Following the advice of a very wise alum I decided to read John Perkin’s book “Confessions of An Economic Hit Man” where he explains his life as an Economic Hit Man, cheating developing countries out of trillions of dollars. It’s an eye opening book that I suggest that everyone reads, but a specific part stood out to me. In the book Perkins describes “The Prophecy of the Condor and the Eagle” a prophecy that is told all over the world from the Himalayas to the Ecuadorian rain forest. Perkins depiction of the prophecy is this:
“back in the mists of history, human societies divided into two different paths: that of the condor (representing the heart, intuitive and mystical) and that of the eagle (representing the brain, rational and material). In the 1490’s, the prophecy said the two paths would converge and the eagle would drive the condor to the verge of extinction. Then, five hundred years later, in the 1990’s, a new epoch would begin, one in which the condor and the eagle will have the opportunity to reunite and fly together in the same sky, along the same path. If the condor and the eagle accept this opportunity, they will create a most remarkable offspring, unlike any ever seen before” (247) Perkins then says “the most powerful message it offers about consciousness; it says that we have entered a time when we benefit from the many diverse ways of seeing ourselves and the world, and that we can use these as a springboard to higher levels of awareness” (248).
This resonated with me so much that I immediately wrote it in my journal for safe keeping. I see it as I am the eagle, I come from a material world, a world focused on the individual rather than the community and I am now in a world full of condors who focus on community, as our language teacher “Papa Pierre” puts it “In Senegal is doesn’t matter what you are, it’s who you are”. I am not trying to say that one is better than the other, they just are what they are and I am an eagle coming into a land of condors. I have chosen to fly with the condors and through out this year we will fly together. As Perkins beautifully writes, I will be seeing myself in a whole new way in the world. I am going to try to break some of my eagle tendency’s and embrace the condor.
We are in the time where the eagle and the condor have the potential to come together, but it’s up to us. We have to as people, as countries, as a world come together and choose to fly together. I believe that Global Citizen Year fellows and alum we have chosen that path. We have chosen to leave our homes and dive into a whole new world unlike our own. Global Citizen Year one could say is our “spring board to higher levels of awareness”, awareness about ourselves and the world around us.
In a few weeks I will be heading to my village of Mako. This place will be my home for the next 6 months and this will be the place where I, hopefully, grow. I will be living without electricity and will have very limited access to wi-fi and while all this scares me I want to keep in mind this prophecy. If I fully and truly embrace this new world and life then when I get home I will be a better person, I will be this so called “unremarkable” offspring of the condor and the eagle.
