La Dieta
Sunday Ramble
Whoops. I did it again. I let life take precedent over my newsletter for more than a month. The guilt has been gnawing away at me, but between weekend-laden travels to the US, a wedding to perform, a birthday party for my child, and a dieta in the Amazon, Kent’s Corner wasn’t happening. But if you’re still here and reading these words, my hats off to you — somehow, someway, we have developed a relationship.
Building a one-way e-quaintence across the interwebs is not a terrible thing. But unfortunately, it seems to be the norm these days as we discover our tribe of like-minded folks sprawled across the planet. It seems to be par for the course as the age of the nation-state gives way to the internet state. I’ve developed many one-way e-quaintences with podcasters I’ve listened to for years who wouldn’t know me from Adam if we bumped into one another at a small pub.
Dieta? Yeah, I figured you’d clue in on that word. And it’s true — I left that as a teaser since almost no one on the planet knows what a dieta is. Most initially take it as a diet or food restriction program. And it is that, but it’s also so much more. A dieta is THE Amazonian tradition of Amazonian traditions. In days gone by, tribal cultures would use the dieta as the cure-all for almost any non-acute ailment. Digestion problems? Dieta. Depression? Dieta. Heartbreak? Dieta. Loneliness? Dieta.
The resident tribesman would go to the local curandero (shaman), describe the ailment causing suffering, be diagnosed with a plant to dieta, and head off into the woods to sit in a tambo for days, weeks, or sometimes months. Then, another villager would periodically bring bland food and help prepare the dieted plant into a juice for daily consumption. Eventually, the results from the dieta would occur, and the tribesman would return to the village, restored, harmonized, and cured of their ailment. Just a standard medical procedure, yeah?
Though I’ve conducted several dietas, my last was in 2018. These have profoundly impacted my development, helping to harmonize my relationships as a friend, brother, son, father, husband, and leader. Not having gone on dieta in four years, I was excited not only by the therapeutic impacts of the dieta but for the chance to have a “me” break. As every parent of small children knows, getting alone time is a treasure not to be squandered. So squander it I did not — for eight days, I rotated between hammock, bed, and bench where ants would educate me on their way of life. Swaying in a hammock while watching the jungle cycle between night and day seems challenging, but by day three, the hours melt, and time becomes timeless. My only job was to let time have time and feel the earth turn under me.
“What about the plants?” you ask. Yeah, I wish I could intellectualize this for you to digest, and I will try, but I can assure you it’s understandable only through experience. As Westerners, we live in our heads, even when we think we’re not. The dieta is an experience beyond rational — literally outside the mind. By consuming just rice and boiled plantains, the body is not receiving salt, causing the energetic body to open. The plant being dieted (drank as a juice twice a day) enters your energetic body. Dreams open. Latent, undigested emotions come to the surface. Physical vibrations in the body are felt. Realizations about life occur—some even experience waking dreams.
The tradition of the dieta is at least 3000 years old — I’ve come to think of it as the most incredible wisdom of the Americas. That these traditions did not get entirely erased by modern man is a minor miracle and likely attributable to the difficulty of dominating the Amazon rainforest. Takiwasi offers the dieta experience to outsiders to help fund their addiction treatment program. At Takiwasi, a clinical therapist is paired with the dieter, providing therapy sessions before, during, and after the dieta. The blend of Jungian talk therapy and traditional Amazonian medicine is the only one of its kind in the world. It is why Ana, my wife, chose to conduct her therapy internship here.
As a studious seeker of self, I cannot believe my luck in having discovered Takiwasi and the dieta experience. Instead of having a book, guru, or youtube video explain the world, I get to embody the knowledge of the sacred through the experience. Unexplainable, exquisitely delicious, and full of the discomfort of growth, the dieta is not a practice suitable for everyone. However, nothing compares to the dieta for those who seek to understand the human experience at its most profound level.
Rad Things on the Interwebs
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Weekly Range: $16k - $22k
It’s been since early May that I provided a price prediction. Since then, the price has fallen from $34k to $17.6k, marking an almost 50% drop — nearly a 75% drop from its peak at $69k. We’re firmly in a crypto winter circa 2018-19. While there could be further downside — and many are calling for lows in the $10k-14k range, I suspect we’re more likely to bottom here than take the plunge further. Why? The sell-off has occurred from liquidating overleveraged firms, i.e., forced selling to cover margin calls or insolvency. It’s hard for me to imagine that there are many more leveraged players left to wipe out of the market. That said, the market will need to regain its confidence to begin climbing again, which only occurs after substantial time. This means the most probable situation is for several months of accumulation in the $16k-$22k range. Should we break $16k on a weekly close, then the low teens are on the table. Until then, Bitcoin is on sale, and it is a great time to begin accumulating a long-term position.
Bitcoin Q & A
Q: Is Bitcoin dead?
A: No
The price has dropped substantially since the last Kent’s Corner, and many are asking if Bitcoin is dead. Of course, this volatility is nothing new for those who have been around Bitcoin, but for folks relatively new, the fear of its demise is real — nothing could be further from the truth.
First, Bitcoin’s price has no direct impact on the network itself. Bitcoin’s hash rate, a proxy for the amount of capital invested in securing the network, has increased by more than 15x since the price of Bitcoin was last at $20k. That means roughly 15x the computing power now securing the Bitcoin network as it did in 2017 when Bitcoin reached $20k.
Second, Bitcoin’s detractors have a horrible track record of predicting Bitcoin’s demise, having been proven wrong 457 times. Not once have they been right. How do I know? Because this website tracks every time, a journalist or publication predicts its dead. And every 10 minutes, a new block continues to be created and added to the Bitcoin blockchain.
None of that helps if you're underwater on your Bitcoin position. But what may help is knowing that over four years, Bitcoin has always seen positive returns compared to the dollar.
Do you have questions or Ramble topics? Leave a comment or reply to the newsletter to reach me.
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