Tlakaelel has been speaking for 60 years on peace and the possibility of unity for all humankind.
Tonight, he will speak in Tucson about the times in which we live, and how we can better understand our individual roles.
Born Francisco Jimenez Sanchez, Tlakaelel, 79, is a founding member of the Circle of United Traditions of the World, an affiliation of many indigenous spiritual traditions based in France. He also started the first indigenous spiritual organization, In Kaltonal ("House of the Sun"), to be recognized by the Mexican government in more than 500 years.
Tlakaelel grew up being passed from elder to elder, said his assistant, Bert Gunn. He didn't start school until he was a young man, and he was given the name Tlakaelel, which means "adviser to the council," in 1947.
He now lives in Teotihuacán, Mexico.
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Here are excerpts from a recent talk with Tlakaelel:
A constant experience of extrasensory phenomena that happen all around, and with people around me. It is not something personal, but it happens collectively. We have constant signs of the spiritual life, especially during our ceremonies.
We are offering to the world the experience of our millennial culture (the indigenous wisdom) to help us adapt to the world change we are experiencing.
We bring a message of peace.
For the last 10,000 years, war has been the most lucrative activity of humanity. In reality, the world is waking up and seeking the ancestral path of peace.
The people are beginning to react. They are asking questions like, "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?"
The answer is there in the indigenous cultures.
People are not happy because they are undergoing a profound change. They do not understand what is happening, or what their future is, or what will happen in the future.
We need understanding and a worldwide re-education. We need to learn from all cultures how they live and how they solve their problems to survive, including changing our ways of eating. We need to learn to adapt to Mother Earth.
We need to know that this situation has occurred various times during the history of humanity. It is not new. There have always been survivors.
A proof of this is the stories that all nations of the world have about a lost paradise. In all these histories, they talk about how there was a happy world where food was abundant, people lived in peace, and they did not have grave problems.
We dream of returning to peace, to that paradise.
If You Go
• What: A talk by Tlakaelel, a Mexica-Tolteca indigenous elder. The talk will include these topics: Were these times predicted? What should we be doing to protect the great spiritual lineage that we are each the holder of — even if we don't know it? How do we perceive this transition and our individual roles?
• What time: 6 tonight.
• Where: St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave.
• Etc.: Admission is free, but donations are welcome.