Cante Ista, which translates to "The Eye of the Heart" in the Lakota language, is a powerful concept rooted in the spiritual traditions of Native American communities, particularly those of the Lakota Sioux people. It represents a profound connection between the mind, body, and spirit, focusing on the intuitive and spiritual wisdom that flows from the heart rather than from intellectual thought. At its core, Cante Ista refers to the inner sight or heart vision - the ability to perceive and experience the world through the lens of spiritual intuition and emotional intelligence.

Poisons are substances that, when introduced into the body without treatment, cause illness, harm, or even death. They accumulate, leading to toxicity that weakens us over time. Toxins, in particular, are poisons produced by living organisms, which means they are active agents of contamination, polluting not only our physical health but also our mental and spiritual well-being.

This prompts an important question: Can our painful memories, unresolved emotional wounds, and inner conflicts behave like living organisms? Do they take on a life of their own, accumulating within us and slowly contaminating every part of our lives?

The 20th century represented a remarkable turning point in medicine. It also marked the beginning of a tragic misunderstanding of mental health. After millions of years of successful evolution, humans were suddenly victims to brain chemistry gone awry. We were sold on the idea that chemical imbalances are the cause of anxiety and depression, not a biological effect created by environmental conditions. Antidepressants predominantly treat a symptom, not the cause, of our malaise.

From a pharmaceutical point of view, if you can create a narrative that the discomfort of life is a biological condition, you’re going to expand your market dramatically. Before 1980 - which is when panic disorder was first identified as a specific disorder - the group of things that were seen as biological was pretty small. It was going to be hard for the pharmaceutical market to expand beyond that.