# Transcript: The culture of life of Native Americans and ours

## Description

Join us as we explore the ideals and values of indigenous culture, comparing them with our own culture and existence, while also highlighting our increasingly shallow interests and lifestyles often driven by mass media.



Who is Mnislav Zelený?



Mnislav Zelený is a Czech ethnologist, writer, and publicist. His main focus is on the indigenous tribes of Latin America, especially the Amazon. Besides cultural anthropology, he is also interested in archaeology, history, and current conditions in South American countries, where he has undertaken numerous exploratory and research trips, during which he took many photographs. While living among the indigenous people in 1989, he was adopted into the Jawalapiti tribe and received the indigenous name Atapana (meaning Leaf of the green palm in Czech), which he uses as part of his name in his publications. From 1996 to 2001, he served as the ambassador of the Czech Republic to Colombia and Ecuador.

## Transcript

**[00:00:00]** www.hradeckesluzby.cz

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**[00:03:19]** It is a great honor that you made time for us

**[00:03:22]** and that you'll spend some time with us and tell us

**[00:03:25]** about your travels and what you saw there.

**[00:03:28]** So it's yours. Thank you very much.

**[00:03:31]** Thanks for the invitation.

**[00:03:34]** And for the first time in my life, I am speaking

**[00:03:37]** in such a sanctuary that we have created.

**[00:03:40]** A sanctuary of consumption, production, spending.

**[00:03:43]** A sanctuary of consumption, production, spending.

**[00:03:46]** Because in it we see the beauty of our life.

**[00:03:49]** Because in it we see how life should be lived.

**[00:03:52]** This is how we bow to a new deity.

**[00:03:55]** This is how we bow to a new deity.

**[00:03:58]** The deity of prosperity.

**[00:04:01]** And we have no idea that any piece that is here,

**[00:04:04]** And we have no idea that any piece that is here,

**[00:04:07]** which we take so automatically,

**[00:04:10]** had to come from somewhere.

**[00:04:13]** It had to come from somewhere.

**[00:04:16]** It obviously came from nature.

**[00:04:19]** From the resources we greedily plunder

**[00:04:22]** while smiling, thinking how beautifully we live.

**[00:04:25]** while smiling, thinking how beautifully we live.

**[00:04:28]** Sometimes I'm accused of not liking our civilization.

**[00:04:31]** Sometimes I'm accused of not liking our civilization.

**[00:04:34]** That's not true, dear friends.

**[00:04:37]** First of all, I am a great patriot.

**[00:04:40]** I am a proud Czech, my children, my grandchildren are already patriots.

**[00:04:43]** They wouldn't let anyone touch Charles IV.

**[00:04:46]** They wouldn't let anyone touch Charles IV.

**[00:04:49]** But I am an admirer of what our civilization has achieved.

**[00:04:52]** But I am an admirer of what our civilization has achieved.

**[00:04:55]** Art, music, architecture, painting.

**[00:04:58]** Art, music, architecture, painting.

**[00:05:01]** But of course, I also see the dark side

**[00:05:04]** and I've been trying to criticize it for about 30 years now.

**[00:05:07]** and I've been trying to criticize it for about 30 years now.

**[00:05:10]** Because during my stays among the Indians in that other world,

**[00:05:13]** Because during my stays among the Indians in that other world,

**[00:05:16]** I understood with my own eyes, from my own experience,

**[00:05:19]** not something secondhand,

**[00:05:22]** That life on this earth can be different.

**[00:05:25]** That life on this earth can be different.

**[00:05:28]** You can live in connection with Mother Nature,

**[00:05:31]** You can live in connection with Mother Nature,

**[00:05:34]** from whom we came. We are children of Mother Nature,

**[00:05:37]** and we must not forget her.

**[00:05:40]** and we must not forget her.

**[00:05:43]** Because if we forget, she will forget us.

**[00:05:46]** Because if we forget, she will forget us.

**[00:05:49]** I actually divide all history into two major periods.

**[00:05:52]** I actually divide all history into two major periods.

**[00:05:55]** I actually divide all history into two major periods.

**[00:05:58]** We are used to dividing it into the slave era,

**[00:06:01]** feudal times, and so on.

**[00:06:04]** No, there are two basic periods

**[00:06:07]** – pre-accumulation and accumulation.

**[00:06:10]** – pre-accumulation and accumulation.

**[00:06:13]** The pre-accumulation period is exactly that of

**[00:06:16]** tribal communities,

**[00:06:19]** who live

**[00:06:22]** in harmony with Mother Nature and do not accumulate.

**[00:06:25]** They don’t produce. They produce only for themselves.

**[00:06:29]** But they don’t accumulate possessions.

**[00:06:32]** And thanks to the celebrated Neolithic revolution,

**[00:06:37]** which began in agriculture,

**[00:06:40]** where production increased,

**[00:06:43]** so that goods could be accumulated and traded,

**[00:06:46]** our traits

**[00:06:49]** already began to form then.

**[00:06:52]** To accumulate possessions.

**[00:06:55]** To accumulate possessions, to hoard, to hoard,

**[00:06:58]** and it’s practically in our genes.

**[00:07:01]** And the Indians don’t have that.

**[00:07:04]** And that’s why they behave differently,

**[00:07:10]** speak differently,

**[00:07:13]** and don’t assert themselves.

**[00:07:16]** Dear friends, we keep trying

**[00:07:19]** to assert ourselves, our civilization, everything.

**[00:07:22]** They don’t assert themselves.

**[00:07:28]** They don't try to show off anywhere.

**[00:07:31]** Let's take show business, for example.

**[00:07:34]** No Indian at all.

**[00:07:37]** There are black or white people there.

**[00:07:40]** Politics? No.

**[00:07:43]** Sports? No.

**[00:07:46]** Indians aren't interested in those things.

**[00:07:49]** What interests an Indian?

**[00:07:52]** He's interested where he's rooted.

**[00:07:55]** Where he's rooted.

**[00:07:58]** Where the land lives.

**[00:08:01]** We are like big tourists,

**[00:08:04]** we want to, it's beautiful,

**[00:08:07]** to see the whole world.

**[00:08:10]** Once there, there, this, Alaska,

**[00:08:13]** we stay a little, 14 days, 3 weeks,

**[00:08:17]** and check off another experience.

**[00:08:20]** We collect experiences.

**[00:08:23]** But, dear friends, we have no chance

**[00:08:26]** to truly understand that land.

**[00:08:29]** An Indian isn't interested

**[00:08:32]** in the jungle 100 kilometers away.

**[00:08:35]** He's not interested in us, in other cultures.

**[00:08:38]** He simply tries to understand

**[00:08:42]** the natural laws.

**[00:08:45]** And especially the shaman.

**[00:08:48]** When I arrived there,

**[00:08:51]** I almost never saw the shaman.

**[00:08:54]** He told me, so what?

**[00:08:57]** He wanders in the jungle. Always.

**[00:09:00]** Especially at night.

**[00:09:03]** His father and great-grandfather have been wandering too.

**[00:09:06]** For thousands of years they've wandered

**[00:09:09]** over, I don't know, a hundred square kilometers.

**[00:09:12]** And we think, what nonsense is that?

**[00:09:15]** Right? No.

**[00:09:18]** He wants to understand the laws,

**[00:09:21]** how the ant behaves, when a butterfly hatches,

**[00:09:24]** and he discovers the connections and then

**[00:09:27]** of course he can

**[00:09:30]** so-called doing, for example, some kind of,

**[00:09:33]** how shall we say, miracles.

**[00:09:36]** Because he knows everything deeply.

**[00:09:39]** He is rooted.

**[00:09:42]** Rooted in that land.

**[00:09:45]** And I would use

**[00:09:48]** from our past.

**[00:09:51]** Just like our farmers

**[00:09:54]** are rooted in their land.

**[00:09:57]** Their land, which they inherit,

**[00:10:00]** is something else.

**[00:10:00]** Something similar to what the Indians have, a relationship to Mother Nature.

**[00:10:09]** We try to constantly organize nature,

**[00:10:16]** we try to dominate it, we try to use it, not enjoy it.

**[00:10:22]** One time we do land reclamation, another time we create swamps,

**[00:10:26]** and all the time we organize Mother Nature to suit us.

**[00:10:33]** But dear friends, it should be the other way around.

**[00:10:36]** We should behave so that we suit nature.

**[00:10:41]** Not the other way around. That’s what the Indian does.

**[00:10:45]** It wouldn’t occur to an Indian to change something about nature.

**[00:10:50]** He behaves according to natural laws.

**[00:10:56]** And we wrote those laws down on paper.

**[00:11:00]** But that’s misleading. We wrote them to suit us.

**[00:11:06]** And still, dear friends, we keep complaining about nature.

**[00:11:11]** When it rains, we complain it rains. When it’s hot, we complain it’s hot.

**[00:11:16]** When it’s cold, we complain it’s cold. We keep complaining all the time.

**[00:11:21]** And we are never satisfied with what exists. What is.

**[00:11:26]** I remember when I was last at Javal Pity’s,

**[00:11:31]** they live in huge malocas. They are like cones, tall.

**[00:11:37]** 9 meters high, 30 meters long, housing an entire nuclear,

**[00:11:41]** not an entire nuclear, several nuclear families, several extended families, large families.

**[00:11:47]** And it’s organized, yes, it is organized.

**[00:12:01]** Let everything run freely, and I remember when I slept there,

**[00:12:08]** so at night it’s cold. We are in the tropics and at night it’s cold.

**[00:12:13]** I wore pants, before that a jacket and a sweater and a blanket, and I was shivering from the cold.

**[00:12:20]** And now imagine the morning, there are no windows.

**[00:12:26]** The roof goes all the way to the ground, made of sapé grass.

**[00:12:31]** And there are only small holes covered with skin or something.

**[00:12:37]** And every morning, dear friends, started with,

**[00:12:42]** somewhere around 6 o’clock, because it follows the sun’s cycle,

**[00:12:49]** Someone started singing, then another, and another.

