Intelligence in Nature - Jeremy Narby [9]
I asked him to explain how one could do this. He said that shamans use plant mixtures such as ayahuasca to dialogue with the spirits of natureâs beings. In their visions, shamans communicate with these spirits by singing icaros, or shaman songs. Plants receive these songs âfrom inside, from the heart,â he said, and shamans thank plants for the knowledge and healing they impart by singing these songs.
I asked Flores what he thought about intelligence in plants and animals. He said that animals make plans as they go about their lives in the forest and decide where to walk during the day and where to spend the night. And he said that plant spirits wander from one place to another to heal people, âbecause plants care a lot about humanity.â
Several of his ideas contradicted the Western, academic worldview, but he was stating clearly what many Amazonian people consider to be true. Who was I to rule out the possibility of communication between humans and other species? Perhaps shamans know things about nature that science has yet to discover. Instead of contradicting Flores, I wanted to grasp his point of view. I asked if he still spoke with the owner of animals.
âIn this case, yes, I have been practicing this for a very long time, in regards to everything I do. Because all things have to be done from the heart, and this is true concerning taking an animal, or a plant,â he said. âThe last time I spoke with the owner of animals was a week ago. For example, to come and settle here, I had to ask the owner of animals.â
âCan you tell me what he or she looks like?â
âHe appeared in the form of a jaguar sitting at my side, and he was looking at me. I was also looking at him. He transformed himself into a person. Then he told me, âYou may pass. You may come here.ââ
Later that day, we went for a walk in the forest. Flores hobbled along the path slowly. His accident had left him with a permanent limp. We reached a spot above a small waterfall and sat on boulders next to the stream surrounded by trees. We talked for a while about his wounded leg. For someone who had risked death, he showed impressive fortitude. I asked if he considered death to be a problem.
âIt is not a problem,â he said, laughing.
âAre you not afraid of death?â
âI am not afraid of death because death comes to me and I am good friends with it. It will decide when to take me.â
âHow did you become friends with it?â
âI became friends with death through all the sufferings I had to endure to become a shaman. In shamanism one has to know death. More than anything else, death is very close to the shaman, to the curandero. So that is why we know death more closely. It accompanies us.â
He said healers risk being attacked by âsorcerersââor shamans intent on causing harmâbut he knew which plants to use to protect himself. âNow I am sincere when I tell you I fear nothing, absolutely nothing. I am well centered in what I am doing with traditional medicine and in relation to anything that could come against me. I want to say that for me, living or dying is one and the same. I am not worried that someone might kill me. If they want to kill me, they can do it, but I do not believe they will. And there has to come a time, which will be signaled, when death comes to me, and I will die. So I am sincere when I say I am afraid of nothing.â
His fearlessness inspired me to ask him if he had any advice regarding how to talk about intelligence in nature.
âSay what you think,â he said. âNothing more.â
That evening Flores conducted an ayahuasca session on the thatched-roof platform by the stream. He was assisted by several apprentices, men and women who worked with him so that they could learn from him. He began by administering the ayahuasca in a shot glass. It was thick and unusually sweet compared to other brews I had tasted. Then he blew out the kerosene lamp and we sat in the dark for a while. I found