John Lundin is currently living with the indigenous peoples of La
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, learning from them and writing a new
novel that will share their spiritual and environmental message with the world
– their message that our Earth Mother is gravely ill and she will surely die if
we, the ones they call the Younger Brother, do not change our ways. The Arhuaco
and Kogi, descendants of the ancient Tayrona, fled the onslaught of the Spanish
conquerors and shut themselves off from the outside world. Their way of life
has remained largely unchanged for more than five hundred years. They consider
themselves – and their sacred mountain home – to be the Heart of the World.
The elders have invited author Lundin to live with them, to learn
from them, and to write this new book to help them share their urgent message.
This is an excerpt from the novel under construction, Journey to
the Heart of the World, and is a teaching from the elders – the Mamos – that was actually given to the
author and which has been fictionalized in the book. The hero of the novel is Christian
Castagno, an 18-year-old teenager from New York who is led by a talking owl butterfly
to the mountains of Colombia where he receives the life-changing teachings of
the elders. He carries with him a letter given to him by his mother on the day
she died of cancer, a letter that guides his spiritual quest.
This first teaching sets the tone for all the teachings that will
follow…
* * * * *
Niankua and the
others were waiting for me on the hillside. They greeted me with words that
sounded like “azi mazuri,” and
Niankua pulled something from his shoulder bag, his mochilla, and said, “When
we meet, we offer each other the coca leaves. I give some to you, and you give
some to me. It is a practice in giving and receiving. The leaves of the coca
plant are a gift, a gift of energy. Whenever we receive a gift we must always
give back something in return.” He then
retrieved a small mochilla from his larger one and handed it to me. “These are
your leaves. Put some in your mouth, in your cheek, and chew on them. Keep the
others to give back later.”
I put a generous pinch of the dry leaves into my mouth and chewed
on them. They had very little flavor, but soon there was a slight tingling
sensation on my tongue and cheek. I did as the others were doing; I chewed on
them as I would chew gum or maybe chewing tobacco. It didn’t seem to be giving me any kind of a
high or anything like that.
Niankua held up his gourd and explained, “When a boy becomes a man
he receives the poporo. With the poporo
we release the full energy of the leaves.” He pulled the stick from the gourd,
the stick he was constantly dipping in the gourd then pulling out and rubbing against
the outside of the gourd. He placed the stick in his mouth, licking the white
substance from its tip. “Younger Brother is not yet ready for the poporu.”
Niankua and the others kept working their gourds, their poporo,
constantly dipping the stick in the gourd, dipping it in their mouth, and
seeming to paint the sides of the gourd with it. Me, I just kept chewing my
coca leaves.
“When a young boy is recognized by the elders as a future Mamo, he
is brought to a place away from the others, to his own hut, where he is hidden
from all distractions and carefully taught by the elder Mamos. He learns how it
was in the beginning, and learns the long story of our people, the original
people. He discovers Aluna, how to
enter into her world, how to divine what she is revealing to us. He learns how
we are called to care for our Earth Mother. He learns how to heal. He discovers
everything that has been passed on to the Mamos before him. In time it is all
revealed to him, so that one day he can be a leader and can pass on all that
has been revealed to him, so he can show the way to those who will follow. This
teaching takes many years for the young Mamo.
“We have called you to come to the mountain, to leave your world
behind, to be alone in this place, free of all distraction, to receive the teachings.
We will teach you. But with you we do not have many years as we do with a young
Mamo. Our Earth Mother is suffering. She is in need of healing. Every day we
see the changes, we see the disease spreading. Every day we do our job, we do
our work, we care for our Earth Mother. But it is no longer enough. We have
seen what is happening to the mountain and what is happening beyond our world.
We can no longer ignore what the Younger Brother is doing. If Younger Brother
does not awaken and change his ways, if he does not become the healer instead
of the one spreading the disease, then our Earth Mother will surely die.”
Niankua looked deep into my eyes as he delivered his solemn warning
directly to my heart. His eyes were almost tearful as he made it clear this was
serious business. We were about to begin the teachings that he fervently hoped
would change my life and begin to change the world.
