The Negligence of Intelligence
Long before I became an acupuncturist I studied Social Anthropology at the University of Wales. From a young age I was interested in how other cultures and societies around the globe saw the world and how they perceived this thing we call reality. I was acutely aware that there was something wrong with our western society and I had a feeling that we had somehow lost our connection to Mother Earth. I was hoping that studying anthropology would be a good way to learn to how to go about re-establishing this connection. Unfortunately however, I couldn’t help but be disappointed with what I learnt there and indeed with the western educational system as a whole.
Anthropologists like to see themselves as a world apart from the people that they are studying. Although they probably don’t like to admit it, they come from a supposed place of intellectual superiority. They pay lip service to the ideas of impartiality and objectivity, whilst holding very fixed views upon things that western science has led them to believe. For example, the clear stand point that there are no such things as ghosts. And that there are no such things as spirits. Humans obviously can not communicate with plants and animals and magic is just a construct of the unevolved mind. It’s Ok that these tribal people have their funny little beliefs, but obviously we know better, don’t we?
I always felt that this was a very limiting view point to have. Here we are, as anthropologists, in a position to learn from people who are still in touch with a great ancient knowledge, and we completely disregard what they are saying as impossible, right from the outset. I would have found it much more interesting and rewarding to take the position, that yes maybe magic does exist in the world still, and maybe people can commune with nature, and maybe we can even learn how to do ourselves, rather than thinking that we know best all the time.
Let us take the Kogi tribe for example. This is an indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria Mountains in northern Colombia. They practice the strange tradition of raising some of their children, during their formative years, in the total darkness of a cave. These children go on to become the wisdom-keepers of the tribe, as they have a strong connection to the cosmic consciousness that they call Aluna. These chosen ones are known as Mamos and they develop an almost super-natural ability to listen. They listen to the waters and Mother Earth speaks to them.
The messages and wisdom that these Mamos hold, is held in great esteem by the rest of the tribe and it is here where the anthropologists would focus their attention. They would say that these Mamos would use these rituals and practices to gain a higher social status within the tribe. They would completely disregard whatever the message was – because obviously Mother Earth does not communicate with us through water.
I however, have absolutely no problem with accepting this as a distinct possibility and the message is actually one that we should listen to and quickly. The Kogi see themselves as the spiritual guardians of the Earth and they see it as their duty to translate the Earth’s message to the rest of us. They call us in the west, Younger Brother, and whilst we may see them as primitive, they see us an unknowledgeable, immature and completely unconnected – to each other and to the planet. The message they bring is one of a dire warning. Mother Earth is not happy with what younger brother is doing to the planet and if we are not careful then one day soon she will just shake us off. The Kogi understand that the Earth is a living being with critical interconnections throughout nature. It is a subtle and hidden network and interfering in one part has a major impact on another. The message is clear – look after the waters, the rivers and seas, as they are the life-blood of the planet.
Our scientific and mechanistic way of thinking is one which is clearly capable of creating great technological wonders. But if in creating these things we destroy the very world that we live upon, can we truly be considered as intelligent? The time has come to listen again to the indigenous peoples that we share this planet with, and maybe we should try and listen to them with our hearts and not just our so called ‘superior’ brains.