Translation:To read Carlos Castaneda/15
XII. THE WHEEL OF TIME
First English edition, 1998
This book contains a series of quotations from the first eight books of the work, that Castaneda himself selected from a criterion, when Castaneda realized that the quotations had "self-momentum".
Indeed, the Castaneda work can be divided into three parts. What Don Juan says, what Castaneda does and thinks, and the "bullshit" or literary filling. The most important thing is what Don Juan says, because what Castaneda thinks and does while facing the power belongs to the author interests as a personal experience.
It is important to remember that "the tales of power", always have an abstract center, which is the teachings "substance". These tales need to be remembered over and over, so that they are no longer "simple tales" and become "power histories".
Somehow, those that back then read and reread, the Castaneda texts, unknowingly, we were reviewing the power tales and gradually the "abstract centers" were revealed. This is the reason why, the Castaneda work is "magic". Each time a book is again read, new angles not seen in previous readings are discovered or revealed.
In the 1980s, the writer, when reading the books over and over, as a practical matter began highlighting "what Don Juan said". Subsequently transcribed the highlighted text and pasted it into a single text. This facilitated "reading", because it saved me from re-reading again and again, "what Castaneda said and the circumstances of his encounters with Don Juan”.
The result was a great study text. Because by knowing the circumstances surrounding the talks, just by reading what Don Juan said, fully touched the "power tales and its abstract centers, that opened gradually". In this way, in a sit-in I could read a whole book, except that, only what I considered most important, of what Don Juan said.
Subsequently, I did a summary of the synthesis and recorded it. This allowed me to hear every night with my voice, "the Don Juan teachings". In this way over time this "royal jelly" of the Don Juan Toltec wisdom, allowed me to "understand or penetrate" in a different way to the bottom of the Castaneda work.
This synthesis of "what Don Juan said " was structured by the first eight books and I gave to a friend one of many copies, who later told me that he reproduced hundreds of copies, which in turn, he gave away. This is the reason why this book seems so familiar and a very effective tool to be able to touch the tales of power abstract centers that are in the Carlos Castaneda works. That is why I recommend its reading and study, after knowing all the work.
For this reason, we will select some quotations made by Castaneda of his own work. There is not more to do, than to read over and over this extraordinary work, that as the author himself says on several occasions, is not literature nor science fiction. On the other hand, it is a faithful account of his encounters with the Toltecáyotl, in the hands of a knowledge man who once belonged to one of the many linages that survived, following the classical period collapse, which happened around 850 CE throughout the Anahuac.
Here it is worth analyzing what Castaneda says in the introduction to this book, as far as the knowledge transmitted by Don Juan. Indeed, the author points out that Don Juan pushed him towards a different cognitive system "that was" of the ancient Mexico shamans.
The point is that Castaneda says "it was", but Don Juan, Don Genaro and other practitioners did not live in "the past". Which implies that the Toltecáyotl never disappeared, was eradicated nor died. Instead, Don Juan himself says that the conquest and the colony proved a great lineages catalyst. Techniques were refined and these lineages remained clandestinely during these five centuries of occupation, and remain active. They are perhaps inaccessible and impeccable and we do not see in our square world, but does not mean they do not exist.
We must also remember that the Don Juan lineage, is one of many lineages and none was equal. Some "worked” knowledge through dance, others through music or healing, some others remain in total secrecy, not only in Mexico, but across the continent. Moreover, the Don Juan lineage was especially different by the "tenant” influence, who in the 17th century diametrically changed this lineage destiny, thanks to his ancient knowledge given in return for the energy it receives from the lineage.
In general, during these five centuries the dominant culture, whether colonial or neocolonial, always has denied, excluded and persecuted, any value of the invaded civilization. Which is always presumed as disappeared and the contemporary indigenous peoples, who are cultural Toltecáyotl descendants, are labeled as primitive and ignorant. This has been one of the major problems of the Carlos Castaneda works in Mexico. Intellectuals in general, despite having read Castaneda and usually having one or two volumes in their libraries, reject any philosophical value of the work and they take it as a literary fiction.
In order to publish the first Castaneda book in Mexico, which happened six years later, when it already was a world "best seller", the Fondo de Cultura Económica had to ask the great poet and "creole intellectuality high priest ", Octavio Paz, to write the prologue and "give seriousness and value" to an indigenous Yaqui teachings. Only with such a prologue, the colonized Mexican intellectuals dared to timidly and pre-judiciously approach the work. Attitude that unfortunately persists, to date. This has prevented the work from being fully valued in any dimension, and remains in small groups of "initiated aZotéricos ". The historical, cultural and social dimension of Toltecáyotl in contemporary colonial neo-Mexico, has not yet occurred, but is a matter of time, given that the Toltecáyotl is the most important legacy we have inherited from one of the six oldest mankind civilizations.
