English version © Max
Krichanã 2013
preface
Everything that happens isn't but a sign
Life has a sacramental
structure. It is full of signs and hidden sacred senses which must be deciphered.
It is like the Christian sacraments: they are signs loaded with grace, which is
unveiled through them as signs. The present book by Luiz Filipe Tsiipré de
Figueiredo has a sacramental dimension. Indeed it encloses a unique
autobiography. The facts narrated are facts, but they seem to work here as
myths. And every myth reveals the hidden truth of facts, their hidden way.
The author’s indefatigable
pursuit of this hidden meaning slowly reveals itself back, upon memories accumulated
out on the prairies of South Dakota, in the United States of America, and forth,
after a life committed for more than 20 years to the struggle of the indigenous
peoples for their rights and with the methods of alternative healing. In all of
this, the author gets in communion with the xamanic forces he discovers inside himself.
Everyone is pervaded by
those powerful energies. Nonetheless, because of the limits of our rationalist
culture, they scarcely come afloat or are taken as gifts from the Universe or from
God. But for those who travel along this field of energy, chance doesn’t exist.
Everything bears messages which deserve to be deciphered. Tsiipré states it
well: “Sheer chance exists only to those who ignore the Laws of the Universe.”
This point of view
shows the immovable belief in which traveling over each one of us there is a
Star of Bethlehem, guiding us in the path of life. Therefore, the spiritual
dimension of the story acquires full centrality. Taking things from this
perspective is of paramount importance in the current moment lived by humanity,
which feels closer to an abyss. Only
through a spiritual vision of the world, much well represented in Tsiipré’s
saga, we can find a saviour way to escape.
This book encourages
everyone to discover within himself a hidden master and to try to find his Sacred
Smoking Pipe, which, for Tsiipré, meant the greater sacrament. But this master will
only be revealed when the disciple is ready. And he will be ready when he begins
to listen to his own heart, to the song of the Earth and to the thoughts of the
mountains, trees and animals, that thus express their own simple existences. Herein
lies the full significance of this interesting and challenging narrative.
Leonardo Boff
Petrópolis, Corpus
Christi holiday, 2008
______________________________________
English version © Max Krichanã 2013
“A journey into time” by Tsiipré
Figueiredo
Introduction
The story I am about to tell
here is my very own story, on this and other times ... It would seem to be a
fruit of a fertile imagination, or a simple tale, if it were not true.
Everything that happens in our
lives bears a reason for its being, an impression that is not just good or bad,
but brings us to discoveries and transformations, from the moment we make
ourselves receptive to the subtle messages of our everyday routine. Such
messages, or signs, might be aroused by the flight of a bird, or by looking into
the eyes of a child or into the flames of a campfire, or by hearing the words
of someone or, still, revealed in a night’s dream... Then you have to know how to
decipher them.
Luiz Filipe and Tsiipré are
part of the one and same character, bearing distinct origins between each
other. The first was my mother's choice, from the time I was born in April 1954
in the city of Rio de Janeiro, then the Federal Capital of Brazil. The second is the name given to me by the
Xavante Indians, in the State of Mato Grosso in the mid-1970s, meaning “Red
Bird”.
Once, Mr. Mansur, who is the father
of my great friend and godfather Ricardo, told me that the human being, to become
complete, must accomplish three basic tasks in life, starting by planting a
tree, having a child, and finally writing a book. At the time, I had already
planted some trees and was the father of a beautiful creature called Maíra. I
believe those words encouraged me in developing this work. However, after its
completion, I feel nowhere near that state of wholeness. On the contrary, there
still will remain a long way to go, because the journey is much bigger than it
looks ...
Whatever may have brought us
to this world relates to a specific purpose, connected to Celestial Designs. We
are here not by mere chance, and I have compelling reasons to not believe in
coincidences ...
The existing phenomena and their
multiple manifestations are part of a whole, very well orchestrated by the
Creator of Life, the Great Mystery ... In essence, all beings belonging to the
mineral, the vegetal and the animal reigns, including our own species, have a
well-defined mission in the Universe, performing acts of absolute greatness.
Seeking to understand this cosmic order and its interaction with the higher
planes of the Mistery represents one more stage up in the human beings’ evolutionary
process, concerning the step each one is at.
When accumulating certain
experiences and knowledge that might contribute to the flow of life and to the
process of expanding consciousness, we consequently increase our responsibility
towards people. This knowledge should be passed on, and we should never keep it
to ourselves or lock it away.
For these reasons, I decided
to write this book, and decided to write it down in a very special place, and
in an old-fashioned way. It would be different from working on it inside four
concrete walls, in a house or a flat; and in an old-fashioned way because I
would be writing it down by hand, instead of using a computer or even a simple
typewriter. I find myself in a small forest clearing between the Morro da Urca and
the Sugar Loaf, postcards from the São Sebastião of Rio de Janeiro city. As I always
enjoyed walking through the woods, I discovered this place in one of these strolls,
in 1993.
Its location is off the beaten
paths traveled by visitors and climbers, allowing me complete isolation and the
necessary tranquility to concentrate myself into writing. Around me, the
landscape contrasts between the green lush of the Atlantic Forest and the firm blue
of a cloudless sky, in the closure of another Saturday afternoon on a Summer
day. A breeze blows gently, while a Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima, a certain type of
hawk) and crickets soundly announce their presence.
Far away, the roar of fast
traveling vehicles reminds me that I am in the heart of a big city, a city like
so many others, but blessed by the Universal Architect, considering the luscious
nature that surrounds it. A city with its neurotic conflicts and contrasts
generated by its inhabitants, but to which I am very grateful for the lot that
I've been learning in this life, for all the discoveries that were afforded me,
including this clear space, the perfect place to write this story. A story that
tells, among other things, of the Indian peoples and the revelations of a past
life, also an Indian one, in North America, in the prairies of South Dakota. A
story that offers evidence of my previous life.
By the way, this is not
another book on reincarnation, whether in the religious or the scientific meanings
of the word. I simply intend to tell
what happened to me, the profound experience that I have lived, in a totally
spontaneous manner, without never before having searched for such revelations.
Seeing it from another angle, my former interest in the spiritual realm of
life, including religion, may have influenced my journey. I visited different
temples, but today I consider myself a person who acquired religiosity as a
principle in its own existence, independently from any doctrine.
Since I was a 4-year-old boy I
began to manifest a strong attraction towards anything directly related to Indians.
They could be objects, photographs, films or even simple little kid stories, I would
get totally absorbed and fascinated by the theme! And that kind of attraction,
instead of diminishing over the years was, quite on the contrary, intensified
up to the day I became myself devoted to indigenism. Then I lived, worked and
contributed to the indigenous peoples quest for over 20 years.
I didn’t have the slightest
idea of the bridge I would have to cross in the future … A bridge connecting my
present time, as influenced by the native peoples, to an indigenous past, with
memorable records in my soul1 and emerged from the subconscious mind.
Diving into time, I
contemplate these majestic and lofty mountains, all of them silent witnesses to
those ancient peoples who inhabited this region, called Guanabara2 by
the Tupinambá Indians of the sixteenth century. And it is here, in this
clearing, my natural office and sacred refuge, that I begin to tell my story3.
Rio de Janeiro, or Guanabara
new moon of February, 2003
new moon of February, 2003
1- A word to designate the spirit,
when incarnated.
2- Name of the sea bay.
3- SOON! This work, with
photographs, will be made available in e-book
format through Amazon.
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