Translation:To read Carlos Castaneda/10
VII. THE FIRE FROM WITHIN
First English edition, 1984
In this book the author achieves greater clarity on second ring of power issues. He has spent more than 10 years "remembering" the left side teachings along with his group warriors. Castaneda can offer a clearer text about his experiences to its readers on increasing awareness states. "The fire from within" can be compared with "Journey to Ixtlán", which starts to unravel the chaos caused by the right side teachings, as they become clear from the coherent exposure of techniques to sweep the tonal island. Similarly, fire from within clarifies knowledge of enhanced consciousness as it is being "remembered" by Castaneda, ever since his teacher Don Juan and his benefactor Don Genaro "departed from this world", which is described in the book "Tales of power". From "The second ring of power" and "The Eagle’s gift", Castaneda tries to explain and make the left side teachings coherent, but he achieves this in the Fire from Within.
The title of this book is not a poetic creation of the author; it is definitely Toltequity related. Don Juan is who uses the term, as well as others, for its accuracy and precision produce a devastating effect in some cases and enlightening in others. However, the terms managed by Don Juan and described by Castaneda as Toltequity, Toltec, nagual warrior, tonal and Eagle among others, belong to the peoples and cultures of "ancient Mexico" and have survived in what Bonfil Batalla calls "Profound Mexico".
Professor Lopez Austin notes in his aforementioned book, page 378: "historical sources pay much importance to four worlds of the dead: Mictlán, Tonatiuh Ilhuícac, Tlatócan and Chichihualcuauhco. However, it must be considered they believed that men holders of divine fire in their heart and those who had died under the influence of some God, were driven to their protectors abode."
And on page 370 notes: "it is preferable retaking the idea of fire as a transforming element of everything that exists, that can break down the barrier between the world inhabited by man and the places where the gods dwell. López Austin cites Molina in his dictionary (page 181). As well as "tonemmiqui" means "ignite from internal heat", "'llemiqui" and "tonalmiqui" mean "burning from the Sun".
Don Ángel María Garibay, in his book "Nahuatl literature history", volume 1, says: "I cannot see in all the literature I have been able to find in this regard, a comprehensive study on the nature, origins and purposes of the so-called Sun Knights[1] order or with other names, eagles and tigers. To be succint I will take fundamental data from the Duran rich and valuable information. "The Sun was for the ancients, the incarnation of the creative world. "They had it as creator of things and cause of them." Symbol of the Sun was the Eagle, such that their mystical names always include this bird. Cuahuahtlehuaniti is the "Eagle starting to fly", Cuauhtémoc is the "Eagle flying down", name of the Sun that from the zenith falls to the west. Cuauhcalil is the "Eagle and special servers House", also known as Cuauhnochtii. And those who went to the Sun House, in its royal mansion were the 99 inhabitants of the Eagle land", or Cuauhtecati, Cuauhteca.
Perhaps the origin of these concepts will never be known, but they must be ancient. All documents that gather archaic information contain references to the same ideas complex.
Page 210 of the same book notes: "In summary of the previous lines, what I consider most necessary to appreciate “Eagles Songs”, will explore several of the themes where they take place. Rather than in another genre here considers the complex of religious ideas. A complete study of so many poems as we have in this respect, would give us information of the 'Sun friends cooperative for preservation of universal life'. That is, the very core of Mexico religion doctrines..."
Professor Laurette Séjourné in her book "Thought and religion of ancient Mexico, page 121, notes: "But is it necessary after what the myths have taught us, that only burning matter the divine particle is released? The Quetzalcoatl message does not say otherwise. We have seen that the individual soul detaches from the Tollan King cremated body and from the ashes of the ulcerous elder is where the cosmic soul emerges. These narratives, on the other hand, have sufficiently indicated that liberating fire is sacrifice and penance; and it is known that the priesthood institution had no other purpose than teaching practices that led to detachment of the terrestrial condition. It is then likely that the trophy sought by the "flourished battle" warrior was none other than his own soul."
The fire from within was the work that came to "rescue" many readers, who after "Tales of power", published in 1974 and until the emergence of "The fire within", released in 1984, had fallen into greater confusion than Castaneda himself.
Following the books through each publishing, certainly was a challenge to the reader; now it is easier to have the nine books at hand and read them one after the other, or even choose the order that one sees fit. We will now begin our analysis of the Fire Within.
INTRODUCTION
The author relates that in the last fifteen years he has been writing about the experiences of being a Toltequity apprentice, the ancient knowledge that was divided in three parts: consciousness of being, staking and intent. He clarifies that he and his companions are not witches but "seers" and that the work will focus on mastery of being conscious. Mentions in turn, that they belong to a new Toltequity cycle and are "total freedom warriors" who seek to scrupulous and impeccably comply with all the complex practices that require a tremendous effort and discipline, and that if they manage to complete, they shall be consumed on an inner fire that makes them disappear from this world, free and without traces.
"I was not taught witchcraft or spells, they taught me the three parts of an ancient knowledge they possessed; they called these three parts consciousness of being, stalking and intent. And they were not witches; they were seers. And don Juan was not only a seer, but also was a nagual...
I understood that being a seer was the human beings ability to expand their perception field to the point to being able to ascertain not only external appearances but the essence of everything...
Don Juan told me that without sadness and nostalgia one is not complete, because without them there is no sobriety, there is no kindness. Said that the wisdom without kindness and knowledge without sobriety are useless..." C.C.
THE NEW VIEWERS
A fact revealed by Castaneda and which seemingly goes unnoticed at the beginning of the book is that Don Juan has a job. Indeed, all along Don Juan, Don Genaro and all apprentices work in the ordinary world. Don Juan tells him he will have to be in town for two days "on business". The nagual sold medicinal plants to an intricate and very well connected network of "healers and tizateros".[2] These knowledge people, despite having "supernatural powers", camouflaged themselves between people comings and goings, to go unnoticed, but also had full domination over the everyday world.
Don Juan skills were a fraction of a millennial knowing that had flourished hundreds (or maybe thousands) of years before the conquest. Don Juan said to be Toltec and called his knowledge Toltequity. This —he said— began with the use of plants of power and through centuries of experimentation, users learned to "see". At the start of the viewing teachings, they began their downfall, as they obsessed with the worlds they saw, they were undermining their forces. When the invaders arrived to these lands, they seized superficial knowledge of the wisdom. (Reason why, Don Juan said that there were many wizard and diablero but only handled fantastic arts, but without profound knowledge).
Knowledge men who survived this "disaster" reviewed their practices and decided to implement a new series of techniques and practices which they called "the warrior path". Later, upon the spaniards arrival, men of knowledge had to retreat and act very discreetly. During the three colonial centuries were persecuted and nearly exterminated; and in the two hundred years of neo-colonization, only through impeccable practice they have succeeded in continuing and be present today.
