Translation:To read Carlos Castaneda/6

by Guillermo Marín Ruiz

III. JOURNEY TO IXTLAN

(THE DON JUAN LESSONS)

First edition, 1972
C 1972, Carlos Castaneda
Published by Simon & Schuster, Nueva York
368 pages

As with somebody returning to see a movie film full of symbolism and a code understandable only to its director, for the third time Castaneda recaps of what happened during his first ten learning years with Don Juan, going back to the first time they met, driven by a portentous event that which happened towards the end of his second learning phase: he learns how to "stop the world". This event makes him realize that his stubbornness to achieve his initial goal —learn the mysteries of hallucinogenic plants—prevented him from understanding that "stopping the world" was not just a metaphor, but one of the most important basis of Don Juan knowledge and everything he tried to teach up to that point were techniques to achieve "stopping the world", as the first step to be able to "see".

Castaneda then understands that plants of power are not the key to enter to the Don Juan knowledge, but only an aid a help the teacher when the apprentice lacks the required sensitivity or flexibility to perceive the "other reality" of the world. This discovery leads Castaneda to review all his field notes and finds that he had discarded from the don Juan teachings the "techniques to stop the world" simply because they had no relation to his psychotropic plants study.

The stories contained in "Journey to Ixtlán" include up to chapter 17, the first two Castaneda learning years, only that his understanding of what has happened has turned 180 degrees. The last three chapters discuss the events that led Castaneda to the feat of "stopping the world", an event that takes him from darkness into the path to Toltequity knowledge.

Castaneda finishes writing this book in 1972, the same year of its first English edition, and unlike the first two, this begins to have consistency and congruence with the Toltequity knowledge system.

In "Journey to Ixtlán" the author presents 15 specific techniques for working the right knowledge side or tonal (sweeping the tonal island), four reference knowledge points and a beautiful and poetic allegory of the warriors journey to reach the ultimate teaching aim that is "reaching oneself totality".

We will try to rescue the essence of each technique to stop the world, from the stories and dialogues used by Don Juan so his apprentice feel and "understand" the lesson.

Events of May 1971, date in which concluded the second Castaneda learning phase.

ERASING PERSONAL HISTORY

To maintain the self-image, at the slightest provocation common men are eager to tell anyone who wants to listen "who he is", or rather, who he assumes to be. Telling our lives over and over to anyone who will listen, in addition to feeding our personal importance (ego) allows to reaffirm ourselves in this world of thoughts. Maintaining the self-image requires an enormous energy consumption, so that a Toltequity apprentice shall gradually "erase" his personal history; this is not to stop speaking about the past, but simply to "use it" in a referential and impersonal manner.

Don Juan says that "personal importance" leads us to keep our personal history. Don Juan argues that through personal history we feed our personal importance and this prevents us from appreciating the world in which we live. Don Juan says he preferred the unlimited freedom obtained by being strangers: if nobody really knows us, we have no need to give explanations and thus nobody is angry or disappointed by our actions. This freedom is needed by the apprentice to walk the path of knowledge.

"—I have no personal history —said after a long pause—. One day I discovered that I no longer needed a personal history and I left it, just as I quit drinking." C.C.

LOSING IMPORTANCE

The western culture is based on the fallacy that "man" is superior to all living beings around him. For the simple reason that he was created by God in his image and likeness. In addition, "has given the world" to men to transform, dominate and exploit it. For this reason, the arrogance and the predatory attitude of the western culture.

For the Anahuac civilization, on the contrary, the world was created by gods sacrifice. Indeed, Nanahuatzín and Tecuzistecatl were sacrificed in Teotihuacán to create the Sun and the moon. Quetzalcoatl went to the underworld for the bones of the fifth sun human beings and as sacrifice, he bled his penis to give life to the bones. For this reason, human beings will be called "macehuales", which in Nahuatl means "deserving" of the gods sacrifice. The macehuales have the duty to love and protect their mother earth (Tonatzin) and help to maintain the universe balance.

Don Juan taught Castaneda that if he wants to follow the "path of knowledge", he will need to change his arrogant attitude and treat the world around him with love and humility, especially the "plants of power".