**[00:12:58]** And now from all sides, simply singing sounded.

**[00:13:03]** From the happiness of being born another day.

**[00:13:07]** Dear friends, we are lucky to see the sun rise here in these cities,

**[00:13:13]** where we are clogged with all kinds of subways, trams, noise, and storms.

**[00:13:20]** Now imagine someone opened that hatch,

**[00:13:26]** and suddenly the sunlight, those rays, flew straight to Aritan, into his hammock, into his net.

**[00:13:35]** Their architecture is built subordinated to the sun.

**[00:13:41]** That's how it is in nature.

**[00:13:43]** Not like us, who just get some land on the cadastre,

**[00:13:47]** build a house, and no one cares about the north orientation,

**[00:13:52]** as long as we have a house.

**[00:13:54]** No, everything there is connected.

**[00:13:58]** So the sun rays.

**[00:14:00]** And Aritana got up completely naked.

**[00:14:05]** I, buried, was also shivering.

**[00:14:09]** He came to me, also shivering, of course from the cold,

**[00:14:13]** and said to me,

**[00:14:15]** Bondiá and ta pana Cathery o verdáje,

**[00:14:19]** good day,

**[00:14:21]** and ta pano, it's cold, isn't it?

**[00:14:25]** And?

**[00:14:27]** Period.

**[00:14:29]** Period.

**[00:14:31]** He didn't complain, damn it, it's freezing cold.

**[00:14:35]** No, it's just cold and I accept it.

**[00:14:38]** At noon, it was hot, around 40,

**[00:14:41]** and I met Aritana and he said,

**[00:14:45]** and ta pana, ke kentě verdádě, it's hot, isn't it?

**[00:14:49]** And period.

**[00:14:51]** Nothing more.

**[00:14:53]** Yes, just in these little things,

**[00:14:56]** in these little things we see,

**[00:14:58]** how we constantly complain.

**[00:15:02]** And it is precisely by the shine

**[00:15:06]** of our products,

**[00:15:09]** which are truly fantastic,

**[00:15:12]** that the shine tries to convince us,

**[00:15:16]** that everything is right this way,

**[00:15:19]** that the shine actually shows us,

**[00:15:22]** how mighty we are, how strong we are,

**[00:15:25]** how we are the rulers of this land.

**[00:15:28]** Dear friends, we are not rulers of this land.

**[00:15:32]** We are little worms,

**[00:15:35]** crawling somewhere near the ground.

**[00:15:39]** We are not rulers,

**[00:15:41]** but we try to decide

**[00:15:45]** how things will be here.

**[00:15:47]** For an Indian, an ant,

**[00:15:50]** or a hairy tarantula,

**[00:15:53]** has the same value as a human life, dear friends.

**[00:15:57]** When I first woke up at Esehu

**[00:16:00]** on the Madre de Dios river in the Amazon part of Peru,

**[00:16:05]** and woke up in that hut,

**[00:16:07]** I saw above me, in the palm leaves,

**[00:16:11]** a dozen hairy tarantulas,

**[00:16:14]** hanging above me.

**[00:16:16]** We people shudder and say,

**[00:16:19]** what a disgusting animal.

**[00:16:22]** We just have to destroy it.

**[00:16:24]** What does an Indian do?

**[00:16:26]** A girl came and swept them out of the house.

**[00:16:30]** No one thought to just stomp them.

**[00:16:34]** I can totally see you, forgive me.

**[00:16:37]** It's a nasty, disgusting animal,

**[00:16:39]** that should bother my life.

**[00:16:42]** No.

**[00:16:46]** My grandmother would say,

**[00:16:48]** watch out, we used to have similar things.

**[00:16:51]** My grandmother would say,

**[00:16:53]** but since the spider is also God's creation,

**[00:16:56]** she always swept it out

**[00:17:00]** and threw it out the window.

**[00:17:03]** She never killed it.

**[00:17:05]** In the evening the tarantulas crawl back,

**[00:17:08]** the next day they are swept out again,

**[00:17:10]** and so it goes every day,

**[00:17:12]** for hundreds and thousands of years.

**[00:17:16]** It has the same value.

**[00:17:18]** It has some purpose here.

**[00:17:20]** We don't even know what its purpose is here,

**[00:17:23]** but it has a purpose here.

**[00:17:25]** It originated here.

**[00:17:28]** I remember when I was a kid in Venezuela,

**[00:17:33]** I talked with a man,

**[00:17:36]** his name was Agnáty,

**[00:17:38]** and he told me

**[00:17:40]** about their coming-of-age rituals.

**[00:17:47]** That's a whole chapter on its own, dear friends.

**[00:17:51]** A coming-of-age ritual,

**[00:17:53]** is something we've thrown onto the dustbin of history.

**[00:17:59]** It's seen as barbaric, with bloodshed,

**[00:18:02]** so the young man or woman feels pain.

**[00:18:05]** No, we have to pamper our children,

**[00:18:09]** we have to clear their path into life,

**[00:18:12]** we have to help them.

**[00:18:16]** Dear friends, India does not.

**[00:18:19]** India is tough on its children,

**[00:18:21]** you could say harsh, strict.

**[00:18:24]** Because life is tough,

**[00:18:27]** the mother doesn't mess around,

**[00:18:35]** one mistake

**[00:18:37]** and you step badly somewhere,

**[00:18:40]** so the connection with coming-of-age rituals is important.

**[00:18:50]** Because the pain we avoid,

**[00:18:55]** we take medicine for, and that's bad, dear friends.

**[00:18:59]** I will often say things here,

**[00:19:01]** that you won't like,

**[00:19:03]** or that are considered wrong by our culture,

**[00:19:08]** but if we think about it,

**[00:19:11]** if you take painkillers,

**[00:19:13]** you don't feel pain, but then you don't know

**[00:19:15]** if something is really wrong with your body or not.

**[00:19:19]** We have to endure pain,

**[00:19:21]** and we have to teach children to do that.

**[00:19:24]** To endure pain.

**[00:19:26]** Among Indians, it starts at five years old,

**[00:19:28]** they get used to pain.

**[00:19:31]** I started doing that with my grandchildren,

**[00:19:34]** I even started whipping them with nettles,

**[00:19:37]** even though my daughter didn't see it very well at first,

**[00:19:40]** but she got used to it over time.

**[00:19:43]** And the grandsons and the granddaughter,

**[00:19:45]** she already crushes the nettle.

**[00:19:49]** Then she started poking me with spring pins,

**[00:19:53]** so they could see blood.

**[00:19:56]** And there is the process of that transition...

**[00:20:00]** It's a preparation for adulthood, and everyone has to go through

**[00:20:08]** the spiritual part and the physical part,

**[00:20:13]** because the world is made of both.

**[00:20:16]** Not just flesh, but also the soul.

**[00:20:20]** By the way, I will often jump around because these are wordplays.

**[00:20:26]** What is important for Indians?

**[00:20:28]** For us, what is visible is important,

**[00:20:31]** because we mainly rely on what the eyes can see, the material.

**[00:20:37]** For Indians, it's not like that.

**[00:20:40]** For Indians, what is invisible is important, friends.

**[00:20:45]** When the world was created by the creator Pacha Kamak,

**[00:20:50]** after he made the world,

**[00:20:52]** he invited a woman and a man to him the next day,

**[00:20:57]** to divide the world between them.

**[00:20:59]** The woman got up earlier because men are always a bit lazier in the morning,

**[00:21:04]** so she was first to him.

**[00:21:07]** He showed her the world, the animals and the young ones,

**[00:21:13]** and she was thrilled, saying,

**[00:21:15]** I want them, I want to pet them, I want to raise them.

**[00:21:18]** He showed her the mountains, saying,

**[00:21:20]** she was excited, he gave her the mountains,

**[00:21:23]** she saw beautiful rivers, he gave her the rivers, the plants,

**[00:21:26]** he gave her everything.

**[00:21:29]** He gave her the whole world.

**[00:21:33]** Then the man came and said,

**[00:21:35]** listen, you've already given everything away, woman,

**[00:21:38]** and nothing is left for me?

**[00:21:41]** He said, listen,

**[00:21:44]** what's left for you,

**[00:21:47]** are things that are much more important.

**[00:21:50]** He said, like what?

**[00:21:52]** Those that are not visible.

**[00:21:55]** Relationships, sex,

**[00:21:58]** love, smile,

**[00:22:01]** thoughts, healing,

**[00:22:04]** future, that's the strong part,

**[00:22:07]** that's the important part,

**[00:22:10]** experience, knowledge,

**[00:22:14]** and that's how they divided the world.

**[00:22:19]** And so every rite of passage,

**[00:22:23]** that prepares you for adulthood,

**[00:22:26]** includes your part.

**[00:22:29]** The spiritual part,

**[00:22:32]** which is actually the relationship with nature.

**[00:22:36]** Because nature is the deity.

**[00:22:39]** So the child must get to know it,

**[00:22:44]** must connect, must tune in.

**[00:22:48]** At ten, twelve, thirteen years old,

**[00:22:51]** they go into deprivation,

**[00:22:54]** to some isolated place in the jungle or on a hill.

**[00:22:57]** There they sit cross-legged and wait.

**[00:23:01]** They don't eat or drink.

**[00:23:04]** What do you think they are waiting for?

**[00:23:07]** What do you think they are waiting for, folks?

**[00:23:11]** They wait for nature to speak to them.

**[00:23:20]** And because they haven't eaten or drunk,

**[00:23:26]** what happens to their senses?

**[00:23:29]** Their senses sharpen.

**[00:23:32]** Their senses sharpen and they hear sounds,

**[00:23:36]** they wouldn't have heard before.

**[00:23:38]** And you can try this yourselves.

**[00:23:40]** When you're on vacation somewhere in the forest or somewhere,

**[00:23:43]** after a few days without eating or drinking,

**[00:23:47]** you'll hear sounds in the forest,

**[00:23:51]** you hadn't heard before.

**[00:23:53]** And they wait for some sign.

**[00:23:57]** We could say a sign from above.

**[00:24:02]** Some bird or the whisper of an animal,

**[00:24:07]** or a falling leaf or a drop of water.

**[00:24:10]** And that calls to them.

**[00:24:13]** And that becomes their spiritual protector.

**[00:24:16]** They have actually connected,

**[00:24:19]** linked with nature.