Don Juan mentioned that in 1723 a new breed of very special lineage was formed, devoted to "stalking, reverie and intent", others continued practicing dances, healing, witchcraft, etc. But the knowledge lineages similar to Don Juan, "never crossed paths", nor had any contact with each other. This special spin created very personal lineages. Don Juan thus far have 14 naguales and 126 seers. But by what happened in 1723, Don Juan lineage divided in two. The first six naguales existed up to the "meeting that changed the lineage in 1723" and eight subsequent naguales. This will be seen later in the book that has to do with what Don Juan called "The tenant".
The world of the "magic and mysterious" live today not only in the indigenous and peasant communities but also in urban groups constantly that permanently resort to its practices, either by healing needs or conflicts stemming from personal and/or economic aspects. Even in higher circles of economy and politics, it is very common to see "powerful" people visiting those who handle some kind of magical knowledge.
Mexicans from any economic or cultural level saves a space, sometimes reduced, sometimes larger, to the supernatural. The magical and spiritual nature of the collective subconscious in Mexico, has many expression means through beliefs, traditions and customs of contemporary Mexico.
Paradoxically, Mexican intellectuals have been silent on Castaneda books, except for the Octavio Paz prologue in the first book to reach Mexico as a "best seller". Silence has been, the response to the work in general. Mexico is a country culturally colonized and its major challenges include overcoming this problem. But if on the one hand there has been the silence of the intelligentsia, on the other hand there are regular readers who have followed one by one the author’s books. When I first finished this work in 1991, I asked my teacher and friend, Dr. Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, to write the prologue for the book and his refusal was emphatic.
While reading the teachings of Don Juan, from the perspective of the Anahuac civilization, becomes another option offered by this extensive and profound work. It is not intended to deny the "individual" meaning masterfully conveyed by Castaneda. Moreover, in the same work, Don Juan says that the power assigned Castaneda to write his experience. That was the task assigned to Castaneda.
But we must not forget that the "teachings" were not invented by Don Juan nor much less by Castaneda. It is a fraction of the Toltec cultural heritage to the Anahuac.[3] This legacy allowed development for a thousand years of splendor (200 BCE - 850 CE) and prompted the construction of more than 2,000 buildings that today are called "archaeological sites", the invention of corn, chocolate, vanilla, chewing gum, the perfect time measure and its various calendars, the mathematical zero, the chinampas, the charges system, the public education system free and compulsory during at least 1,500 years, among many other achievements, could not flourish without a thought structure in which to fully develop, consistent with one of the six oldest world civilizations.
The Toltecáyotl or Toltequity, comprises not only the knowledge to receive "The Eagle’s Gift", as Don Juan Matus lineage called it, or achieve existential transcendence as is called by civilization researchers. The Toltecáyotl is the sum of knowledge which allow human beings to develop in the material and spiritual planes.
Not all human beings, from Toltecs time and of today, can become warriors. The consciousness mastery, stalking, reverie and the intent, are only meant for a tiny minority. The Don Juan teachings, especially those that allow "energy saving", are an excellent methodology that allows, in the tonal world, improve as human beings. This is the great value of the work.
"—Long before the Spaniards arrival in Mexico —he said— there were extraordinary Toltec seers, men capable of unthinkable acts. They were the last link in a knowledge chain that stretched over thousands of years...
-Don Juan then explained that his use of the "Toltec" term did not correspond to how I used it. For me it meant a culture, the Toltec empire. For him, the term "Toltec" meant "man of knowledge".
He said that the epoch he referred, centuries or perhaps even millennia before the Spanish conquest, all those knowledge men lived inside a vast geographical area, north and south of the Mexico Valley...
—After the first Toltec world was destroyed, surviving seers confined themselves and reviewed their practices. The first thing they did was establishing the stalking, the reverie and the intent as key procedures, then they dropped the use of plants of power; perhaps that gives us some idea of what really happened to them with the plants of power.
"The new cycle just began establishing when the spanish conquistadors destroyed it all...
—And how are things today?
—There are a few. As you will understand, are scattered all over.
—Do, you know them, don Juan?
—Such a simple question is the most difficult to answer —responded—. There are some whom we know very well. But they are not exactly as us, because they have concentrated on other specific knowledge aspects, such as dance, healing, witchcraft, talk, rather than what new viewers recommend: stalking, reverie and intent. Those who are exactly like us would not cross our path. Such was established by seers that lived during colonial times to avoid being exterminated by the Spanish. Each of these seers founded a lineage. And not all of them had descendants, so there are very few...
He explained that all lineages initiated at the same time and in the same manner. Towards the late sixteenth century each nagual confined themselves and isolated their group to prevent any open contact with other viewers. The result of this drastic segregation was the formation of individual lineages. He said that our lineage was composed of fourteen naguales and one hundred twenty-six seers. Some of these fourteen naguales only had seven seers with them, others had eleven and some up to fifteen...
Don Juan assured me that our lineage was quite exceptional, because it suffered a drastic change in the year 1723...
—Who taught them all that? —I asked—.
—They learned everything on their own, they were seers, they could see -he said-. Most of what we know of our lineage was made by them. The new seers corrected the ancient seers errors, but the foundation of what we know and do is lost in the Toltecs time..." C.C.
THE PETTY TYRANTS
Personal importance is what consumes the most energy; supporting ourselves image in this world of energy fields, requires a huge consumption.
As a result, getting rid of personal importance is essential to enter Toltequity and this requires a strategy masterpiece; for this purpose the new seers developed a complex technique. First, should make a "strategic inventory" of all activities with the highest energy consumption, and within them, we know that personal importance ranks first. The vehicle for energy saving is the impeccability of our actions and feelings; energy rechanneling is what allows saving and, with it, the use of this energy in the teaching world.
The stalking technique consists of six elements that are linked together. Five of these are what Don Juan called "warrior attributes" and belong to their world; the sixth is the culmination of all five and belong to the everyday world.
The elements are: control, discipline, restraint, ability to choose the right time and the intent. The fucking tyrant is the sixth, but belongs to the outside world.
The tyrant is a person impossible to stand because of his actions and in a power position, so it allows us to use the other elements. The personal importance comes from the high esteem in which we have our personal qualities; a tyrant can destroy anyone who has a minimum self-esteem.
However, for the warrior's apprentice, encountering a tyrant is something to celebrate, since it will force him to reduce his personal importance and will allow him to develop the first four mastery stalking techniques.
What a tyrant also does to a human being is the obsession of what is known, and when an apprentice is defeated by a tyrant, runs the risk of becoming another tyrant.
Nothing can temper an apprentice spirit as encountering a tyrant, which requires a strategy and getting rid of personal importance; the danger of this confrontation is taking the own feelings very seriously, as well as the tyrants actions.
With this technique, strategy, and without personal importance, tyrants can be faced and temper the spirit and achieve sobriety and serenity. Control is refining the spirit when its trampled. Discipline is gathering information while being pounded. Restraint is patiently waiting, without anxiety nor resentment, which the tyrant deserves. The ability to choose the right time is the gate which contains the other.
