This is the story of a people known as the Kogi. They live in an isolated region of Colombia in South America. Their story is told to us by Alan Ereira in a book called The Elder Brothers: a lost South American people and their message about the fate of the earth. They are indeed not lost, only isolated enough that they have remained relatively unchanged since the coming of Europeans to the Americas. In a sense, the Kogi are a living pre-Columbian civilization. The Kogi view themselves as guardians of life on earth and earth as the mother of all life. They are guided by priests, Mamas, who keep the legends and balance the spiritual and materials forces of nature and the actions of man. They live in a world of animism where every tree, every stone, everything has a spirit form. The Kogi are descendents of a prehistoric culture known as Tairona. Their world is one that provides us a glimpse of the past and a people who hold a distinctive perspective. The following are exerpts from Alan Ereira's book: From the Heart of the World.

Knowledge is not words, it is understanding, experience, a mode of being with greater knowledge, spiritual and material