LAWRENCE WALDRON: A idol is an object that has a God living inside of it and nowhere else. Not like in many world religions where the God comes to dwell temporarily in the objects like the Internet comes to dwell temporarily in your iPhone.

I'm Lawrence Waldron. I teach art history at CUNY Queens College in the most diverse borough in the most diverse city.

JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK (NARRATOR): This expressively carved wooden figure is a Zemí, or sacred manifestation. It was likely made by a Taino religious specialist, sometimes called a shaman, for use in rituals. These religious specialists were often skilled artists.

LAWRENCE WALDRON: It's been suggested that he's the God of Drought, but because he's crying, he's been identified with the God of Rain, who is often depicted weeping. And yet I describe him as a shaman because he's exhibiting a lot of the behaviors of a shaman who's just taken Cohoba.

JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK: The zemí’s crown-like platform was used for preparing the Cohoba, a hallucinogenic substance used in rituals.

LAWRENCE WALDRON: Under this crown is a squatting figure. He's very thin, but he has these broad bulging shoulders. The shaman gnashes his teeth as the Cohoba takes effect and his eyes are streaming tears. So, he's got these keyhole designs on his eyes and then they taper into these teardrops running down the side of his face.

I invite visitors to The Met to walk around this object and never just look at it from one angle. If you go around to the back, you'll see how emaciated he is because the Taíno shamans fasted before they administered the Cohoba.

If you see the hollows of his hips because he's so emaciated and the ribs and the notches in his spine, that's a lot of work that they put in there. And it's not necessarily that they put it in there for a viewer at a museum to see it, but they put it in to add meaning. So, look for the meaning.