“In the beginning, the natural law was given to the original
people. It is written in the colors – it is written on the stone and in the
water, in the colors of the rocks and the land, the colors of the oceans and
the rivers and the snows, the colors of the plants and the trees, the colors of
the birds and the animals and the fishes, and the colors of the people - the
brown people, the white people and the black people, the red people and the
yellow people and the peoples of all colors in between. The Younger Brother can
learn to read the colors - with much spiritual work and effort.”
I felt like I felt when my mother first started schooling me at
home. With her I always felt I was being given the gift of knowledge, not
just facts to memorize; revelation that would pique my natural curiosity,
knowledge that would inform my experience and grow into wisdom. She always told
me the Earth was our best teacher, and I felt as though she was speaking to me
now.
“In the beginning there was nothing – no land, no water, no plants
or animals, no people. Nothing. Only Aluna. Only the fertile sea of thought
that is Aluna. Aluna is the creative imagination, the mind, the consciousness.
Everything is created in Aluna; everything is created in the imagination.
Nothing comes into being until it is imagined. When it is imagined it comes
into being. So it was with Aluna, in the beginning. All that is was first
imagined, imagined in Aluna. Everything was born in the imagining. Aluna is the
ultimate reality, the source of our being. Aluna is everything that is,
everything that was or ever will be. We - you and I, the Elder Brother and the
Younger Brother - we were all given birth in the creative imagination of
Aluna.”
He motioned for me to rise and follow him to a point on the hill
where we could view the entire valley and the mountains beyond. With a sweeping
wave of his arm he pointed to the broad horizon.
“In the beginning…there was nothing. No valley, no river, no
mountains, no birds, not even the sky. All that you see in this world was first
imagined in Aluna. Nothing was ever created that was not first imagined.
Everything that has ever been created was born first in the imagination. The
creative imagination has given birth to all that has ever come into being.
Everything.”
I was looking out at the world from my new vantage point. I was
watching the water, watching the birds, watching the sky, and already starting
to see everything in a new way. It was as if I was seeing it all for the very
first time. It was as if my new teacher was holding the world in his hand and
rotating it, turning it around and around and saying to me, look at it in a
different way, from a different angle. Look at it from here. Look at it this
way. All of this, everything, was created in the imagination.
“Everything was created in the imagination of Aluna. First she
imagined the sky and the sun and the moon and the stars. She imagined them into
being. And then she imagined the land and the mountains, the oceans and the
rivers, and then she imagined the plants and the animals and the birds into
being.
“Finally she imagined the people into becoming, the people she
imagined would care for all she had created, the people who would nurture it,
protect it. The people who would be the living heart of the world she had
imagined into being.”
He explained that the Mamos knew all the details of how everything
was created but that it would take nine years to explain it all to me, and the
details were not something I needed to know anyway. The process of creating, of
bringing that which was imagined into being, was like spinning thread on a
spindle, like the men weaving their clothing on the loom, like the women
weaving the mochilla with their hands.
“The Mother stuck her spindle in the fertile ground of her
imagination and spun it, turning the world of her imagining on its axis,
spinning out a thread which is both time and space, creating first a heap of
thread that is the mountain, and then more and more, spiraling ever outward,
eventually weaving the fabric that is the whole of the world. All the patterns
and all the colors she had imagined are carefully woven into place, and finally
the complex tapestry emerges. Aluna created all this that you see with her spindle
and loom. She created and is still creating. We remember this whenever the men
weave the clothes and when the women weave the mochilla. Our clothes, our
mochilla, everything, may be helped into this world by our hands, may be shaped
on our loom, but they were first born in the Mother’s imagining. Everything
that is or has been existed first in the world of Aluna before it came into
being in our world.”
He motioned again toward the world that was spread out before our
eyes, and then reached down and took hold of a yellow flower growing at his
feet.
“Everything is from Aluna, everything is one with Aluna. All the
plants and animals, the mountains and waters, the sky and the birds – and all
the people – were one in Aluna and all are still one with Aluna.”
A butterfly landed on the flower he was holding, not an owl
butterfly this time but a bright yellow one, the color of the flower he was
holding. Niankua extended his hand toward the butterfly who fearlessly came to
rest on his finger.
“Since everything is from Aluna, we are all a part of the same One.
You are the sun and the rain, the water and the plants, the birds and the
animals. There is no such thing as ‘nature,’ apart from you and me. You are
nature, I am nature, just as you are me and I am you.”
