Translation:To read Carlos Castaneda/5

by Guillermo Marín Ruiz

II. A SEPARATE REALITY.

(FURTHER CONVERSATION WITH DON JUAN)

First English edition 1971

This book contains, on the one hand, the recapitulation of what the Castaneda apprentice lived with his teacher Don Juan in the first learning stage (1961-1965), and the resumption of his learning, as of April 1968, two and a half years after having "definitely" abandoned it. Castaneda says that when he received the first copy of his book, the teachings of Don Juan, he feels a strong desire to show it to Don Juan. This event places him again in the toltequity knowledge path, in a second learning cycle, according to Castaneda was "very different from the first".

Castaneda does not want to resume learning, or at least does not have a conscientious desire to do so. Much less keen to repeat his terrible experiences with plants of power. However, he "mysteriously" feels the need to resume learning. The main don Juan effort at this stage focuses on teaching Castaneda to "see". The difference between "look" and "see" is basically that "looking" is being able to confirm through our sight that the world is as our reason tells us that it is, and "seeing", is the ability of men of knowledge to perceive the world through energy charges.

Don Juan insists to Castaneda that he must resume his encounters with "Humito", because that way he will have "the speed required for a glimpse at the fleeting world". Don Juan tells him that the only way in which a man of knowledge may know is "seeing" beyond the surface of things. The "Humito", says Don Juan, will help you "see" how men are actually a conglomerate of light fibers circulating from the head to the navel, which make any man (King or beggar) appear as a luminous egg. Luminous fibers unite man with his surroundings, giving him balance and stability. The simple fact of thinking back to the previous experiences with "Humito" terrifies Castaneda and he tries to avoid it at all cost.

Within the skills of "seeing" is being able to differentiate between men and "those who are not people, that is the "allies"^[1] from the witches. The smoking mix, explains Don Juan, will lead him to his ally and he when "becomes one with his ally", will no longer have to smoke to invoke him as many times as he wants, in order to do what he asks.

Don Juan states that when a man manages to "see" that all are eggs formed of luminous fibers, realizes that nothing can change them, and realizes that everything in the world is the same and that therefore nothing is more important than other and concludes that it is not important what he does, but his warrior impeccability drives him to act as if what is really important, which constitutes "his controlled folly".^[2]

Castaneda makes great efforts trying to understand the strange knowledge of Don Juan, which breaks all his cultural patterns and challenges his inflexible need to find a rational explanation to everything he sees, feels and hears. Don Juan tells him that at that point in time he should already know that a man of knowledge lives from acting and not from thinking about acting and then analyzing his performance. He tells him that it is the reason why a man of knowledge chooses a path with a heart and follows it; looks and rejoices he then “sees” and realizes that his life will end in an instant; he knows that he and everyone else are going nowhere, and because he "sees", knows that nothing is more important than everything else. For this reason a man of knowledge has nothing except life to live, and his unique relationship with the others is his controlled folly. As nothing matters more than anything else, a man of knowledge performs any and all acts as if they mattered, but he knows that in reality it does not matter; so when it is completed, he withdraws in peace, without any concerns about the outcome of his act, because at the end, victory and defeat are equal for him.

Don Juan tells Castaneda that to knowledge one goes with fear and respect, but with self-confidence. To be a man of knowledge he has to act as a warrior and begin the fight without surrender, without complaints or hesitation, until he "sees" and realize that nothing matters.

Don Juan explained that the most amazing part of the ovoid creatures is a group of luminous fibers that arise around the navel. He says that the fibers of weak people are short and almost invisible and that, on the contrary, strong people fibers are long and bright. Thanks to these fibers a man who can "see" realizes the state and nature of any person; he can even tell if the person can also "see".

Slowly the idea of "seeing" becomes an obsession for Castaneda, who decides to restart his encounters with "Humito". The Don Juan acts to bring him to this decision were deliberate, because he says according to Castaneda, there is little time to convey his knowledge and only "Humito" may provide the necessary speed to capture "the fleeting movement of the world".

After each meeting with "Humito" Castaneda advances in understanding, or rather, the discovery of another reality, ably led by Don Juan who, in turn, crashes again and again in the Castaneda rational barrier. Don Juan tells Castaneda that he has already giving him all that his benefactor had taught him in his own first stage of learning; so that Castaneda has done all that has to be done to "see" and yet he couldn't, even though who "see", such as Don Genaro, would think Castaneda could do so.

Here we open a parenthesis to explain the fact that on his books Castaneda manages different levels of knowledge, from which much confusion arises. Don Juan himself says that the path of knowledge offers many dangers "of understanding", basically because his knowledge is not about "understanding".

