The teachings of Don Juan

The island of the tonal was what DJ was talking about when Carlos continued to add items to the table.

Anything you can visulalise, imagine, talk about and even dream about is within the island.

Island means surounded by water, limited, with beginning and end.

The Nawal is beyond that. Subconcious or collective unconcious would be proper terms to use but people tend to think that by those terms they actually "know" the thing. Unconcious means actually that. There is a reality beyond the island of the concious. I have my reality right now, can you enter my reality? of course not.
To you my island is outside in the Nagual, and viceversa.

The world you imagine to yourself be in, is the scope of your imagination only.

"the real world" is outside of that college or outside that sensual and mental collage of the tonal or concious mind.

 

anybody care to attempt a summary of this thread so far? its becoming a bit unwieldly with knowledge!

 

a poem was once here ~*

 

So in a sense, is Nagual like Nirvana? Beyond anything that our illusionary selves can conceive???

'The nagual is that part of us for which there is no description - no words, no names, no feelings, no knowledge'
'Would you say the nagual is the mind?'
'No, the mind is an item on the table'...........
...'Is the Nagual the soul?'
'No, the soul is also on the table'.............
..........'Is it a state of grace?'
'No, not that either'...........
.......'Is the nagual the supreme being, the almighty, God?'
'No, God is also on the table'

I understand this and it touches me. Even I thinking of God, and trying to perceive him as nagual puts it on the table. It is an island of perception of what God is and perhaps relating him the the undescribable Nagual, and trying to rationalize it....You get what I mean. Blah, language is such a block. I wish I could just send all my inner feeling to you. Something like synthenasia (sp).

Blessings Beauty Love you All

 

Don Juan's Vision of Reality


This material selected from the first chapter of The Teachings of Don Carlos, summarizes key elements of don Juan's view of reality that have been useful to my understanding.

The Description of the World

At the moment of birth, babies do not perceive the world in the same way as do adults. Their attention is not yet functioning as the first attention, therefore they do not share the same perceptual world of those around them.

. . . This they will have to achieve, little by little, as they grow and assimilate the description of the world provided by their elders. Anyone, especially an adult, who comes into contact with an infant, in effect becomes a teacher - in most cases unconsciously - who incessantly describes the world to the child. . . .

I watched this process with my granddaughter. A part of me wanted to scream: No - No don't get caught up in an illusion that may take the rest of your life to reconcile. But she too, as the rest of us, must first fall asleep to awaken again to the mystery of life.

It is valid to say that what we perceive daily is the same description flowing constantly from ourselves toward the outside world. . . . If the flow is suspended, our perception of the world collapses, resulting in what is known in the writings of Castaneda as "stopping the world." Seeing refers to the capacity to perceive the world as it appears once the flow of the description has been interrupted. . . .

When I encountered "stopping the world" in Castaneda's writings, my mind was arrested. Some part of me sought the paradoxical truth suggested by that phrase. How could I stop the world?

The Internal Dialogue

The internal dialogue is the mental conversation that we sustain constantly with ourselves and is the most immediate expression of reality assimilated by everyone. . . . This can come to such extremes that we accustom ourselves to substitute thoughts in place of reality. We look at the world, the things, the people, or ourselves, at the same time thinking about what we see, and finish by taking our thoughts for the real thing. . . .
For much of my life, substituted thoughts represented the only reality. Castaneda's work suggested that need not be my experience. As Korzybski so clearly stated: "Words ARE NOT the things they represent." What a tragic flaw of the internal dialogue!

Not-Doing

One way in which the first ring (internal dialogue) can be blocked is by performing actions foreign to our ordinary description of the world - what is known as not-doing. The ordinary description of the world compels us to behave always according to the terms it indicates; therefore, all actions emanate from said description and subsequently tend to revalidate it. These actions are what is known as "doing" and in combination with the description that nourishes them, they make up a system that is virtually self-sustaining. Any action that is not congruent with the description of the world would constitute a form of "not-doing."