Now it was the other Mamos’ turn. As we walked along the ridge,
looking at the view of the valley, they explained to me that the energy of
Aluna, the creative energy, had been woven into the mountain. One of them used
a branch to inscribe a triangle in the dirt, saying the mountain was a pyramid,
a pyramid of energy. It was the job of the Mamos to maintain the balance and
harmony of the mountain’s energy. “Everyone has a job to do, every plant and
animal has a job to do. The Mamo’s job is to care for the mountain, the heart
of the world. If the heart is healthy, if she is beating in harmony with the
natural rhythms of the Earth, then the earth is healthy. If the mountain is not
healthy, if the energy of the mountain is out of balance, out of rhythm, then the
whole world is out of balance.”
Another of the four Mamos stepped forward and continued the
teaching:
“The mountain is the heart of the world, and those of us who care
for her are the heart of the world as well. There is no difference, no separation;
we are one - the mountain, the people, the heart of the world. The mother
created the people, created them from her offspring, from her first born. She
created the first peoples to look after her creation, to care for it, to be the
caretakers of the world, to be the heart of the world here on the mountain that
is the heart of the world. The plants and the trees, the animals and the birds
were placed in the people’s care, not for the people to dominate and exploit
but for the people to take care of.
“The people were created in the imagination of Aluna, and the
people have a spark of that creative imagination within them. The plants and
the animals do not. The people can dream, can imagine a future; the plants and
animals cannot. The people were created with a compassionate heart, a loving
kindness that was given to them so that they would understand that their
purpose is to care for all the others. The plants and the animals do not have
that kind of compassionate heart, do not have a creative imagination. The
plants and animals only know their one small job in life, and they only know
how to do it. It is the people’s job to protect them so that they can continue
to do their job. That is the people’s only job, their purpose on this mountain,
on all the Earth – to care for and protect all the others.”
The fourth Mamo took another branch in hand and again drew a line
on the ground.
“After the Mother created the original peoples, the Elder Brother,
she created a second people, the Younger Brother. These second people also had
a creative imagination, the ability to envision things and bring them into
being. In fact, that was to be their job, their only job – imagining and making
things. But their creative mind was like that of the monkey - they never
developed, always jumping about, jumping from this branch to that, from this
idea to that, always wanting new things. They wouldn’t stay still long enough
to listen to the Mother, they paid no attention to the Mother’s teaching; they
ignored the Natural Law. They only paid attention to their monkey mind, never
listening to their compassionate heart. They consumed all their energy making
and using things, and never developed their capacity to care for the things
that were already around them. They developed their brain, but never developed
their heart. They came to believe it was their job to conquer new worlds and
ignored their responsibility to show loving kindness toward the world the
Mother had created.”
He pointed to the line he had drawn in the dirt. “It is for this
reason that the Younger Brother was expelled from the mountain. He was driven
from the mountain and sent into exile across the sea. He was sent to a harsh
land where it was cold and where the fruits did not grow and where the animals
did not abound, and here he was free to occupy his time making and acquiring things
in order to survive. The Elder Brother would continue to care for the mountain
and the earth and leave the Younger Brother to follow his own pursuits on the
other side of the ocean, in another part of the world.”
The four Mamos motioned for me to follow, and we made our way down
the hillside toward the river and eventually to a collection of large boulders
at the edge of the water. They pointed to strange markings on the stone, lines
that were not unlike those on the rocks I had seen earlier in the Lost City.
“We did not mark this stone. The people did not mark the rock. It
was marked by wind and water, inscribed in Aluna. It is a map of the mountain,
and beyond. All the universe is inscribed here. A map of the past and a map of
the future. The Mamos can read the map, can read the mountain. We can see the
place of the mountain, the heart of the world, and we can see the places
beyond, the lands beyond the mountain, beyond this valley, beyond the sea, the
lands where the Younger Brother has been using all his energy making things. We
can read the changes. We watch the water. We watch the birds. We watch the sky.
We can see in them what is happening beyond the mountain. We can see the
changes.”
