Ñawi
Ñawi [nya-wi] is the literal translation of “eye” in Quechua, however the meaning of the term goes beyond that, it also means to look and even speaks of another vision of the world. It is a pre-Hispanic Andean vision that dates back to the ancient civilization of Caral (pre-Inca, 5000 years old, the oldest city in America) where offerings woven in the form of eyes were found, rhombuses called ñawi. These offerings are a symbol of spiritual power, because to be able to “see” or the path of vision in Andean religiosity, is protection and union to God and truth.
Precisely through the ancestral knowledge of the use of Master Plants such as Ayahuasca or Wachuma (San Pedro) and others we understand in this path of Sinchi Runa, that the search for vision is inherent to the original cultures of America, not only in the Andean-Amazonian area where Ayahuasca comes from, but also in Mesoamerican Mayas where the Jaguar Priest, the “Chilam Balam”, prophesied from atop the pyramid in states of trance or communication with the infraworld, telling of the immeasurable, the world of the spirits of masters and gods; seeking a gateway to heaven through the use of entheogens.
Entheos translates into English as “inspired” or “possessed”, and is the root of “to exist”, to enter into a frequency that lives within us of openness and realization. The second half of the word, gens, means “to become”, to be yourself; that is to say to reach the state that allows you to BE. Therefore, entheogen refers to a substance that makes someone feel in an expanded state, to become oneself in all one’s extensions, motivated to experience feelings of intuition and inspiration, within a religious or spiritual context. The word Entheos, of Greek origin, reminds us that the same search for SEEING or BEING (perhaps in order to “SEE”, it is necessary to BE, to exist) that occurs in America, using substances derived from plants, is also present with elsewhere in the East and at some point in the pre-Christian Europe of the Celts and Vikings through plants, technologies and other religious contexts (that in this case the word “religion” can be defined as the yoga of union to God).
The search for Vision, that window to heaven, self-knowledge, understanding of the self and the universe that is human spirituality, is given not only through plants or entheogens, but through hermeneutic disciplines, such as Jyotish (astrology) of the vedas, that search for truth and seek to draw back the veils of our ignorance and darkness.
Sinchi Runa was born among many other searches to establish a real relationship with plant medicine. We have sought through all these years to find the truth of the Dharma of Plants such as Ayahuasca and unite it to ours, in the face of the immense opportunity that plants mean as a medicine of the soul that touches the most intimate and complex of the human being. Medicine that does not only heal the pain of addiction or the prisons of various traumas and fears but goes beyond, on a path of healing by opening the search for SEEING through the BEING, the Ñawi, by establishing a new freer relationship with perception of our circumstances, by expanding our consciousness; assuming a new self-observer of “reality” (change of perspective) developing a self-analysis and taking us to the opportunity to be aware of the immensity of our opportunity as human beings. We seek to bring this medicine of the soul to its real relationship with the search for knowledge of the self, joining with disciplines such as meditation, and making silence and introspection the tools of our retreats.
From this perspective we are experiencing very good results working on retreats with ‘Vipassana’ (Pali) / ‘Vipaśyanā’ (Sanskrit) meditation techniques. This meditation technique can be translated as ‘true seeing’, ‘seeing with clarity’, ‘seeing with awareness’, or ‘seeing reality as it is’. This practice develops a deep, experiential understanding of the impermanence of all phenomena and also brings to the surface and dissolves deep-seated complexes and tensions. The technique encourages the development of introspection and must continue as a way of life so that its effects are lasting and can truly awaken the dormant wisdom of the SELF, so that the direct experience lived in the Ayahuasca ceremony accompanies us in understanding the pain, reaction and attachment that leads to suffering. The opportunity of Ayahuasca is a window into consciousness but it needs work and the discipline of the meditator, of the seeker of consciousness, to be able to take effect and endure the healing. The Master Plants are entities of love and compassion and they are here to give opportunity and light, but in that same compassion they cannot do our work for us.
The preparation in meditation is a practice of direct experience, and in this it coincides with the work with plants. Based also on leaving mental or abstract thinking or “opening the heart”, the meditator-participant learns to seek to “SEE” (or “experience”) their reality “as it is”, aware of the filters of the mind and its reactions. The objective is the establishment of mindfulness, where the meditator-participant in the work with Ayahuasca at Sinchi Runa can find their center, to develop the observation of the experience and reach the state of learning to learn from the experience. Learning to let go of attachments, reactions and sufferings, through an understanding of the impermanence of any experience, learning from one’s own reaction by living in an expanded state of the Ayahuasca session in a sacred context. So our work with the Master Plants we find outselves in the context of Yoga. Of a serious work of union with God and the BEING in meditation and silence. The fundamental role, the essence of the Master Plants, is to give us as humanity the opportunity to remove the veils of our gaze to be able to see ourselves or appreciate our circumstances from a perspective free of conditioning of suffering – ñawi.
Understanding this, for quite some time now we have joined various serious techniques of consciousness technologies such as Vipassana meditation, Yoga, mantras and fire ceremonies into our work on short retreats of seven days or longer, all the way up to treatments of three months or more. All this in contexts of silence and sattvic or vegetarian food. We deeply respect the Amazonian knowledge, the wisdom and truth of the old masters lost in the jungles, which hardly exist anymore in these bodies. We respect all sources of so-called “neo shamanism” and its pursuit when it is pure. But we have sadly also seen that sometimes the medicine is confused with folklore or cultural stereotypes, oftentimes absurd or manipulative with half-truths, confusing the cultural context with what is transcendental into the opportunity. We feel that it is impossible to see ourselves in the noise of these or similar manifestations.
We have understood that this is a sacred opportunity and therefore needs preparation, discipline, silence and the help of technologies of consciousness developed in other serious and true spiritual contexts, which really coincide with the intention to come out of the darkness and see. To escape from rational and abstract thinking to open consciousness and understanding through direct experience. We believe nothing less than that the ceremonies or the contexts of Ayahuasca need the seriousness of a true search and silence in the preparation, which allows the being to begin to really hear and see. All our effort, all the dedication and intention focused on seeking to open the eyes, of Ñawi.
We feel that we are reaching the maturity of our work, moving away from any current of improvisation, superficiality and ease, and disrespect to humanity and its opportunity. Understanding the seriousness of the opportunity and trying to transmit it to our students and participants: The need for a constant work of mental discipline and meditation combined with the experience with plants, trying not to fall into the illusion of ease, because the plant can open the opportunity but we need to persevere through meditation, yoga, yapas (meditation with mantras) to consolidate the healing and live the opportunity of humility, silence and righteousness as protection against the confusion and suffering that we perceive.
In this new cycle of the year that begins we raise vows that in the midst of this confusion and dehumanization that engulfs us at this time on earth we can find the hope to see ourselves within all, that we escape the mirages that this order of things has allowed. We believe that the role of the master plants is to unveil our opportunity on earth and create a spring, a birth as Ñawi where seeing with depth and consciousness is part of this new humanity connected to the truth of itself and therefore the earth, God and the universe.