"—You take yourself too seriously —said slowly—. You give yourself too much importance. This must be changed! You feel as the most important, and that justifies you to be upset by everything. You are so important that you can leave, just like that if things don't go your way. No doubt you think it shows having character. You are arrogant and weak!... —The world around us is a mystery—he said—. And men are no better than anything else." C.C.

DEATH AS A COUNSELOR

For the Anahuac cultures, the duality DEATH—LIFE LIFE—DEATH, form a unit; we cannot have life consciousness if we do not have death consciousness. Don Juan tries to teach Castaneda that the only wise "companion" we have in life is precisely death, who will not let us "hold" onto anything, whether people, objects, or feelings.

When an apprentice has decided to follow the warrior path, must be responsible for his decision, understanding that he has no time for bragging, complaining, or being wrong. The apprentice knows that he is a power or knowledge "Hunter", but that the Hunter will also be hunted by death. Don Juan tells him that when he feels bad, when all comes down upon him, the warrior must ask death if it is all true. Death will tell him that none of it is true, death will tell him "I have not yet touched you".

"—Yes —he gently said, after a long pause—. One of the two of us has to change, and quickly. One of us has to learn again that death is the Hunter, and it is always on the left. One of us has to seek advice from death and leave the fucking pettiness of men who live their lives as if death would never touch them." C.C.

BECOMING RESPONSIBLE

Castaneda asks Don Juan, "what he had done", the first time they met at the bus station at the south of United States. Don Juan explained that nobody does anything to anyone, that one does what he wants, for better or worse, with the people around them. Don Juan makes Castaneda understand that if he wants to continue on the knowledge path, he must be responsible for his actions.

"—Look at me —he said—. I have no doubt or remorse. Everything I do is my decision and my responsibility. The simplest thing I do, take you walking in the desert, for example, may very well mean my death. Death stalks me. For this reason, I have no room for doubt or remorse. If I have to die as a result of taking you to walk, then I must die...

"You, on the other hand, feel immortal, and an immortal decisions can be cancelled, complain or doubted. In a world where death is the Hunter, there is no time for regrets or doubts, my friend. You only have time for decisions… Making ourselves responsible for our decisions means being willing to die for them." C.C.

BECOMING A HUNTER

The apprentice is a hunter seeking power and at the same time can be hunted by death. A Hunter is a man who knows a lot, so he can perceive the world in various ways. A Hunter is light, flexible and fluid, in perfect balance with the world around him. A Hunter is not a good Hunter because he knows his prey routines, but because he himself... has no routines!

"—Hunters have to be exceptionally sharp individuals —continued—. A Hunter leaves very little to chance. I've been trying a thousand ways to convince you that you must learn to live differently... One day I discovered, that if I wanted to be a Hunter worthy of my respect, I had to change my way of living. I used to like lamenting and weeping a lot. I had good reasons to feel victimized. I am Indian and Indians are treated as dogs. I could not do anything to help it, so I only had my pain. But then my good luck saved me and someone taught me to hunt. And I realized that the way I lived was not worth it... so I changed it". C.C.

BEING INACCESSIBLE

Common men spend their lives in the middle of the road hitting and comforting with any "voluntary partner"; they are "stuck" in their goings and comings; they are obvious and evident. Being inaccessible means that a warrior "is and isn't"; being inaccessible does not mean hidden, because if so, everyone will know he is hiding. Being inaccessible is a warrior condition to keep him from "rubbing" in the world of feelings and people.

Being inaccessible means touching the world as little as possible and it is trying, purposely, to get out of people reach; not hanging to or become exhausted by the things he normally holds onto. Being inaccessible means that a warrior does not abuses nor distorts the world, does not exploits or subjugates people, and much less those that he loves. The warrior inaccessibility allows him to be in the world and not deform it; only uses it impeccably and then leaves without anyone noticing his arrival or departure.