From the beginning Don Juan instructed Castaneda in the two knowledge areas. In the of the tonal (right) Castaneda was very confused trying to find an explanation to his psychotropic experiences, hanging onto his reason and cultural beliefs as an attempt to consistently explain the incomprehensible teachings of an old Indian.

With respect to the nagual area (left), Castaneda could remember very little or nothing of what he had learned. As in the Toltequity world there is no continuity of time and space; as explained by Don Juan, there is the "glue" that joins events and places in a continuous timeline. So that this problem occurs almost throughout the book. In an attempt to describe it irrationally, Castaneda chronologically mixes memories of the past, the present experiences and "memories of the future".

The teaching technique for apprentices who aspire Toltequity knowledge could be explained in the following steps:

1. The "Power" points to an apprentice.
2. The nagual "hooks" the apprentice.
3. The nagual "works" with his apprentice the right part of the knowledge to clean up all debris that the apprentice has been gathering throughout his life, but at the same time, works the left part (with the benefactor^[3]), called nagual, through what Castaneda called "levels of increased consciousness". This knowledge will not be remembered by the apprentice until him, on his path to knowledge, manages to gather enough energy to finally "assembling" all acquired knowledge, both in the tonal and the nagual.

This work could have been effected by knowledge stages, without following the chronology of the Castaneda books; however, we prefer not having from the beginning, that first risk and decided to take the second, since our aim is to advance, along with the reader, through the Castaneda books, avoiding, as far as possible, falling into the same Castaneda confusion, so as to rescue the essence and origin of our ancient Anahuac civilization.

"Sweeping the tonal island", says Don Juan, requires the apprentice decision and that he assumes and is responsible for that decision, no matter what are the consequences. It also requires an inflexible will and a fierce discipline. This part of the teaching -vital and irreplaceable- has nothing to do with plants of power or esoteric concepts; on the contrary, the battlefield is the everyday life. The objective is to defeat vices and weaknesses, recklessness and irresponsibility. An apprentice has to learn to polish his spirit and strengthen his body through internally making his discipline and responsibility.

The path of knowledge is a cultural heritage of our Toltec grandparents, who perfected it based on sacrifice and much effort. It is not "picnic of our imagination". It's like any another way humans has undertaken towards total freedom. In India, China, Mesopotamia and/or Egypt, other cultures have struggled to reach higher levels of consciousness. If a great culture existed in Mexico, it was a product of a knowledge capable of motivating the divine spirit that lives within men and bequeathed us impressive testimonies (tangible cultural heritage) and deep features in the spirit of the peoples which today form part of the contemporary Mexico (intangible culture heritage) and that resides, incomprehensibly in the collective subconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the book A separate reality reflects what could be the reason why a westernized man would hardly have access to the world other reality. Don Juan tells Castaneda that his problem is to think and talk too much, and that he should stop talking to himself. In fact, the world of reason is maintained with our internal conversation. With our internal self-conversation, we renew once and again our idea of the world until the day we die. A warrior realizes that he must fight to stop his internal "talk", and at that point the world will change and the warrior must be prepared to endure such monumental shock. If we stop telling ourselves that the world is as "is", the world will stop being as we say it is. However, we must be ready to withstand a big blow, which should begin by "slowly shedding the world". Of the world, Don Juan says that it is an absolute mystery and that there is no way to untangle all its secrets.

The Castaneda encounters with "Humito" become more frequent towards the end of his second learning stage. Each new experience brings him closer to the phenomenon of "seeing". His field experiences have seriously endangered his conception of the world reality. Now he should return to his home; the events lived with the forces of the world have left his opening wide open, it must heal and close before deciding whether he will return to the warrior path.

1. The "allies", according to Don Juan, are forces, neither good nor bad, that witches use for their own purposes. These forces typically take human aspects and when a man of knowledge "sees" them they retain their human aspect, which betrays them. These beings are inorganic.
2. Don Juan said the controlled folly of a witch is to know that all his acts are useless and should however strive to act as if he did not know that his acts are useless. He said all he does is real, but at the same time it is a controlled folly, because he knows that it is useless and yet does so impeccably. Don Juan instead of using the term "controlled blunder" said "controlled fuck up", an expression with more depth.(Sp. pendejada controlada)
3. A Toltequity apprentice will have on his knowledge path a teacher and a benefactor, the first will work part of the first power ring or tonal, and the benefactor will work the part belonging to the second power ring or nahual.