One of the major lessons from the indigenous worldview is to always be present to how we are in right relationship—with one another, our families and friends, our communities, and also Mother Earth and all of nature. And to ensure our relationships stay healthy, strong, and a living and breathing exchange of energy. This lesson of living with, “All my relations” is simple on the surface, but yet living it is such a deep and powerful daily practice and lesson and can be incredibly challenging. I think it is such an important lesson that needs almost a daily reminder of its significance and importance to all our lives.

Our personal perception clouds the way we interpret reality, how we interpret others’ behavior, confuses how we perceive communications of all sort, muddles how we interpret the intentions of others, and generally blinds us from seeing life clearly.

Sometimes it feels as if we are literally going mad—going crazy, losing all sense of “self” as we know it. Yet sometimes we really do need to come apart before we can come back together again.

Over time, there seems to be an ever-increasing popularity in ayahuasca, and as a result an increase in the numbers of people who seem to fetishize ayahuasca culture and ayahuasca ceremonies. By fetishization, I am referring to people posting pictures of themselves wearing ceremony clothes on Instagram and Facebook, the ways in which ayahuasca is talked about in online discussion groups, and how people think about talk about ayahuasca in general.

“Despair… is the only cure for illusion. Without despair we cannot transfer our allegiance to reality—it’s a kind of mourning period for our fantasies. Some people do not survive this despair, but no major change within a person can occur without it. “

–Philip Slater