**[00:24:23]** And I try to bring it back to us,

**[00:24:29]** so I often stayed at the cottage with my grandchildren,

**[00:24:34]** and I was glad they realized that,

**[00:24:38]** they didn't walk on the path,

**[00:24:41]** but pushed through the bushes,

**[00:24:43]** pushed through broken wood,

**[00:24:47]** or waded in the stream.

**[00:24:50]** Because on a straight path, you never encounter anything.

**[00:24:54]** On a straight path without obstacles,

**[00:24:58]** you don't reach any goal.

**[00:25:01]** He struggled and I was glad he got pricked by thorns.

**[00:25:07]** And then one day I saw the wonder,

**[00:25:11]** when he was about to catch a lizard

**[00:25:15]** or a grasshopper.

**[00:25:18]** He held out his hand and the grasshopper

**[00:25:22]** or the lizard came on its own.

**[00:25:25]** It came on its own and climbed onto his palm.

**[00:25:28]** Dear friends, that was one of the greatest experiences

**[00:25:32]** in raising my children and grandchildren.

**[00:25:35]** He gently stroked it and it left again.

**[00:25:38]** As if he was sending some signals or something,

**[00:25:42]** and the lizard sensed it,

**[00:25:44]** that he was a friend, that he was a buddy.

**[00:25:47]** That's the beauty, that's the spiritual part.

**[00:25:52]** But with us, we've stripped all that away,

**[00:25:56]** mainly because when the trials of pain come,

**[00:26:03]** anyone who spends 18 years with us becomes an idiot,

**[00:26:07]** because we don't prepare them.

**[00:26:10]** And that's why our society looks the way it does.

**[00:26:12]** Because everyone has to earn adulthood.

**[00:26:15]** Earn it, be proud to become an adult.

**[00:26:20]** And they have to go through it.

**[00:26:24]** And then, after deprivation, from the jungle,

**[00:26:26]** they return to the village where a shaman awaits them,

**[00:26:30]** and physical trials begin.

**[00:26:35]** For example, those who have been to South America

**[00:26:38]** might know the ants, the big ants, Vinti Quattro.

**[00:26:41]** When they bite or sting you,

**[00:26:45]** the pain lasts 24 hours.

**[00:26:52]** It's pain rated at the highest fifth level on the pain scale.

**[00:26:57]** It simply burns like hell.

**[00:27:00]** And the shaman catches 300 of them, yes, 300 of these ants.

**[00:27:07]** Just the way he catches the ants,

**[00:27:11]** making sure, God forbid, nothing happens to them.

**[00:27:14]** That's the beauty of it.

**[00:27:17]** He takes a kind of grass halter, a little blade of grass,

**[00:27:21]** gently picks it up by the neck,

**[00:27:26]** and sews it into a fire bellows.

**[00:27:29]** So this triangular bellows is full.

**[00:27:33]** On one side are the mandibles, on the other the stinging abdomens.

**[00:27:40]** Now the boy stands naked,

**[00:27:45]** a line of boys, and he runs the bellows from the bottom

**[00:27:50]** up his thighs, over his penis, body, and face,

**[00:27:55]** and now 300 mandibles bite into him.

**[00:28:02]** And what does the young man do? He smiles.

**[00:28:06]** Dear friends, Indians smile all the time.

**[00:28:11]** Their whole life, even when dying, they smile.

**[00:28:16]** They are happy.

**[00:28:19]** Then the same on the back, then they turn the bellows around,

**[00:28:22]** and there are the stings again, and it goes up again.

**[00:28:27]** Elsewhere, in the Mihojavalapity tribe,

**[00:28:31]** they cut the skin on the shoulder.

**[00:28:37]** Blood flows from you.

**[00:28:40]** When I was there, when Gunnice adapted me,

**[00:28:43]** and I only got Atapana,

**[00:28:46]** he was very happy when I agreed,

**[00:28:50]** that at my age, I was already an adult then,

**[00:28:54]** I passed this test,

**[00:28:57]** and he was satisfied with me.

**[00:29:00]** And so I have a place there forever,

**[00:29:03]** whenever I come, I am at home.

**[00:29:06]** So I decided,

**[00:29:09]** he gave me a handle,

**[00:29:14]** a little hand with about 25 fish teeth.

**[00:29:20]** I have it at home and it scares me at home,

**[00:29:23]** and when the grandchildren come, they have respect for it,

**[00:29:27]** they come when I tell them how it stings.

**[00:29:31]** So, nettles are okay,

**[00:29:35]** but this they are a little afraid of.

**[00:29:38]** However, last year.

**[00:29:41]** When my eldest Kubík was 15,

**[00:29:45]** the one the lizards and the kobelky liked,

**[00:29:50]** I said to myself, it's time.

**[00:29:54]** So I prepared the evening, cakes, candles, gifts,

**[00:29:59]** the atmosphere,

**[00:30:00]** and it was sacred, relaxed, everyone lounging on deck chairs,

**[00:30:04]** and I had those 25 teeth in my pocket.

**[00:30:08]** Then I said,

**[00:30:12]** no one knew anything. Then I said, so Kubík, come here,

**[00:30:16]** and strip down to your underwear. I pulled out

**[00:30:20]** and now I'm going to cut you.

**[00:30:24]** My daughter didn't say a word.

**[00:30:28]** Kubík didn't either.

**[00:30:32]** And I was almost more scared than he was, because it was my first time doing this in my life.

**[00:30:36]** It's not easy.

**[00:30:40]** It's like taking care of hens and chicks at home,

**[00:30:44]** petting them, how beautiful they are,

**[00:30:48]** but then, when they're grown, you take an axe and chop off their heads.

**[00:30:52]** That's an art too.

**[00:30:56]** Many of us hesitate because we don't know how to do it.

**[00:31:00]** I always remember my grandmother.

**[00:31:04]** Of course, she loved the hens,

**[00:31:08]** but when the time came, she took the axe and chopped their heads off.

**[00:31:12]** It's the same as when I had to cut.

**[00:31:16]** I didn't know how to approach it.

**[00:31:20]** But I said, there's no turning back, I have to.

**[00:31:24]** Because honestly, it's not that big of a pain.

**[00:31:28]** It's about fear. It's about overcoming it.

**[00:31:32]** All those transition rituals are mainly about

**[00:31:36]** overcoming pain, but it's about fear.

**[00:31:40]** So that as an adult, I won't be afraid anymore.

**[00:31:44]** So I can be above it all. So I can be calm and relaxed.

**[00:31:48]** And always ready for any problem,

**[00:31:52]** because I can solve anything.

**[00:31:56]** And so they actually

**[00:32:00]** go through the pain

**[00:32:04]** and become adults.

**[00:32:08]** And we condemn it, but I would advocate

**[00:32:12]** for these transition rituals to be important again.

**[00:32:16]** Like any other rite of passage,

**[00:32:20]** and that is death. Death, dear friends.

**[00:32:24]** Because during that upbringing,

**[00:32:28]** from about five to fifteen years old, the shaman

**[00:32:32]** actually teaches them.

**[00:32:36]** He is not really a great healer.

**[00:32:40]** We think the shaman is always healing. Nonsense, he heals the sick.

**[00:32:44]** Occasionally he heals. But mainly he is a great maestro.

**[00:32:48]** He is a great teacher, because there is the law of continuity,

**[00:32:52]** meaning he must pass on his knowledge

**[00:32:56]** to the new generation. So he is a great maestro, a great teacher.

**[00:33:00]** So for those ten years, he basically tells them,

**[00:33:04]** how to behave in marriage,

**[00:33:08]** what sex is like, how to hunt properly,

**[00:33:12]** how not to shoot the whole wild boar herd—

**[00:33:16]** just one or two for their own use.

**[00:33:20]** He teaches them the basic principle of not taking more from nature

**[00:33:24]** than they need to survive, not to overconsume.

**[00:33:32]** And he teaches them how to prepare for life.

**[00:33:39]** Then, an important part for my Ahí Indians is the scent.

**[00:33:47]** Ahí scent, he explains, is the scent of blood,

**[00:33:53]** the scent of sperm, and the scent of fish.

**[00:33:59]** So they must not eat fish, nor have any sex,

**[00:34:04]** until they are adults, until they go through the ceremony.

**[00:34:11]** When they become adults, they can paint themselves with black color.

**[00:34:16]** We'll see, black color from fruit.

**[00:34:18]** Yes, that is the black color from the fruit of the Papo woman.

**[00:34:22]** The Papo women in Brazil have a fruit that smells like female musk.

**[00:34:30]** And then everyone knows, now the boy can have sex.

**[00:34:35]** The shaman similarly teaches the girls, and when they become adults,

**[00:34:42]** he releases them into life with that knowledge.

**[00:34:45]** Yes, that is the Papo woman, also the basic structures and design.

**[00:34:52]** He tells the dear girls to protect their openings,

**[00:35:02]** so their ears don't hear what they shouldn't, their eyes don't see what they shouldn't,

**[00:35:11]** their mouths don't gossip too much, and their vagina isn't too promiscuous.

**[00:35:20]** But that they are generous in sex. The women should be generous. Why?

**[00:35:27]** Because there need to be more and more children.

**[00:35:31]** Thanks to God, the woman remains a woman and the man a man.

**[00:35:40]** That means from 13-14 years old, she begins the path of womanhood.

**[00:35:47]** That means she starts giving birth. Dear women, give birth.

**[00:35:53]** That's my message, because otherwise we will go extinct.

**[00:35:57]** And those women give birth year after year nonstop.

**[00:36:02]** Of course, at 18 they look beautiful.

**[00:36:09]** I also wanted to teach them that,

**[00:36:15]** because they actually don't know kissing.

**[00:36:20]** They don't kiss. And what do you think they do instead?

**[00:36:26]** To start the relationship. What do they do instead of kissing?

**[00:36:33]** Dear friends, they behave naturally, according to nature.

**[00:36:39]** So how do animals do it? Because we are animals.

**[00:36:43]** Dear ones, we are animals and we think we're not, but we are.

**[00:36:47]** But we have some rules here, as I keep repeating,

**[00:36:51]** which we invented, but they behave like animals do.

**[00:36:55]** So they sniff each other with their noses.

**[00:36:59]** Not as a greeting, as we mistakenly think,

**[00:37:02]** but what do they inhale? The musk from the parents or testicles.

