Something from Carlos and Don Juan

Some excerpts from Carlos Castaneda's books about Yaqui Shaman Don Juan Matus teachings.

Here are brief descriptions of the terms used below for those who are not familiar with the books I mentioned above :

Warrior: A spiritual warrior. Anyone that accepts the chosen path. It is interchangeable with the term a man of knowledge.

Internal Dialogue: The involuntary "internal" conversation we have with ourself which prevents us from clear thinking & feeling. If you doubt this just try for two minutes to think about nothing... You can't! It is only possible with much training and effort.

Personal History: What we brothers & sisters call "baggage." We carry it around with us like it's an extra arm. Most of us can't shake our personal history.

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A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.

A path without a heart is never enjoyable. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy— it does not make a warrior work at liking it; it makes for a joyful journey; as long as a man follows it, he is one with it.

A rule of thumb for a warrior is that he makes his decisions so carefully that nothing that may happen as a result of them can surprise him, much less drain his power.

An average man is too concerned with liking people or with being liked himself. A warrior likes, that’s all. He likes whatever or whomever he wants, for the hell of it.

Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm’s length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he’s about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, ‘I haven’t touched you yet.’

Feeling overly self-important makes one heavy, clumsy and vain. To be a warrior one needs to be light and fluid... Don't take yourself so seriously.

For a warrior, to be inaccessible means that he touches the world around him sparingly. And above all, he deliberately avoids exhausting himself and others. He doesn’t use and squeeze people until they have shriveled to nothing, especially the people he loves.

If his soul is distorted he should simply fix it—purge it, make it perfect—because there is no other task in our entire lives which is more worthwhile…To seek the perfection of the warrior’s soul is the only task worthy of our temporariness, our humanity.

It doesn’t matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power.

Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.

No person is important enough to make me angry.

Once a man worries, he clings to anything out of desperation; and once he clings he is bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whomever or whatever he is clinging to. A warrior-hunter, on the other hand, knows he will lure game into his traps over and over again, so he doesn’t worry.

Our Personal history must be constantly renewed by telling parents, relatives, and friends everything one does. On the other hand, for the warrior who has no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with his acts. And above all, no one pins him down with their thoughts and their expectations.

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.

The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.

When a man has fulfilled all four of these requisites— to be wide awake, to understand fear, respect, and absolute assurance— there are no mistakes for which he will have to account; under such conditions his actions lose the blundering quality of the acts of a fool. If such a man fails, or suffers a defeat, he will have lost only a battle, and there will be no pitiful regrets over that.

When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable.

Whenever a warrior decides to do something, he must go all the way, but he must take responsibility for what he does. No matter what he does, he must know first why he is doing it, and then he must proceed with his actions without having doubts or remorse about them.