Not-doing is Taoism pure and simple. Chinese wei wu wei translates as "doing not-doing." Ancient Chinese sages and descendents of the pre-Colombian Toltec culture came to the same principle of reality though separated by half a planet.

Not-doing interrupts the flow of the description, and this interruption in turn suspends the doing of the world of the known. Not-doing is the medium that opens the way to the unknown side of reality and of oneself. In other words, it provides access to the nagual - what is referred to in the case of the world as the separate reality, or in the case of an individual as the awareness of the other self. . . .

The other self resides at the core of my being. I have come to know this as The Intuitive Self - the informing theme for this web site.

The Ego as Part of the Description

When by means of the not-doings of the personal self, we interrupt the flow of the description of our own person, we free ourselves from the enchantment of the ego - which wants us to believe that it represents the only reality. . . . Starting from that moment, we can take on the task of reinventing ourselves in an intentional and voluntary fashion, able to respond in novel ways to new situations that each moment provides for us. . . .
The Intuitive Self knows everything necessary to be in the world. Encountering the moment, The Intuitive Self does the right thing. This does not mean seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. If the moment evokes the experience of pain, my core should accept this without judgment as it would pleasure.

The Tonal and Nagual

Castaneda makes his most detailed exposition of the tonal and the nagual in Tales of Power. There he reveals to us the two aspects of the tonal: as the space in which the average person exists during the duration of life; and as the organizer that gives meaning and significance to everything having to do with awareness. . . .

The nagual then would be all that remaining outside the tonal. It is that about which it is not possible to think. Castaneda presents the tonal as an island upon which is passed the whole of life. No one knows anything about what lies beyond the borders of the island. The nagual would be all that space of unfathomable mystery surrounding it.

Although the nagual cannot be understood or verbalized - since understanding and words belong to the tonal - it nevertheless can be witnessed and experienced. That is one of the prime objectives of a sorcerer. It is not important to try to understand or rationalize the experience of the nagual; the sorcerer is interested only in the pragmatic possibilities it puts within his or her reach.

Living with The Intuitive Self along with The Rational Self, naugal being complements tonal doing. Experiencing epiphanies in naugal being intimates "that art thou" as the Upanishads prophesied.

http://www.the-intuitive-self.org/s...thor/memoir/supplements/don_juan_reality.html


*my last poetic offering to this thread*

Drumming on the edge

Slip into an energetic gown
and let us jump off the edge,
into the abyss.

Take this leap,
with me,
into the unknown.

Forget the structure,
the letters and the numbers,
and blend amorphously silky.

Erase your concepts,
of character and history,
and lets kiss like galaxies.

Falling, yet everywhere,
dissolving into pulses,
golden obsidian sparkles.

We will find only the newness,
of omniscient omnipresence,
in this empowering equality.

What could be more sensual
than blending liquid bands,
of conscious inter-touching bliss.

 

Thanks fror your contribution to the thread.
Not everything has to be arguments, yet if you know someone is off point then you need to make it clear or put your 2.0 worth.

Don Juan used to say that poetry is a WAY TO stalk oneself.

 

Thanks...

As it says in the begginning of the speech
"the naguals is a part of us for which there's no description".

The beauty of this is that something which is
"part" of us is infinite and indescribable; talk about something to rejoice about.

Being able to imagine and talk about something is not the essential for that to be real. The search for this has been at the bottom of every philosophy and religion, but like Nisargadatta would say:'there's not even a need to name it since it doesn't need to be called, it's closer to us than even our body"

Often times we forget we are talking about a part of us, the real, the essential. The names given throughout the ages is paricular to the age and the people of the time, and there are no arguments in the truth. Each experience is unique, yet uderlying it all is the truth.

Those who create religions and defend it as if it's their invention miss the point entirely.

"know the truth and the truth shall set you free"

 

Can't be the collective unconscious/subconscious because that again is simply another item 'on the table' ie part of the tonal.