They led me across the river, not across the bridge this time, but
by wading through the shallow water. The Mamos don’t wear shoes or sandals,
they explained, because they want to feel the land, feel the water. They’re
always connected to the Earth in this way. Sandals on their feet would create a
disconnect, an unhealthy separation. Touching the land with the soles of their
feet is a constant reminder that they are one with the earth. They must have
very strong soles since they’re constantly walking the trails and climbing the
hills and crossing the river in their bare feet. I removed my shoes and waded
into the river. The sun was already very warm and the icy cold waters were
invigorating.
We crossed the river and walked toward the hills on the opposite side
of the valley and began following the trail upward. There were clusters of huts
and the villagers would peer at me through the open doors, the children peeking
from behind the safety of their mother. I was the pale-faced curiosity, for
sure. We continued walking for a considerable distance, at times climbing very
steeply up the mountain. The Mamos walk very briskly and it was often a
challenge for me to keep up. As we got higher and higher I could occasionally
catch a glimpse of the snow-capped peaks in the distance, barely visible
through the clouds just above the nearer mountains.
We climbed to the top of a ridge and started down the other side
when I heard the sound of rushing water. The river water back on the floor of
the valley had been very calm, but this was a loud and powerful sound. As we
made our way down the steep hillside I could see a deep canyon below with the
waters tumbling through it and down the mountain. And above the waters was a
giant stream of water cascading down the entire height of the mountain before
us. The waters fell hundreds of feet into the pool below before continuing over
the edge into the canyon stream below. I have seen many waterfalls, before and
since, but this may have been the most beautiful of all.
For some time we all stood silently, reverently gazing at the
majesty of the water. It was a moment of meditation, of prayer. For a teenager
like me it could easily have been a time to jump into the blue pool and frolic
under the cascading waters, but that’s not what this particular moment in time
called for. The Mamos quietly watched the waters fall and worked their poporu.
I followed their lead and my mother’s advice - I watched the water, watched the
water in awe and deep respect. It was clear the Mamos had brought me here for a
reason, for another important lesson.
“In the beginning all was water. The water was the Mother, the
water was Aluna. Where there is water there is life, there is memory of the
past and potential for the future. It is in the water that everything can be
imagined into being. Without the water, nothing can be imagined. Without water
the plants would die, the people would die, the Mother herself would die. That
is the most basic law. Without water there is no life. Take away the water and
everything will die. That is the Law. The people cannot change the Law - not
the Mamos, not the king, not the president, not the congress or the parliament.
The Natural Law is constant, forever, unchangeable. Without water there can be
no life. If we are to care for the world, first we must care for the water.”
I knew that, of course, but with the backdrop of the magnificent
waterfall the message of the Mamos was powerful. In the beginning was the
water. Water is life. Take away the water and you take away life. End of story.
“In the beginning we were formed in the water. The Mother formed us
there. The waters are like the Mother’s milk, they give life to the new
creation, to the child of her womb. We were all conceived in the waters of
Aluna, in the creative imagination of the sea of Aluna. When you were
conceived, it was known first in Aluna, it was known in the water. Your future
was known in Aluna before you were born. You were conceived in the waters of
Aluna before you were born beside the life-giving waters of all the oceans and
rivers of this earth.”
It was as my mother had said, in her letter. And there was more:
“You were born upon that sea. Everything we would ever remember was
first in the waters, in the ocean of Aluna. It always was. It was before it
was. In the Mother’s knowing. All the worlds that stretch forever, beyond all
the waters of all the rivers and beyond the beyond have always been in the
Mother’s knowing. It always was, from the beginning. As long as there is water
giving life to the plants and the trees, as long as there are clouds and rains
and snow, the trees and skies will always hold all it is that we should
remember.”
The teacher waded into the water at the base of the waterfall and
beckoned for us all to follow. He held his poporu in both hands for a moment,
lifting it toward the waterfall, offering a blessing. He dipped the stick in
the poporu and then into his mouth. He placed the poporo in his mochilla, and
with both hands he scooped up the water. Several times he scooped up the water
and let it fall through his hands, through his fingers, the waters sparkling in
the sun, the bubbles dancing on the pond. He lifted a handful of water and held
it out toward me, for me to look into.
“All that ever was or ever will be is in the water, in the memory
of the water, the memory of the sea of Aluna. Everything that ever was or ever
will be has been born in the waters and nurtured by the waters. The water is
Aluna, the water is life. If we watch the bubbles we can see the memory of all
that was, a vision of all that will be. All we should remember can be found in
the water.”
