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Chapter 1, Discovering the Way

• The author reports on commonalities between the world's shamanic spiritual belief systems.

• Harner lives among tribal people and learns shamanic ways firsthand from them.

• He describes his own spiritual experiences involving water.

• He writes about his experience of "flying" inside a mountain.
• The author writes about experiencing demons as reptiles and carrying a balsa stick for protection.

• Not every tribe uses drugs in shamanic rituals.

• Lakota Sioux and Coast Salish tribes are two examples of groups that achieve altered states of consciousness without drugs.

• Harner emphasizes that Westerners don't need to take drugs to access shamanism.
• The author meets a Jivaro shaman named Akachu.

• Akachu helps Harner acquire spirit helpers called tsentak, which cause or cure illness.

• These helpers are activated when swallowed by a shaman.

• Under the influence of a hallucinogen, these spirit helpers appear as animals such as jaguars or monkeys.
• A...

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