This is funny, in an dry way.
Here is the name of an article somebody forwarded to me today: Coca-Cola Paid Priests to Use Coke In ‘Healing Rituals’
The author of the article considers this bizarre. Those of you who understand values levels and therefore different types of thinking according to environment, neurology and of course life concerns, you will find this article a fascinating and “textbook” description of a values level conflict.
So what do we have? On one hand we have the traditional shamans squarely settled in values level 2 type of thinking. If you are not familiar with the different ways of thinking which in our trainings we call Values Levels (VL) here is the link to Part 1 of a mini-series of articles I wrote recently on this topic. So we have a very traditional and relatively isolated culture of a Mayan community who for whatever reason has bought what was sold to them; the idea that “aqua negra” has miraculous powers of healing.
“I am witnessing a Mayan religious ritual for the first time, yet the bottle’s shape seems familiar. Then Pepe confirms its contents: Coca-Cola.”
“San Juan Chamula is a small village 2,300m up in the Chiapas Highlands of southern Mexico, near the border with Guatemala. Its inhabitants are mostly Tzotzil Indians – one of the largest groups of Mexico’s pre-Spanish descendants, with a fierce reputation for defending traditions.”
“And, remember, this was taken very seriously ” to the extent that photographs were forbidden and rumors were circulated that Americans could be killed for disturbing these Coca-Cola rituals.”
On the other hand we have a mega-corporation solidly positioned in VL 5 type of thinking, who can at any time pretend to be whatever values levels interacts with in order to sell more of their stuff. The “tell-me-who-you-want-me-to-be-so-I-can-sell-you-more-stuff” is a characteristic of VL 5 thinking. Everything to maximize the bottom line and get more of the world’s market share.
How this has been accomplished exactly? My guess is as good as yours and a matter of speculation.
First of all the shamans in this area used for generations a herb called the “sacred herb of Coca” for shamanic purposes – and that makes a lot of sense since it is as we know highly hallucinogenic. So one possibility is that this is the way it was sold to them – hey, it tastes nice and it is the same thing – which by the way is not true.
However the myth of “aqua-negra” (Coca-Cola) having miraculous properties is not new. In Guatemala many Mayan women give their babies and toddlers Coca-Cola instead of milk. I have witnessed this myself during our The Accelerated Personal Evolution Programme™ training in Tikal in 2011.
If I was to speculate for this particular case, I could envision a scenario where a local representative of Coca-Cola company whose thinking is most likely stationed around VL 3 has accomplished the feat. Why VL 3? Because (1) VL 2 does not go to work outside their clan – they feel too insecure and unsafe and (2) because only a good, smart, pathological-honest-liar (as in VL 3) could sell stuff to very traditional VL 2 Mayan communities. Further speculation would be that the shaman who introduced the ritual was himself a good VL 2-3. Why do I say that? Because
“Stories still circulate about two American tourists who were supposedly killed after taking photographs inside Chamula’s church during a ritualistic ceremony.”
So if I was to further speculate, I could say that the original salesperson of the “miraculous cure” was most likely somebody from the community or close to them. Somebody trusted enough and maybe even part of the clan. Remember VL 2 does not take advice from anybody but their chief or shaman in this case. It is also possible that this method has been adopted by modelling rivalling communities and other shamans with the “miraculous power to heal” with Coca-Cola.
I wonder what stories circulated about this miracle “aqua negra”? As the reader is probably aware, VL 2 teaches and achieves resolutions though a lot of story telling. So most likely the sales process included a lot of metaphors and miraculous stories. Most likely they are great metaphors!
But this should not make you wonder, since this article Coca-Cola May be the Best Cure for Stomach Blockages tells us here the same thing. And you’ll be surprised to find out how many people are buying it.
And just for fun you can check out the values levels exhibited by this article:
Coca-Cola Caught Paying ˜Health Leaders’ to Say Soda is ˜Healthy Snack’
Fun to contemplate from the values levels perspective though!
Until next time, be well.