Because the philosophical concept of the Toltec "warrior", by itself, can change the face of a nation. Indeed, when we say that "the future of Mexico is its past", we refer in particular to high human values enclosed by the aspiration of becoming a "florid death warrior".
In this book, Castaneda selects parts of his work, which we would present, because they are self-explanatory, which may mean that people form their young under these premises:
"He explained that the warrior path was a frame of ideas established by ancient Mexico shamans. Such construction derived from those shamans ability to see energy as it flows freely in the universe. For that reason, the warrior path was a superb conglomeration of energy facts, of irreducible truths exclusively determined by the energy flow direction in the universe. Don Juan categorically affirmed that there was nothing in that structure that could be objected, nothing could be changed. It was a perfect structure in itself and by itself, and anyone who followed that path was cornered by energy facts which allowed no discussion or speculation about its role or value.
He unequivocally affirmed, that the warrior path was an essential construction without which the initiated shamans would sink in the universe immensity.
Don Juan said that the warrior path was the ancient Mexico shamans masterpiece. He considered it his most important contribution, the essence of their sobriety...
—Is the warrior path so overwhelmingly important, don Juan? —I once asked him.
—To say "overwhelmingly important" is a euphemism. The warrior path is everything. It is the archetype of the physical and mental health. I cannot explain it in any other way..." C.C.
The Castaneda work has not been worked from the Toltecáyotl philosophical aspects. As a human wisdom legacy, produced by one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Wisdom that produced a thousand years of splendor (200 BCE - 850 CE). Unfortunately it has become a "new age Best Seller" and has been reduced to small groups of fanciful fanatics, which hallucinate in the nahual world, that is only reserved for persons who after many years of draconian discipline have managed to polish their body and purify their spirit.
"The wheel of time", can symbolically be, the monolith called "Aztec calendar" and all the energy-spiritual wisdom, which is waiting for the moment of its exalted revelation. In this way, the Carlos Castaneda works, are just one piece in the cultural identity of the Anahuac peoples puzzle, and somehow, in the cultural identity of all peoples with indigenous origin of the continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
"The don Juan Matus action line was a deliberate attempt to push me towards, as he said, was a different cognitive system. When don Juan spoke of that cognitive system, he referred to the cognition usual definition, or the: "processes responsible for everyday consciousness, including memory, experience, perceptions and expert utilization of any given syntax". What don Juan stated was that the ancient Mexico shamans actually had was a different cognitive system from that of common men..." C.C.
DON JUAN TEACHINGS
The power resides in the kind of knowledge one possesses. What is the sense of knowing useless things? That does not prepare us for our inevitable encounter with the unknown. (43)
Getting upset with people means that one considers that the actions of others are important. It is imperative to stop feeling this way. Acts of men may not be important enough to counteract our only viable alternative: our unchanging meeting with infinity. (96)
Men has four natural enemies: fear, clarity, power, and old age. The fear, clarity and power can be overcome, but not old age. Its effect may be postponed, but never defeated. (109, 110, 111, 112)
COMMENTARY
In this part Castaneda mentions that Don Juan at the teachings beginning, always spoke of allies, plants of power, of Mezcalito, of humito, the wind, of the river spirits, etcetera. He tells Castaneda that he used that "pseudo-indian talk" to trap him. He told Castaneda what he wanted to hear.
Somehow some of the work readers, also are caught in this trap and look while reading, to confirm their personal reality perceptions, which in general are fairly derailed. Towards the late sixties, the Castaneda books were for occidentals a passport to enter the world of drugs, with very sad results. This problem somehow remains for some of his regular readers.
Don Juan tells Castaneda that knowledge men and women, Toltecáyotl heirs, are not interested in "teaching" their millennial and intricate knowledge. In any case the power indicates to them who should be their heirs. They will never look for people vaguely interested in this ancient wisdom for intellectual reasons. In addition, in general, as Don Juan said, this people are "cracked as a huaje" people, and are not capable of being disciplined, responsible, restrained and maintaining an unyielding intent.
"All my lineage shamans have been deceived this way from immemorial time. The shamans of my lineage are not teachers or gurus. They do not care to teach their knowledge. They want heirs for their knowledge, not people vaguely interested in their knowledge for intellectual reasons..." C.C.
