Its longish and odd title and its publisher, University of New Mexico Press, might tempt people to dismiss this as merely an academic book of interest only to specialists. Nothing could be less true. This is a chronicle of a journey of the intellect and of the heart to understand an ancient and sophisticated worldview around the notion of "yanantin," or complementary opposites. Yanantin embraces the essential rightness of conflict without demonizing any of the participants of the conflict. It is Dr. Webb's hope that we can bring this worldview into our own lives and get past the many issues that have polarized our society.
After a discussion of research methodology in the introduction (well, this IS a work of scholarship, after all), the book slips into some very good travel writing. It starts off with Dr. Webb wandering around Cuzco, asking people how they defined "yanantin" and getting very disappointing results. (In retrospect, this might not be too surprising: it might like walking up to New Yorkers and asking them to define "freedom" or "justice.") She gets a little more clarity when she meets up with an old friend, Amado, and his friend, Juan Luis. Amado and Juan Luis are both shamans, and while they are happy to discuss yanantin, they are quite insistent that it can only be grasped through the use of "the Medicine."
At this point it might sound you are in for a recap of the Carlos Castenada books, but this is a different millennium, and Amado and Juan Luis are very different from Don Juan. The Castenada books (at least as I recall them) reinforced the '60's idea that modern life was way out of balance and that truth lay in traditional ways. In contrast, Amado and Juan Luis are hip young men. They understand global politics and live in a modernized Cuzco, with its ATMs and cellphones. At the same time, they are trying to preserve the shamanic traditions of their grandfathers and incorporate it into their modern life. They don't see modern life as bad. They believe that at this point in history, the South can help the North, but at some time in the future, the North will need to help the South. In short, they are seeing the world with eyes of yanantin.
Also, Amado and Juan Luis, who affectionately call Dr. Webb "Princesa," are gentler guides than Don Juan, who seemed to sometimes treat Castenada as a comic foil. When they finally convince her to take "the Medicine"---a decoction made from the San Pedro cactus---it is not a mind-shattering (or body-shattering) experience, but a set of shifts and deep, subtle realignments of consciousness. She weaves her personal experience with interviews with Amado, Juan Luis and other healers and shamans, as well as tying it in with the findings of other scholars, giving her writing both velocity and depth ... and yanantin.
Physically, the book is a pleasure to hold and to read. Each chapter is just the right length, with beautiful black and white photos between them, each capturing the spirit of place of Cuzco. By the time I had reached the last section, I realized that the act of reading the book had put me into a reflective, meditative state, and that I was starting to see yanantin appearing in my world, too.
