our arrival.
Because indigenous peoples live interdependently with spirit and each other, there is a quality of being “awake,” “aware,” and “alive” that enables them to be fully present. This is a practice I deeply experienced in my trek descending from Mt. Salkantay. To the Kkechwa people, the health of the anyu is very important. If someone in the group needs help, they offer it fully and completely in the moment.
Navigating a precariously narrow path, two of my Kkechwa friends slipped under my arms and held me firmly around the waist. This newly created 6-legged creature could now trek down the mountain, each footstep being placed by three minds, NOW, NOW, and NOW. Another of many examples of this quality of presence was exhibited during a sudden burst of jubilation on Winter Solstice when four of our Kkechwa companions each grabbed bandanas and performed a local Peruvian line dance on a small plateau at 15,500 feet.
So I encourage each of you, as leading actors in creating sustainable economic systems, to consider activities based on deep connectedness with the spirits of life, as well as interdependence, and presence. I challenge you and all members of your community to respond with mindfulness to obstacles while celebrating the present moment! Let\’s value and honor the health, vitality and delight of individuals and communities everywhere so we can all thrive. Can we find ways to integrate these ways of living into all our social and economic systems? I suggest we learn from our indigenous elders and practice these principles NOW, NOW and NOW.
Article by Theo Ferguson, Founder of Vital Systems. Theo is an Educator, Facilitator, and Impact Investor in Local Food and Farming Infrastructure.
ARTICLE NOTES:
[1] http://www.pachamama.org/rainforest-journeys