**[00:37:08]** They inhale that because it's important in sex.

**[00:37:12]** Scent is their top priority, we have denied that,

**[00:37:17]** and for us, the top priority is what? Eyes.

**[00:37:20]** But eyes can be deceived. Deceived, but the nose can smell.

**[00:37:27]** Unfortunately, our women use various perfumes,

**[00:37:32]** so of course the guy falls in love with the scent she has,

**[00:37:37]** but then, when it comes to sex, he suddenly finds out,

**[00:37:42]** that she smells bad.

**[00:37:45]** And then there are problems. Then there are problems.

**[00:37:49]** And India wants transparency. From the start, she wants to know what's going on.

**[00:37:54]** Why one smells good or doesn't stink. That's transparency again.

**[00:38:00]** Back then, I lined up 20 beautiful, busty girls,

**[00:38:07]** beautiful ladies, you know. 20 girls and I tried to teach them how to kiss.

**[00:38:11]** Well, I didn't teach them. My field research totally failed.

**[00:38:17]** Because kissing is connecting, as they say, two dirty holes.

**[00:38:22]** No, we sniff each other. Like animals.

**[00:38:27]** But, dear friends, it seems like it's useless.

**[00:38:33]** Like kissing, sniffing. It actually has a scientific basis.

**[00:38:41]** Even though they don't recognize that science, because they don't have it,

**[00:38:44]** we recognize science because we are rational.

**[00:38:47]** We are rational. Science is our foundation.

**[00:38:52]** So recently, a study was done. A study was done.

**[00:38:56]** They took 20 guys, 20 beautiful women.

**[00:39:01]** The guys got shirts and then worked hard, chopped, cut,

**[00:39:05]** to really stink up those shirts.

**[00:39:09]** Then they also divided the smelly shirts.

**[00:39:14]** And the 20 women chose based on the man's smell or scent.

**[00:39:22]** And they picked them apart. Yeah, this one smells bad, this one smells good to me.

**[00:39:28]** And dear friends, what did the scientists find out?

**[00:39:31]** That they chose a partner with whom, genetically,

**[00:39:37]** they would produce the most suitable offspring. Based on Czechs.

**[00:39:42]** And the Indians do it naturally.

**[00:39:46]** They have no idea genetics exists.

**[00:39:50]** But they behave as nature does.

**[00:39:54]** In nature, if they didn't behave that way, they would go extinct.

**[00:39:58]** So scent is paradise for them.

**[00:40:00]** Just like for those Indians, because they behave, pardon the expression, like animals.

**[00:40:06]** That's how it works.

**[00:40:08]** So we got to the point where they are adults,

**[00:40:15]** and what the shaman's upbringing actually is,

**[00:40:23]** it seems not only for life but also for death.

**[00:40:30]** Because for them, death is part of life.

**[00:40:34]** It's not something separate.

**[00:40:36]** It's not life and death, it's a part of it.

**[00:40:39]** It's the last part of life, and we deny that.

**[00:40:44]** We don't want to talk about it, we don't want to hear about it,

**[00:40:47]** we want to get rid of the dead as quickly as possible,

**[00:40:50]** forget about it so we don't accidentally catch it,

**[00:40:54]** but for them, death, the funeral, is a huge ritual.

**[00:41:03]** Just like the initiation into adulthood, so is death.

**[00:41:10]** I have participated in several funerals by chance,

**[00:41:14]** even though it's not really by chance.

**[00:41:17]** I'll jump back in,

**[00:41:19]** the more I go there, the more irrational than rational I become.

**[00:41:25]** Here, from childhood, they pound rational behavior into us,

**[00:41:29]** how to behave, etc.

**[00:41:32]** Suppressing premonitions, intuitions, signs.

**[00:41:39]** All those things can't be calculated, they don't exist.

**[00:41:45]** Dear friends, I have many examples from my own life,

**[00:41:50]** but you surely have them too.

**[00:41:53]** But I forget about them.

**[00:41:57]** Everyone has their inner voice.

**[00:42:00]** Dear friends, just yesterday,

**[00:42:03]** I had an experience like this.

**[00:42:06]** I was leaving for a lecture in Tábor, standing at Flora

**[00:42:10]** And I thought, in three minutes the number fifteen tram leaves,

**[00:42:15]** I'll get to Veleznovo station and I can't take the metro.

**[00:42:20]** And now my inner voice said, the metro,

**[00:42:24]** you'll get there without any problem.

**[00:42:28]** And I said to myself, it's a hassle going down the stairs, up the stairs,

**[00:42:32]** but what the heck, it's fine.

**[00:42:38]** And you know what happened?

**[00:42:41]** I got on at Lipanská street,

**[00:42:45]** the number fifteen tram crashed and for the first time in my life,

**[00:42:49]** I've lived here over 70 years,

**[00:42:52]** for the first time in my life I witnessed a tram accident.

**[00:42:56]** A car hit it and the road was blocked that morning,

**[00:43:00]** and I had to humbly return to Flora,

**[00:43:05]** humbly bow symbolically to my inner voice

**[00:43:10]** and go down to the metro.

**[00:43:16]** And of course, if I had gone right away,

**[00:43:20]** I wouldn't have known the tram crashed,

**[00:43:24]** I would have thought maybe I made the wrong choice.

**[00:43:28]** That's the downside of these things.

**[00:43:32]** So he says, well maybe if you hadn't taken it,

**[00:43:36]** the tram might not have crashed.

**[00:43:40]** That could have happened, that by me getting on there,

**[00:43:44]** I delayed it a bit and therefore

**[00:43:48]** the historical events unfolded.

**[00:43:52]** So we get into these interesting wordplays.

**[00:43:56]** So coincidences don't exist, my friends.

**[00:44:00]** They have a dual funeral.

**[00:44:04]** Why do they have a dual funeral?

**[00:44:08]** Well, you should know that by now, right?

**[00:44:12]** Because of course you're not just flesh,

**[00:44:16]** but you're also a soul.

**[00:44:20]** So they have a farewell for the physical body

**[00:44:24]** and for the soul a year later.

**[00:44:28]** The soul is still here with us.

**[00:44:32]** And we have the same, dear friends.

**[00:44:36]** That's the grief we have here.

**[00:44:40]** But after a year or two we forget.

**[00:44:44]** Time heals everything.

**[00:44:48]** And the farewell to the soul, the second funeral, lasts a week.

**[00:44:52]** It lasts a week.

**[00:44:56]** Back then, I...

**[00:45:02]** When I met Pityu, he was the father

**[00:45:06]** of the chief Aritana, that guy,

**[00:45:10]** and he told me, imagine, the neighboring shaman

**[00:45:14]** from the nearby Kamajora village said to me

**[00:45:18]** two months before you arrived that you would come.

**[00:45:22]** And he wants to talk to you.

**[00:45:26]** The shaman was waiting for me there

**[00:45:30]** and spent the whole day telling me how he became a shaman,

**[00:45:34]** how he died several times and was brought back to life several times.

**[00:45:38]** I had no idea what that meant because shamans don't do that.

**[00:45:42]** Shamans don't go to workshops

**[00:45:46]** in Juldifulda where they dance and pretend to be shamans

**[00:45:50]** and everyone watches. That's nonsense, those are all fake shamans,

**[00:45:54]** who sell out for money. Unfortunately, that's the case there,

**[00:45:58]** because what does a real shaman do? He is

**[00:46:02]** simply rooted in the village, as I said,

**[00:46:06]** he wanders around and learns by wandering.

**[00:46:10]** He keeps learning and takes care of his people.

**[00:46:14]** And because there,

**[00:46:18]** when children start being born, there is a high child mortality rate.

**[00:46:22]** And that's another tricky point,

**[00:46:26]** where I'm on thin ice when I say

**[00:46:30]** that the high child mortality rate,

**[00:46:34]** up to 30%, is actually correct.

**[00:46:38]** Because what happens? It's harsh, because nature is harsh.

**[00:46:42]** It's the same with animals.

**[00:46:46]** But they have 10-15 offspring, and only the five strongest survive.

**[00:46:50]** It's natural human selection, which is cruel,

**[00:46:54]** but those who survive carry the gene pool forward

**[00:46:58]** to the continuity, which is pure. Not flooded

**[00:47:02]** with tons of our antibiotics, our treatments, and so on.

**[00:47:06]** Of course, when you have one or two children,

**[00:47:10]** you naturally do everything to make sure they survive at all costs.

**[00:47:14]** And that approach, as we say, at all costs, is actually destroying humanity.

**[00:47:18]** But we don't care about that, because for us the shirt is more important than the coat.

**[00:47:22]** And when I talk to doctors, I tell them, dear friends,

**[00:47:26]** the doctor is the greatest evil of humanity

**[00:47:30]** and the greatest friend of man.

**[00:47:34]** Do you feel the difference? Man and humanity.

**[00:47:38]** That doctor doesn't care what humanity will look like in 150 years,

**[00:47:42]** because he obviously treats at all costs.

**[00:47:46]** The Indian shaman doesn't treat at all costs.

**[00:47:50]** He doesn't treat. If someone is meant to die, they die.

**[00:47:54]** That's why he rarely treats.

**[00:47:58]** He mainly cares for the young, or wanders through the forest

**[00:48:02]** and constantly learns from it.

**[00:48:06]** That's why a child is best when wandering.

**[00:48:10]** That's how they get to know their surroundings, everything.

**[00:48:14]** But we want to tame them.

**[00:48:18]** We try to tame the child to be like us.

**[00:48:22]** To speak like us.

**[00:48:26]** And upbringing is constantly filled with instructions and prohibitions.

**[00:48:30]** Walk straight, don't jump, don't climb the string or you'll fall.

**[00:48:34]** Don't scream, sleep.

**[00:48:38]** Thanks to the Indian, dear friends, there is silence.

**[00:48:42]** There is silence.

**[00:48:46]** It is a reverent, sacred silence.

**[00:48:50]** They don't raise their voices to the children, first of all, because they don't even raise them among themselves.