He turned his back to the waterfall and looked out at the horizon
ahead, at where the water flowed to the edge and over the rock, falling in
another cascade to stream into the ravine below. From there the water continued
its journey down the mountain, joining the river below, and eventually making
its way to the sea. Ahead we could see the whole valley and the mountains on
the other side, and the snowy peaks above it all.
“As far as you can see,” he said with another broad wave of his
hand, “everything is water. The plants and trees are water, the snows are
water, the rivers and streams are water, of course. Even the mountains and
hills, even the rocks and stones, are all water, filled with water, literally
mountains of water. And you are water. There is nothing you can see that is not
water. The water weaves everything together, all is alive, all is interwoven.
And just as the water is alive, everything of the water is alive. The trees and
the plants, the mountains and the rocks, the animals and the birds, even the
sky and the clouds - all are alive, alive with water flowing through their
veins. There is life in the smallest drop of water, and there is water flowing
through the tallest mountain. Everything was born of the same water - every
animal, every plant, every person, every mountain. All have the same Mother,
all have the same water running through them. This is why every mountain is
your brother, your sister, your mother and your grandmother. Every tree is your
cousin. We are all a part of the same One.”
I had never thought of water in this way before. I have to admit, I
had probably pretty much taken water for granted. I had always known water in
my life, plenty of water, enough for drinking, taking a shower, watering the
plants – there was always water around me and always enough water. It never ran
out. So I guess I just took it for granted. Sure, I enjoyed looking at a beautiful
lake or watching the sea as much as the next person, and I knew there was life
in the water, the “little beasties” we had seen through the microscope in
science class, but I had never seen water in this way before. I was seeing it
in a different way, from a different perspective.
“When you look at the water, when you want to see deep inside the
water, you always need to look at it from the four directions.”
Like the butterfly, the Mamo
seemed to know what I was thinking.
“Look at it from the north, from the south, from the east and from
the west. Turn it around in your mind and view it from top to bottom, from left
to right, then turn it upside-down and sideways and look at it again. You have
to watch the water with both eyes wide open if you are to see the life within
it. With the eyes of a child you must look deep into the colors of the bubbles.
You must watch the water from all four directions if you are to also watch the
sky, to watch the birds, to discover your self.”
I would never view water in the same way again, never again take it
for granted.
“In the beginning there was the ocean of Aluna, the waters of pure
consciousness, of mind, of creation. It was in the beginning, it has always
been, it is now. Aluna created all and is still creating. Aluna imagined all
before time and is now imagining the future. We can enter into Aluna, into her
memory and into her vision, by watching the water, by looking deeply into the
bubbles of the waters. It is in the bubbles that we can read the memory of all
that ever was. It is in the bubbles that we can see a vision of our future. It
is by entering into Aluna, by concentrating on all that is revealed in the
colors of the bubbles, that our consciousness becomes one with the mind of
Aluna. We were all born of Aluna, we are one with her and anyone can return to
Aluna at any time. The Mamos enter into Aluna all the time.
“The Younger Brother has forgotten how. When the Younger Brother
left the mountain behind he also left behind his connection with Aluna. Younger
Brother lives his life without any sense of oneness with Aluna. The Mamos are
different; we have never lost our way, never left Aluna. We return to the realm
of Aluna every day. It is in Aluna that we first discovered the law of how
things were and how things were to be. It is in Aluna that we continue to
discern what we are called to do, to discover our job, to learn the purpose of
everything in life and to know our place and our purpose in the Mother’s great
plan, in her mind, in her vision for the future. And it is in Aluna that we can
see beyond the beyond, what is happening in the world beyond the mountain.
“We can see what is happening, we can discern the changes; we can
read the future.”
I believed him. He could see the water as I had never seen it. He
could read my mind. He could surely see the past and read the future. He was
like a magician, but I was beginning to realize he was simply seeing clearly
what was already there - there for anyone to see. The Mamos had never taken any
of it for granted; they had never lost their ability to see with eyes wide
open.
