Description
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.
Praise and Reviews
"A magnificent book! It has a place of honor in my personal library. Perkins' The World Is As You Dream It is a masterly and understanding exploration of shamanic inner thinking. It is thought-provokingly written, a most valuable contribution."
Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D., Harvard Jeffrey Professor of Biology, Director of Harvard Botanical Museum, author of Plants of the Gods
"The dream not only drives the action, it also guides the action. Through John Perkins we learn this truth as it is taught with special vividness by indigenous people."
Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth and The Universe Story (with Brian Swimme)
"The World Is As You Dream It is one of those rare books that tells a riveting story at the same time as it provides deep insights into what makes us who we are and the world what it is. I was so riveted to this book that I couldn’t put it down for a second until I finished reading it."
Cynthia S. Larson, Realityshifters.com