"—You should place yourself out of reach —explained—. You must rescue yourself from the middle of the road. Your whole being is there, so it is useless to hide; you only imagine you are hidden. Being in the middle of the road means that anyone who passes sees your goings and comings... —The art of a hunter is becoming inaccessible... —A Hunter knows that he will attract prey to his traps over and over again, so he is not worried. To worry is to make himself available, unwillingly. And once you worry, you desperately hold onto anything; and once you hold, necessarily you are depleted or deplete the thing or the person that you hold onto... A Hunter has intimate dealings with his world, and yet is inaccessible to that same world... He is inaccessible because he does not squeeze or deforms his world. He gently touches it, he remains as long as he needs to stay, and then quickly leaves, almost without a trace." CC.

BREAKING LIFE ROUTINES

The apprentice challenge is transforming daily life routines in a splendid battle field, and to achieve self-subtracting from the thoughts vortex and daily events through the application of techniques to "sweep the tonal island". Working on knowledge "right side" or tonal, requires a huge effort which is intended to minimize our personal importance, releasing all the energy we use to maintain our self-image and the idea we have of the world.

Common man finds in his routines the shield that protects him against the wonderful and frightening surrounding world. Maintaining life consciousness is achieved by breaking our routines. The Toltequity apprentice is a hunter in pursuit of knowledge that is hiding and stalking our everyday life. Breaking life routines is transforming the dull and boring world into a wonderful, mysterious and terrifying world. The apprentice as a hunter must not only Hunt, but that he himself should not act as prey. The apprentice must, to put it somehow, "tip toe" and "alert" through world, to get the most out of life and this is achieved by "breaking life routines".

"To be a Hunter you must break your life routines... We all behave as the prey we are pursuing. That, of course, makes us someone else’s prey. Now, the purpose of a Hunter, who knows all this, is to stop being himself a prey." C.C.

THE LAST BATTLE ON EARTH

An apprentice who has entered the complex knowledge path is aware that he can die at any time. He uses all his capabilities in each act he performs; he is not thinking "win or lose"; uses all his knowledge; evaluates, takes a decision and acts; he "let go" without fear nor ambition. The warrior tries polishing his spirit, and the impeccability of his actions, thoughts and feelings is evident. Each act is his "last battle" on Earth, therefore he is little concerned with the result; what matters is perfecting his impeccability to polish his spirit. A warrior intensely lives every act, aware that it may very well be his last. The warrior puts into practice all his knowledge and lets the power flow.

The warrior trusts in the power of his decisions, he assumes them and acts with the full knowledge that he has no time or space for doubt, remorse or ambition. Unlike the warrior, common men believe to have all the time and this alleged continuity makes him shy, because he doubts and repents or thinks that he will have time to try again, or "fix it".

The common people go from act to act without thinking or fighting. The warrior on the other hand knows he has no time and therefore does not hang to anything and makes each act as if it was the last thing he will do on Earth.

—You always feel obliged to explain your actions, as if you were the only man who makes mistakes on Earth —he said—. It is your old sense of importance. You have too much; you also have too much personal history. But on the other hand, you do not make yourself responsible for your actions; you do not use your death as a counselor and, above all, you're too accessible. In other words, your life is still the same mess as when I met you... —Just like that. The change that I am talking about never happens gradually; happens suddenly... There are some people who are very careful about the nature of their acts. Their happiness is to act with full knowledge that they have no time; thus, their actions have a peculiar power; their actions have a sense of... —It will take you years to be convinced, and then years to act accordingly. I hope you have the time. C.C.

BECOMING ACCESSIBLE TO POWER

A warrior is an impeccable Hunter searching for power. Therefore he is not a braggart nor exhibitionist, has no time to lose, to deceive himself, or to doubt or make mistakes. What he does, because death is hunting him, is all the work and effort that was required to perfect his life and turn it ordered, sober and disciplined.

A warrior systematically tries to place himself within reach of the power, but with great prudence and care. The warrior style is a controlled burst and a controlled quietness.

"You must understand that a warrior is no fool." A warrior is an immaculate hunter hunting for power; he is not drunk or crazy, and has no time or mood for bragging, lying to himself, nor to make mistakes in the game. The stakes are too high. He places his hard and orderly life on the table, that took him so long to perfect. He is not going to waste all that over a stupid miscalculation error, or by taking something as what it is not." C.C.

