A calling from The Heart of the World.

I can’t recall the first time I did English interpretation for my friend Sélemako, I was extremely nervous and anxious for translating his lecture in front of a crowd, it took me a while to handle my emotions and capture the real dimension of what he said, only a few months later I started to understand the depth of the hidden revelation between the lines of his words.

Selémako is a communitarian leader from Koguis, he chose the name Fermín to be known among the non-natives and I was amazed by the fluency of his Spanish, later he told me he is an educated man and he obtained a university degree. Almost every night, he would share a meal with us and sit around the fire to give a speech to visitors coming from all over the world.

“I belong to the Kogui tribe but we are four ethnicities, Koguis, Wiwas, Arhuacos and Kankuamos, taking care of the mother nature and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta that for us, is a sacred place that represents the heart and the lungs of the world.” I found this last sentence very poetic. Then he continued saying that as natives, they respect all beliefs and cultures and that it is not his intention to offend anyone, on the contrary he would like to share the following: “This message doesn’t come from me, it is printed all over Sierra Nevada and comes from the heart of the world.” That is a very beautiful metaphor, -I thought- Again, absolutely astonished given the fact that, building an analogy in a foreign language is not a simple thing to do.

The Earth and its Natural Balance.

The cyclic and harmonic functioning of the Nature is not hidden from us and our distracted eyes; the sun rises and falls every day as the moon, and this daily dance of the moon around the Earth causes the tides bringing the dew that naturally waters the plants during the night, rivers birth in the top of glacial and end encountering the sea. These cycles are evident and everything seems to come to life, grow and perish with the rhythm of these infinite harmonious circles.

"The natural balance of the world rests on this principle: We must give something in return for what we take from the planet. We, natives, ask for permission to mother Earth before taking any of her elements, for instance, before plowing the land to plant a seed or cutting a tree to build a house. Afterwards, we pay back and thank her for what she provided to us with ceremonies, chantings, dancing, meditation and pre-Colombian quartz, that's how we have been maintaining this natural balance stable. Now this balance is weak, animals are disappearing, waters are running dry and the plants are dying. Our elders needed to know the reason why this is happening."

The Language of the Nature.

Almost five centuries ago, was born in Italy a man with a huge interest in almost every kind of science and arts; music, painting, physics, mathematics, astronomy, literature, philosophy. He also had a strong will to defend his ideas and at that time, “philosophy” encompassed all the branches of knowledge in general. He also had a daughter called María. In one of his books, Il Saggiatore (The Assayer) he said:

“Philosophy [nature] is written in that great book whichever is before our eyes -I mean the universe- but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. The book is written in mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.”

Diaethria Neglecta. (Mariposa 89).

This man, father of María Celeste, is one of the most brilliant minds that had ever existed, his name was Galileo Galilei, father of the scientific method, he invented the telescope and observed the sky and the stars during decades until he got blind; his discoveries changed the course of Science. Galileo knew the universe is written with a language of geometrical shapes and numbers and if we want to truly comprehend nature, we must learn its mathematical language and geometrical symbolism. This brought to my mind that morning I spent with Jate Rumaldo; we were sitting next to each other and I drew a spiral on the ground and asked: Jate, what is this? He nodded and said: -That is in the sea shells, the mushrooms and everything around us. –

The Internet of nature.

A couple months ago I was climbing a very steep section of one hill, when I reached the top after almost an hour, I saw from the distance an old Kogui woman staring at a giant old tree and whispering it words, I remained very quiet, barely breathing or moving but as I know very well by experience, Koguis are quite sensitive to their surroundings and before my next blink, she realized that someone was around and disappeared with the grace of a jaguar. What is the language of trees? I questioned. This beautiful scene will be forever in my memories. Is this how the Mamos check out the natural balance of the world?

“We have two snow peaks, the highests of all Sierra Nevada, these mountains are antennas, spiritual antennas that are connected to the sun, the Earth and all the peaks and mountains around the world forming a network in which our elders are in constant connection, they know the language of nature. Under meditation state, they send their consult about the status of the natural balance of the world, six months later with the change of the sun’s position in the sky, they receive an answer back and make an evaluation, that’s how they watch over this balance and then is when they talk about you, younger siblings.”

Sezhankua and Shublue peaks

Aboriginal names of Bolívar and Columbus peaks, the highest coastal mountain range in the world with 5.775 masl.

A Beautiful Woman called Séinekum.

One of these legends that explain how Koguis conceive Earth says that long, long ago it used to be a woman whose father Saintaná transformed her into what we know now as our home planet.

"When Saintaná transformed mother Séinekum on the planet, all the elements were contained inside her body and that's why they are sacred for us. The minerals, calcium, iron, all semi-precious stones, quartz, jades, elements like water, fire, everything is now inside of her body and when you overexploit the natural resources, it is the same than amputating one of her arms, or a leg, or ripping off one of her eyes or flesh from her anatomy and the Mamos are feeling helpless because she is alive and is feeling all this pain. One of our biggest concerns is the decreasing level of the snow, which is the brain of the mother, the mountains are her head. When the snow disappears, the waters will dry and life won't be possible anymore."

This is the moment where the lecture becomes a moving call to unite and join forces with one single purpose, the survival of the planet and therefore, humankind.

“Brothers and Sisters, what are we doing? We must be more connected with Nature; the balance is weak, our mother planet is in pain and sick because her body is incomplete. If we don’t stop, all of us, natives and non-natives will suffer the consequences. When the Mamos are together in Teyuna, they talk about you and say that you can help us to take care of mother nature,together, as brothers and sisters because our father Sun falls over our skin without distinction and we are all sons and daughters from the same mother.”

I am now more than ever convinced that Selémako and the Mamos are right, after all, we are all travelers and neighbors living and wandering throughout the Cosmos in this green and blue palette we call Earth, the only home we have.