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Ayahuasca, between visions and terrors.


Pages: 71 - 81

Abstract

Initiating is to frame a dangerous moment of experience: the transition from childhood to adulthood, to the status of hunter, warrior or the acceptance of shamanic function. This implies violence, which is directly related to a certain discipline of fear, and always precedes the learning of new knowledge (Clément 2011). In a context where ayahuasca consumption is related to the close relationship between the human being and its environment through its predation activities, the fear produced deliberately is first to learn how to manage it and avoid it afterwards: during hunting, it is to master the surprise that can provoke encounter (game, venomous animal, spirits), but also in war, in front of the one whose head is cut off.