THE MOOD OF A WARRIOR

A warrior in the knowledge path must tone his spirit in the right mood. Don Juan says that to find spirit perfection is the only true activity of our manhood. A warrior is inflexible in this search and thus maintains an attitude towards life and the things in life that allow him to break free from fear, ambition, complaint and sadness. A warrior knows that nobody does anything to anyone; that one hurt himself with people and feelings.

A warrior is not "hooked" with anything or anyone. Therefore the warrior needs the "right mood" to fight every battle on earth, because he knows that without that mood he "disfigures and crooks". There is power in a life that lacks this mood. Nobody "harms" a warrior, no one pushes him, moves, or forces him to do things that he does not want to.

A warrior cannot be a leaf in the wind or an empty can that people kicks in all directions and none. When a warrior makes a decision, he lets go, and when it flows, he provides temperance and strength through his actions and mood, because he is trained to survive, and always survives in the best way. For a warrior apprentice there is nothing offensive in the acts and thoughts of others, provided he acts in the right mood. When the warrior mood is correct, a "protective cocoon" generated by the "power" that protects him.

"—Looking for the warrior spirit perfection is the only task worthy of our manhood... —The hardest thing in this world is to adopt a warrior mood —he said—. It is no use being sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something to us. Nobody is doing anything to anyone, much less to a warrior." C.C.

A BATTLE OF POWER

Through teachings, Castaneda is taken to a point where he must make a fundamental choice; the effort required to cross a "bridge" will determine fully entering the nagual world; it is abandoning the "comfort" and security to be able to cross the bridge, penetrate the wonderful and frightening world of the unknown.

Don Juan repeatedly suggested the Castaneda apprentice that he must live as a warrior, with the right mood and in search of power; that the sum of the power to will define the totality of his actions; that an apprentice that acquire enough "personal power", is a being that, —through discipline, responsibility, control and objectives inflexibility and practicing impeccable techniques to lose importance— acquires enough energy that can be channeled to "see" and interpret the world and his own life in a different way.

When the warrior loses power, he turns old and fat overnight, and as death is always stalking, as soon as the power of a warrior dwindles, death simply touches him.

Don Juan teaches Castaneda that a life time is needed and an immense effort to live near the power, and sometime be "alone with him". The warrior must therefore have an impassive spirit, and whatever he does, will never reveal what he really feels and thinks.

-“You see, one of the warrior arts is breaking down the world for a specific reason and then restore it to continue living... "I have taught you almost everything a warrior needs to know to go to the world and gather power by himself. But I know you cannot do it and I have to be patient with you. I know that it is needed to fight a lifetime to be alone in the world of power..." A warrior never turns his back to power without paying for favors received.” C.C.

THE LAST STOP OF A WARRIOR

A warrior, first and foremost and above all things, is a human being. A humble man conscious of his limitations, but also of his potential; he knows that he must take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to be alive and knows that his life can end at any time.

A warrior knows what he wants from life and uses the world to achieve it. He knows that it is a difficult and almost impossible road. But there is nothing in the everyday world that satisfies his spirit. The warrior tries "using" the everyday world with tenderness and subtlety; he does not get dirty or clings to people, feelings, ideas or objects. He is very ambitious, covets the almost impossible, and is not willing to settle or fool himself with anything. He knows he has very few opportunities and, above all, very little time. He tirelessly prepares through an iron discipline; strengthens his body and refines his spirit; his battlefield is the world and everyday life. The vortex of centrifugal forces that draw us to the image of ourselves and the idea we have of the world and of life require a huge energy consumption.

Don Juan tells Castaneda that each warrior chooses a site in the world where to perform his "last power dance". This site is the place of his preference. There death will sit down to watch him, and in this dance the warrior shall express his lifetime of struggle and his feelings over all the battles of his life. He will talk of his joys and uncertainties while in pursuit of power.