A SEPARATE REALITY
Feeling important makes one heavy, clumsy and banal. To be warrior needs to be light and fluid. (14)
Only someone crazy would undertake on his own the task of becoming a man of knowledge. A sane man needs to be deceived. There are lots of people who would gladly take the task, but those do not count. They are almost always cracked. They are like pitchers that from the outside look in good condition, but as soon as filled with water and pressure ensues they would begin to drip. (35)
A warrior thinks of his death when things lose clarity. The idea of death is the only thing that tempers our spirit. (56, 57)
A warrior must first know that his acts are useless and, in spite of this, proceed as if he did not know. This is the shaman controlled folly. (91)
COMMENTARY
It can be appreciated in this text, how the nahual Castaneda, "after the fact", reviews Don Juan teachings with a deeper perspective. Finds in his
own text a different mood, a kind of tension. "It had suddenly activated acquiring a tension state: a tension that dictated the direction of my efforts".
What is stripped of so much confusion, product of the lack of energy, is "The warrior path". A warrior is a being suitable for war and is prepared through discipline, inflexible intent, self-control and tons of humility and wisdom. The war is against stupidity and arrogance, which suffocates and annihilate us.
JOURNEY TO IXTLÁN
We almost never realize that we can suppress anything in our lives at any time and in the blink of an eye.
Personal history must be constantly renewed by telling parents, relatives and friends all one makes. On the other hand, the warrior has no personal history, does not need to give explanations; no one gets angry or disappointed from his actions. And above all, nobody ties him down with thoughts and expectations.
Death is our eternal companion. It is always on our left, an arm distance away from us. Death is the only wise counselor a warrior has. Every time the warrior feel that everything is wrong and that he is about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if this is true. His death will tell him he is wrong, that nothing really matters except its touch. His death will tell him: «I have not yet touched you.»
For a warrior, being inaccessible means frugally touching the world around him. And, above all, deliberately avoid exhausting himself and others. A warrior does not use nor squeeze people until reducing them to nothing, especially the people he loves.
When a man worries, desperately clings onto anything; and once he clings, necessarily he gets exhausted, or exhausts the thing or person that he is clinging. A warrior hunter, on the other hand, knows that he will attract prey to his traps over and over again, so he does not worry. To worry is place oneself reachable, without knowing it.
A man, any man deserves whatever faith assigns to men: joy, pain, sorrow and struggle. No matter his acts nature, provided he acts as a warrior.
If his spirit is distorted, he should simply fix it, debugging and perfecting it, because there is no worthier task in life. Not fixing the spirit is to seek death, and that is equal to not seeking anything, because death is going to reach us anyway. Searching for warrior spirit perfection is the only task worthy of our transience and our human condition.
The warrior art is to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.
COMMENTARY
Castaneda explained that the "warrior path" is the product of many centuries, possibly thousands of years of Toltec experimentation, observation and reflection. He says that it is an energy structure, such structure come from the ability to "see" energy. For this reason, "the warrior path" is a "superb conglomeration" of energy facts, irreducible truths exclusively determined by the energy flow direction in the universe. This "structure" is perfect and there is nothing in excess or missing, is to put it in some way, the Toltec masterpiece and must have been the basic structure, or societies foundation that for millennia developed in the Anahuac civilization. Because without this wisdom, without this "methodology" the Toltec would not had been able to face the terrifying infinity mystery.
"The warrior path" is the most important Anahuac cultural heritage to the children’s children in the twenty-first century. It represents the archetype of physical and mental health, both for individuals and society. This is why, when the Mexica rules and laws of the 16th century are read, these are of a "Spartan" spirit character, which do not agree with human sacrifice and the Mexica "Florid wars " are a degenerated and degraded a shadow of the Toltec "Florid wars", in the classical period.
TALES OF POWER
The warrior trust is not the common man trust. The common man seeks for certainty in the spectator eyes and calls it self-confidence. The warrior seeks for impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humility. The common man is hooked to his peers, while the warrior is only hooked to infinity.
It is internal dialogue what binds people to the everyday world. The world is such and such way only because we tell ourselves that is such and which way. The passage to the shamans world opens when the warrior has learned to stop his internal dialogue.
Our peers are black magicians. And whoever is with them is also a black magician, for sure. Think a moment. Can you divert from the path your peers have mapped for you? While you remain with them, your actions and thoughts are forever fixed on their terms. That is slavery. The warrior, instead, is free from all that. Freedom is expensive, but the price is not impossible to pay. So fear your captors, your masters. Do not waste your time and your power afraid of freedom.
Human beings are perceivers, but the world they perceive is an illusion: an illusion created by descriptions told from the moment they were born.
So the world that your reason wishes to sustain is, in essence, a world created by a description which has inviolable and dogmatic rules, rules that your reason learns to accept and defend.
Only as a warrior can stand the knowledge path. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is a never-ending challenge, and there is no way that challenges can be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
The warrior, as a teacher, teaches three techniques to his pupil to help him delete his personal history: losing the own personal importance, take responsibility for own acts and use death as a counselor. Without the beneficial effect of these three techniques, erasing personal history makes one stealth, evasive and unnecessarily uncertain of himself and his actions.
