The Tukano live in the northwest part of the Amazonian rainforest in Colombia, near the border of Brazil. Their homeland is a diversified ecosystem which includes hilly uplands, some grassy savanna, and some tropical forest in the lower elevations. They hunt mostly small animals and birds and take an occasional deer, peccary and tapir as well. They also gather a large number of wild foods, medicines and materials from the ecosystem. 

The Tukanos’ deep knowledge of the life of their homeland indicates that they have been in this location for a very long time. Every feature of the landscape is alive with symbolic meaning for the Tukano, passed down to them from their ancestors. The Tukano area is sparsely populated but they are bordered on all sides by other tribes. There are no conflicts between the Tukano and neighboring tribes.

The Tukano believe that the creative force of the universe continually creates a limited number of plant and animal beings. Its energy causes plants to grow and bear fruit, and animals to grow and to bear young. Its power continually energizes and gives form. Its energy illumines and creates on both biological and spiritual levels. The energy of the universe is limited, and is determined by the creativity of the cosmos. This energy flows in a circuit through all beings, between people, animals and plants, between society and nature.

The Tukano perceive their universe as a giant flow system whose ability to produce energy is directly related to the amount of energy that it receives. They believe that an important way that humans can energize the system is to conserve, or repress, sexual energy. The conserved sexual energy returns directly to the total energy available to the whole of existence, enhancing its vitality. Human health and well being, attained by controlling the consumption of food, also creates an energy input to the system.

The energy of human well being influences the stars, the weather, and other components of the system which are neither plants or animals but spirit forms. A fundamental tenet of Tukano cultural instruction is that human beings should never disturb the equilibrium of the finite flow system, but should return whatever energy they remove from the system as soon as possible.

For example, when an animal is killed or when a crop is harvested the energy of the local fauna and flora is thought to be diminished. However, as soon as the game or fruit are eaten by humans the energy is conserved, because the consumers of the food thus acquire the productive life force that previously belonged to the animal or plant.

This cosmological model of a system which constantly requires rebalancing in the form of inputs of energy retrieved by individual effort constitutes a religious proposition which is ultimately connected with the social and economic organization of the group. In this way, the general balance of energy flow becomes a religious objective in which native ecological concepts play a dominant organizational role. To understand the structure and functioning of the ecosystem becomes a vital task to the Tukano.

Three important practices help to maintain balance within Tukano society, and between the Tukano and their environment. These are population control, control of the exploitation of the natural environment and the control of human aggression.

Population control is maintained by oral, herbal contraceptives, long nursing periods, abstinence, and by abandonment of the aged and infirm. Because food and sex are so closely related in ecological symbolism, control of conception is quite well regulated. The Tukano are fully aware of the balances between their population and the carrying capacity of the land area that they occupy.

The medicine people of the tribe regulate human impact on the environment and act to control social aggression. Illness is considered by the Tukano to be caused by personal, cultural or ecological imbalances. Such imbalances might include overhunting, waste of resources, or meddling with certain types of sexual energy discharge.

The Tukano observation of the Natural world has aided them in maintaining a culture of sustainability and equilibrium. They exhibit very little interest in acquiring the type of new knowledge which would aid them in exploiting their environment for short term gain, or in obtaining more food or supplies than they actually need. 

However, there is always a great deal of interest in accumulating more factual knowledge about biological reality and about knowing what the physical world requires from them. This knowledge, they believe, is essential for survival because beings must bring themselves into conformity with nature if they want to exist as part of nature’s unity, and they must fit their demands to nature’s availabilities.

The Tukano, like many native cultures in the western hemisphere, believe that the world is running down, deteriorating since its time of initiation. To assist the universe in recreating itself and in maintaining its vitality, they regularly participate in ritual ceremonies where past, present and future generations are joined together. These rituals, in which plant and animal spirits are also believed to participate, appear to reinforce the motivation of each Tukano tribe member to walk in balance on the earth.

As I go about my things; what I do, who I see, where I go, I must remember that I am simply a vehicle for this flowing energy that resides within me. It is not an alien presence, it is a true living energy that thrives within every second of my life, within every cell and every action. I am simply a container for that force. And all around me the same phenomenon is taking place within every rock, plant, molecule of air and drop of water.

For me to think I own any of this is beyond my comprehension. It all works together, and it is the manifestation of divine goodness within everything that has ever been or will be. It has always been here doing what it does. It’s a constant doing. When there is emptiness it is there. Where there is sadness it is there. It never gives up and is always giving.

With all this generosity it is easy to think of being well, of living in truth and achieving success. I no longer think of things not happening correctly, because it is all the one presence of perfection and knowing. Deep within I can tap into this energy and perceive the absolute power of the oneness flowing through myself and all. There is no suffering or pain and desire is eliminated.

This is the power of meditation. It is the core of my being and is the true state of existence. Just as the fish know only how to swim, the flowers know only how to transmit vibrant color, the sky knows only how to change and progress. That is the state of love and strength I know to be true. When I deviate from that simple path is when I become unfinished, unloved, not true to the whole of being.

Just a few thousand years ago, our planet was living this truth. There was only this oneness within everyone. Then there emerged the ego of empire and the relentless need to conquer and own everything. Like a bottomless pit of desire, the mind of man found itself unable to connect with the one true power of goodness. It became what it is today, and it is only by allowing ourselves to return to the state of true being that we will come back to what we really are.

And so each day I am making a contribution to the return of mankind to the original state. Some day there will be enough, there will be goodness and sharing, there will be satisfaction and contentment. The earth will live again and the spirit within all will emerge in its gentle loving way to revive back to consciousness again.