"—A warrior is nothing but a man. A humble man. He cannot change his death designs. But his impeccable spirit which has gathered power after huge penalties, can certainly stop his death for a moment, a moment long enough to allow him to rejoice for the last time in the memory of his power. We can say that this is a gesture death has with those who have an impeccable spirit." C.C.

THE POWER WALK

Don Juan tells Castaneda that he thinks that he will understand all by asking questions (and we would add that neither by reading Castaneda). Power does not belong to anyone, nor this is the only and true path. Don Juan tells Castaneda that there are many different paths to knowledge, even in his same lineage; for example, there are witches who come to knowledge in different ways, some dancing, others healing, others without doing anything.

"Power" is the knowledge, and "personal power" is the sum of knowledge the apprentice has managed to obtain. In this part of Castaneda teachings, Don Juan is gradually leading him to "understand" what cannot be understood. The Don Juan teachings are rather experiential and spiritual than rational. Don Juan argues that men, in addition to reason, has other elements to perceive knowledge.

Later in the book will be called "the silent knowledge". These "elements" are activated through self-energy, but as we are always busy rationally supporting the idea of ourselves and the world through personal importance, it requires an extreme consumption of that energy so that we "have" that energy and perceive ourselves as generators of… energy! This is a world of energy and not of concepts and objects. This is the great legacy of the Toltec culture and is transmitted through the Toltecáyotl.

Don Juan, throughout the education, must use a series of traps or schemes to keep his apprentice attention and interest. Many things that Don Juan taught Castaneda, we believe purposely, does it through the long road. Pure knowledge is simple and direct, and due to its obviousness, people opposes greater resistance. Despite the fact that Toltequity teachings in our days are almost detached from rites and paraphernalia^[1], something remains to "deceive" apprentices reason.

We must remember that, due to the spaniards arrival, Toltequity was kept clandestinely. The spaniards never saw, nor touched Toltequity; priests fell in their hands, but not men of knowledge; and with priests fell the sorcerers, witches and probably some warrior who became careless. In the 18th century one of the most important Don Juan lineage characters lived right in the center of the Catholic religion and, moreover, of the Holy Inquisition. It was the Metropolitan Cathedral sacristan in Mexico City. His disguise and location could not be better to protect himself against persecution at that time. A warrior is an impeccable, inaccessible, and flexible being. Don Juan talks about the wonderful opportunity of being unknown.

As part of the techniques Don Juan taught Castaneda to save energy and deceive his reason, is the power walk. The problem with techniques Don Juan taught Castaneda, is that his followers may lose the teachings objectivity. The techniques are only MEANS and not an end in itself. A common man can reach the "world of the nagual" by some fortuitous means, or can reach knowledge through discipline and effort to overcome his personal importance, and even if he knows nothing about it, his energy saving will make him enter knowledge on his own.

The Castaneda reader must be very careful and avoid the author's confusion on the path to knowledge and his own. We must think that for each reader, encountering a nagual as Don Juan shall be different, so that the book shall be taken with great reservation, not by the Toltequity knowledge value, but by Castaneda limitations and confusion, or the way in which he decided to depict the acquired knowledge in his books.

"Death is not like a person." It is rather a presence. But also one could say it is nothing and yet is everything. One would be right in all aspects. Death is anything we wishrsonal power is a feeling… A man of knowledge is someone who has truly followed the learning hardships —he said—. A man who, without hurry nor falter, has gone as far as he can to unravel the personal power secrets... All that a man do revolves around his personal power... A warrior is flawless when he trusts his personal power whether it is small or huge... The path of knowledge and power is very difficult and very long... He repeated over and over again, whispering in my right ear, that "not doing what I knew to do" was the key to power. C.C.

NOT DOING

The "not do" is another technique to show the apprentice how to save energy. As it has been said, supporting the idea we have of ourselves (which incidentally is always superlative) must be reinforced over and over again, constantly, with the consequent energy use. NOT DOING is precisely not "consciously" responding to the acts that make up our image and stubbornly and unconsciously continue repeating the routines that make up our lives. The "not do", is simply a subterfuge to stop feeding the image of ourselves and break routine. This change of attitude in life and the world, the having our attention and consciousness to stop thinking, feel and act as we always do, produce an energy saving: it's like turning off the "automatic pilot" with which we manage our lives and having all our attention on each Act, no matter if its "large" or "small" transcendent or irrelevant. The warrior understands that in the way that "everything matters".

