Wizard of the Upper Amazon: The Story of Manuel Cordova-Rios

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful and enthralling story
Review: An authentic account from the early twentieth centry of villiage life in the Amazon jungle. Told in a simple and direct manner, one is captivated by the sophisticated and complete social life of the Indian people. Since it is a first hand account , non-anthropological, one gets a glimpse of a way of life rich in religious, cultural and human acheivement. It offers insights into the way of life of the Huni Kui people, and into the Western way of life, both complete and wonderful in their own right, but utterly seperate. The civilization of the Huni Kui people is hard to relate to the animalistic, instinctual slavery of the greed driven capitalist world, where everything is reduced to its financial worth, as oppossed to its intrinsic value. Although the Huni Kui people are ultimately pragmatic about the world they live in, their intellectual integrity allows for recognition of the interdependence of all life. This is explored in the book through enjoyable tales of hunting trips, religious ceremonies and villiage incidents, revealing a taste of the satisfaction of an integrated way of life, apart from the materialistic fantasies engaged in by the machinistic,beurocratic Western worldview.

Rating:
Summary: Read it...
Review: If you are interested in shamanic subjects & are reading people like John Perkins and Carlos Castaneda, then you will want to read this.... which pre-dates those. This is a story not an essay or direct teaching, but understandings are there for the taking. I come away from this book (read in one day) appreciative but also with a vague wondering if the story is exactly as it seems... did it really happen? does it matter if it really happened?