 

Recapitulation


Recapitulation is a technique used to regain energy lost in the world. It is a technique associated with stalking [cc6, Florindas chapter], but it is very important to dreamers as well [cc9]. The basic premises (axioms about the world) on which the theory behind recapitulation is based is as follows:

1. By acting and interacting in the world a person binds up alot of energy. There is an exchange of energy between people, and this locks up alot of energy. The greatest source of such energy expenditure is in sexual encounters.
2. This locked up energy can be restored by a special technique called recapitulating.

This is, however, not the only explanation/reason to why one should recapitulate. Another reason given in 'The Eagles Gift' [cc6] is that recapitulation is a key to freedom given to every living creature. The Eagle is, according to what Castaneda tells us, the force in universe from which everything emanates. Awareness is given to to us from the Eagle, and when we die our awareness returns to the source and are 'consumed'. By recapitulating our lives, the Eagle may accept this as a substitute for our awareness. The Eagle only wants our life experiences. This is called "the Eagles gift". Victor Sanchez draws the conclusion that the 'seeing ones life passing before ones eyes', reported by people believing they are about to die, is the natural form of recapitulation [The Teachings of don Carlos]. Castaneda says that when we die, we enter, for a short moment, into the third awareness to be cleaned, before the Eagle consumes us.

Recapitulation also serves the purpose of making one aware of the routines and patterns of ones life.

The Technique

The technique is described in a number of places, and there actually seems to be different descriptions in different places. There have even been some diversity between the team around Castaneda about the direction of the 'fanning' movement of the head.

The clearest description in my opinion is the one in 'Art of Dreaming', chapter eight 'The Third Gate of Dreaming' [cc9, p148]:

" Don Juan had given me very detailed and explicit instructions about the recapitulation. It consisted of reliving the totality of one's life experiences by remembering every possible minute detail of them. He saw the recapitulation as the essential factor in a dreamer's redefinition and redeployment of energy. "The recapitulation sets free energy imprisoned within us, and without this liberated energy dreaming is not possible." That was his statement.

Years before, don Juan had coached me to make a list of all the people I had met in my life, starting at the present. He helped me to arrange my list in an orderly fashion, breaking it down into areas of activity, such as jobs I had had, schools I had attended. Then he guided me to go, without deviation, from the first person on my list to the last one, reliving every one of my interactions with them. He explained that recapitulating an event starts with one's mind arranging everything pertinent to what is being recapitulated. Arranging means reconstructing the event, piece by piece, starting by recollecting the physical details of the surroundings, then going to the person with whom one shared the interaction, and then going to oneself, to the examination of one's feelings.

Don Juan taught me that the recapitulation is coupled with a natural, rhythmical breathing. Long exhalations are performed as the head moves gently and slowly from right to left; and long inhalations are taken as the head moves back from left to right. He called this act of moving the head from side to side "fanning the event." The mind examines the event from beginning to end while the body fans, on and on, everything the mind focuses on. Don Juan said that the sorcerers of antiquity, the inventors of the recapitulation, viewed breathing as a magical, life-giving act and used it, accordingly, as a magical vehicle; the exhalation, to eject the foreign energy left in them during the interaction being recapitulated and the inhalation to pull back the energy that they themselves left behind during the interaction."
-The Art of Dreaming

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/5418/practices/recapitulation.html

 

The Unknowable is that part of the unknown that cannot be known.

Castaneda divides the universe into three major parts; the Known, the Unknown and the Unknowable. The difference between the Unknown and the Unknowable is that the Unknown may at some point be known, but the Unknowable, on the other hand, is utterly beyond our capacities as humans.

 

"Sometime in 1998, on a not-so unusual evening, my computer, once booting it up, seemed to explode in a dance of light and sound - my email had been inundated with the news that the famous author of 'The Teachings of Don Juan', Carlos Castaneda, had leaped into the abyss, never to return. The general response to his final passing, the commencement of his 'definitive-journey', was an ecstatic celebration: his work, it had been said, was finally complete. My feelings were mixed. Castaneda had been a close 'literary friend', a quasi-spiritual companion who, through his many books, made me aware that all things are indeed possible. The 'warrior-traveller' had moved on, and it was rumoured that his last book, ~The Active Side of Infinity~ was on the way.

