John Perkins, American environmentalist and shamanic scholar, tells the story
of a conversation with a native shaman while he visited the Amazon. One day by a
river he was speaking with the shaman he addressed as Don Alberto about the sad condition
of the world and the difficulty of change.
"The world is as you dream it," he said at last.
He walked to the edge of the water. "Your people dreamed of huge factories,
tall buildings, as many cars as there are raindrops in this river. Now you begin
to see that your dream is a nightmare."
He bent to pick up a stone. "The problem is your country is like this pebble."
He threw it far out into the river. "Everything you do ripples across the Mother."
I went to stand next to him. "I've seen the line where the destruction ends
and the jungle begins." I thought about my own selfish life, the negative dreams
I had given my energy to. "It's a terrible thing. We have forced our greed into
your world."
This brought an unexpected chuckle. "Yes," he said. He peered deep into
my eyes. "But you want it to be be different. Now you must learn to change.
Perhaps that's why you've come, to learn from us."
"How can I change, Don Alberto? How can my people change this terrible situation
we've created?"
His eyes held mine once again. "That's simple," he replied. "All
you have to do is change the dream."
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Source: Excerpted from The World is as You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes, by John Perkins (http://www.dreamchange.org). 1994 Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont.