“How We Eat Our Words” and Other Wisdom from the Mamos
“The Mamos have requested that we eat our next meal in silence.” “The Mamos believe,” Santy continued, “that what we say during a meal, we also eat.”
We gathered around the table in uncustomary silence for a lunch of traditional sancocho—a meat stock soup made up of various cuts of fatty meat on the bone, corn on the cob, turnips, carrots and other assorted vegetables. A latecomer whispered to me, as she approached the table, “What’s going on?” I indicated through gestures that we had been asked to keep quiet.
All week long, Santy, our host and the founder of Jaguar Siembra, had been helping translate the customs and ceremonies of the Kogi, Wiwa, and Arhuaco tribes to us, his guests (about 15 of us, handpicked from various countries). Santy was the bridge between our worlds—those of the traditional peoples and those of us from so-called “developed countries”.
When Santy first extended the invitation to meet and learn from indigenous peoples, I could not pass it up. I had read up on the Kogi and neighboring tribes, and I was aware that these peoples had deliberately isolated themselves from modernity for thousands of years. They regard their land, the Sierra Nevada region, to be the “heart of the world” and that what occurs there has a ripple effect on the broader world. Therefore, they are diligent and deliberate guardians of the balance and harmony we maintain with nature and all life.
In recent years, things have gotten so out of balance in our world that the tribes collectively decided to intervene and reconnect with modernity. They see themselves as the elder brother and modern man as the younger brother. And the younger brother has gotten so lost, that a connection was apparently necessary. And so the tribes have opted to impart some of their wisdom to us and to invite us to collaborate with them in creating a brighter future.
Who was I to join hands with them? I felt humbled and curious about the opportunity to “clear thoughts”, as Santy put it.
The silence during one meal represented just one challenge the Mamos presented us with. Over the course of a number of days, the Mamos, the wisdom keepers of the tribes, continually invited us to take a deeper look within and at the world around us. Without distraction.
To be human in the Kogi traditional language translates to the root of the verb “to think” or “to create”. Isn’t that interesting? Thinking with intention is a human act. It is deliberate and important work and has a ripple effect on our own lives, the lives of those around us and the planet. In essence, what we think creates our reality.
If this all sounds wild, well, it is. What might happen if we accepted the invitation to silence more regularly and began to examine our thoughts and steer them in a healthier direction?
Silence is kind of weird to us nowadays, I think. Music, audiobooks, podcasts, and movies are all available at the swipe of a finger. We no longer sit in silence. We value entertainment over meditation, activity over stillness. Consequently, quiet feels uncomfortable, like an oversized t-shirt that gives us too much wiggle room. We’re not sure what to do with it, so we wiggle…and then grab our cell phones.
Whether you’re a busy mom of little ones or a 30-something with a 9-to-5 job, you might consider silence and stillness a luxury. I would dare say that it is a necessity. When you make the space and time for this, you can not only keep your sanity, but perhaps save the world from careering into chaos.
Here are some practical tips for embracing silence and contemplation.
Pick one for this week and let me know how it goes.
Put on classical music in the car instead of the usual playlist
Try a device-free drive (no radio, podcasts, or screens for the kids)
At the table, have a silent dinner (like we did) or have focused conversations, avoiding heavy/sad topics while eating
End your day device-free. After sundown, read a book. Knit. Do some star gazing.
Get your family outside on the weekend for at least a couple of hours. Go bike riding or hang out at a nearby park.
Take a week off from Netflix, Hulu, or TV.
What would you add to the list? There’s so much more to the Colombian experience I had in June. Let me know if you’d like me to share more specifics. The practice of silence and intentional, contemplative thinking is just a small sample of Kogi wisdom.