COMMENTARY
Don Juan declares to Castaneda that he demands from his apprentices: perfect efficiency, impeccable intent and impeccable discipline. Because to capture this wonderful world, what is required is "detachment". But mentions that more than detachment requires affection and abandonment.
To efficiently penetrate this world, needs to be a cautious, restrained, indifferent warrior, tuned to the battles with the unknown. And this is only achieved through forging the "warrior path".
THE SECOND RING OF POWER
A warrior knows that he cannot change and yet, devotes himself to trying to change, in spite of all. A warrior never disappoints himself when failing to change. It is the only advantage a warrior has over common man.
The only freedom a warrior has is to behave impeccably. But impeccability is not his only freedom, but the only way to straighten human form.
The core of our being is the act of perceiving, and the magic of our being is the act of being conscious. Perception and consciousness are the same and an inseparable functional unit.
COMMENTARY
Castaneda remembers Florinda Matus as his great teacher. He mentions that she had the power and detachment necessary to refine it, in the finishing touches before the departure of the nagual Don Juan Matus.
In this text, Castaneda tells that one day he went to see a doctor over a fistula he had that due to a fall on a cactus a while back. He consulted Florinda on the matter and she tells him that a nagual has lost its power, if he requires a doctor to heal. This has to do with his "alleged cancer death". Of course that the nagual Castaneda did not die in 1998 in a hospital bed from liver cancer.
It is also interesting to analyze what Castaneda says of the Don Juan disciples, who according to him, spent their time fighting over their ego manic outbursts and he defines them as an errant bunch. This must be assessed, because if they worked hard for years with naguales such as Don Juan and Don Genaro, and yet, they fail to acquire sobriety and wisdom, what can be expected of us "readers". That is why it is necessary to solidly set foot on the ground, and realize that dealing with the "warrior path", is an almost impossible task and that it is confined to very few people. That one thing is reading about the warriors and something very different is living as warriors.
THE EAGLE’S GIFT
It is recommended for warriors not to have material things in which to focus their power, but focus it on the spirit, in the true flight into the unknown and not trivialities.
Anyone who wants to follow the warrior path must be free from the compulsion to possess things and stick to them.
When a warrior ceases to have any kind of expectations, people actions no longer affect him. A strange peace becomes the force that governs his life. He has adopted one of the warrior life concepts: detachment. All the shamanism faculties, possibilities and achievements, from the simplest to the most astonishing, are found in the human body itself.
A warrior is never besieged. Being besieged implies that one has personal possessions to defend. A warrior does not have anything in the world except for his impeccability, and impeccability may not be threatened.
The first stalking art principle is that warriors choose their battlefield. A warrior never enters a battle without first knowing the surroundings.
Remove all unnecessary is the second stalking art principle. A warrior does not complicates things. Searches for simplicity. Applies all his concentration to decide whether he enters a battle, because his life is at stake in every battle. This is the third principle of the stalking art. A warrior must be willing and prepared to make his last stop here and now. But not without order or concert.
A warrior relaxes and lets go; he does not fear anything. Only then the powers that guide human beings open the way for the warrior and help him. Only then. This is the fourth stalking art principle.
When faced with a superior force that cannot be fought, the warriors withdraw for a moment. Let his thoughts run freely. Deal with other things. Anything can serve. This is the fifth stalking art principle.
Warriors compress time; This is the sixth stalking art principle. Even a single instant count. In a battle for their life, a second is an eternity, eternity which can decide victory. The warriors pursue success; therefore, compress time. Warriors do not waste even an instant.
To apply the seventh stalking art principle one has to apply the other six: a stalker is never at the front. He is always watching from behind the scene.
Applying these principles produces three results. The first is that stalkers learn not to take themselves seriously: they learn to laugh at themselves. If they are not afraid of ridicule, they can ridicule anyone. The second is that stalkers learn to have inexhaustible patience. Stalkers are never in a hurry, never are concerned. And the third is that stalkers learn to have an inexhaustible capacity for improvisation.
COMMENTARY
This recapitulation by Castaneda, sprouts with tremendous force the importance of the "warrior path". Castaneda and many of his readers, are lost between "the pseudo indian talk " that Castaneda wanted to hear, the inaccuracies on the nagual area and the lack of energy. When the work is reviewed again and again, it is clear that the techniques to "sweep the tonal island", are the "critical path" to start feeling the Toltec teaching.
The first thing that is required is "fixing the bad tonal state", we generally have, from our personal importance, behavior social patterns and "matter inertia" itself.
For a sensible and intelligent reader, the only thing that really could slightly be available to him, is trying to practice the techniques from the book "Journey to Ixtlán", certainly a lifetime would not be enough to fully implement them.
