It was a tribe of barely a 100 souls and yes, they were primitive, or at least that's what we would call them. They didn't care much about counting, never heard about reading or writing either. They didn't know why a leaf fell off a tree in autumn or why it got colder in winter, then warmer again in summer nor did they really care to. Sounds incredible, doesn't it?

Still there was something they knew and mastered better than anybody else. Something we, unfortunately, forgot all about. They knew how to ask the spirits for advice.

Now, if you think this is a story about some euphoric tribe living a peaceful life in harmony with nature ... don't. The deep forest of Papua New Guinea isn't a nice place to live and the world of the Indawhi sure wasn't any different. Actually it was a very inhospitable place that was infested with innumerable blood sucking insects spreading diseases, not to mention the bigger animals who weren't behaving any better as far as the Indawhi were concerned. No, the poor Indawhi even had to live and sleep up in the trees not to be bitten or eaten alive by them. And if all that wasn't enough, there was hardly enough to eat around either.

The reason why I am telling you this, is so that you can understand why all of the other tribes, as soon as they heard about the 'TV-and-hamburger-world', opted out and went for the instant meals and the air conditioned bug free houses. Come to think of it ... Would you blame them? Would you want to trade places with them? Of course you wouldn't. Nobody would.

Still, as they did, they all 'lost' something invaluable ... something that by now had gotten so rare that you could almost call it 'a secret'. They all lost ... well, the way to drink from the source of sacred knowledge, as they called it.

"The source of sacred knowledge?"
It was the first thing that Shaoni had said since the wizard had started telling about this 'last tribe that knew'.

Of course, as always, the wizard just continued.
Yes, maybe they weren't very smart, measured by our standards but seen from their standpoint, we would be the ones looking stupid. Stupid for having lost contact with the source of the sacred knowledge. Wasn't that just about the dumbest thing anybody could do?

Not that they believed that there would be any humans in the whole wide world who could actually be that stupid. I mean, not to know why an apple fell from a tree was one thing ... but not know how to relate to the source of creation, to the Indawhi, would have meant the same as to live the life of a dead man. For what indeed would life be worth without the presence of 'the life force' they all felt living within?

"They felt the life force living within?"
Shaoni once again had this weird feeling creeping over him as if he had just walked into a twilight zone.

'A-haun' they chanted.
A sound resonating from deep within.

Shaoni felt shivers running right through him as soon as the wizard had launched that sound. It swept him right off of his feet. 'What was that?' he wondered, 'How could a single sound have such an effect?'

'A-hau-au-aun'
A long stretched vocal sound ... followed by a deep silence.

'A-hau-au-au-aunnn'
Again. This one even longer, louder too.

'A-hau-au-au-aunnn'
It felt as if even the trees vibrated on the sound - as if everything around vibrated on the sound.

'A-hau-au-aun'
The trees, the tree house they were sitting in. It all became fluid, as if slowly blending together, becoming one.

'A-hau-au-aunnn'
The blending now even included the singer. The man looked around and saw himself ... one with the tree and all the other trees around, one with the other men also present.

'A-hau-au-aun ... A-hau-au-aun ... A-hau-au-aun'
Like the breath of life it resonated, vibrating through everything around. The men now joined hands as if to magnify the signal even more.

'A-hau-au-aun'
It sounded like a calling now.

'A-hau-au-aun'.
Images and ideas welled up in their minds. Answers to questions and problems they had formulated. Problems that needed solving. Knowledge welling up from the source. A sick boy, what medicine had to be found to heal him?

'A-hau-au-aun'.
The images of a certain plant growing nearby, the image of a man cutting the leaves, boiling them in water ... images spiraling down ... it felt like breathing the answers in. A recipe. Medicine to heal the boy.

'A-hau-au-aun'
A lower pitch this time, as a way of taking leave, a sign of gratitude too.

'A-hau-au-aunnn'
A last deep vibrating sound ... purifying all that was around. A way to let go, to clean the air around, to bring things back to normal ... back to the world of the bloodsucking insects and the daily fights for food.

"Sounds, Shaoni." the wizard said, "Sounds can be like keys. Sound vibrations can literally create shortcuts. They can literally awaken the energies within, make them vibrate at a higher frequency. The Indawhi knew."

Shaoni was still too overwhelmed to pay any attention to the wizard's last words? The sound had faded but the effects still resonated all through his body.

Later that evening