Time is Cows: Timeless Wisdom of the Maasai. Tanya Pergola Ph.D.
the United States, I sold the village house in Seattle and downsized to a one bedroom flat in Miami, where the weather better suited my clothes and it was a slightly shorter hop across the pond. I still visit the village in Seattle, share African stories in person there when I can, and stay in close touch via the Internet. My mom now lives in southern California and always has a bed ready for me there. I carry my keys to my American home with me wherever I go, as a Maasai woman does when she sets out on safari. Knowing I have such special nests to fly to makes the whole oloipung’o experience more comfortable, and special.
MEDICINE FOR LIFE
This book began as one about the traditional medicine of the Maasai people in East Africa. But it ended up being a book about life. The information it contains was imparted to me largely via oral histories. I was fortunate to hear many, wonderful stories, and on the following pages I cull gems of wisdom most useful to us modern Westerners and weave them into parables familiar to us, stories that make it easy to understand how profound and timeless the indigenous ways are.
All indigenous cultures share similar worldviews. Known by some as “indigenous consciousness,” this way of being in the world is innately holistic. Every individual is entirely woven into her natural environment; her mind and intellect shape and are shaped by those in her community. Her soul is the same soul as everyone else’s; she simply wears her own costume while on earth during the time we know her physically.
Something that has fascinated me since back when I trained as an anthropologist and social psychologist is how science increasingly presents evidence that demonstrates the intrinsic value of what indigenous people have always known. Modern communities are springing up all over the globe that believe in universality, collective soul, and heart-lead businesses. Some people think this phenomenon means we are coming full circle, back to where we began. I think a better metaphor is a spiral, and that we are circling as we head higher up on an evolutionary flight. What remains constant is our connection as human beings to universal truths—verities I personally learned most clearly through working and living with the Maasai.
In many ways, my dozens of trips over a decade commuting from America to Tanzania were very much spiritual journeys. During the process, I learned amazing things about myself and my own ancestors. Living in such profoundly different environments allowed me to take a step out of both of them and have a bird’s eye view of what was happening on the ground, and why. I became a witness to the sources of suffering in this world and could see why it is so difficult to alleviate. And, I learned from some beautiful earth-based people how to find health and happiness in some of the most unlikely places.
Tijing’u! Welcome inside!
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