Page:Para leer a Carlos Castaneda.djvu/21

culture existed in Mexico, it was a product of a knowledge capable of motivating the divine spirit that lives within men and bequeathed us impressive testimonies (tangible cultural heritage) and deep features in the spirit of the peoples which today form part of the contemporary Mexico (intangible culture heritage) and that resides, incomprehensibly in the collective subconscious.

The path of the warrior is a difficult road in which annihilation and challenges are present; but it is a path with a heart, and in that path, says Don Juan, it is useless to complain and, however, it is difficult not to complain.

To reconstruct "the profile" of a warrior we will have to gather throughout the Castaneda books certain traits and characteristics "poetically" described by Don Juan.

Returning to A separate reality, just where Don Juan describes some of the warrior characteristics:

A warrior knows that he is waiting for (the control) his will, and in the meantime wants nothing; that way, if he receives anything, it will always be more than he can take. The will, says Don Juan, is something that a man uses for example, to succeed in a battle in which, according to all estimates, he should be defeated; it is a power within us that impels us to perform amazing feats that defy common sense and at the same time, is the link with the outside world; it is a force that grows within the body and hooks onto the world. With his will, a sorcerer perceives the world and then realizes that the world is not as real as it was thought. As it progresses on the path of knowledge, a warrior realizes that he is able to touch anything with a sensation that comes from an area near the navel. When he is able to hold everything around with it, it can be said that he already acquired will.

The warrior spirit is not tempered to surrender or complain, nor to win or lose, but to fight, and each act becomes his last battle on earth. Hence the result is not important; he only allows his spirit to flow with clarity and freely.

In this book don Juan describes to Castaneda what could be the “warrior profile":

"—Once I told you that our fate as men is to learn, for better or worse —he added— I've learned to see and I'll tell you that nothing really matters; now is your turn; maybe someday you'll see and you'll know if things matter or not. For me nothing matters, but perhaps everything is important to you. Thus far you should already know that a man of knowledge lives from performing, not from thinking about acting, nor thinking what will he think when he finishes acting.

"Therefore a man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it: and then looks, rejoices and laughs; and then he sees and knows. He knows that his life will end in a blink of an eye; he knows that he, as well as all others, are not going anywhere; he knows, because he sees, that nothing is more important than anything else. In other words, a man of knowledge has no honor, dignity, family or name, or land, only has life to live, and in such condition his only link with peers is his controlled folly. Thus, a man of knowledge strives, sweat, and gasps, and if one looks at him he is like any common man, except that the folly of his life is under control. As nothing matters more than anything else, a man of knowledge chooses any action and acts it as if it mattered. His controlled folly leads him to say that it does matter and acts as if it mattered, though he knows that it does not matter; so, when he completes its actions goes in peace, without concern or caring whether his actions were good or bad, or whether they had effect or not." C.C.