The world is the world because you know to doing required in making it so —he said—. If you did not know its making, the world would be different… A warrior is always trying to affect the making force changing it to not-do... Not doing is only for very strong warriors... The most difficult part of the warrior path is realizing that the world is a feeling... —Not— doing is very simple but very difficult —he said—. It is not a matter of understanding, but dominating it. Seeing, of course, is the final feat for a man of knowledge, and can only get to see when one has stopped the world through the technique of not-doing... A warrior applies the not-do to the whole world. C.C.

STOPPING THE WORLD

The way in which we hold the idea of ourselves and the world is through reason. "Internal dialogue" is not anything other than the continuous telling ourselves, through reason, that the world is this and that, and that we are the so special way that we are. Internal dialogue is nothing more than the stream of thoughts that are forcing "reality" so that "conforms" to our way of thinking. That is why common men are always either quarreling or bored with "the world", because the world for them is nothing more than a bunch of ideas.

On the contrary, for a warrior "all", is more than what we learned to understand. The world, for him, is a whole enigmatic, mysterious, frightening, and wonderful, which does not "conform" to the ideas of a common man. For the warrior the world is merely immeasurable and indecipherable magical!

The technique of stopping the world refers to the effort that the apprentice must do to "silence" our reason and thus perceive the world through other elements. In a retrospective analysis of the Castaneda book, we might suppose that this is the most important thing that is needed to get in the knowledge path that Don Juan, through various techniques and explanations, tries that the apprentice accept and manages.

When realizing it is just a "feeling". Humans are unaware of the many resources and possibilities they have; the gateway to the Toltequity world, nagualismo or witchcraft, is precisely saving of energy. Don Juan tells Castaneda to stop acting as a supreme importance being, whom must be systematically provided with evidence that the world is not only as his "reason" tells him it is.

The world is as one think it is, because from our young years we have learned to see it that way; but the world is an enigma, an absolute mystery. To perceive the world as energy and not as objects, is the great challenge and the Toltec legacy, which took thousands of years to develop this perception and through a sophisticated technique, they could transmit it through multiple lineages that were kept hidden in the Anahuac these last five centuries.

"All of us were taught to agree in doing —he gently said—. You have no idea of the power that this agreement entails. But, fortunately, not-doing is as miraculous and powerful... You are a man of that world. And out there, in that world, is your hunting field. There is no way to escape the doing of our world; that is why a warrior turns the world into a hunting field. As a hunter, the warrior knows that the world is made to be used. So he uses it the most." C.C.

THE RING OF POWER

It is precisely the way of perceiving the world, through reason, what Don Juan calls "the first ring of power". Common men, unintentionally, perform a "witchcraft" act which consists of preparing, with reason, a wonderful and complex world of ideas which he interprets as the only reality and call it "the world".

This spell of reason is "the first ring of power"; so, every child born immediately begins "training" to develop reason with the help of excellent teachers and a job for many years. Transforming the energy world around us in a world of "solid objects" and "true ideas" is a huge "witchcraft" act. Common man and the Toltequity apprentices need "that" world to sustain their tonal. "The difference is that common men stays there and do not explore their full potential”; men is not just an energy receiver... he is an energy creator!

The first power ring has to do with the tonal (right side), with what we call "true reality" with reason and the known. Castaneda titled his fifth book "The second ring of power", it has to do with the nagual: the left side, with the "other reality", with the will and the unknown. It is common that some fantasizing book readers, imagine extraordinary worlds in forests and jungles with "shamans and gurus", and dream to become "warriors and knowledge beings", when the battlefield has always been right before their eyes, in the daily life of their lives.

"—This is your world —he said, pointing the tumultuous street behind the window—. You are a man of that world. And out there in that world, it is your hunting field. There is no way to escape the doing of our world; that is why a warrior turns the world into a hunting field. As a hunter, the warrior knows that the world is made to be used. So he uses it the most." C.C.