The intent is the warrior ability that, with impeccability, achieves the will which is a force that "naturally", sets the lace point of a particular place of the luminous egg, and thus being able to move at will. The intent is the ability to handle the will by own desire. Moving the lace point is the supreme achievement of a warrior.
New seers used the spaniards as tyrants and although for the indigenous people majority the occidentals arrival was a disgrace, for new seers it became a new element that propelled them to develop their knowledge.
In our days, when a warrior is defeated by a tyrant, he has the opportunity to retreat, rearrange and later return to the challenge. In colonial times, being defeated by a tyrant could lead to death, now a defeat can be devastating.
"Think about it, what weakens us is feeling offended by the doings and wrong doings of our fellow human beings. Our personal importance requires that we should spend most of our lives offended by someone...
—Warriors fight personal importance as a matter of strategy, not as a matter of faith —he said—. Your mistake is to understand what I say in terms of morality...
—Impeccability is nothing but the proper use of energy —said—. Everything I say does not have one iota of morality. I have saved energy and that makes me impeccable...
—Warriors make strategic inventories —he said—. Make lists of their activities and interests. Then decide which of them can be changed, and thus give a break to their energy consumption...
—The rechanneling of that energy is impeccability...
...the warrior attributes are: control, discipline, restraint, the ability to choose the right time and the intent. These five elements belong to the warrior private world, that fights to lose their personal importance. The sixth element, which is perhaps the most important of all, belongs to the outside world and is called the fucking tyrant...
—A fucking tyrant is torturer —he said—. Someone who has the power to put an end to warriors, or someone who simply makes their life impossible...
He added that the fucking little tyrants category had been divided into four more. One was composed by those who torment with brutality and violence. Another, by those who do it creating unbearable apprehension. Another, by those that oppress with sadness. And last, by those who torment making people angry...
In fact, what turns human beings into fucking tyrants is precisely the obsessive handling of what is known...
—How do you measure defeat?
—Anyone who joins the fucking tyrant is defeated. Getting angry and acting without control or discipline, not having restraint is being defeated.
—What happens when warriors are defeated?
—Either regroup and return to the fight with more wisdom, or leave the warrior path and join for life the ranks of the fucking tyrants..." C.C.
THE EAGLE EMANATIONS
The Sun relation (as creative force) with birds, is common in some independent origin cultures, not only in Anahuac; the Eagle, Condor, Falcon, are Sun’s representation. The Aztecs took over as the Sun people, barbaric people who was the last immigration from the north that arrived in the wild to the Anahuac Valley to found Tenochtitlan towards 1325 CE. The cultural world of the Anahuac inhabitants was in decadence from the Toltec cultural relics, which disappeared around 850 CE; the Aztecs and, most importantly Tlacaelel,[4] "re-functionalized" the Toltec thought, which was essentially spiritual, to create a mystic-warrior ideology that weighed matter over the spirit (Thought and Religion in Ancient Mexico, page-25)-
"The Aztecs were among the hunter tribes. Reached the highlands after arduous pilgrimage in which some episodes, while clarifying their archaic status, also strongly point to their already specifically warrior character of the future Tenochtitlan founders... the Aztecs knew nothing but archaic witchcraft laws until they came in contact with highlands religious creations, beliefs they immediately adopted to their rudimentary mentality...
Late arrivals to the Mexico Valley (the Aztecs), immediately begin fighting for land and political supremacy within the tribes, that by having adopted more civilized practices are surprised by the newly arrived brutality..." Séjourné
In ancient Toltec thought the Sun was the creator of everything, but at the same time, needed the spiritual energy that men produced through their being consciousness. The Calmécatl[5] trained those human beings, men and women, that would follow the Toltequity doctrine and after being initiated, became Jaguars and Eagles warriors; that is, warriors that undertook the most important war a man can take: the Flower Battle, culminating point to flourishing their heart.
The Aztecs took the form of this ancient knowledge, but changed the foundation. Quetzalcoatl was no longer the most important figure but Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs assumed themselves as the holders of the dying Fifth Sun[6] and injected vitality into this new process in which matters obtained supremacy over the spirit. Thus, only sons of noblemen entered the Calmécatl, and learnt the art of war; therefore ceased to have a symbolic, spiritual and mystical sense. The empire also made wars called Florida, but their main objective was political, economic and military domination of the vanquished peoples. In these wars they tried to capture their enemies alive to be taken to Tenochtitlan and sacrifice them to the Sun, taking the heart out and offering it as food to the Eagle.
The Aztecs human sacrifices were, in principle, aimed to feed the Sun-Eagle. The monoliths known today and which were used for this purpose, have many the solar Eagle representations. The container where the sacrificed heart was placed was called "the Eagle recipient".
Here it is important to note a major historical error: there is nothing in common between the Aztecs human sacrifice by their florid wars and the Toltec florid wars and the Toltecáyotl or Toltequity, where sacrifice was the being purification to reach enlightenment or total consciousness.
It is possible that who has worked this process in the history of ancient Mexico with the utmost sensitivity has been professor Laurette Séjourné in her most beautiful work "Thought and Religion in Ancient Mexico".
According to Don Juan, what constitutes "the world" are the "Eagle" emanations; ancient seers, through plants of power and hundreds of years experimenting and failing were able to "see" the force, origin of all. This force was called "the Eagle" because when briefly glimpsing at it, they found it similar to a white and black eagle of infinite size. But it is not an eagle nor resembles it; it is just a way of humanizing or conceptualizing something that is impossible to describe.
Ancient seers also discovered that, due to our being consciousness, we believe to be surrounded by a world of objects, but that in fact are the eagle emanations, fluid, in motion, unchangeable, eternal. The Eagle provides being consciousness for us to develop and enhance throughout our life, but at the end, our being awareness is devoured or absorbed by the Eagle (the force, the infinity, the total). For ancient viewers human being existence reason, among other living beings is to develop and enhance being consciousness, and this energy produced by being consciousness, is required by the Eagle.
This Toltec discovery is devastating to the ego of occidental culture, which affirms that the human being is the pinnacle of creation, predator of predators. The Toltec were able to "see" that human beings and what surrounds them through infinity, is made of small light particles with being consciousness. What separates the luminous strands that make up the human being from the filaments surrounding them is a weak membrane formed by the "being consciousness".
The life of human beings and all living beings, aims to increase the being consciousness, to be finally consumed by the Eagle. Human beings are therefore "Eagle food". This truth is a very strong revelation for those who have lived in the belief that man is the evolution pinnacle.
But finally, as Don Juan said, there is neither Eagle nor emanations, but something that no living being can understand. However, the Eagle and the emanations are so real for Toltecs and Toltequity as time or gravity force can be for a modern human being.
Receiving the "Eagle gift" is the seers ultimate goal; it is total freedom or total consciousness.
"—The first truth about the being conscious status, as I already told you —he began— is that the world around us is not really as we think it is. We believe it is a world of objects and it is not...
