Shamans

Shamans and other indigenious people basically have a very spiritual aspect on life (Native Americans etc). If you look at it in the way that they've followed their practices for thousands of years. The shaman of the rain forests have used the same 'tools' for spirituality and physical cleansing for thousands of years. It is similar to getting off prescription drugs and using natural herbs, aroma therapy and what-not--what I mean, in the 21st-Century, humankind has become dependent on SCIENCE, whatever has been scientifically proven is what life is about, and also whatever has been the advances of modern medicine and pyschology to merit a godless, unspiritual aspect of life, or what can be seen and proven.

Humanity has based their perspective on what has only been established in the last 200 years based on science and psychology (ie, Darwinism) in contrast to shamanic life that has been around for, again, thousands of years.

Science is still in it's infancy when you compare it to how long human life has been on this rock.

Peyote/Ayahuasca
Peyote and Ayahuasca are hullucinic [sp] drugs made from natural plants used by Native Americans and indeginous people of South America in the rain forests, respectively. They are used for seeking spiritual truth and informally for physical restoration of mind, spirit, and body.

Visitors from the Modern World that have taken ayahuasca have turned from being abusive to loving, addicted to drugs to drug free, as claimed.

Of course, I've never taken or experienced this, but I seen a video of an actor that has:

Richard Beymer's account:
Beymer, along with others, travelled up the Amazon and met up with a shaman. The shaman brewed ayahuasca and other concoctions provided by the forest (throwing in that these plants were given by God). Ayahuasca is a nasty brew often followed by barfing. It's just an awful thing to drink, but once that is over, users start to see things just like users of hardcore drug users do. (Just to mention; ayahuasca and peyote contain THC which is what pyschedelic drugs have, it's illegal in the US, but, ironically, it is said that the human brain produces the THC chemical in minute (small) amounts, and could also explain a God-Spiritual-Someone's out there sense to our perceptions of reality).

Beymer drank the brew and applied other pastes made by the shaman and related his experiences. What he said was that these had driven out the impurities inside his body. His skin color turned blue which was a sign of the impurities coming out as said by his shaman. This was an ordeal that occured over several days in a protecting enviroment inside the rain forest.

Also, visions occured related to a highly spiritual significance.

Chris, I'll throw this in, that visions often have a serpant-like creature that is seen as a wisdom device or for good which is what contrasts by the Creation account. Is the serpent bad or good?

So to sum up:
What shamans currently tell us is that the earth is showing signs of destruction (Global Warming). Whether this has been caused by us or natuarally occuring is beside the point: Shaman in S. America, see a disconnect between man and the Supernatural or what is unseen.