Intelligence in Nature - Jeremy Narby [60]
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P. 2: THREE BIOLOGISTS WORK WITH AN INDIGENOUS SHAMAN
Narby (2001) writes about the scientistsâ experience with the hallucinogenic plant brew called ayahuasca: âIn interviews conducted in their respective laboratories four months after the Amazonian experience, the three biologists agreed on a number of points. All three said the experience of ayahuasca shamanism changed their way of looking at themselves and at the world, as well as their appreciation of the capacities of the human mind. They all expressed great respect for the shamanâs skill and knowledge. They all received information and advice about their own paths of research. The two women reported contact with âplant teachers,â which they experienced as independent entities; they both said that contacting a plant teacher had shifted their way of understanding reality. The man said that all the things he saw and learned in his visions were somehow already in his mind, but that ayahuasca had helped him see into his mind and put them together. He did not think he had experienced contact with an independent intelligence, but he did think ayahuasca was a powerful tool for exploring the mind. The scientific information and imagery accessed in ayahuasca visions by the three biologists were certainly related to the information and images already in their minds. They did not have any big revelations. Ayahuasca is not a shortcut to the Nobel prize, the French professor remarked. They all said that ayahuasca shamanism was a harder path to knowledge than science, and as scientists, they found specific difficulties with it. For example, getting knowledge from an ayahuasca experience involves a highly emotional, subjective experience that is not reproducible. One cannot have the same ayahuasca experience twice, nor can somebody else have the same ayahuasca experience as oneself. This makes it almost contrary to the central method of experimental science, which consists of designing objective experiments that can be repeated by anyone, anywhere, anytimeâ (303â4).
CHAPTER 1
P. 7: PERUVIAN AMAZON AS WORLDâS BIODIVERSITY EPICENTER
Mittermeier et al. (1999) write in their book Hotspots: Earthâs Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions: âThe Tropical Andes Hotspotâ¦is the richest and most diverse biodiversity hotspot on Earth. This was pointed out by Myers (1988) in his first publication on the hotspots, in which he referred to this region as the âglobal epicenter of biodiversity,â and the current analysis strongly supports his earlier assessment. The Andes mountain range, its different cordilleras, and the vast array of slopes, peaks and isolated valleys provide for a multiplicity of micro-habitats that have led to the evolution of an incredible number of plant and animal species. Although lacking the spectacular large mammals of the African savannas, the range of small to medium-sized species in this region is unparalleled, and surpasses even that of the vast, much more extensive Amazon plain stretching across the continent to the east. Furthermore, although some portions of the Tropical Andes are still in reasonably good condition, the majority of the area has been heavily impacted by human activities, and has been reduced to tiny fragments of its original extent. This combination of very high diversity and endemism in all groups of organisms, together with the very high levels of threat, makes the Tropical Andes