A WORTHY ADVERSARY

What a teacher actually does to his apprentice is hooking him, set traps and try to make him reduce his personal importance to save energy. The work of a teacher is to take the apprentice to the "door" of the nagual or knowledge; entering a little, there the teacher and apprentice are equal; perhaps the difference would be the teacher impeccability or his greater energy savings.

In the tonal world the teacher places traps to the apprentice. As part of the incentives an opponent turns out to be excellent means by which the apprentice works and learns the most. In the knowledge path, Don Juan places before Castaneda various adversaries, from a puma to a witch named Catalina. Don Juan points the difference between an adversary and an enemy. The adversary as the enemies can destroy us and lead us to death; what turns an enemy into an adversary is that one has no personal feelings when fighting with him.

An adversary helps us purify our spirit, to strengthen our body, to be more humble and always have a strategy in life. An apprentice is not at the mercy of the people, nor has enemies; an apprentice very carefully selects his adversary and the battlefield. He is not seeking to win or lose, seeks to refine his spirit through his impeccability.

PART II: JOURNEY TO IXTLÁN

THE WITCH RING OF POWER

The year is 1971, ten years have passed since Castaneda became a disciple of Don Juan. He arrives looking for him at his house in the Sonoran Desert, and there he finds Don Genaro, who will act as "his benefactor". A character that will teach him lessons on the left side, the nahual. Reason why, Castaneda was "instinctively" terrified of Don Juan partner.

Warrior apprentices have a "teacher" and a "benefactor". The first will teach right side techniques, called "tonal" and that has to do with "the first power ring". This is using the seventeen technics for "sweeping the tonal island" and lead an impeccable life in the ordinary world through saving energy.^[2]

The second, the benefactor, has the mission of teaching how to channel the most powerful force in the universe: "the intent". The benefactor works with the apprentice in enhanced consciousness states of the nahual part. The benefactor "shows" the nagual world sorceries, given that in this world there are no "technics", there are only experiences, before the wonderful and terrifying event of witnessing "the left side", the second ring of power or the second attention.

Genaro on several occasions will destroy "reality", whether hiding his car, swimming on land or defeating gravity forces by climbing a cliff. All these "demonstrations" by the benefactor, are intended so the apprentice breaks his daily view of the world. Invites the apprentice, to put it somehow, to slide from the first ring of power to the second, without dying or going mad.

STOPPING THE WORLD

Castaneda through the teachings clings to the world of ideas, but his body is also a teaching recipient. The western culture affirms that human beings only learn through reason. However, many live beings learn too, but without the use of reason. Indeed, plants and insects, for example, have learning processes and do not use reason. In the common life, there are many things that the mind forgets but the body retains, as knowledge.

This way, many of "the Don Juan teachings", were focused on the Castaneda body and later the apprentice could use them when necessary. Learnt to loosen a little the world of reason "command" and explore the intuition unknown fields, which in western culture are in an almost total lethargy state, is a challenge. Castaneda then discovers the mystery of beetle life and to speak with a coyote. When he made this "amazing fact" possible he managed "stop the world". This implies "perceiving the world", without ideas arisen from internal dialog, but through observation and sensitivity. Stop the world, rather than a metaphor, is to face life and the world from a new perspective in which ideas and thought are nonexistent.

"I tried to feel", as don Juan always recommended... I was still for about an hour. My thoughts began to diminish gradually, until I was no longer talking to myself... —What stopped yesterday inside of you was what people have been saying that is the world. You see, since we are born people tells us that the world is this and that, and naturally we have no choice but to see the world the way people have told us it is... I told him that the events of the past three days had caused irreparable harm to my idea of the world. I said that, during the ten years I had been seeing him, I had never experienced such a shock, not even the times I took psychotropic plants.

—The plants of power are only aids —don Juan said—. The real is when the body realizes it can see. Only then we are capable of knowing that the world we witness every day isn't nothing more than a description. My intention was to show you that." C.C.

