Teachings of the Mamos / Kogi people

It was an honor to meet the Mamos yesterday in Ibiza. Ibiza is known for parties and clubs but every day in the North of the island you can meet indigenous, one of the reasons I am spending some time there in an isolated house.

I have learned about the Mamos, the “masters” of the Kogi people of Columbia in the must-watch documentary “The 12”. You can download the movie from “the Ciel foundation” that made it and it’s really incredible and eye-opening.

They spend 15 years in a dark cave when they are born and are not allowed to go out. The 100+ elder you see on the left of the photo is more than a hundred-years old and spent 25 years in a cave.

They shared with us their impressions after they leave the cave.

They were told about the outside world but the shock was profound.

They said the most profound discovery is the lack of freedom humans have imposed on our world.

“A colibri wears all the colors of nature and can fly despite having no regular bird wings. It can fly backwards and fly in a spiral. Like the colibri, we should be free to walk anywhere we want without the need of documents or a passport, there are no borders in nature. Everything should be free for us to eat or share without money or a wallet”. I felt this very strong spending 3 months in the jungle without the need for my phone, my wallet or my passport. I can’t imagine what 15-25 years in a cave must feel like.

“The more you use technology, the less you are aware and learn to use your own, the technology of nature we all have inside”

There are so many things our brains and bodies can do that we do not use, like that incredible healing I received. Their words were a good reminder to meditate, go inside, let go of technology, phones and other devices and learn what we can do, learn to feel again.

Jorge, the non-indigenous in the middle, spent 28 years with the Mamos and was their spokesperson. He speaks spanish and their own language perfectly. He basically became a Mamos. Meeting him was very strong for me as he reminded me of a path I could have taken and did not, staying in the forest and becoming more like the Yawanawà or the Ashaninka I did some work with. I chose another path. I chose to complete one of their advanced trainings then return to the world and share, then build something again. I watched with my boys “District 37” a pretty dumb sci-fi movie where lizard extra-terrestrial landed on the earth and one white journalist drank something from them and became a lizard. Despite how boring was the movie that was quite a strong message to not do the same and no matter how I admire the indigenous and learn from them I should remember I was born in a city and the modern world is my home, not the jungle, which is sadly disappearing fast anyway. I hope we preserve the indigenous, what’s left of nature and their way of life.

Jorge hugged me for a long time then did a weird handshake alternating one of his fingers with one of mine and we connected deeply. I have so much respect for him becoming the spokesperson of these mamos and learning their ways for 28 years, even though it is not the path I have chosen. I feel like visiting them.

They said they came to Ibiza to connect with us and share their constant work.

“You do not see it but we are constantly working with the immaterial, what your eyes cannot see, and helping nature recover from all the bad things humans are doing”

They all have this strange object in their hands and constantly move the wood stick on it then put it in their mouth. They briefly explained it was for them to connect to the 4 elements, water, fire, air and the earth. They pray and constantly “fix” things with their minds and spirit.

They say for the last 500 years since modern technology was invented we have been focusing too much on the material, invented property, individualism and put a price on everything. We need to move out of this and go back to sharing, protecting nature, live in nature and in communities in harmony.

“We turned what is sacred into frivolities”

Their mission is to “restore the balance of the Earth”, nothing less ambitious. They want to recover 12 sacred sites that have been devastated by modern society in the next 4 years and are calling for our help. The group that gathered around them was very eager to help, not sure how but I hope it happens.

We are seeing all the possible signs from the Earth and nature that we went too far with covid, volcanos erupting, hurricanes always stronger, failure of our current financial models with inflation and collapse of the stock markets. It seems everyone sees it and predicts the worst in the years to come.

The Mamos are convinced they cannot accomplish their mission without our help and it should be a collaboration between indigenous and men and women from the modern world, helping them instead of destroying them and their knowledge. It should be a mix of ancient and modern technology too.

It’s timely that Tim Ferris and the meditator master Jack Kornfield posted a conversations about “how to live in a society drenched in despair and anxiety”.

In addition to the extraordinary hope and energy I felt meeting the Mamos, I left and then dreamt about them with a hope that we will find a new way.

We need to see the positives of the current state of the world, the urgent need to act and reconnect with the Earth and the indigenous. Their message is peaceful and optimistic, they are calling us to help them, as the other tribes I have been working with for the past 5 years.

Like most of us, I am not sure what to do and how to help, but I have a feeling the answer will come soon at the same time as more “warnings” such as COVID force us to change the way we all live.