FIRE WITHIN
One is not complete without sadness or longing, as without them there is no sobriety, there is no kindness. Wisdom without kindness and knowledge without sobriety are useless.
Men greatest enemy is personal importance. What weakens is feeling offended by what peers do or fail to do. Personal importance requires that one passes the greater part of life offended by something or someone.
Nothing can temper a warrior spirit better than the challenge of dealing with impossible people who occupy positions of power. Only in such circumstances can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity necessary to withstand the pressure of what cannot be known.
A mature warrior must be a discipline paragon in order to overcome the almost invincible laxness of our human condition. More important still than seeing is what warriors do with what they see.
Impeccability begins with a single act, which has to be premeditated, precise and sustained. If this event is repeated long enough, one acquires the sense of an uncompromising intent that can be applied to anything. If this is achieved, the way is clear. So, one thing leads to another until after the warrior develops his full potential.
The worst that could happen is having to die, and given that this is already our unalterable fate, we are free; those who have already lost everything have nothing to fear.
COMMENTARY
Castaneda recognizes in his comment, that the book Fire From Within is another achievement from Florinda Matus influence over him. In this way, it can be seen that after Don Juan and Don Genaro, Florinda Matus has a great influence in the construction of his warrior path.
Castaneda takes the nagual Julian life as a reflection point, who was a libertine, vicious man and even a coward. But when he is about to die from his excesses, nagual Elias saves him and gives him a choice: either decide to dramatically change his life at once or will die. The nagual Elias warns him that he can never heal, will always have to walk on the edge of the abyss, that a false step, an error or a small abandonment or insubordination and irresponsibility display, will be the end.
The author says that he was shook, when discovering the fierce battle Julian always lived in. Step by step, he had to go to fight "his licentious inertia" and learned to walk "the warrior path" ...at the precipice edge.
That is the mood needed to "straighten our deformed tonal". That is the kind of spirits which Toltecáyotl claims as true and unique. As this is "something special", not because we cannot do so, any human being has the ability, but because of our weakness, stupidity and lack of energy is immeasurable.
The Castaneda readings, about Toltec wisdom can lead us to two paths. The easy and common, which is to fall in fantasy, consciousness alternate states induced by entheogens and disconnection from reality. Or on the other hand, can give us a life pattern through discipline, inflexible intent, moderation, and humility in our daily actions. Truly becoming human beings. Not as "reader-warrior", but as human beings aware of their limitations and knowing they are going to die, but with subtle nostalgia for the infinity.
SILENT KNOWLEDGE
It is not that a warrior learns shamanism with the passage of time; what he learns with the passage of time, rather, is to save energy. This energy will allow him to manage some of the energy fields that normally are inaccessible. Shamanism is a consciousness state, the ability to use energy fields which are not used to perceive the everyday world as we know it.
The art of stalking consists of learning all the peculiarities of your disguise, and learn them so well that no one knows you are in disguise. To achieve this, you need to be ruthless, shrewd, patient and sweet.
Being ruthless does not mean roughness, cunning does not mean cruelty, being patient does not mean neglect and being sweet does not mean stupid.
Warriors act with an ulterior purpose that has nothing to do with personal advantage. The common man only acts if there is a gain possibility gain. Warriors do not act for profit, but the spirit.
The men problem is that he senses his hidden resources but does not dare using them. This is why warriors say men problem is the counterpoint created by their stupidity and ignorance. Men needs now, more than ever, to be taught new ideas that have to do exclusively with their inner world; shaman ideas, not social ideas; ideas relating to men confrontation with the unknown, with his personal death. Now, more than ever, needs to be taught the lace point secrets.
COMMENTARY
There is an endless number of parallels between the terms used by Don Juan, and according to him, are the Toltequity or Toltecáyotl legacy, as called by experts. But there is one that powerfully calls the attention. In fact when Castaneda says: "Infinity will swallow me and I want to be prepared for it. I do not want infinity to dissolve me into nothing...", the texts speak of the four year trip to Mictlán, the dead who had lived an empty and irrelevant life had to do. After much punishment they came before the death Lord, Mictlantecuhtli and told him they had completed the trip. Then Mictlantecuhtli told them, "So well, your punishment is completed, go, then sleep you deadly sleep." After four years of Mictlán travel, nothingness will be your final destination!
Florinda sentences Castaneda, tells him that perhaps, when he becomes an immaculate nagual, you may outwit the Toltecs and their wisdom. Or you may even renege Don Juan and Don Genaro.
This is very interesting, as it totally breaks the probable dogmatic frame that might be contained in the "don Juan Teachings".