“In the beginning was the water, the sea of Aluna. The oceans and
the rivers were born in the creative imagining of Aluna. Since the beginning of
time, the waters have had a rhythm, the rhythm of life. The waters of the sea
rise up to the sky, and the clouds are born. The clouds embrace the mountain,
and the rains and the snow are born. The waters of the snow melt into the
fertile earth and begin their journey down the mountain. They form the lakes
that become the source of the rivers and streams that all flow back again to
the sea. And then the cycle begins again, the circle of life. The waters have
had a million lifetimes and will have a million more. Every lifetime is
recorded in the memory of the water, in the memory of Aluna. Every new lifetime
of the water has the potential to create new life on earth. In its many
lifetimes, all of the water has lived in the plants, in the animals, in the
mountains and the rivers, in you and in me. The water is the thread that binds
us together. Every lifetime is interwoven. Every lifetime has been different
and each one has been recorded in Aluna. Every one has been remembered.”
The Mamo silently worked his poporo, rubbing the stick on the shell
of the gourd, seemingly looking into the memory that had been inscribed over
the course of many meditations.
“We have seen the changes. We have seen the changes in the water.
We look into the water with our eyes, with our listening, with our feeling,
with all our senses, we enter into the sea of Aluna, and we watch the waters,
we watch the birds, we watch the sky – and we see the changes. The waters are changing.
The rain no longer comes as it used to. We have months with no rain at all, and
months when the rain washes the earth into the sea. Every year the snows on the
mountain recede. Soon there will be no snow at all, no waters for the lakes,
the rivers, the streams. Water that used to be pure as the snow is now unclean.
Plants that were green are now dry and brown. Places that used to be fertile
valleys are now under water, and other places now have no water at all. We have
seen the changes. And in Aluna we have seen the changes beyond the mountain,
beyond the sea. And we have seen the changes beyond the changes, the changes
that are yet to come.”
Each of the Mamos in turn offered a blessing in the direction of
the waterfall, and tossed offerings from their mochilla into the waters below.
Then they motioned for me to follow them down the mountain, pointing out plants
and animals and special trees to me as we walked.
“We will show you the changes. We will climb the mountain to the
snows, we will go down to the sea, we will follow the river, follow the water,
and you will start to see. Today we will return to the village, to our river,
and you can chew on all we have shared. And you can start to watch the water.
Watch the water and begin to see what you have not seen before. Begin to open
your eyes to what the bubbles will reveal.
“The Younger Brother can learn to read the bubbles, not as the
Mamos can, but to read them nonetheless. There is no magic in it. It’s like
looking at the stars – you don’t need to know the names of every star or which
is bigger or farther away to learn something about your place in the universe
just by looking at them. You don’t need to know how the bubbles work; you just
have to be open to learning from them. You only need to let go of all that is
keeping you from seeing clearly, all your old ways of perceiving, and let
yourself be open to seeing the light in the bubbles, to see in a new way. Let
go of thought and awaken yourself to knowing.”
Another Mamo added, “You can learn to see the changes, too. You can
widen your vision and enter into Aluna. If you don’t learn to read the changes,
they will happen without you being aware, and our Mother will die. The Mother
will die if the Younger Brother does not open his eyes and awaken.”
And another Mamo: “Our Mother is dying and the Younger Brother is
sleeping. He needs to open his eyes and awaken. Our Mother will not survive
unless he opens his eyes, unless he is fully awakened to the reality of the
world around him, the world he lives in.”
And still another Mamo said, “Over time we will show you more – we
will wander the mountain together and you will begin to see the changes for
yourself. We will teach you how to see what you are not seeing now.”
They took me back to the valley, to the river, and the led me to a
place by the water where I could see the rushing waters tumbling down the hill
into a calm pool of water at my feet. I could sit on a broad flat rock and look
at all the waters – the calm waters, the rushing waters, the sparkling waters
and the bubbles.
“This is your work for the rest of the day. Watch the water. Find
yourself in the bubbles. Let yourself become one with the water."
* * * * *
John Lundin is the author of THE NEW MANDALA – Eastern Wisdom for
Western Living, written in collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His
new novel, JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE WORLD, will be published in 2014 by
Humanitas Media. A motion picture and transmedia adaptation is also in development in collaboration with Executive Producer Buck
Allen.
* * * * *
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JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE WORLD
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