It has been four years, and for a variety of reasons, I never got around to reading it, but finally did last week. To be sure, this last installment ranks, in my mind, as one of his best. This is the last in a long line of texts concerning Castaneda's appreticeship as a sorcerer, working under the tutelage of Don Juan Matus - a 'nagual' of mystery, power and hilarious wit. Don Juan has to be one of the most interestiing characters of the twentieth century. And to finally meet him again in ~Infinity~ was certainly a pleasure.

~Infinity~ has to be the most accessible of all Castaneda's books. We can almost categorize it as being his last will and testament before his final exit into infinity - an effort to pay off his spiritual debts as a warrior-traveller, recapitulating (Don Juan's term) memorable events and relationships in his life that changed his path or had, either consciously or not, affected or had a profound significance in his life as a sorcerer. The book is a collection of Castaneda's memories, intense and not so, that through re-living would prepare him for the 'definitive-journey' into the abyss. Death is the central theme in ~Infinity~, communicating the importance of preparing oneself for the unavoidable end we all must embark upon...

I was reminded of Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist who, in the last years of his life, always had 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' on his night stand, referring to it before falling to sleep. This was Jung's way of preparing himself for the definitive journey. Castaneda, though, through re-living the past, sought-out some of the more significant people in his life, and made a practical attempt to set things right. This made a lot of sense to me on many levels.

To suggest to new readers of Castaneda to begin with ~Infinity~ would be, in my mind, a disservice. My advice would be to start from the beginning with 'The Teachings of Don Juan' and move on from there...one's appreciation of the entire philosophy will be much deeper as a result. That said, however, ~Infinity~ could well be a good starting point, because as I mentioned before, it's the most accessible of the canon."

from: Amazon.com

 

It is definitely best to start with the first book. 'the teachings of Don Juan' and read them in order. Otherwise I think one would miss very much. I began reading them as they were being released, and hence saw the story unfolding.

Although, as I've made clear enough, I don't think any of this is a record of real events and people, I do think the books are a good read, and they at least challenge orthodox and limited ideas about what reality is. They are also extremely funny in places, and very well written.
I think I have really said enough on this thread - those who believe in Don Juan and that these books offer any kind of path that is actually capable of being pursued will doubtless continue to believe - and the same for disbelievers.

Best wishes to all.

 

Once you think you have grasped anything, it becomes an item on the table. I dared to give it the name collective unconcious, because to me that applies as well as the name nawall. The fact is that you can call it peanut butter, as long as you know it is beyond be known. The nawal knows everything , but it cannot be known, contains all, but cannot be contained.
It is a priviledge to even talk about it.

We can discuss outer space and even the depht of the ocean, but do we really graps its magnitude?
The frog thinks the ocean is just another larger
pond, and cannot expand his imagination to perceive how much large it actually is.

This is the limitation of our imagination as well, we think we have imagined it right, but we really haven't.

 

If one does not believe that events recorded in modern times, not by a writer but by a university student, with dates and locations known to us, with no more motive than to fulfill one's duty as in the case of Carlos; what would make that same person believe any fantastic story written 2,000 or 6,000 year ago as in the case of Christ and /or Krishna?

I have to admit that once I hear rumors my mind begins to believe these rumors, but then I see more interest in those who would debase a fantastic story of power, than those who themselves participted in it.

The protagonists of such stories have already gained all they needed to gain, its is up to us to believe unless the writer himself says it's pure fiction; because we have much more to lose by not believing.

We lose our child-like quality and even our chance to enter a much larger world, than the one "the man" is trying to sell to us.

Peace.

 

Just two points - Carlos made a lot of money out of this - these books were million sellers. And how could you possibly know that he was simply 'doing his duty' ? Since his death, they continue to generate money for his publishers, along with Carlos' other projects.
As for dates and times known to us - they could equally be fabricated, and certainly are not verifiable, if thats what you are suggesting.
If we have much to loose by not believing Castaneda, it is hard to say what, other than a certain gulibility.

