The World through Andean Eyes

The Andean or really the Inca Cosmovision or world view still exists after thousands of years. Today for many Peruvians this Andean way of seeing the world is integrated into their Christian way of life. The two mix, and for others they are separate and cannot coexist. They "choque" or fight/conflict.
There are several major ideas that make up this cosmovision that have been important for me to understand, and I think might help begin living and working in Ayacucho this will be especially valuable as the Andean cosmovision is deeply seeded, and the people still speak Quechua, one of the 14 different indigenous Incan languages still spoken in Peru.
1. While we have two levels or plains in our world - heaven and hell or the earth and sky, the Andean world has 3...hanan pacha - which is the upper world, the heavens.
In the middle is Kay Pacha or the present world. This is a world of equality.
Third is the world below or Uku Pacha. This world is not Dante's Inferno, and it is not significant with pain and punishment. It is where you are buried upon death with those familiar to you, and later you (your soul) will return to live. All three of these plains have life.
2. The Andean world is one of equality and total integration and interrelation. For instance, in the west we use the environment for our satisfaction. We exploit the earth, extracting and taking what we can for out benefit ( I know I do)...and we call it progress, and do it in the name of modernization.
3. In the Andean world time is cyclical, not linear. The past is remembered inorder to construct a present, and to make a better future.
4. Where do Christianity and the Andean cosmovision merge? God created humans from the dust (the earth) to administrate the creation with justice. The earth - Pacha Mama or Mother Earth. Pacha Mama takes care of us and we in return care for her with respect.
Many of the campesinoes or rural farmers that I will encounter in the Andes Mountains toda via or still have this world view passed to them from thier ancestors. "Do not exploit pacha mama or us!" Is their cry for justice.

I look forward to seeing how this manifests itself in Ayacucho and the surrounding area, what is the same, and what is different.