The Teachings of don Alberto Taxo

The Teachings of don Alberto Taxo

We are saddened to report that after battling severe Covid-19 for more than a month, revered Ecuadorian Atis-Kichwa teacher don Alberto Taxo, master yachak, has passed away. This week also marks the release of a new book about don Alberto’s life and teachings: The Way of Abundance and Joy by Shirley Blancke. Here is an excerpt where don Alberto speaks about Grandparent Wisdom and gratitude:

I teach the way of Qhapaq Ñan, the path of power, of feeling, the path of opening our awareness all the time. This is the Andean path. This is my ñan, my road, one I have traveled my whole life, and I feel I shall persevere on it up to my last drop of blood. I have handed my whole life over to this dream and until I leave my body, I will struggle for the dream of Qhapaq Ñan.

We, the people of North and South, belong together as Eagle and Condor. We have been together before and it is no accident that we should be together again now. Being together validates the prophecy of my ancestors: “The time will come when the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the South fly together in the same sky.”

In this life it is important to combine the Eagle’s gift with that of the Condor. We need both powers, the Eagle’s, which is the power of the mind, which includes the gift of science and technology, and the Condor’s, which is the power of the heart and which includes the gift of sensing or feeling and of being able to connect with the elements of nature. These two powers, of mind and of heart, are within each one of us. We need to fly together and they need to fly together within us: the Eagle’s power of thinking and planning, the Condor’s of sensing and connecting.

The sky represents our daily life. To fly is to enjoy each moment of our daily life and from this experience of life, continue to spontaneously express gratitude. This prophecy is saying that when the Condor and Eagle are flying in the same sky, we will be in harmony. What I am bringing is the Condor’s power, the power of having the ability to sense and feel everywhere at every moment. This is the power of the Condor of the Andes.

When I was young my grandmother said to me, “Nothing in life is negative. Some circumstance may be difficult, but when it has passed and we have left it behind, we need to recognize that we are coming out of it with more knowledge, and we are always learning something new. The great majority of people don’t remember the good things when everything goes well. My advice to you is to remember the Great Spirit every moment of every day, and one way to do it is with gratitude.”

Every moment and every place present us with great opportunities. Don’t think that we have certain magical and unique places that allow us to be connected and enter into harmony; the whole world is special and each and every moment is special. In every action we pay attention to, each place we occupy, and in every moment of the day, we can fill ourselves up with thankfulness. In the same way when we go to sleep, we can appreciate and relive everything we did during the day. And our dreams will be lessons about our lives, our walk.

When we leave our bodies in bed, we can do things we can’t do when we have a body in this reality, and we can understand things we don’t otherwise understand on Earth. We are one with Mother Nature and receive her benefits. Life’s problems are natural, but Mother Earth helps us understand these things and be happy.

When we eat we have an opportunity to increase our intimacy with our Mother Earth; in breathing we are handed an opportunity for intimate relationship with air; when we feel heat in our bodies, or feel friendship, this is a channel of communication with sacred fire. Drinking water and washing ourselves are great opportunities for cleansing our physical parts as well as other aspects of us that need to be cleansed. In this way our lives become transparent and fluid. Birds don’t struggle against the wind, they use it to rise up, and trees make a sound when the wind is strong. Many possibilities exist for transforming moments when one is blocked or in situations that are difficult. These problems can help us walk more carefully in life and with more knowledge and awareness.

We need to give thanks not only when the sun is shining but also when the clouds are dark and rain falls. We may give thanks for all of our moments of regret. I know the mind will say we are crazy. How can we give thanks for difficult moments? I can assure you that when we do it, as my grandmother taught me, we will have more power to resolve adverse circumstances, and I know, I have lived this. It is wonderful to feel this. When the wind blows very strongly against us, when the difficulty is very great, we can fly higher; this is what I learned from the condor. The condor waits until there is a strong wind against it because it is the largest bird in the world so that when a strong, contrary wind comes up, it hurls itself in the direction of the abyss and flies higher. When difficulties come to us, we have great opportunities for discovering wisdom inside of ourselves.

I don’t call difficulties problems because difficulties come on our behalf, and I remember what my grandfather said, “When you begin to give thanks with your whole heart and fully throw yourself into it, you will have flown higher. I can feel and give thanks for these gifts everywhere, at every moment, and after it one will be in harmony with life so that a problem becomes less and less insoluble. Many times difficulties are our teachers. It’s very simple; we should never close ourselves to receiving life’s gifts but we have to be open in mind and heart to receive them. Every element—everything—exists in this reality to help us receive the gifts we need to receive. Because of this, every moment is an opportunity.