**[00:48:54]** They speak quietly to each other and then laugh with the child.

**[00:48:58]** The child has no instructions.

**[00:49:02]** And if you tell a child, don't climb the string or you'll fall,

**[00:49:06]** the child actually learns that they can fall.

**[00:49:10]** They fall and the father says, see, I told you,

**[00:49:14]** that you would fall, see, I told you you'd get sick,

**[00:49:18]** if you don't do this.

**[00:49:22]** There are no commands there. Sometimes nothing happens to the children.

**[00:49:26]** And it seems to us that they don't really care for the children.

**[00:49:30]** The child crawls to the edge of a cliff, the mother is already running to save them.

**[00:49:34]** Not to save, because she knows

**[00:49:38]** that the child will stop at the cliff.

**[00:49:42]** Because they still have instincts. We destroy those instincts by taming them.

**[00:49:46]** We teach them rationality instead.

**[00:49:50]** And that's why they lose it.

**[00:49:54]** The second need, the one with the soul, lasts a week and is full of dances,

**[00:50:00]** beautiful songs, music, wrestling, and this body, which has long been dead,

**[00:50:15]** and here is the soul, and if the soul doesn't want to go to the afterlife,

**[00:50:27]** the shaman becomes a psychopomp and takes the soul away to the afterlife.

**[00:50:32]** And our mourning ends. That is basically the time that corresponds to this.

**[00:50:49]** And we could say how that society works, that it works.

**[00:51:00]** Who gives the orders? I said there is a chief, who is really democratically elected,

**[00:51:10]** meaning the best, the freest, the one with charisma is chosen.

**[00:51:18]** There, Aritana or any chief never gives an order like, let's go hunting,

**[00:51:25]** or let's build a house, or let's go to war. No. What does he do?

**[00:51:31]** He takes the first axe and cuts down a tree. He is the first to dig a hole for the post,

**[00:51:39]** and people say, aha, Aritana probably wants to build a house, and because we trust him,

**[00:51:46]** we know it's probably good. And they go with him to build the house based on his example,

**[00:51:57]** based on the fact that the chief has charisma. But watch out, someone might decide not to go.

**[00:52:03]** It's not an obligation that you have to go. Because everyone there is not only a member of the community,

**[00:52:11]** but also an individual and can decide how they want,

**[00:52:17]** whether to lounge all day in a hammock and go nowhere. And no one minds.

**[00:52:24]** Someone might not come or the chief might say, why didn't you send an excuse if you are sick?

**[00:52:28]** No, because no one criticizes anyone there.

**[00:52:40]** Because they know that probably there is a good reason why they don't go. But I don't care about that reason,