EPILOGUE
Mexico is a country with an ancient culture of which, to date, little research has been done of its knowledge matrix (philosophy) and has much has been publicized. So, ancient Mexico seems to be only made of archaeological areas, museums and boring books, and "tourist posters".
Mexico needs to find its philosophical past, (Toltecáyotl) an element which propels this knowledge wealth about men, the world and life that continuously operated for several thousand years and that in the past 500 has been denied and silenced. Because it will be with the essence of that knowledge that we will build the 21st century Mexico.
Dr. Guillermo Bonfil Batalla in his book Profound Mexico, a denied civilization, says (p. 31): "What matters is to highlight the fact that the millenary men presence in present Mexican territory produced a civilization."
Dr. Miguel León Portilla in his book Toltecáyotl, aspects of the Nahuatl culture, within the comparative threshold "development of cultures with independent origins, noted that in the year 8000 BCE agriculture started in Egypt and Mesopotamia; Subsequently, in 7000 BCC agriculture started in India, China and the Anahuac.
So, how is it possible to assume that while Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China managed to create over thousands of years, philosophers, teachers and religions which persist to date, Mexico does not have a philosophy or line of knowledge that expresses what we have been, we are and aspire to be?
It is important to note that The don Juan teachings is an experiential practice before a reason spell, and that many indigenous and peasant peoples currently maintain incorporated into their daily life, its traditions and customs, many of the Don Juan recommended practices.
"Being" indigenous over the last 500 years has required an immense inner strength capable of supporting the genocide, the systematic dispossession and exploitation. Currently living as indigenous, marginalized in the mountains, is more difficult than to survive under employed in the cities. The indigenous people and peasants strength and wisdom has much to do with their traditional practices and these, in turn, with the Toltequity or Toltecáyotl precepts, which are elements of an ancient past that in no way has been lost and , yes, on the other hand, lives in the skin of some indigenous and peasant groups or that also lies underground in the popular and urban cultures manifestations of contemporary Mexico.
In relation to this philosophical-cultural matrix, Bonfil Batalla tells us in the cited work (p. 32): "It is s not then, a simple added, more or less abundant, of isolated cultural traits, but of a Life General Plan that gives importance and respect to the acts of man, which somehow places him in relation to the universe nature, which gives coherence to its purposes and values, which allows to change constantly according to the story authors, without undermining the profound meaning of their civilization, but updating it. It is like a larger frame, more stable, more permanent, although by no means immutable, in which diverse cultures fit and several stories become understandable. This is nothing less: a civilization that was created and bequeathed by hundreds of successive generations that worked, thought and dreamed here for a millennia."
And on page 73 of same book notes: "Although the dominant colonial ideology restricts the mesoamerican legacy alive, to the population sector recognized as Indian, national reality contains a different truth."
The indian presence and validity is found in almost the country entire social and cultural spectrum through cultural traits of highly diverse nature which, with no doubt, have their origin in the Mesoamerican civilization and are distributed to different extent in different groups and levels of Mexican society. The indian culture presence is in some respects, so every day and omnipotent that rarely notices its deep meaning and in the long historical process which made its persistence possible in social sectors that today assume a non-Indian identity."
The presence of the philosophical-cultural matrix of ancient Mexico is irrefutable in contemporary Mexico. The Castaneda work, from this perspective, provide one more angle to understand and appreciate this cultural heritage. We do not mean that it is the "only" and "authentic". In the same knowledge, Don Juan said that there were "other lineages".
In a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic Mexico, this old knowledge legacy is expressed in multiple ways. Don Juan himself recognizes that in recent centuries knowledge men have sought new paths, and that after the conquest they had to take refuge in the nagual world to ensure this intricate knowledge survival.
Thus, one this ancient knowledge forms, by some inexplicable design comes to light through "witchcraft". Impeccably the oral culture becomes written culture. It has to come from abroad of this colonized country, with the "best seller" label and the prologue must be written by one of the most renowned intellectuals, Octavio Paz, so that it can be read by an audience that keeps an ongoing self-devaluation.
In this way, Castaneda is not an anthropologist nor a writer; Castaneda is a nagual who impeccably is fulfilling the mission which the power appointed him, after jumping to the void in the mountains of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca.
Knowledge will then be exposed to public light, without teachers, "gurus", rituals or temples. One of the Toltequity lines will be available to anyone with enough personal power to extract knowledge from the work.
In Toltequity there are two basic areas: the tonal and the nagual. The first belongs to the known world, the reason, the one techniques to "sweep the tonal island" with discipline, and an inflexible intent, remove all the garbage accumulated over our life, strengthening the body, polishing the spirit and making our reason flexible; in short, a technology to be a "human being" in our immediate reality.