—The first truth says that the world is just as it seems and yet it is not —continued—. It is not as real and solid as our perception has led us to believe, but it is not a mirage neither. The world is not an illusion, as it has been said that it is; it is partly real, and also unreal...
He explained that one of the ancient seers most dramatic legacies was the discovery that living creatures only exist to enhance being consciousness. Don Juan called it a colossal discovery...
They saw that the Eagle provides being consciousness. The Eagle creates conscious beings to live and enrich the awareness given by life. They also saw that the Eagle devours the same being consciousness, enriched by life experiences, after making conscious beings discard it, at the time of death...
—In our case, as human beings, —don Juan said— we use these emanations and interpret them as reality. But what man captures is such a small part of the eagle emanations, that it is ridiculous to give so much credit to our perceptions, and yet it is not possible to ignore them. Come to understand this, which seems so simple, cost immensities to new seers..." C.C.
THE LUMINOUS EGG GLOW
For Toltequity the world is composed of Eagle emanations and man is a cocoon containing the same emanations, both outside and inside. External luminosity attracts the inner luminosity; this occurs at a point in the cocoon, and there is set to be "being consciousness"; that is the setting of the lace point.
The consciousness degree of each individual, is determined by the external emanations pressure on the inner, and this pressure is determined by the small portion of external emanations, which is equal to a small portion of the inside; this pressure produces a more intense luminosity in the whole cocoon.
As a result, "seeing" is the result of an alignment different from normal and is nothing more than shifting the lace point; therefore the "seeing" act is not with the eyes, and implies the wonder of knowing the essence of things. In other words, perceive the world around us as energy charges.
Humans consciousness of being develops gradually; at birth, inner luminosity is not fixed to the outside, develops through everyday life. This practice is what Don Juan called "The first power ring". The Eagle command fixes external luminosity with the internal, and does it "naturally" through the will, when the warrior, in a personal way, moves his lace point; this “directed" will is called "intent".
In this part of Castaneda book talks about sex as an energetic process, the nagual Julian said that sex, was an energy issue, because the Eagle command is being consciousness brilliance transmitted through sexual intercourse. During sexual intercourse the Eagle emanations are contained in the two conscious cocoons (man and woman), suffering a deep agitation and both cocoons do their best to provide consciousness to the new being they are going to create; each sexual act involves a donation our conscience and our energy, although this does not necessarily create another being.
Don Juan advised Castaneda be stingy with his sexuality, not moralistically but to save energy, which is one of the warrior primary tasks. This knowledge forces the apprentice to be responsible of his energy.
THE FIRST ATTENTION
"The being consciousness", is a maturation or development that goes from the animal and instinctive to more elaborate forms; This is done through each individual existential growth. The being consciousness development produced, that Don Juan called "attention", is the single most important individual achievement and gets to cover a very large array of human possibilities.
Don Juan says that viewers classified three types of attention or three levels of performance, which resulted in three levels of energy purification. The first is rough animal consciousness, which because of existential processes of human experience, becomes a complex ability, intricate and extremely fragile, which is what creates the concepts and objects everyday world, and everything we are and do as ordinary men.
Second attention has to do with the unknown and is a cocoon glow, much more intense, and covers a larger area, also known as "the left side conscience".
The third attention is the supreme seer achievement and is achieved when the consciousness luminosity is transformed into internal fire; this internal fire is the product igniting all the Eagle emanations that are inside the human being cocoon.
All persons, at the end of life, reach the third attention, because death ignites all Eagle emanations and frees them from the cocoon to return them to totality. But the seers, through the ancient and complex Toltequity wisdom, manage to turn all its emanations before death, but remain alive and conscientious, and their conscience instead of being devoured by the Eagle, they receive the "gift" and achieve total freedom.
INORGANIC BEINGS
The first attention requires all the human being conscience glow and consumes all its energy; seers discovered that removing habits detaches conscience from self-absorption in itself and allows the glow to focus elsewhere.
Energy rechanneling is the key to witchcraft.
For Toltequity being alive means having consciousness; for common man being conscious means being an organism. All organic living beings are constituted of Eagle emanations contained in a cocoon. However, viewers detect, through "viewing", inorganic beings whose "membranes" or "receptacles" (of emanations) are not cocoon shaped, but do contain consciousness emanations and depict life characteristics that are not metabolism not reproduction.
This is a very dark Don Juan lineage point, because he has two "allies" that are inorganic beings and used them for his benefit. Inorganic beings feed on human feelings, which in the end are energy. The relationship with these inorganic beings takes Castaneda to serious conflicts with his nagual impeccable performance. I personally think that this is the dark side of Don Juan teachings... and currently, of the world and life.
"Don Juan commented that in the warriors life it was extremely natural be sad without any apparent reason, and that, as an energy field, the luminous egg has a feeling of its final destination each time the boundaries of what is known are broken. Glimpsing eternity that remain outside the Cocoon is sufficient to break the safety of our inventory. Sometimes, the resulting melancholy is so intense that it can lead to death.
He said that the best way to get rid of melancholy is making fun of it...
how can a man keep his humanity links and at the same time venturing, with pleasure and purpose in the absolute eternity solitude? When you manage to solve this riddle, you'll be ready for the definitive trip...
—In fact, human beings are nothing, don Juan —I said.
—I know exactly what you're thinking —he said—. Of course, we are nothing, but what a wonderful contradiction! What a challenge! That some nullities like us can face the solitude of eternity!..." C.C
THE LACE POINT
Here Castaneda returns the developed, pointing out that the world around us is made up of energy fields that Toltequity calls "the Eagle emanations", and that the world of objects is just an "arrangement" in which we operate. Therefore, every human being is made up of a small portion of "the Eagle emanations" wrapped in a thin membrane or cocoon. This being consciousness is the result of external emanation pressure, also called "large emanations", with emanations inside of cocoon. This being consciousness is what allows us to "perceive".
Human beings can perceive, that is, they can align some of the external emanations with the internal. The place where internal and external emanations align on the luminous egg or cocoon is called the "lace point".
Persons, to perceive the world as we all do, use some emanations from the narrow band in which consciousness is located; this is called the "first care". The Toltecs, sorcerers, seers and warriors named this action: the right side, normal consciousness, the tonal, the first ring of power, what is known, "this world", the first attention. Occidental men call it reality, rationality or common sense.
The nagual, or the left side, correspond to the rest of emanations that are not used and are never aligned, they are also called left side conscience, the unknown or the second attention.
The world vision is a product of emanations selection and their fixation at a given point of the cocoon; man begins to learn this at birth, when the lace point is set through everyday life habits and attitudes; the apprentice, when becoming aware of this, must shift his lace point at will, as a result of new habits practice through the stalking technique. Will need to make the Eagle command, which sets the lace point, be his own command and this can be achieved through the "attempt". It is using the "will" personally and in a particular manner.
Toltequity could be synthesized as the achievement of lace point movement. Before this "simplicity", witchcraft does not exist; it is only the means to achieve our absorption to open, as it absorption itself what fixes the lace point at a point. The Toltec wisdom was based on this knowledge.