**[00:52:47]** because they are a free person. That is freedom, dear friends.

**[00:52:53]** That is the freedom we can never have here, because here we constantly have thousands of interests.

**[00:52:59]** Many interests. Pure freedom actually exists only with those Indians.

**[00:53:05]** And now imagine. When I cut the skin at Kubík's, what happened?

**[00:53:16]** Those young little ones who were afraid suddenly ran over.

**[00:53:22]** Even Anička ran over and said, grandpa, we want to do it too.

**[00:53:31]** That's how Indian society works based on the example of the person who leads.

**[00:53:38]** And for them, Kubík is a role model. When he starts playing football, everyone wants to play football.

**[00:53:43]** When he starts playing chess, all the young ones want to play chess.

**[00:53:47]** Indian society is based on example and charisma.

**[00:53:52]** I said, don't play yet, you have to wait two or three more years.

**[00:53:56]** Then your time will come. So these are the foundations.

**[00:54:02]** Now the Indian chief never commands.

**[00:54:06]** No one cares what the other does.

**[00:54:10]** And they see it because no one has anything. No one can want anything.

**[00:54:15]** Except, watch out, the woman. That is an important thing.

**[00:54:20]** There, the women, because they are important material, of course,

**[00:54:25]** so without the women it simply doesn't work.

**[00:54:29]** That's what they realized.

**[00:54:31]** Of course, an important part is the myth of how women came to be.

**[00:54:37]** Before, there were no women here. Understand? They didn't exist here.

**[00:54:41]** And it is a pillar of Indian mythology, how women came to be.

**[00:54:48]** Among the Indians. It's a beautiful myth.

**[00:54:52]** Before, there were only men, and when they needed children,

**[00:54:57]** they made them themselves.

**[00:54:59]** They put the sperm in a bowl, and that's where they were born.

**[00:55:02]** Well, in the end, we can just do without women.

**[00:55:07]** And they lived happily.

**[00:55:11]** They didn't have to look after anyone.

**[00:55:14]** One day they found that the meat they had caught,

**[00:55:17]** which was there overnight, was gone, someone had eaten it.

**[00:55:21]** And they said, well, that made them angry.

**[00:55:23]** They said, look, parrot, you'll keep watch.

**[00:55:26]** People used to be animals. Everyone was an animal.

**[00:55:29]** We were all animals.

**[00:55:31]** Then some became humans, some did not.

**[00:55:35]** And the parrot fell asleep, saw nothing.

**[00:55:39]** A tapir came along. A tapir is a kind of stupid animal.

**[00:55:43]** In indigenous mythology, it's a fool.

**[00:55:45]** He also fell asleep.

**[00:55:46]** Finally, the smartest one came.

**[00:55:48]** For them, that's the armadillo.

**[00:55:49]** In mythology, the armadillo is the smartest animal.

**[00:55:52]** Suddenly, at night, he sees women lowering themselves down on a rope from above.

**[00:55:58]** And he thinks, wow.

**[00:56:01]** And now he wonders, how do they eat so fast?

**[00:56:05]** Well, they ate quickly because they used both mouths, right?

**[00:56:09]** Both mouths had teeth, right?

**[00:56:11]** That's why they managed it so fast.

**[00:56:13]** He got angry, took a club, and broke the rope.

**[00:56:18]** The women fell to the ground.

**[00:56:19]** The men woke up and said, hooray, we have women, let's go for them.

**[00:56:24]** He said, please, no, they have teeth, it's dangerous.

**[00:56:29]** And the fox said, please, I've had enough, I'm horny,

**[00:56:33]** I just have to go for the women.

**[00:56:35]** He jumped on her.

**[00:56:36]** Of course, she thought it was food,

**[00:56:38]** so she bit his penis.

**[00:56:42]** The fox got angry, went into the jungle,

**[00:56:44]** picked the hardest wood, palm wood called chonta,

**[00:56:48]** used for making bows.

**[00:56:49]** He carved his penis well, sat on it, and went back to her

**[00:56:54]** and knocked out all her teeth,

**[00:56:57]** except for one, which he left.

**[00:57:00]** But it's not certain if that's really how it happened.

**[00:57:04]** And that's why, when the kids grow up,

**[00:57:08]** there's something called the right of the first night, dear ladies.

**[00:57:12]** The right of the first night means the shaman has to explore the path,

**[00:57:16]** to check if everything is okay, if no tooth is left behind,

**[00:57:20]** if it's not dangerous.

**[00:57:22]** So the boys are deep thinkers, they don't yet know what and how, the young ones,

**[00:57:25]** so he has to teach them.

**[00:57:27]** So it's very hard work, demanding,

**[00:57:31]** and it has to be done gradually.

**[00:57:35]** Nowadays it's done just symbolically,

**[00:57:37]** but it still works at least symbolically.

**[00:57:40]** Now imagine that actually

**[00:57:44]** the strong, powerful men

**[00:57:47]** take the most beautiful young girls.

**[00:57:51]** As wives.

**[00:57:54]** And the old women are left for the boys.

**[00:57:58]** Well, that's a 35-year-old woman, or 40,

**[00:58:02]** but she's still a woman, you know, that's not very valuable.

**[00:58:06]** She's just a piece, so the boy takes the old woman,

**[00:58:10]** but what happens?

**[00:58:12]** The old woman is experienced.

**[00:58:15]** And experience is important because she teaches the young man,

**[00:58:18]** who is untrained, everything.

**[00:58:21]** She teaches him to fulfill the four basic family functions.

**[00:58:24]** Do you know the basic family functions?

**[00:58:27]** They are the same everywhere, here too.

**[00:58:30]** So there's the economic function, where the man has to provide

**[00:58:34]** for the family.

**[00:58:37]** He has to be a good hunter.

**[00:58:40]** Here he probably needs a good bank account, right?

**[00:58:44]** Then there's the nurturing, the reproductive,

**[00:58:48]** so there is something to nurture, and also the sexual function.

**[00:58:52]** Because they like that too.

**[00:58:55]** Dear friends, when I was there the first few days,

**[00:58:58]** they are very tough with each other.

**[00:59:01]** To strangers, they have stone faces.

**[00:59:04]** But I kept wondering what they were talking about.

**[00:59:07]** Then I found out. They talk about sex all the time.

**[00:59:10]** Who is where, who is with whom, why, how.

**[00:59:13]** Women about men and men about women.

**[00:59:16]** They are all the same.

**[00:59:19]** And now I forgot what I wanted to say.

**[00:59:24]** So sex is important to them.

**[00:59:31]** Right?

**[00:59:34]** Pardon?

**[00:59:37]** Sure.

**[00:59:40]** And that wisdom raises the younger generation

**[00:59:45]** and the boys, as they grow older,

**[00:59:48]** are entitled to younger and younger ones.

**[00:59:52]** So the old ones actually extend

**[00:59:56]** both women and men extend

**[01:00:00]** their age and their sexual age, so everyone is doing well.

**[01:00:05]** No one is worse off than the other. That's important.

**[01:00:09]** That balance must constantly exist. I call it,

**[01:00:13]** the retirement security of the Indians.

**[01:00:16]** They know how to take care of themselves, no paperwork,

**[01:00:20]** claims, or anything like that.

**[01:00:22]** So about death.

**[01:00:28]** The beautiful thing is that the old person

**[01:00:33]** sometimes decides for themselves when they die.

**[01:00:37]** When they get tired of it here, they say

**[01:00:42]** and go into the forest and end it.

**[01:00:46]** Sometimes there are rituals where they are present and still alive.

**[01:00:55]** They are completely covered in white feathers,

**[01:00:59]** and relatives come, cut their hands, blood drips

**[01:01:05]** onto the white feathers, and it’s actually the sorrow,

**[01:01:10]** the connection between life and death.

**[01:01:15]** The shaman sings hymns, the person slowly dies,

**[01:01:21]** and maybe with their last strength takes this hand arrow,

**[01:01:26]** their only possession, breaks it, and dies.

**[01:01:33]** It’s beautiful, folks. It’s beautiful.

**[01:01:38]** Life and death are one.

**[01:01:45]** And as I become more and more irrational,

**[01:01:50]** I felt a certain calling with them.

**[01:01:58]** I like returns now. I keep returning to the same ones.

**[01:02:03]** Always the same ones.

**[01:02:06]** When I said, as I said,

**[01:02:11]** that the weaker ones die and the others live,

**[01:02:16]** I wondered, how long do they live?

**[01:02:19]** Because the average is 30 years, but they count everyone.

**[01:02:23]** So I came to the Kofán after 40 years.

**[01:02:27]** Dear friends, I met with all my friends,

**[01:02:32]** who were there, the same number, 70.

**[01:02:36]** And physically much better than me, much better.

**[01:02:40]** All their teeth, just a bit worn down.

**[01:02:43]** I don't have any of my own.

**[01:02:46]** Of course, they don't know sugar there.

**[01:02:50]** When some Indian from civilization arrives,

**[01:02:53]** they say he is stained with sugar.

**[01:02:57]** You can feel it, but unfortunately they also succumb to it,

**[01:03:01]** and then sugar disease progresses fast.

**[01:03:05]** So I was with the Kofán,

**[01:03:12]** and I found out they are all still the same.

**[01:03:16]** And now imagine,

**[01:03:20]** I have a bad spine,

**[01:03:24]** and I must not lift heavy things.

**[01:03:28]** But I like to participate.

**[01:03:30]** And there was a banana harvest going on.

**[01:03:32]** And those are such big bunches.

**[01:03:34]** And when it was brought to the house,

**[01:03:36]** of course I lifted it.

**[01:03:38]** Because their houses are on stilts,

**[01:03:43]** at such a height, so when the Amazon rises,

**[01:03:46]** it doesn't flood them.

**[01:03:48]** We don't know that here and then we wonder,

**[01:03:50]** when the big flood comes.

**[01:03:53]** The next day I couldn't get up.

**[01:03:57]** And now I experienced what I have only talked about theoretically,

**[01:04:02]** how it would look.

**[01:04:04]** I can't move.

**[01:04:06]** Because the hospital is thousands of kilometers away,

**[01:04:10]** I didn't have an electric blanket there,

**[01:04:13]** I had nothing to plug in,

**[01:04:15]** no one to take care of me.

**[01:04:18]** And now imagine, lying helpless like this,

**[01:04:22]** and next door in the kitchen they are already cooking breakfast,

**[01:04:25]** rosaries, turtle eggs, monkeys, and yuca.

**[01:04:30]** And now I say.

**[01:04:33]** And now he carries the plate,

**[01:04:35]** but he won't bring it to me under my mosquito net,

**[01:04:39]** where I sleep.

**[01:04:40]** But it moves three meters, it does.

**[01:04:42]** Where we always sat,

**[01:04:44]** and where the others were already waiting,

**[01:04:46]** and where I always had breakfast.

**[01:04:48]** But it never occurred to me that I couldn't.

**[01:04:51]** I kept wondering, how come?

**[01:04:53]** So I had no choice, I didn't want to...

**[01:04:55]** I was crawling in pain.

**[01:04:58]** And as I crawled, they also passed me by,

**[01:05:02]** they walked and talked with me.

**[01:05:06]** And they didn't mind at all,

**[01:05:09]** that I was gasping in pain.

**[01:05:14]** Then, after I ate, I thought,

**[01:05:16]** Oh God, but later, when I have to go number two,

**[01:05:20]** you know, bathroom stories are always the most interesting.

**[01:05:24]** Everyone has definitely experienced that.

**[01:05:27]** So I thought, how am I going to do it?

**[01:05:32]** So I crawled to the edge

**[01:05:34]** and there was about a meter-wide hole,

**[01:05:36]** just a log and a ditch.

**[01:05:39]** They can jump out like monkeys.

**[01:05:43]** But they didn't help me.

**[01:05:45]** So I fell flat on my face,

**[01:05:48]** crawled into the nearest bush,

**[01:05:50]** and sat there in the air, you know?

**[01:05:55]** And they didn't help.

**[01:05:58]** They didn't help.

**[01:06:00]** During those four or five days I lay there,

**[01:06:02]** the spine gradually healed, then I walked again,

**[01:06:05]** they never came back to it.

**[01:06:09]** They didn't help. Is that right or not?

**[01:06:13]** It's right, even if it's harsh.

**[01:06:15]** And again, it's about the things

**[01:06:17]** where we want everything easy, calm, and pain-free.

**[01:06:21]** But it's right.

**[01:06:23]** They treated me like a traitor.

**[01:06:27]** That's the important part.

**[01:06:28]** That's what strengthens you.

**[01:06:30]** Not to keep whining in pain all the time.

**[01:06:34]** When friends or women get together,

**[01:06:36]** they talk for two hours about pains and illnesses.

**[01:06:39]** They keep amplifying it.

**[01:06:43]** If they talked about seeing a pretty girl,

**[01:06:48]** or something like that.

**[01:06:50]** No, they don't talk about such things.

**[01:06:53]** So I tell the doctor, don't talk, don't pity.

