In his third book on native spirituality and ecology, John Perkins takes fellow travelers deep into the jungles of Ecuador, to the home of the Shuar and their healing shamans, or "curanderos. "Hoping to help the Shuar, who face Western encroachment and the destruction of native forests, Perkins comes to realize that it is the mind and soul of the Western, "developed" cultures that are most in need of help and healing. The Shuar believe that the perceptions of a people, their "dream," creates individual and communal reality. Our distorted vision of the human being at the top of nature's pyramid contrasts vividly with the native dream of an intricate, intimate relationship among all participants in the web of life. Through their music, myth, herbal medicine, and the sacred ceremony of the hallucinogenic plant "ayahuasca, " the Shuar invite us into a dream that they have made reality--one that is nourishing and life-sustaining and in which the great privilege of being human is in embracing our role as caretakers of Mother Earth.
- Offers both personal transformation and cultural awakening, since the curanderos of the Shuar-like shamans the world over are catalysts for profound change.
- Explains the life-sustaining world view of an endangered indigenous culture, affirming the U.N. Year of Indigenous People.