JOURNEY TO IXTLÁN

This is one of the most poetic and beautiful metaphors of the books. Don Juan teaches Castaneda that when a Toltequity apprentice begins the path to knowledge (The journey to Ixtlán), the apprentice has to leave all he knew and loved before; the trip to Ixtlán is difficult and lonely, but not bleak. On this trip there are no familiar places, nor known people; it is stalked by "ghosts", humans with anguish and common anxieties; "ghosts" that call and seek the apprentice to lose the path to Ixtlán.

Don Juan says that only as warriors can survive the trip to Ixtlán. The technique of the "warrior path" was drawn up by the old Toltec to be able go the full path to Ixtlán. Don Juan says that the warrior art, is balancing the prodigy of being a man with the terror of being a man. To survive the trip to Ixtlán, one must be clear and mortally sure of his impeccability.

The book "Journey to Ixtlán" is what we recommend to start reading the works of Carlos Castaneda. In it, the author manages a first recount of his experiences. It conveys the saving energy basic techniques and provides an idea of the path to knowledge. Perhaps this, along with "Tales of power", are the basic books of the first part, in which the author writes next to the Don Juan "physical" presence.

Somehow "Journey to Ixtlán" lays the foundations of what the Don Juan teachings will be, touching basic points and objectives on how to move towards knowledge. The techniques taught by Don Juan to Castaneda to save energy have nothing to do with drugs or the use of fantastic arts; on the contrary, it’s about attitudes and behavior in the "real and everyday life" world. In this world the apprentice will begin his battle. Many Castaneda urban readers have sought knowledge in the mountains, with shamans and, in some cases using drug. But Don Juan is very clear on this: he says that in the doings of our world, there, we will find the way. In the end what we should work with in principle, is in removing all the garbage that we all carry within and remove the cluster of fixed and preconceived ideas with which we move.

Finally will say that all techniques Don Juan taught Castaneda on the right side were intended to teach him to save energy. It is very easy to get "lost" in the jungle of techniques, in other words, take them as an end, when they are only means. In addition must remember that Castaneda turned out to be a "tough" apprentice in the field of reason and Don Juan tried by different means of "sensitize" him, remembering that Castaneda selected in his work what he thought convenient to relate. But always acknowledged that many of the lessons, at the beginning, did not understand or intuited. At the beginning Castaneda felt that Don Juan was an old and strange indian who said things or gave him tasks that did not make any sense, but later, when he saved sufficient energy, he "understood".

"—Were those ghosts allies, don Genaro? —I asked.
—No. They were people.
—People? But you said they were ghosts.
—I said they were no longer real. After my encounter with the ally, nothing was real anymore...
—All those that Genaro encounters on his way to Ixtlán are nothing more than ephemeral beings —explained don Juan—. You, for example. You are a ghost. Your feelings and anxiety are those of people. That is why he says that on his journey to Ixtlán only encountered ghost travelers.
Suddenly I realized that the don Genaro journey was a metaphor.
—Then, his journey to Ixtlán is not real —I said.
—It is real! —don Genaro stated—. Travellers are not real...
By then, of course, you'll be a witch, but that doesn't help; at a time like this, the important thing for us all is the fact that everything that we love, hate or desire is behind us. But the feelings of the man does not die or change, and the witch begins its way home knowing that he will never get there, knowing that no power on earth, even his own death itself, will lead him to the site, the things, people he loved. That's what Genaro said...
—Only as warrior can survive the knowledge path —he said—. Because the warrior art is to balance the terror of being a man with the prodigy of being a man." C.C.

1. In modern use, the word paraphernalia commonly refers to uses, accessories, apparatus or equipment used or required for a certain activity. The rite catches the attention of the initiate, but its cost is very high, because over time, the "means" becomes the end. The Toltecs having to work underground in recent centuries eliminated many of the Toltec rites.
2. We are confident that people interested in the Toltecáyotl as a correct way of life, can devote all their energy and time to implement in their own lives "the way of the warrior" through practicing these ancient techniques. The results will be amazing and compelling in the everyday world. The world of the nagual, second ring of power and the third attention, are only for those elected and not for all readers.