The second is the mysterious, unknown and frightening world of the nagual, to which cannot get to until the tonal world is efficiently worked. There is no progress in the nagual that is not supported in the tonal. Taking the Castaneda work by the magical, mysterious and unknown side, from our point of view, is taking a false door, an easy path and "disaster".
Don Juan proposes that modern human beings sense their hidden resources, but does not dare using them and goes between their stupidity and ignorance. The tonal times are changing. Our "reality" and our "world" are a bunch of "ideas". The changes that occurred in the world in the last five years would have been impossible to conceive only ten years ago; and the changes that we will suffer in the remainder of this century, are unimaginable today.
However, nothing really has changed; the way we appreciate things has changed, ideas change and only the ideas we have about the world.
Don Juan says that it is precisely now when humans need to renew their ideas, but not ideas about the common man, social ideas with concepts and objects. The man needs new ideas to face the unknown, his personal death, about impeccability and the lace point secrets. New times lying ahead require that incomprehensible knowledge (which has always been there, through thousands of years and in various parts of the world) to make it understandable and functional at everyday consciousness.
Humans require the ability to perceive and act in the world we know. Men requires perceiving the world not only as a concept cluster and "material" objects, but also, as an energy charges world and needs to be perceived not only as an energy conglomerate, but as an energy creator.
Mexicans are the children of one of the planet Mother Cultures and, therefore, are people with identity; what has happened in the last 500 years is that we have suffered from "cultural amnesia" caused by yesterday and today colonial forces, thus we have gone through a loneliness maze, carrying our rich cultural heritage.
This paper aims to search for and an encounter through this new interpretation of what was and is ancient Mexicans knowledge, without fear nor ambition, as Don Juan says.
Without fear of being attacked and censored by the intolerant holders of the "scientific" truth; without the ambition of finding a blinding light on the path and that lead to messianic attitudes.
Many Toltequity knowledge are deposited —unconsciously— in the daily lives of the Mexican peoples, and in general in all continent indigenous and mestizo peoples; however, pretending that all of us become "men or women of knowledge" would be a true folly, because even in the TOLTECÁYOTL heyday, only a few had the necessary elements to attempt such an impressive and daunting challenge; but if it is considered important that Mexican people search in their past, in their own wisdom and experience, elements that allow them to feel excited and proud their past and, confident of who they are, and imagine and create their own future based on their own dreams and aspirations.
Don Juan is very clear and says: "The warrior path is everything. It is the archetype of physical and mental health. I cannot explain it in any other way." In fact, a disciplined, responsible people with internal strength and historical awareness, is required, to break the colonial exploitation and injustice chains, in which we have lived these five centuries. The proposal is that the Mexico past and that of all mankind ancient peoples, IS THE FUTURE. It is not about going and inhabit the pyramids, or much less that the entire population tries to become knowledge beings. That would be an aberration. But what we must do, is to restore the values and principles that the Toltec gave the "macehuales or common human beings, to develop a harmonious and stable society, that as history teaches, managed to achieve a thousand splendor years.
If Mexicans stop importing ideas to solve our problems and tried to search in the philosophical TOLTECÁYOTL precepts, that is our cultural heritage, we would have a new attitude to deal with "the world of here and now" in which we live facing the twenty-first century.
The Toltecáyotl, Toltequity or the so-called " Don Juan teachings" are just a branch of this lush and majestic human knowledge tree, not only of Mexico, but in the world.
THE NAGUAL CASTANEDA DEATH,
or dust in the road.
It was published around the world that on April 27 (1998) anthropologist Carlos Castaneda died in California USA, of liver cancer. As the anthropologist and writer was very discreet in his life and never allowed photographs or recordings, in spite having edited over 30 million copies of his 10 books in several languages, maintaining his life in the most absolute mystery, which leads to understand he also died this way. "The unlimited freedom of an unknown being".
Those who know the Castaneda work believe that this "official version" of his death, is one of the ruses used by the Nagual to go unnoticed in a crowd. The truth is probably that Castaneda has ceased to exist as a "best seller" and period.
Nagual Castaneda, died for the profane world the evening in which jumped from a huge cliff in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. Castaneda described it at the end of Tales of Power (1974).
"We crossed the narrow valley and climb the east side mountains. At dusk in the afternoon we stopped at last on a flat and barren plateau that overlooked a high Valley to the south. The vegetation had dramatically changed. All around were round and eroded mountains. The valley land and the slopes were divided and cultivated, but even so the entire scene suggested sterility.
The Sun already outlined the southwest horizon. Don Juan and don Genaro called us to the northern edge of the plateau. From this point, the view was sublime. There were endless valleys and mountains to the north, and a high mountains range to the west. The Sun reflecting in the distant northern mountains, colored the western cloud banks orange. Despite its beauty, the landscape was sad and lonely.
