Martín Prechtel's experiences growing up on a Pueblo Indian reservation his years of
apprenticing to a Guatemalan shaman and his flight from Guatemala's brutal civil war to life
in the U.S. inform this lyrical blend of memoir cultural commentary and spiritual call to
arms. The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic is both an epic story and a cry to the heart of
humanity based on the author's realization that human survival depends on keeping alive the
seeds of our "original forgotten spiritual excellence." Prechtel relates our current state
of ecological crisis to the rapid disappearance of biodiversity indigenous cultures and
shared human values. He demonstrates how real human culture is exterminated when real (not
genetically modified) seeds are lost. Like plants that become extinct once their required
conditions are no longer met authentic unmonetized human cultures can no longer survive in
the modern world. To "keep the seeds alive"-both literally and metaphorically-they must be
planted harvested and replanted just as human culture must become truly engaging and
meaningful to the soul as necessary as food is to the body. The viable seeds of spirituality
and culture that lie dormant within us need to "sprout" into broad daylight to create real sets
of cultures welcome on Earth.
