The World As You Dream It - John Perkins

The World As You Dream It is not a book I would ordinarily pick up off the shelf. I read it because it was on the reading list for the trip to Ecuador and I enjoyed the author's earlier book Confessions of an Economic Hitman. This book is very different. It details the time Perkins spent living with the Shuar tribe in Ecuador. He explores the dream culture of the native people and how they live in harmony with their environment. Many of the customs of sacred rituals, healing ceremonies and other ancient arts are quite similar to what I experienced with the Ashuar on my trip.

Perkins has become very involved with the old world ways of healing and living in harmony with your environment because he was partly responsible for the damage many of the indigenous people in this part of the world have suffered. In his past life he was part of a large US company that exploited government contracts to strip the land and indenture the people of countries across the world in the name of economic progress. Whether you agree with his point of view or not, this book is still a compelling look into the lives of people that are very different from us. Perkins can be overly dramatic in his descriptions of some of the ceremonies, especially anything that involves a hallucinogenic plant, but he is a true believer and gets as close as any white person to the truth of how these people live. There is no doubt we could learn a lot from what most people in the north would call weird at best and "witch doctoring" at worst.