It seems like this is a life that has obstruction, resistance, struggle, and competition everywhere. Some religious organizations have denounced “the flesh.” Others have gone after the human emotions or, worse, what it is to just be human. This self-criticism extends to academic and scientific institutions. Among them, some of the most popular beliefs are that humans are irresponsible, undisciplined, greedy, etc. Saving the most extreme one for last, even the concept of certain peoples being “evil” is thrown in there. Maybe we could all at least agree that these thinking patterns don’t seem to be too constructive?

Where does this self-criticism come from? Who is the real enemy that suggests these negative trends? From a Shamanic stance, these are questions that should be answered individually; however, I’m pretty sure my experience will make sense. In the Andean Cosmovision, we acknowledge these concepts as what could be considered demons. We call them “supay,” among other names and classifications. Many years ago, on one rare occasion under very specific conditions, I did an Ayahuasca Ceremony. While in the altered state, I saw a supay dancing near me. I asked him what he was doing there. He approached me very respectfully and shared that he usually fed on dense energy (hucha) and that he had noticed that I was trying to live a life with as little hucha as possible. He then offered that if I agreed, he could feed off the unwanted energy I had around me. Coming from a Western-style thinking, I replied that if we made that agreement, then he’d constantly hang around me creating havoc so I’d generate more hucha, so that he could feed off it. He laughed and told me that this was not his job. He said he exists in Uku Pacha (the lower/deeper realms); we humans mostly live in Kay Pacha (this plane of existence is based on time, space, and consciousness). In psychological terms, Uku Pacha is what Jungians call the Shadow.

He didn’t have to explain the rest because in the Andean Cosmovision, it is understood that humans generate hucha/dense energy as part of their evolutionary process. Hucha is mostly generated by the lack of forgiveness, gratefulness, and/or exploration (meaning trying new ways to do things, get along, think, feel, etc.).

It’s not that humans, humanity, or your nature is bad; it is that this is the process of the evolution of consciousness. We live, we experience life and the energies that we self-generated, and in that process, we learn to fine-tune ourselves. It is never perfect enough, and it shouldn’t be, because we are here to reach our “infinite” potential. It takes work, and that is good news. Mother Nature is constantly working, constantly evolving; that is the gift of this existence. We do our work with Love (Munay), and as “Life” shows us some aspects we may not like, we reconsider the way we are thinking, feeling, and acting. An upward cyclical process of re-calibration towards goodness.