"New seers realized the true role that such witchcraft practices played, and decided to ignore them and go directly to making their lace pints shift, thus avoiding all other rituals and charms nonsense. However, at one point, the incantations and rituals are really necessary. I personally, have initiated you in all kinds of ritual and enchantment, but only to enable your first attention to break away from absorption. This absorption is what creates the force that keeps the lace point rigidly fixed...
But what turns out to be of even greater importance, is understanding all the truths of the being consciousness. Only thus one realize that this point should move from the inside. The sad truth is that human beings always lose through negligence. Simply do not know their potential...
—One of the greatest moments for new seers —continued—, was when they found that the unknown were only emissions discarded from the first attention. This discovery was new seers glory, because it poured new light on the unknown..." C.C.
LACE POINT POSITION
The Toltec knowledge prepared Jaguar and Eagle warriors to fight the real florid battle in the Calmécatl, not to be confused, as already stated, with the Aztec "florid battle", which was waged on a battlefield aimed at taking sacrificial prisoners for the Eagle. The Toltec florid battle, aimed at flourishing the heart.
The Toltecs of our time prepare to have consciousness and total consciousness comes to them when they have been managed to polish their spirit and strengthened their body; when they have dumped out all the garbage that have accumulated throughout his life; when not an iota of personal importance is left in them. Only when they manage to be nothing they can then turn into everything.
Internal dialogue is what makes us "human beings" and makes the "world" as it is; internal dialogue is what keeps fixed our lace point. But internal dialogue can end in the same way that began, through an act of will, little by little, through much time and effort, and is difficult, as the task children have, except that they create it. The lace point is not random, our ancestors unconsciously selected it, it is a "cultural" phenomenon.
The lace point can relatively easily be moved, but requires knowledge, discipline, determination and using certain techniques. But when we can move it, creates new emanations alignment fumes that result in new insights. Worlds and different realities, that have always been there, but never perceived.
Stopping internal dialogue is beginning to move the lace point; thus the so-called " Don Juan teachings" have nothing to do with magic, sorcery, fantastic arts or hallucinogens. On the contrary, it is about human beings conception and the world as energy, whit a specific goal and end: obtaining total consciousness or total freedom. Their techniques and practices are in the everyday world, in the use, abuse and energy rechanneling.
These techniques and practices require flexibility, courage, responsibility, discipline, sobriety and constancy. And it is the most valuable legacy of one of the most important cultures that have developed in the world. As Don Juan says: "techniques to move the lace point are as different as possible, but the results are always the same". Thus in different times and places, other cultures around the world have created their own paths, but the goal is the same.
"Warriors prepare to have consciousness, and total consciousness only reaches them when they no longer have any personal importance. Only when they are nothing, become everything...
explained that stopping internal dialogue is what articulates all seers do. He stressed again and again that the internal dialogue is what keeps the lace point fixed in its original position...
He said that female seers have an uncanny ability not only to leave quickly but also to make fix their lace points of lace, in any position in the lower area. Men on the other hand, cannot leave quickly nor cling to it. Men have sobriety and purpose, but very little talent; for that reason a nagual must have eight seer women in their group. Women give the group the momentum, the audacity to cross the unknown immensity. Along with their natural ability, or as a result of it, women have a ferocious intensity. And therefore can easily display an animal shape with style and unparalleled ferocity..." C.C.
DOWNWARD MOVEMENT
Men is a perceptor of the Eagle emanations, the being consciousness is the result of external emanation alignment with those internal, at a given cocoon point called lace point; This is accomplished through the habits or the so-called "internal dialogue".
The apprentice can, when stopping internal dialogue, slightly move the lace point, but if the lace point moves beyond certain limits, men can align other emanations or other worlds, just as real as the usual, but totally different to what we know; this is why the warrior path can be extremely dangerous and even more for those people that move their lace point by extreme means, such as drugs, a big fright or illness.
Toltequity offers a way, an alternative and a challenge. It allows us to leave our boring, comfortable and functional modern life. The emptiness and futility of a consumption life, competitiveness and stress. The mysteries of being and transcending is rediscovered. The world and everyday life become an extraordinary field of battle, where the warrior path serves to polish the spirit and seek freedom, without fear and without ambition.
"He said that to be a unique warrior one has to love freedom, and one must have a disregard, a supreme indifference. He explained that the warrior path is extremely dangerous because it represents the opposite of a modern man situation, as he has left the realm of the unknown and the mystery, and reinstalled in the functional kingdom. He has turned his back to the premonitions world and joy and has welcomed the boredom world.
—Receiving an opportunity to return once again to the world mystery —don Juan continued—, sometimes is too much for warriors, and they succumb; they are assaulted on their path by which I have called the great adventure of the unknown. They forget the search for freedom, they forget to be witnesses without prejudice. And with a blind joy, they sink into the unknown..." C.C.
GREAT EMANTION BANDS
The Eagle emanations are arranged in clusters that the Toltecs called "big emanations bands", and there is an infinite number of bands. However, the Toltec discovered that on Earth there are only 48 bands.
Organic life is just one of those bands, structures, or clusters. Of all the bands, there are 40 that do not produce consciousness, only organization; from the remaining seven produce a “limited” conscience and only the eighth produces a large amount of consciousness; in the human being.
The Toltec, symbolically, said that the Eagle fed on human beings conscience; his originated that the "The Fifth Sun" fed from hearts, as can be seen in the Aztec calendar monolith, where the Sun is symbolized in the central part and on the sides two claws have two hearts trapped.
The world that our lace point aligns for our "normal" perception is composed of two bands, one organic and the other only containing structure.
As stated, the world is composed of 48 bands and we only perceive two; the remaining 46 are not in our everyday world.
Don Juan asserts that ancient seers discovered that large trees have their lace points low, for which reason, they are more likely to perceive the inorganic consciousness. Some indigenous peoples share in their origin myth, the brotherhood or being trees offspring. For the Oaxaca Mixtec culture, their origin is from Apoala trees.
"—The cocoon of a giant tree is not much larger than the tree itself. The interesting thing is that some very small plants have a cocoon nearly as high as a man body and three times wider. These are plants of power. They share the largest emanations amount with men, not consciousness emanations, but other emanations in general..." C.C.
STALK, INTENT AND REVERIE POSITION
In Toltequity history the first Toltec or seers got lost in the complexities of the worlds and realities they explored. Upon the old seers failure, the new Toltec or seers reviewed their practices and knowledge and began again. They found that shifting the lace point was basic, thus they found practical steps to move it. They delineated three techniques: the first is stalking mastery; the second is the intent mastery the third is the reverie mastery.
The Toltec noticed that when warriors systematically and continuously behaved differently than usual, their lace point subtly moved, then began to practice their behavior control and this was called "the art of stalking", which is nothing but the everyday behavior with people; they discovered that tyrants are supporting external elements to achieve our behavior change and by developing this technique, they could move their lace point.