 

Carlos was merely recording the events and Don Juan's instructions verbatim. He would've taped it, but Don Juan thought that he would not be paying attention then.

He had no idea what to do with so many notes, so Don Juan told him to put it all into a book.
I'm sure Carlos had not intention of making money out of this since his main concern at the time was being a good antroplogy student,and doing his task the best way he could. He was not looking for aprenticeship, nor anything occult, nor
gaining fame nor wealth. If he had been looking for that he would've been disqualified as a "crackpot".

That the books became acclaimed best sellers and that money was paid for them, and that millions of people read them, was an arrangement of the spirit, the Nawal, God, Krishna, collective un concious or a Rose by any other name.

Being"gullible" as you put it, is an esential quality to enter the kingdom of heaven as Jesus would put it; and Paul would say "love believeth all things".
To "live in the world and not be of the world" is to be aware of the weapons of the world, of which disbelief is the greatest; but of course, if you have succumbed to it wholleheartedly, then you are already on that side, and working to promote the conciousness of doubt and skepticism as the new religion. I have to admit is is too late for some, and turning back it's impossible. This was last the intention of the nawal before this dark times.

Maybe (?) those books were the last call of the spirit to get some people to keep believing in magic and wonder, but not as an escape, but actually as an exit.

 

But how do you know that Carlos had no intention of making money? For all I know, it may have been his primary motive in setting pen to paper.
Also, its simply isn't the case that there is any equivalence between the Nagual and the collective unconscious, Krishna or anything else you can name. That is the entire point of what DJ tells him. All those are part of the tonal.

 

It's silly arguing this, since you keep failing to see the big picture. If Carlos would've been interested in merely money and fame *obvious he wasn't since he eluded the spotlight* first of all what would he be doing somewhere strange and unfamiliar talking to an old unknown indian about plants. This was 1968 and the idea about a shaman talking esoteric stuff wasn't exactly a hotsale item. You say you read the books as they were being published, which says you lived through that era. The occult wasn't exactly what people gathered atound to talk about while smoking a joint.

After the first bok was published, obviously
Carlos became a famous writer, but the image we get of him is one of total reluctance to keep going, but compelled to do it for unknown reasons.

In the same way that no one looking to be kidnapped by an alien gets an encounter, people desiring to be taught shamanism are not exactly the ones qualified. Don Juan explained that too, saying that once the training gets tough they quit and that's why he calls them crackpots, becuse they can't hold water.
I underwent several situations similar to that, and at no point was I searching for it, it sort of chooses you, and you go along till you can't stand it anymore, or you get hooked to it, or feel there's nowhere else to turn, and your average life seems completly pointless, so you keep going.

In the eighties people wanted to go to the desert to find Don Juan now that he was a symbol of fame, and maybe those who tried foolishly enough came back frustrated and started the wholle conspiracy against Carlos. The fact is that it doesn't matter. It is the individual that benefits by believing anything, not the nawals.

The name give to people who have double auras or different from the average person is nawal, but the overal nawal is a different thing, yet from another perspective it includes the collective unconcious, and all individuals.

Borrowing ideas from Carlos's ("a warrior feels the force") books and from Joseph Campbell, George Lucas put some of hose ideas on the screen in 1977, and when I saw it I was really shocked since in those days no one was going around talking about this.

What I was surprised to read was the NY times claiming Carlos "the godfather of the new age movement", but of course I think he deserves it.
There will those who are jeoulous and that too is to be expected.

 

All this is ok, but as I say, you only assume that CC was not motivated primarily by money. The 'elusiveness' all part of the show. There is no way anyone can know what Carlos motives were, other than speculation.

But it is pointless to continue like this.
As I said before, believers will believe and others not. Myself I think its fiction with only entertainment value.

 

Then obviously that's all you'll ever get out of the books. For me they altered my life radically and eventually I did spend some time with real teachers. In the end what you believe changes you.