**[01:06:58]** Don't pity, don't pity, don't pity.

**[01:07:01]** And of course,

**[01:07:03]** we've built a kind of humanism here.

**[01:07:07]** Sometimes it's even false humanism.

**[01:07:10]** Yes, helping an old lady cross the street,

**[01:07:16]** but pat, pat.

**[01:07:19]** I saw there,

**[01:07:21]** I was there for the second time with the Indians in 1973,

**[01:07:25]** and there lived an old Indian named Biacha,

**[01:07:28]** who was half-blind.

**[01:07:30]** He barely walked, he also had a cane,

**[01:07:32]** and there was this complicated, demanding path for me,

**[01:07:35]** and he had a canoe,

**[01:07:37]** and on the other side he had bananas.

**[01:07:39]** And he walked alone,

**[01:07:41]** he also staggered,

**[01:07:43]** and behind him walked his two sons,

**[01:07:45]** men as big as mountains.

**[01:07:48]** They didn't help him.

**[01:07:50]** They didn't help him.

**[01:07:52]** That's right.

**[01:07:55]** It's cruel, but right.

**[01:07:56]** Because he was actually forced to do it.

**[01:07:58]** First of all, he would have refused help.

**[01:08:01]** He would have refused it.

**[01:08:03]** Because he maintained himself this way.

**[01:08:05]** He kept himself in the state

**[01:08:08]** that his body had some kind of burden here.

**[01:08:10]** And it's the same, dear friends,

**[01:08:14]** when I relate it back to us,

**[01:08:17]** when I ride the tram

**[01:08:19]** and some young girl gives me her seat

**[01:08:23]** kids of the old man sit down,

**[01:08:25]** and I say, little girl, sit,

**[01:08:27]** I'd rather watch you from the dawn,

**[01:08:29]** maybe I'll see something nice.

**[01:08:32]** When I was a big shot

**[01:08:34]** and arrived at the Hilton with suitcases,

**[01:08:37]** the liveried staff ran out and wanted to take my bags.

**[01:08:40]** I said, gentlemen, no.

**[01:08:42]** As long as I can, I'll carry my own bags.

**[01:08:46]** And it's like with us,

**[01:08:49]** many men feel the same.

**[01:08:51]** I'm still Jura.

**[01:08:53]** I still know how to chop wood.

**[01:08:56]** And then maybe I'll fall flat on my face.

**[01:08:58]** And that's the point.

**[01:08:59]** I'd rather fall flat on my face,

**[01:09:01]** than die serving somewhere.

**[01:09:04]** So these things are, as we see,

**[01:09:08]** a bit different in them,

**[01:09:10]** but then we realize

**[01:09:12]** they have their core.

**[01:09:20]** Well, we can talk about nature.

**[01:09:25]** Always, as I said,

**[01:09:29]** we keep our distance.

**[01:09:31]** And when I was already on my third trip,

**[01:09:34]** imagine,

**[01:09:36]** once a paraváko came to me,

**[01:09:40]** a young Indian.

**[01:09:42]** His father was a famous shaman

**[01:09:44]** and he guided me through the forest at night,

**[01:09:46]** showing me animals, plants,

**[01:09:49]** what they heal,

**[01:09:53]** and once he came to me and said

**[01:09:57]** Ačorácho, it's called Ačorácho.

**[01:10:00]** among the elders of the rusty vřešťanů.

**[01:10:04]** When I was there the first time, I was a bit grumpy and they remembered that.

**[01:10:11]** And he said, yes, rachu, I'll tell you my big secret.

**[01:10:17]** I said, please, I want to hear it.

**[01:10:24]** So on the other hand, I was very honored

**[01:10:27]** that you wanted to tell me your secret that no one knew.

**[01:10:31]** And we went into the jungle, and I don't know if anyone has been in the jungle,

**[01:10:35]** the biggest tree there is the ceiba.

**[01:10:37]** These are huge trees with arms like fins,

**[01:10:42]** which then turn into roots.

**[01:10:47]** Such beautiful, large ones.

**[01:10:48]** And now we came to the tree, I couldn't believe my eyes,

**[01:10:53]** there was some natural snag or something that happened,

**[01:10:57]** because the fin wasn't straight, but it was twisted.

**[01:11:02]** Do you even understand that?

**[01:11:04]** It doesn't make sense, it was twisted and created its own cave.

**[01:11:11]** We came to it and the first judge lit a cigar,

**[01:11:16]** he had to cleanse it first.

**[01:11:19]** When you go to a sacred place, or some ceremony or ritual,

**[01:11:23]** you have to cleanse yourself.

**[01:11:26]** And smoke,

**[01:11:32]** from tobacco cleanses.

**[01:11:35]** That shaman smokes, he's been shaved.

**[01:11:38]** Since he was five, he has smoked one cigar after another,

**[01:11:42]** because pure tobacco heals, it doesn't cause any cancer,

**[01:11:48]** cancer is caused by the papers and various chemicals,

**[01:11:51]** but pure tobacco, those are scientific results.

**[01:11:55]** So now he smoked me, smoked himself,

**[01:11:59]** but we were still waiting.

**[01:12:01]** And they kept smoking and we didn't move on.

**[01:12:04]** And again, what were we waiting for?

**[01:12:07]** Well, until the cigar was finished.

**[01:12:11]** You can't take something from nature, according to them,

**[01:12:15]** you can't take something and then not use it.

**[01:12:20]** If you hunt a wild boar, you have to use all of it.

**[01:12:25]** The hair, skin, eyes, tendons, bones.

**[01:12:30]** You can't just take a piece of meat and throw the rest away.

**[01:12:32]** That would be an insult to the spirit of the animal.

**[01:12:36]** And this is set up so that you don't hunt too much,

**[01:12:41]** only as much as you need and then you use it all.

**[01:12:45]** There is no leftover food.

**[01:12:48]** Even the tobacco grew to be smoked,

**[01:12:52]** not to be discarded as a stub.

**[01:12:55]** And again, going back to us,

**[01:12:57]** I remember my father, he was a fruit grower.

**[01:13:00]** We still have some huge cherry tree there

**[01:13:03]** and the cherries always had to be harvested.

**[01:13:06]** He pushed me to get the last one, up high, to pick it.

**[01:13:12]** It has to be done because the tree is a gift from the city.

**[01:13:16]** These are gifts from nature, and we have to use those gifts.

**[01:13:25]** So I have to accept that gift.

**[01:13:32]** I have to eat it all.

**[01:13:34]** So I also have to finish smoking that cigar.

**[01:13:38]** And it was small, he couldn’t hold it anymore, so he put it down,

**[01:13:42]** and we waited until it completely burned out.

**[01:13:46]** These are the things they have within them.

**[01:13:49]** Then we went inside,

**[01:13:51]** he had his sacred blowpipes and spears there,

**[01:13:56]** and he said to me, now I’ll tell you,

**[01:14:00]** dear friends,

**[01:14:01]** Ačorácho says, I am the tree and the tree is me.

**[01:14:12]** That is identification with nature.

**[01:14:16]** That is something, of course, not for us or ordinary people,

**[01:14:22]** it’s really only for shamans.

**[01:14:25]** That identification is incredible.

**[01:14:27]** That’s what I have for everything.

**[01:14:31]** When I was with the Pemon,

**[01:14:34]** I talked with Agnát about ants,

**[01:14:40]** he even caught one and showed it to me to sting me.

**[01:14:45]** And then lovingly,

**[01:14:50]** he gently stroked the ant,

**[01:14:54]** put it back on the ground, and then said to me, to all the jelochs,

**[01:15:00]** a beautiful phrase: don’t step on our ants.

**[01:15:05]** That’s exactly it.

**[01:15:07]** Because we feel like masters of creation,

**[01:15:11]** and if some ant blocks our way, we just crush it,

**[01:15:15]** or that nasty tarantula that’s supposed to get in my way.

**[01:15:22]** Lovingly.

**[01:15:24]** And I also say to him, listen, Agnát,

**[01:15:28]** you’re now the guide in the Kanaima National Park,

**[01:15:33]** and you live like an Indian.

**[01:15:35]** He says, I’ve been here a few months, then I go up to the village and live there,

**[01:15:39]** I always have several children and wives there.

**[01:15:42]** Of course, there must always be many wives.

**[01:15:46]** And I think, ah, great.

**[01:15:47]** And a shaman? Yes, we have a great shaman there.

**[01:15:50]** I ask myself, so what can the shaman do?

**[01:15:53]** That's a silly question from a white man.

**[01:15:55]** Of course, they don't like that.

**[01:15:58]** When asked, Aritamen said, don't ask, just observe.

**[01:16:02]** Yeah, no questioning.

**[01:16:04]** Because they will say no to everything.

**[01:16:08]** He says, yes, the shaman would tell you he can't do anything.

**[01:16:11]** I would say the same if you asked me whether I can

**[01:16:14]** build a house or make a silu, I'd say I can't.

**[01:16:17]** That's how an Indian is.

**[01:16:19]** As we said, Indians don't brag about anything.

**[01:16:28]** And I said, okay, then tell me,

**[01:16:33]** what else can he really do?

**[01:16:35]** He said, alright.

**[01:16:37]** He can make himself invisible.

**[01:16:41]** And that didn't surprise me at all.

**[01:16:43]** Over the years, I've gotten used to it,

**[01:16:46]** that they are simply capable.

**[01:16:50]** And actually, it's not that hard.

**[01:16:53]** It's just about bending the rays away from him, you know.

**[01:16:56]** Having a certain cloak of invisibility.

**[01:16:59]** So I...

**[01:17:02]** Now they should fall asleep,

**[01:17:06]** so I can become invisible.

**[01:17:11]** Shall we take some questions?

**[01:17:14]** Thanks.

**[01:17:15]** Thank you very much for...

**[01:17:22]** Dear friends.

**[01:17:24]** Chief Ke Mene Uvá wrote a beautiful letter to the White Man.

**[01:17:30]** Similar to a chief who lived 150 years ago in the United States.

**[01:17:35]** I published it in my latest book

**[01:17:39]** Atlas of the Indians of South America.

**[01:17:41]** And I will read a few words, a few sentences.

**[01:17:50]** We are all brothers here.

**[01:17:53]** People, animals, things, stones.

**[01:17:57]** Everything is alive.

**[01:17:59]** There is no living and non-living nature.

**[01:18:04]** And the earth is pride.

**[01:18:06]** The earth is spirit.

**[01:18:08]** The earth is pride.

**[01:18:10]** The Earth is the spirit of our nations and our ancestors.

**[01:18:14]** The Earth is a flower.

**[01:18:17]** And the Indian comes to it to nourish himself

**[01:18:21]** with the same care as a hummingbird,

**[01:18:25]** while the white man tramples the flower,

**[01:18:29]** because money has sickened his heart, his soul.

**[01:18:34]** The heart of our white brother.

**[01:18:38]** This illness has led him to desire

**[01:18:41]** to cover the land with factories, highways, concrete, weapons,

**[01:18:48]** because the white man is blinded by the shine of his technology,

**[01:18:55]** which he rides like a horse,

**[01:18:59]** heading toward his own destruction.

**[01:19:03]** Dear friends, forget the white predatory paradigm,

**[01:19:10]** that you always have to win,

**[01:19:13]** that you always have to earn more and be more and more,

**[01:19:18]** but live in humble harmony with nature and the cosmos

**[01:19:23]** and you will be happy.

**[01:19:26]** So that humility is not a dirty word

**[01:19:29]** and helps us limit our plundering of nature

**[01:19:35]** and stops the destruction of our planet

**[01:19:39]** thus ensuring our survival.

**[01:19:43]** Thank you.

**[01:19:45]** Subtitles created by JohnyX

**[01:20:00]** Well, only shamans can sit, I'm only a half-shaman, so I would need a half-seat.

**[01:20:10]** So I'll try to stand with you.

**[01:20:15]** Music for the lecture and for first explaining the historians and what you experienced with the Indians.

**[01:20:24]** There are many questions and we probably won't have time for all, so that's maybe the first observation,

**[01:20:30]** that if you want to continue with us, we will, and I'll say when in a moment.

**[01:20:35]** I was just curious, when I read your biography, you talk everywhere about many Indians

**[01:20:45]** and I have one question I've always wanted to ask you.

**[01:20:50]** You visited quite a number of them, I counted up to fifteen or so,

**[01:20:55]** maybe even more. Ecuador, Venezuela, and so on.

**[01:20:59]** And actually, you said with the Javalatipy, that you are at home there and just how they accept

**[01:21:06]** that you are a member of another tribe. Like if there is such a thing as Spartaslavie.

**[01:21:13]** No, they really don't talk about that, it's my decision.

**[01:21:18]** It's like the decision to leave or come.

**[01:21:22]** Dear friends, I see again how they behave when I return.

**[01:21:29]** When I arrived to them, especially the SEG after 46 years,

**[01:21:39]** you have to imagine what 46 years means.

**[01:21:42]** When you meet someone after 46 years here, you don't even know who you met.

**[01:21:48]** I arrived there, no hello, hi, how are you, where have you been, what have you been doing,

**[01:21:56]** how come you came, finally, not a word.

**[01:22:01]** No welcome, nothing, nothing.

**[01:22:06]** That's part of freedom. I simply decided to come.

**[01:22:11]** And since I am also at home there, I have a name there, I just came.