But they realized that at the lace point was something more than just alignment; they discovered an energy that comes from the alignment, which they called "will", and it operates impersonally and uninterrupted, as an energy blind outburst that makes us behave the way we do. Through it we perceive the everyday world, and indirectly, through perception that has to do with the lace point location.
The Toltec discovered that the will could be intentionally "guided" to establish other alignment; this technique was called "intent mastery"; with this mastery could enter at will the left side consciousness, the nagual or the other reality.
These truths discovery took centuries of experimentation and during that time the Toltec noted that when men sleeps their lace point moves slightly, because what produces dreams is precisely a slight movement of the lace point to the left side; for this reason, interfering with dreams was to interfere with the natural movement of the lace point. But they also discovered that when they interfered with a warrior dream, he became compulsive and capricious, and to correct this effect the Toltec created the warrior path.
The warrior path is to develop an internal force capable of providing him a sense of equanimity, almost of indifference; a feeling of ease and quiet, to get a deep and natural inclination through analysis, understanding and tolerance; in short: a sense of sobriety.
The warrior path begins with a strong determination and awareness of change; then it takes an act that must be deliberate, precise and continuous, a small act that does not offer much resistance. If this act is carried out constantly, one acquires the sense of an INFLEXIBLE INTENT and the path remains open: one act will lead to the next until the warrior uses his full potential. The inflexible intent leads to inner silence and this to the required internal strength to move the lace point.
Having internal force meant possessing an equanimity sense, almost of indifference, a sense of ease, of slack. But above all, it meant having a deep and natural disposition for consideration, for understanding. New seers called all these character traits sobriety.
—The conviction of new seers —continued—, is that an impeccable life leads by itself, inevitably, to a sobriety sense, and that in turn makes the lace point move.
"Already told you that new seers believed that the lace point can be moved from inside. They argued that impeccable men do not need someone to guide them, that by themselves, through their energy-saving can do anything seers do. The only thing they need is a minimum chance; they only need to be aware of the possibilities that seers have discovered."...
I knew doubtlessly that don Juan was right. All that is required is impeccability, that is energy. It all starts with a single act that has to be premeditated, precise and continuous. If such act is carried out for a long time one acquires a sense of inflexible intent that can be applied to anything. If this inflexible intent is achieved the road is clear. One thing will lead to another until the warrior uses his full potential...
"What we really need is sobriety, and nothing can give it to us nor help us get it, except ourselves. Without it, the lace point movement, is chaotic, as our ordinary dreams.
"So, in the end, the procedure to reach the reverie body is impeccability in our daily lives…” C.C.
THE NAGUAL JULIAN
Don Juan explained Castaneda that the nagual Julian —who was a stalking art master— did not care for people and that it was the reason why he could help. The nagual Julian gave everything and even more than what did not have because he simply could not care less for people. Don Juan did care for people, and therefore he never helped; helping gave him the feeling to be imposing his will.
Don Juan taught Castaneda that the warrior should be distinguished by their sustained effort and inflexible intent in trying to move their lace point, when they achieve this, they pass to the seers category or Toltec and, hence, searching for total freedom.
Don Juan says that at one time he lived through personal importance, since everyone, naturally, is where the lace point is located. When he learned how to move the lace point, through the establishment of new habits supported by all the Toltequity techniques, discovered a wonderful and frightening world.
Don Juan talks about that his parents life was not bad, it was like everyone and the only important thing they did was having him. When he managed to move his lace point, he realized that his parents was meaningless for them and others, only meant for him, by the very fact that gave him the wonderful gift of life.
"The warrior, when he moves the lace point and "sees", realizes the tremendous price people pay for their life of inertia and waste when they are light and energy, thus missing the life opportunity and of being alive.
"—To move to the assemblage point —don Juan said—, is the culmination of what the warrior seeks. From then on is another search; properly said, it is the search of the seer.
He repeated that in the warrior path, moving the assemblage point is everything...
He said that warriors are different because they move their assemblage points enough to realize the tremendous price paid for their lives. This move gives them respect and awe that their parents never felt for life in general, or for being alive in particular...." C.C.
THE EARTH’S BOOST
According to the Anahuac ancient Toltec tradition, the earth is a living being. Even today's indigenous people and peasants still have in their offering and gratefulness practices and rituals to Earth. This is different to the western concept that earth is an object that must be possessed, dominated, modified, transformed, and exploited.
Peoples heir of the profound Mexico, the one talked about by Bonfil Batalla, syncretically keeps, sometimes clearly, the memory that Earth is a living being, that is loved, cared for and grateful. Tlaltecuhtli represented the earth deity and was a key figure in the Anahuac religion and cosmogony.
From antiquity the Toltec, when "seeing", understood that the earth was a living being, constituted, just as human beings, by the Eagle's emanations. Earth also has a luminous cocoon; it is a huge conscious being subject to the same forces as human beings.
In the book Journey to Ixtlán, don Juan says in the warrior path there can be no loneliness or sadness, because they do not exist when the warrior learns to love the earth. The way of entering emanations with earth is inner silence and earth can give us what don Juan called "a boost" to align other great bands of emanations.
"The magic key that opens the earth's doors is made of inner silence and anything that shines...
He explained that what he called the key to everything was the direct knowledge that the earth is a conscious being, and as such can give the warriors a tremendous boost; that boost comes from the earth's awareness, at the instant when the warrior's emanations inside his cocoon align with the emanations inside the earth's cocoon. Because both the earth and men are conscious beings, they share emanations; or rather, the earth contains all emanations men has, or for that matter, all emanations present in all living beings, organic and inorganic. When a moment of alignment takes place, living beings use this alignment in a limited way, and perceive their world. Like all others, warriors can use alignment either to perceive, or as a boost that allows them to enter unimaginable worlds...
—A nagual never lets anybody know he is in control —told me—. A nagual comes and goes without a trace. This freedom is what makes him a nagual...
the assemblage point position is everything, and the world we perceive, whatever it is, is so real that it leaves no room for anything, except for that reality..." C.C.
THE ROLLING FORCE
When Castaneda had his first brief encounter with the Eagle emanations, he saw "balls" beating him; these were "the tumbling or rolling force". These are produced by eagle emanations and have a double purpose: on the one hand they sustain life, consciousness, the execution and purpose, and on the other hand, relate to destruction and death.
The tumbling or rolling force is the means by which the Eagle distributes life and consciousness, but in the same way, produces death. The force has two complementing aspects.
The human energy cocoon has a very fragile "membrane". When the cocoon fractures by the lace point movement, produced by trauma or a deadly disease, the tumbler, which is permanently hitting us to give us life, enters via de fracture, and fills the cocoon, breaking it completely and causing death.
The ancient Toltec and seers, upon discovering this force and its results, tried to unravel its secrets, but failed to become invulnerable and immortal. The human being cocoon is just an emanations "container", which wears out and, therefore, cannot remain eternally; it is believed to have been a mistake what forced the ancient Toltec to sustain life at any price, and somehow they did, but not as human beings.