“Reaching this connection with the elements is the moment when respect and gratitude emerge. One doesn’t need to think about being grateful because it comes naturally; we become aware that we depend on the elements, and that we are a part of the great energy force of life, and that great force of life is a part of us.”

You know that historically, indigenous people have not been treated well, and even now fair treatment doesn’t exist. In spite of all this, we express gratitude to Earth. We help plants grow and then we harvest, and at every moment we express gratitude either with words or mentally, showing our intentions. At the time of harvest we have a celebration and prepare all the kinds of grain that Mother Earth gifts us.

In summary, I want to emphasize that in life every activity is an opportunity to express gratitude in a natural way. We give thanks for things spontaneously because we feel love for the earth, not feeling it as a duty that we ought to be grateful. We are thankful for everything we receive, even if we don’t like or understand it. As far as I am concerned punishment doesn’t exist in Creation.

There are many things that we don’t like and repudiate, but in time recognize they are necessary for us. We only want and ask for the things we like, and when the opposite comes we believe the Creator has not heard us. However, it may be that when we ask for what we want and life doesn’t give it to us, it’s because what we want is not appropriate for us at that moment in our lives. My elders taught me to give thanks both for what I receive and what I don’t receive. In giving thanks for a difficult moment, being grateful for it, this difficulty will disappear and grow lighter. It’s possible it may be a lesson, but never a punishment.

There are many people who are not conscious of what they receive every morning when they wake. They think they need more things and ask for them. I consider that we should give thanks for all the marvelous gifts we receive every day with our whole heart and in a way that is sincere and spontaneous. Give thanks for what we are able to see—that we can walk, breathe, feel distinct textures—and give a huge amount of thanks for what we can smell. We offer thanks through our songs, and through pleasure and joy. But people have forgotten how to be joyful; they are serious growing up.

We don’t allow our children to be serious. Happiness is a way of giving thanks to life, and kids perhaps don’t say thank you, thank you, but through their happiness and their games they express gratitude to life. In my tradition we are always having fiestas with the whole community. Everyone takes part. The house is open and everyone comes in, eats, dances, and participates. No one is invited, but everyone comes. In this way we give thanks at every moment with our whole heart. Our way of life is threaded with gratitude.

Allpa Mama, Mother Earth, is like our own mother. When our physical mother gives us food, when we eat with gratitude and happiness and eat everything she gives us, Mother offers us a little more because she sees we are eating with delight and joy and gratitude, and that we are eating everything and might like more. Our Allpa Mama is the same way. If she sees we receive the food she gives us with love, and that we take pleasure in and feel the eating and connect ourselves with her, she always offers more. We eat with gratitude to continue to receive Mother Earth’s gifts and aim not to leave even a single grain of quinoa on the plate.

The chroniclers said we were savages because we went about laughing and happy all the time. That was because before the Spanish arrival we knew nothing of the concept of sin that the church imposed. For us, to be with God was, and is, to be happy, but for Catholics, their approach to life is marked by original sin and sorrow. Our way of living has to be happiness; we need to wake up happy. If the day before was bad, something sad happened, we shouldn’t go on being sorrowful or negative the following day because this will mean we’ll spend the whole day in the same state.

What do we hope for in life? Happiness, of course, and tranquility and peace. To provide an example, if we are hungry, where do we go if not the kitchen? Or do we go to the bathroom or living room? No, we go to where we need to go to acquire food and be able to eat. And so if we want to go in the direction of happiness, what does our approach to life need to be? Should we be negative, sad, and bitter perhaps? No, we need to be joyful and content. We need to smile and have a positive mental attitude. We need to be with God, and this is being with God.

This is a time in which we must go beyond good and evil. All this is relative because all moral systems have been put in place by human morality. Who can decide whether this or that thing is good or bad? By what parameters do we judge, by what mandates? If what we call “good” were not to exist, neither would what we call “bad.” In my way of seeing things, they are complementary and necessary for equilibrium to exist.

When we succeed in finding harmony on our path, when we are happy with the energetic frequency we desire, and when we are successful in developing our two cerebral hemispheres, the concept of good and bad becomes moot. The left hemisphere controls logic and the right intuition, and when we allow Western knowledge and Andean wisdom to sprout and fly in the same sky of every human being’s life, we find the equilibrium we need.

Thank you, don Alberto. May your spirit continue to fly alongside the Eagle and the Condor in the sky we all share.