**[01:22:17]** No kissing, hugging, nothing.

**[01:22:22]** I settled in there, started talking.

**[01:22:27]** And now an interesting thing started again, the irrational one.

**[01:22:33]** And I said, I would like to meet the son of that shaman Johae,

**[01:22:40]** the one who told me those myths about the toothy vagina that were published in Argo.

**[01:22:46]** And he was like my great friend.

**[01:22:49]** Among other things, he had four wives, seventeen children, and more children with another tribe.

**[01:22:55]** He contributed to the tribe and more grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

**[01:23:00]** And he said, no, he doesn't live with us.

**[01:23:03]** He lives somewhere in the jungle, probably has a seventh wife there.

**[01:23:07]** He takes care of himself there, hunts.

**[01:23:10]** And I said, but they would take care of him here.

**[01:23:13]** We drowned again.

**[01:23:15]** No, he didn't say proud either, but I would be proud,

**[01:23:19]** to be supported by someone.

**[01:23:21]** No, he is still Jura.

**[01:23:24]** And he says he mainly lives with us because why?

**[01:23:30]** Yes, the city folks have mobiles.

**[01:23:32]** They have better ones than mine, which I put away, I travel without mobiles.

**[01:23:35]** No cards, nothing.

**[01:23:37]** They have mobiles, they have TVs.

**[01:23:39]** Fridges beep when opened, motorcycles.

**[01:23:42]** Lots of sounds and those sounds drive away what?

**[01:23:46]** Exactly those hairy tarantulas, those macaw parrots,

**[01:23:50]** the monkeys that used to be there.

**[01:23:52]** They all run away.

**[01:23:54]** We drive them away, our sounds of course are unpleasant.

**[01:23:59]** And he says a beautiful sentence, which unfortunately I sometimes say too.

**[01:24:03]** This world is no longer for me.

**[01:24:07]** And I thought, it's a pity I won't see him,

**[01:24:12]** that I won't talk with him.

**[01:24:15]** And he said, well, that can be done.

**[01:24:20]** But dear friends, I wished for it so much.

**[01:24:24]** And he probably sensed that I came after those 46 years.

**[01:24:32]** I woke up one day and he was standing over me.

**[01:24:39]** I rewound it.

**[01:24:42]** And again, no inhabiting, no shouting, no joy,

**[01:24:47]** it's within him.

**[01:24:49]** Because we pretend to be joyful.

**[01:24:51]** We are not joyful.

**[01:24:54]** We have the surface.

**[01:24:56]** We are superficial.

**[01:24:58]** We pat ourselves on the back and that's it.

**[01:25:02]** But what matters is what our soul says.

**[01:25:06]** And he started, imagine, after 46 years,

**[01:25:13]** he started finishing the myth he forgot to tell me back then.

**[01:25:18]** He almost continued the sentence, if I overdid it.

**[01:25:23]** An incredible thing.

**[01:25:25]** I was just lying there, chills running down my spine, like in such cases,

**[01:25:32]** and he was telling the myth.

**[01:25:38]** Then I showed him a photo of his father,

**[01:25:41]** who died there a few years ago.

**[01:25:44]** He suddenly stiffened and started falling to the ground.

**[01:25:48]** I caught him in his last moments with his son,

**[01:25:53]** and he whispered to me,

**[01:25:56]** Čaj oši, that's what they're called, in Běláopice.

**[01:26:00]** Čaj oši, I am Murendo. Čaj oši, I am dying.

**[01:26:06]** I said, please,

**[01:26:09]** Joha, you're a strong man, so he pulled himself together.

**[01:26:13]** We had armadillo for lunch, then he turned and disappeared again, left again.

**[01:26:19]** And I was talking with his son, Lucie,

**[01:26:23]** and we agreed that when he saw his father,

**[01:26:27]** he suddenly wanted to go to him, to die.

**[01:26:32]** I got him out of it, and then he can die some other time.

**[01:26:36]** So these are the ways of those irrational things,

**[01:26:41]** that work there.

**[01:26:45]** And I've experienced several such cases there,

**[01:26:50]** so I believe in it.

**[01:26:54]** I believe in what will happen to me here.

**[01:26:58]** And it surely happened to you too.

**[01:27:01]** Here you know quite normally that a real farmer

**[01:27:05]** talks to flowers, that he talks with flowers.

**[01:27:09]** That's completely normal.

**[01:27:11]** They'll tell you that even at the university in biology. They'll say yes.

**[01:27:15]** Experiments are even done on some flowers.

**[01:27:19]** You swear, shout, and speak nicely to others.

**[01:27:22]** It's better that way, they bloom better and bear better.

**[01:27:25]** Certainly, the bonds between us and nature exist,

**[01:27:29]** because my father was a great orchardist.

**[01:27:32]** He used to chase me for the last cherry up high.

**[01:27:35]** We have two lilacs in Říčany

**[01:27:38]** and he always took care of them, like all the trees.

**[01:27:41]** He pruned them, watered them.

**[01:27:44]** And they bore beautiful fruit.

**[01:27:46]** Imagine, one year in spring,

**[01:27:49]** in March, my father died,

**[01:27:52]** and the lilacs didn’t bloom. Not a single one.

**[01:27:57]** We are part of nature,

**[01:28:00]** and it lets us know this.

**[01:28:03]** And sometimes we wonder,

**[01:28:06]** when something like this happens,

**[01:28:09]** and a tornado comes,

**[01:28:12]** to show us that we are not masters of this land,

**[01:28:15]** and that we should treat this land better.

**[01:28:18]** And then something else comes.

**[01:28:21]** Then maybe covid comes,

**[01:28:24]** and it says the earth wants to shake us off,

**[01:28:27]** it’s fed up with us.

**[01:28:30]** And then something else comes.

**[01:28:33]** These are signs,

**[01:28:36]** that the earth is fed up with us,

**[01:28:39]** so we wake up

**[01:28:42]** and start behaving like the Indians.

**[01:28:45]** Thank you.

**[01:28:49]** Thank you very much.

**[01:28:52]** Thanks.

**[01:28:55]** So, the lecture is over.

**[01:28:58]** I’m very glad.

**[01:29:01]** We’ll handle questions later.

**[01:29:04]** I’d like to ask you to vote,

**[01:29:07]** if you liked it today, how much, from one to five.

**[01:29:10]** We’d really appreciate it.

**[01:29:13]** And even better, there are three words

**[01:29:16]** that our breakfast today evoked in you.

**[01:29:19]** If you could write them down, that would be great.

**[01:29:22]** I'll quickly jump through.

**[01:29:25]** It would be great if you take a moment where you are,

**[01:29:28]** with your loved ones, with the people around you,

**[01:29:31]** whether you're watching live,

**[01:29:34]** or come home later, to reflect a bit on it.

**[01:29:37]** It felt like a glimpse into a completely different place,

**[01:29:40]** and that's something we really like here at Brain&Breakfast.

**[01:29:44]** And here is the promised invitation.

**[01:29:47]** On May 6th at 2 PM,

**[01:29:50]** we will again be broadcasting Brain&Breakfast Digestive,

**[01:29:53]** which will be a discussion, just a discussion.

**[01:29:56]** I invited a few people I really respect,

**[01:30:00]** like Lenka Papadakisová and the guys from BrainVR,

**[01:30:03]** Vojta and Krištof, Jarda Jirák from Neurazitelného,

**[01:30:06]** so that after what we've heard,

**[01:30:08]** we can experience it a bit more and then possibly dive

**[01:30:11]** a little deeper. So it will be on May 6th at 2 PM.

**[01:30:14]** We're also preparing a little treat for you.

**[01:30:18]** In the last breakfast, we had Simona Bagárová,

**[01:30:21]** and we talked about seniors, about how they function.

**[01:30:24]** We have an event with an assistance unicorn,

**[01:30:29]** called the Aging Simulator.

**[01:30:32]** It's very limited, only for a few people.

**[01:30:35]** If you'd like to empathize with how elderly people and seniors function,

**[01:30:39]** this is a perfect opportunity.

**[01:30:43]** The tools are used so caregivers

**[01:30:47]** in senior homes can feel what it's like for the elderly,

**[01:30:50]** so it will be the Aging Simulator.

**[01:30:53]** I believe it's on May 2nd.

**[01:30:56]** And the book of the month, Active Hope,

**[01:31:00]** was recommended by Lenka Papadakisová.

**[01:31:02]** I look forward to the next Brain&Breakfast.

**[01:31:05]** Brain&Breakfast is part of EDUtéka, there's a lot there,

**[01:31:08]** so definitely check it out.

**[01:31:14]** And the next breakfast is Brain&Breakfast.

**[01:31:18]** We will invite Martin Vaskez,

**[01:31:20]** Martin is a person who organizes many TEDx conferences,

**[01:31:22]** and teaches speakers how to engage their audience.

**[01:31:32]** And when we were talking together, it seemed to us,

**[01:31:36]** that the power of words is something very important

**[01:31:39]** and Martin and I will focus on this topic.

**[01:31:42]** So on May 17th at 8:30, I look forward to the next Brain&Breakfast.

**[01:31:47]** Mislav, once again, thank you very much for

**[01:31:50]** being with us.

**[01:31:51]** Thank you. Indians neither thank nor beg.

**[01:31:56]** It's our culture, of course, it’s our culture

**[01:32:00]** and as I say, it relies heavily on words,

**[01:32:03]** which sometimes lack substance.

**[01:32:07]** But I had a note here for future lessons,

**[01:32:12]** because, for example, child-rearing, folks,

**[01:32:16]** not just regarding pain,

**[01:32:20]** mothers constantly carry their children, their babies.

**[01:32:25]** That’s something we adopted from them,

**[01:32:28]** because it was found that postponing it,

**[01:32:31]** we liked to postpone it.

**[01:32:34]** We simply, to so-called help the mother,

**[01:32:38]** invented strollers.

**[01:32:40]** To help the mother, we made cribs,

**[01:32:43]** so the children would live alone.

**[01:32:45]** Because we put them in a horizontal position,

**[01:32:49]** which is wrong.

**[01:32:51]** The horizontal position comes only with old age

**[01:32:55]** when we lie down horizontally.

**[01:32:58]** No, children should be kept in a vertical position as long as possible.

**[01:33:03]** That’s why Indians carry them on the side,

**[01:33:06]** now our mothers do too, or on the back.

**[01:33:09]** It’s beautiful, like animals do.

**[01:33:13]** It was found that the longer the connection,

**[01:33:16]** or the touch of the mother’s body,

**[01:33:19]** the better it is for the child’s psyche.

**[01:33:23]** And when the child is vertical,

**[01:33:26]** it’s excellent for their future motor skills.

**[01:33:29]** We explained it scientifically again,

**[01:33:32]** but they have done it that way since birth.

**[01:33:35]** And why is the vertical position important?

**[01:33:38]** Because trees and everything, including people, grow vertically upwards.

**[01:33:45]** It confirms the sacred axis mundi.

**[01:33:50]** What is the axis mundi?

**[01:33:52]** Well, that's the world axis,

**[01:33:54]** the connection between the earthly world and the heavenly world.

**[01:33:59]** Actually, the axismundi was the path,

**[01:34:02]** where long ago, in the golden age of humanity,

**[01:34:05]** gods would meet and live together with people.

**[01:34:09]** Later, of course, this axismundi was disrupted,

**[01:34:14]** because people disturbed it with their sins,

**[01:34:19]** but shamans and even child-rearing constantly support it.

**[01:34:24]** By the way, shamans support it by

**[01:34:27]** sending the smoke from their cigars upward.

**[01:34:33]** They shamans continuously support the axismundi.

**[01:34:38]** So don't delay with your children,

**[01:34:41]** keep them on you as long as possible.

**[01:34:44]** Many of them even sleep with them in the hammock.

**[01:34:48]** The whole family sleeps in one hammock.

**[01:34:50]** It's a huge hammock.

**[01:34:52]** Two or three children, the wife, the father, all sleep piled together.

**[01:34:56]** He tells his son, you should sleep with your children.

**[01:35:01]** Well, yes, but here it clashes again.

**[01:35:03]** Yes, but they kick, scream, whimper, and then go to work.

**[01:35:06]** That's exactly it, with their children.

**[01:35:09]** I haven't seen them scream, cry,

**[01:35:12]** whimper, or misbehave.

**[01:35:15]** Because, as we said,

**[01:35:17]** everything happens naturally,

**[01:35:21]** like with animals.

**[01:35:23]** And so carrying them, as we now call it,

**[01:35:26]** we even have a technical term for it.

**[01:35:29]** Bonding, that's carrying.

**[01:35:31]** So carry them as much as possible on you,

**[01:35:35]** and feed them when they want,

**[01:35:38]** not when you want.

**[01:35:40]** The child decides, the child decides.

**[01:35:44]** And then we could talk about male birth,

**[01:35:47]** about kuvede and so on, in other sessions.

**[01:35:50]** We'll leave that for later.

**[01:35:52]** Yes, there's a lot.

**[01:35:54]** So once again, thank you very much, thank you,

**[01:35:56]** take care, thanks, bye and see you.

**[01:35:59]** www.hradeckesluzby.cz