New seers retook this failure, and with new experiences and knowledge, through the intent mastery (at the peak of Don Juan teachings), the warrior opens his cocoon at will and the strength of the Eagle emanations flood him, causing the total and instantaneous warrior disintegration, upon consuming the inner fire, receives "The Eagle gift" and total freedom.
"Due to his activities, at a given time, the warrior lace points shift left. It is a permanent shift, resulting in an exceptional indifference sense, control or even abandonment. This shift implies a new emanations alignment, and is the beginning of a series of major changes. Very appropriately, viewers call this initial change losing the human form, because the lace point inexorable movement, moves away from its original position, results in the irreversible loss of our affiliation with the force that makes us people...
—The rolling force is the means through which the Eagle distributes life and conscience —he said—. But it is also the force that, let us say, collects rent. Makes all living beings die..." C.C.
DEATH CHALENGERS
Don Juan speaks of the immortality search which led the first Toltec seers to aberration situations. While they could not keep their cocoon from dying, they did seek to remain "alive" at any price. Don Juan considers that price was very high; they did not die, but they ceased being human. This is why archaeological sites are dangerous, because the ancient Toltec seers maintain there a malignant presence.
The ancient seers discovered a way to get energy from the Earth was getting buried, the more energy needed the more time they remained buried.
Don Juan always insisted that a warrior must live with death consciousness and the corresponding detachment; from there the warrior extracts courage to face it all. A warrior knows the worst that can happen is death, and since this is our inexorable fate, as there are no "survivors" in earth, then he is free of fears.
Only when they lose everything, humans no longer have anything to fear nor lose; when this happens shackles are released and the person is free.
Don Juan said that during his lifetime, during alignment humans only use ten per cent of emanations, and the balance remain asleep. If people took advantage of their potential, their lives would have another dimension.
What happens at death, is that the cocoon collapses, and all internal emanations align with the external, and here is the warriors question in this regard: If when we die we do with all the emanations, why not seek to align them all, while alive?
In this part of the work, Don Juan again mentions Castaneda an individual that changed destiny and the Don Juan lineage path. We refer to the "tenant" which went looking for nagual Sebastian in 1723, who was the Cathedral sacristan and who was asked for energy in exchange for knowledge, since the tenant belonged to the initial seers.
This part is very obscure and it is still not very clear, upon the nagual Castaneda "death" and since he was not a four-pointed nagual, who has continued providing energy to the tenant?
"Don Juan commented on how easy it was to find faults in everything the ancient seers did, and yet, never ceased repeating the marvelous accomplishments they had. Not only discovered and used the lift from Earth, but also discovered that if they remained buried, their lace points aligned emanations that were normally inaccessible, and that such alignment used Earth’s strange and inexplicable capability to divert the rolling force relentless blows. As a result, developed the most amazing and complex techniques, to bury for extremely long periods, without any damage. In their struggle against death, they learned how to extend those periods to cover thousands of years...
—You say that they are alive, don Juan —I said—. You must mean that they are alive as the allies are alive, is it not so?
—It is so, —he said—. It is not possible that they are alive as you and me are. That would be ridiculous.
He continued explaining that ancient seers concerns over death made them investigate the most bizarre possibilities. Without a doubt, those who opted for the allies mold had in mind a shelter desire. And they found it, a fixed position in one of the seven inorganic consciousness bands. Seers thought that there were relatively safe. After all, they were separated from the everyday world by an almost insurmountable barrier, the perception barrier set by the lace point...
—You have to admit, despite your dislike, these demons were very bold -continued-. As you know, I never liked them either, but I cannot stop admiring them. Their love of life is beyond my understanding...
He thought they were afraid of dying, which is not the same as loving life. I say that they did not want to die because they loved life and because they had seen wonders, and not because they were greedy monsters. No. They were lost because nobody ever challenged them, they were capricious as mischievous children, but their audacity was impeccable and so was their courage..." C.C.
THE MOLD OF MEN
The mold of man is the emanations cluster in the big organic life band that fills the cocoon interior. It is, to put it in some way, the energy pattern outlining the qualities features a human being may have. Don Juan says, in the end, human beings are an energy charge and what determines us is the lace point, where large external emanations align with internal emanations.
What helps moving the lace point is the earth "lift and the rolling force", and to obtain them the warrior uses three old Toltec technics: stalking, the intent and reverie.
Don Juan advised Castaneda that when impatience, despair, anger or sadness crossed his path, he turn his eyes clockwise; this motion moves or stops, slightly, the lace point.
Handling the intent technique takes many years of effort and practice. The intent mastery is nothing but the Eagle command when it becomes the warrior command.
-"The mold of a man is a huge emanations cluster in the big band of organic life —said—. It is called the mold of man because that is the cluster that fills the interior of the man cocoon..." C.C.
REVERIE BODY JOURNEY
The reverie body and the perception barrier are produced by the "lace point"; this knowledge, Don Juan says, are so important to the Toltec seers as reading and writing is for occidental men, and these are all achievements that take many years of study and practice.
When the warrior perceives himself as energy, he can experience a perceptual duality at the same time. Don Juan keep on showing Castaneda that the mystery of being is endless, nor of the human being, nor the world immeasurable mystery. Rationality is a condition of large external emanations alignment with internal emanations in a fixed cocoon location called the "lace point".
If the lace point moves, changes the world; this world and what we can attest are not mirages, are "concrete realities"; the Mirage, if anything, is the lace point movement.
The ancient Toltecs, according to Don Juan, from the reverie body departed in groups to the unknown. Let us quote two texts which could give an answer to the Toltec mystery: the first belongs to Ignacio Bernal[7]:
"On the other hand, if Teotihuacan had remained at least 800 years as a predominant city, without any military power, this Pax Augusta would be a case so unique in history, it is hard to believe it happened.
"We do not know, in all universal history, a single empire that was formed without recourse to, albeit indirectly, weapons, and in fact, in almost all cases, were mainly based on them, even when it is clear that above them was an ideology directing them."
"There is Also the possibility that the expansion was based on a dominant or more prestigious religion and therefore did not need to resort to force. Christianity and Buddhism, for example, have been extended immensely, without weapons playing an important expansion role."
And the second is Miguel León Portilla[8]:
"But despite the extraordinary social and political organization implied by the Teotihuacan flourishing, towards the mid IX century CE., its mysterious and until now unexplained ruin ensued. This was not an isolated and exceptional event. In the Maya world around that time something similar occurred. The ruin and abandonment of the great ritual centers of Uaxactún, Tikal, Yaxchilán, Bonampak and Palenque, took place at a time very close to the Teotihuacán collapse. And we must admit that so far it has not been convincingly explained, the cause of this that could be called death of ancient Mexico classical splendor."