"—Twilight is the slit between the two worlds —don Juan said—. It is the door to the unknown.
—This is the plain in front of the door.
—He then pointed the northern edge of the plateau.
—There is the door. Beyond there is an abyss, and beyond that abyss is the unknown.
—Now we will be dust on the road again —don Genaro said—. Perhaps someday will again get into your eyes.
—Don Juan and don Genaro moved back and seemed to get lost in the darkness. Pablito took my forearm and we said goodbye. Then a strange impulse, a force, made me run towards the northern edge of the plateau. I felt his arm when we jumped, and then I was alone." C.C.
In this way, when jumping from a cliff, Castaneda said goodbye to this world and start his journey to Ixtlán, his journey without return to melt in the infinite knowledge. It has been a very long journey, which he has been almost alone, surrounded only by a small group with a huge responsibility. In effect, the power has entrusted him with the task of disseminating ancient Mexico knowledge and, perhaps create a new knowledge lineage.
After this extraordinary and illogical act, nothing is the same in life, because "nobody" jumps into an abyss with the certainty that will disintegrate and become energy, that will rise and fall as a fire ball on the mountain. After this incredible event, Castaneda appears in Los Angeles, California and will later return to the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca to ask Pablito, what happened that night on the ashes hill. From there, Castaneda began his long, lonely journey to Ixtlán, his trip to the immeasurable.
"What Genaro told you is his story is just that. Genaro left his passion for Ixtlán: his home, his people, all the things that mattered. And now wanders perhaps here and there carrying his feelings; and sometimes, as he says, about to reach Ixtlán. We all have this in common." (Journey to Ixtlán. 1972).
Castaneda was a "knowledge man" disciple, a Toltec heir of the wisdom, knowledge and philosophy (Toltecáyotl) with which the dazzling miracle of the Anahuac or ancient Mexico civilization was forged, through over 7500 years, although Don Juan Matus argues that their knowledge is over 10 thousand years old in the Anahuac. Knowledge engendered by this wonderful human evolution, as important as China or India, and that has been stubbornly denied by the invaders, from 1521 until our days. The ancient Mexicans for "specialists" and public in general, only managed to be a bloody polytheistic religion and build monumental "ceremonial centers" to worship "the Sun, water and wind" and not to develop a polished and sophisticated set of mysterious knowledge about the human being luminous essence, perhaps more advanced knowledge than what the occidental culture has today.
Toltecs of yesterday and today, seek the existence transcendence from an energetic body, in synthesis seek, what all wise people of the world have sought... the infinite light.
The Don Juan teachings were a ruse or means to get to the knowledge essence. In fact, all 9 books Castaneda wrote about don Juan Matus teachings is a hoax! Because essentials are not taught. It seems funny, but it is. Those of us that "study" each of his books for many years, never knew that the constant "stretches” by Don Juan, were the famous "magical passes" and as Castaneda did not have enough personal power to understand them, the readers had much less. So until "Tensegrity" appears, we understand that the human being is a luminous egg and that egg has inside all our energy and that it is required to "remove” from spaces where it has been accumulating and neutralizing, to be able to use in attempting the maximum Toltecáyotl achievement.
Castaneda was a three-point Nagual and not four, which forced don Juan to change at the last minute his group "arrangement" and Castaneda destiny. In fact, Castaneda ends a cycle and starts a new one, in ancient wisdom.
The Toltecáyotl leaves the underground and clandestine world in which it moved and evolved for centuries and appears through books within the reach of anyone with a bit of personal power. Many of us got lost grew old in the " don Juan wave", very few understood with their body that "knowledge" is not on drugs, or books and reason, or techniques, but within oneself energy. Few understood that reason and the physical body and its surroundings are just the means (very valuable) to develop the energy body and reach the light.
It is difficult to talk about this, especially when cannot say the unnamable and as in my case, not enough energy is available. Around Castaneda are the "aZotéricos" (fanatical esoteric) and "druggies”, but the challenge is near. Soon we will live dramatic changes that will require spirit warriors to transcend enormous challenges.
Castaneda fulfilled his human time among us. The "writer has died"... long live the writer! Now his name rides in the epic end of last century and the knowledge conveyed and the new cycle beginning is in the air. What will his disciples do with Tensegrity?, other forms of ancient Mexico knowledge will appear?, the Feathered Serpent will return or everything will have been a glorious practical joke by an impeccable impostor?. If so, we will be with one of the most creative writers of the last century, because not only invented the "character" of Don Juan, but interweave a very careful and almost perfect way to invent the life and ancient Mexico world.
Don Juan taught Castaneda "to have to believe" and to live as a warrior. The truth is that Castaneda as Don Juan and Don Genaro, now have become dust on the road.
GUILLERMO MARÍN