BOOK REVIEW SHAMANS, AYAHUASCA, AND HEALING Author: Santiago López-Pavillard From the reader report by: Antônio R. Esteves Chamanes, ayahuasca y sanación, by the Spanish Santiago López-Pavillard, is the result of more than a decade of studies seeking to bring together shamanic practices and the anthropological thinking. The processes that are triggered under the effect of ayahuasca could be described as a moment of rupture with all that is known, and bring up a new reorganization of the world. In other words, the participant gets empowered in their own life, and timidly begins to take charge of themselves. It is a holistic view of the world that leads to a greater ecological awareness, and to the need to live in harmony with the environment. The book also introduces a complex aspect of our society, namely the coexistence of different rationalities that obey different perceptions of reality. For this, the set of notions such as health/ healing, religion/spirituality, or religious beliefs should be clearly distinguished from spiritual knowledge, from which we should try to understand how and why the animistic concepts are gradually introduced in the Western society. Thus, we consider the book in question worthy of being disseminated in Brazil. This is justified both for its scientific rigor, which puts into question the very concept of science in the Western world, and which takes the theme of ayahuasca out of the self-help and religion sections, where not very scientifically serious titles proliferate, and also because of the historical links of the theme with the Brazilian culture.
PUBLISHED IN NEW SPANISH BOOKS BR
66 · |
