Shamans of the Amazon

A fascinating account of and Amazonian people and their battle to protect their ancestral territories. Interestingly they use ayahuasca (a brew of traditional shamanic medicine plants) to know what they need to do next. Ayahuasca contains the neurotransmitter DMT, a chemical which our brains are currently chronically short of. DMT plays an important role in our perceptual abilities (see page 149 'Left in the Dark' by Tony Wright).

Figs contain particularly abundant amounts of fruit biochemicals called flavonoids which boost the levels of neurotransmitters in our brains. These biochemicals make our brains work better and produce a feel-good effect. Furthermore, in ancient times they triggered an effect whereby the pineal gland produced more of its own hormones. This changed the way our DNA was read so that our brains grew bigger and our sense of conscious awareness expanded. This may be the underlying reason why the tree has religious significance and is considered in some traditions to be the 'Tree of Life'. In fact the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha was said to be sitting when he was enlightened or 'awakened' was a banyan fig tree. The trees such as fig trees that made the most attractive fruit, that made the early humans feel good, would have been eaten more and their seeds more widely distributed, increasing the prevalence of these trees. This is the symbiotic relationship between humans and fruit trees, a connection we still sense today.