Altered minds

 

We've only been here a few months, but I've already been invited to a handful of consciousness expanding events. I don't know if it is part of the broader Brazilian culture, or more specific to this island, but I have witnessed the fruits of nature being used to feed more than just the body. The most tame of the substances is probably cacao, which will give you a lot of energy; the strongest is probably ayahuasca, which may give you a new life. I went to a gathering this weekend that was somewhere in the middle. We used a locally grown fungus and found comfortable places to go where the medicine took us. I went into the trees and watched each one move in it's own way and within each tree I saw each leaf move in its own way, and the movement was ordered and chaotic and timeless and fleeting. Then I went to the ocean and saw the water form into waves, each immutable, with its own shape and power and grace and when the waves broke they were gone and the water went back into the sea. I hope to remember the things I learned and I hope they planted a seed in me, that will grow into a person who is a little less judge-y and a little more free.