One of the possibilities of the unexplained "classical period collapse" in which at the same time were destroyed the so-called archaeological zones from Zacatecas to Nicaragua, that according to Don Juan, were constructions for practicing the challenges of "the second attention", was that the Toltec "changed their lace point" and aligned another world. The Quetzalcoatl return prophecy could have a new interpretation from this perspective.
"—Freedom is like a contagious disease —he said—. It is transmitted; its carrier is the impeccable nagual. Perhaps people do not appreciate it, but that is why they do not want to be free. Freedom is frightening. Remember it. But not for us. Almost all my life I have prepared for this moment. And you shall do the same...
—It is very important that right now you remember the occasion when your lace point reached that position and created your reverie body —said with tremendous urgency.
He smiled and said very little time was left, and that the memory of the main journey of my reverie body would place my lace point in position to break the perception barrier and align another world...
—You traveled because you woke in a far-off reverie position —continued—. When Genaro pulled you that day, from this very chair, and made you cross the square, he arranged everything so your lace point moved from the normal consciousness location to the position in which the reverie body appears. In the blink of an eye, your reverie body flew an incredible distance. And yet the great distance is not important; the reverie position is. If it has enough puling strength, you can go to this world confines and beyond, just like ancient seers. Many of them disappeared from this world because they woke up in a reverie position beyond the limits of what is known. That day your reverie position was in this world, but distant from the city of Oaxaca…" C.C.
BREAKING PERCEPTION BARRIERS
In Castaneda seventh book, he discusses what the ultimate goal of Toltequity is. Don Juan tells Castaneda that the end of the road for Toltec warriors, is when they achieve breaking the perception barrier without any help, from a normal consciousness state.
Breaking the perception barrier is making "the Eagle command" our own command, and with this moving the lace point and being able to use eagle emanations, that as common human beings can never use. Moving the lace point and holding it at another point allows us to "escape" from this world, while maintaining self-consciousness; and while inner fire consume him, the warrior will retain the feeling of being himself.
The Toltec warriors through Toltequity sought —as all autonomous origin ancient cultures— transcendence in eternity.
"There should be no mistake about what you are going to do. Today, from the increased awareness advantageous position, you are going to move your lace point and in an instant you will align another world emanations.
"In a few days, when Genaro and I meet with you at the top of a mountain, you are going to do the same from the disadvantaged position of normal consciousness. In just a moment, you will have to align the emanations from another world; if you do not do it, will die a common man death falling off a cliff.
He referred to an act that would make me do the last of his teachings to the right side: the act of jumping from the top of a mountain into an abyss.
Don Juan said that warriors completed their training when they were able to break the perception barrier, without help, from a normal consciousness sate...
—Alignment is the only force that can temporarily cancel the alignment -continued-. You must cancel the alignment that keeps you perceiving the everyday world. If you use the intent and try a new lace point position, and then try to fix it there long enough, you will align another world and escape from this one..." C.C.
EPILOGUE
Before the inevitable death reality, ancient seers considered the alternative of dying in unknown worlds. The ancient seers, from their adventurous spirit, chose the second option; however, only managed to change their place of death.
The new Toltec seers analyzed their predecessors mistakes, who surrendered their personal importance, control of their fellows and above all, obsession with aligning other worlds, and decided to regroup ancient seers knowledge, implementing stalking arts, the intent and reverie, through a strict discipline that led them to an impeccable everyday life.
New seers rather than fleeing to other worlds —as the old seers when they managed to break the perception barrier—, are consumed on the alignment strength: the inner fire, total awareness, total freedom. This freedom is "The Eagle gift" to the human being. Everything related to Toltequity is an energy matter and thus Don Juan says that we must be stingy and careful with our energy.
The Toltequity proposal is exposed to the reader’s eyes. A wisdom kept in total secrecy for whole centuries, opens clearly and translucent to our unbelieving colonized reason. Just as other autonomous origin ancient civilizations philosophies, the anahuacas sought spiritual transcendence. The spirit release from matter.
The Don Juan teachings, transmitted by Castaneda, are only a very determined view of one of the many knowledge lineages left by the Toltec and that still exist hiding in the Anahuac. It should be remembered that "the tenant" came to change completely the route and destination of the ancient lineage. The knowledge received came from the first Toltec and later naguales, including Don Juan, will give a new twist to the higher objective and their practices.
We cannot and must not, taken them as "The Toltecáyotl official version". In addition, we must not forget that all this knowledge was "filtered" by Castaneda himself, through his own perceptual framework in which his culture intervened.
Total freedom, has been the highest achievement of all human beings who have developed their being consciousness potential. All peoples have this knowledge in one way or another. Some on their skin and others in the depths of their cultural manifestations. The opportunity is for everyone, but only a few can take advantage.
"Don Juan said that each apprentice had already said farewell, and we all were in a consciousness state that did not admit sentimentalism. For us, he said, there was only action. We were warriors in a total war state...
Remember that the intent begins with a command...
He said again and again that the intent management begins with a command given to oneself; the command is repeated until it becomes the Eagle command, and then, the lace point moves as soon as warriors reach inner silence...
Knowing this is possible enabled ancient seers move their lace points to incredible reverie positions in the immeasurable unknown; for new seers mean refusing to be food, it means escaping from the Eagle, moving its lace points to a very peculiar reverie position called total freedom...
Don Juan said that, in facing the choice of death in the world of everyday affairs or dying in unknown worlds, adventurous spirit men inevitably chose the second, and, realizing that their predecessors simply chose to change their place of death, new seers realized the futility of all what ancient seers did; the futility of struggling to control their peers, the futility of aligning other worlds and, above all, the personal importance futility...
Don Juan commented that, unknowingly, when choosing total freedom, new seers continued their predecessors tradition and became the quintessence of the death challengers...
—New seers are consumed by alignment strength —continued don Juan— with will power, converted in intent power by an impeccable life. The intent is alignment in all conscience amber emanations, so it is correct to say that total freedom means total consciousness...
Freedom is the Eagle gift to men. Unfortunately, very few men understand that, to accept such a great gift the only thing we need is enough energy.
"And if that is all we need, then, no matter how, we have to be stingy with our energy..."C.C.
- ↑ It is more likely they were the warriors of the Sun, as it is known, in those days there were no horses in America and, accordingly, there were no knights or sp "Caballeros".
- ↑ People who sell medicinal plants in markets in all markets in Mexico.
- ↑ Original name of the territory that Mexico currently occupies.
- ↑ The Aztec Cihuacoátl who made reforms to the ancient Toltec tradition of spiritual nature. Tlacaelel changed the Toltec mystical spiritual sense by the warrior-materialistic sense leading to human sacrifice.
- ↑ Anahuac high-studies school.
- ↑ The Anahuac had lived four Suns or past eras. The last times of the Fifth Sun were lived.
- ↑ Preliminary notes on the possible Teotihuacan Empire. Nahuatl culture studies, Mexico. Historical Research Institute, 1965
- ↑ The ancient Mexican through their stories and songs", F.C.E., Mexico.)