..his urge to give me portions of
hallucinogenic plants was but an effort..to shake my assemblage
point and allow it to have a minimal margin of fluidity.
TAOD,75....DJ said that he had used power plants at the beginning
of my apprenticeship in accordance with a recommendation of the
new seers. They knew by experience and by seeing that power plants
shake the AP way out of its normal setting. The effect of power
plants on the AP is in principle very much like that of dreams;
dreams make it move; but power plants manage the shift on a
greater and engulfing scale. A teacher then uses the diorienting
effects of such a shift to reinforce the notion that the
perception of the world is never final. FFW,286
You gathered your second attention with power
plants... The nagual said that his power plants gathered the
menacing side of your second attention in one clump, and that's
the shape that came out of your head... that's what happens to
sorcerers when they are given power plants. if they don't die, the
power plants spin their second attention into that awful shape
that comes out of their heads. SRP,249. (the power plants helped
CC) by stopping your view of the world. In this respect power
plants have the same effect on the tonal as the right way of
walking. Both flood it with information and force the internal
dialogue to come to a stop. the plants are excellent for that, but
very costly. TOP,236. Those plants lead the apprentice directly to
the nagual, and the ally is an aspect of it. TOP,237. the plants
as being vehicles that would conduct or lead a man to certain
impersonal forces or powers and the states they produced as being
the meetings that a sorcerer had to have with those powers in
order to gain control over them. SR,6
Only the smoke can give you the necessary
speed to catch a glimpse of that fleeting world. SR,9. You could
also see it (the guardian) without it (little smoke). There are
scores of people who could do that. I prefer the smoke because it
is more effective and less dangerous to oneself. if you try to see
the guardian without the aid of the smoke, chances are that you
may delay in getting out of its way. Your movements would have
been too slow. To survive in that world you need to be fast as
lightning. SR,132.
Seeing is not so simple and only the smoke can
give you the speed you need to catch a glimpse of that fleeting
world. It's rather a fleeting world that moves and changes. One
may perhaps learn to apprehend that fleeting world by oneself, but
it won't do any good, because the body decay with stress. With the
smoke , one never suffers from exhaustion. The smoke gives the
necessary speed to grasp the fleeting movement of the world and at
the same time it keeps the body and its strength intact.
SR,112.
That's what the little smoke does. One can
talk and not notice it; or one can move thousands of miles and not
notice that either. That's also how one can go through things. The
little smoke removes the body and one is free.. SR,124. You were
gazing at my face and saw it shining, but it was still my face. It
just happens that the little smoke makes one gaze like that.
Nothing to it. SR,159.
WHO
ARE POWER PLANTS GIVEN TO?
POWER PLANTS ARE GIVEN ONLY TO EMPTY PEOPLE.
Power plants are given only to empty people.
power plants were given to us because the Nagual was putting a
patch on our bodies. SRP,231. (CC asks DJ why he gave him power
plants) ..because your dumb..you're rather slow..and there was no
other way to jolt you. There are other types of people, however ,
that do not seem to need them. TOP,10.you're plugged up and only
the smoke can help you. SR,111. You could of used those four
techniques to clean and reorder your island of the tonal..they
would've led you to the nagual...but not all of us are capable of
reacting to simple recommendations. You and I for that matter,
needed something else to shake us; we needed those power plants.
TOP,235
POWER PLANTS WERE USED ONLY BY SORCERERS WHO
HAD MASTERED THEIR ART.
Power plants were used only by sorcerers who
had mastered their art. Those plants were such a powerful affair
that in order to be properly handled, the most impecaable
attention was needed on the part of the sorcerer. It took a
lifetime to train one's attention to the degree needed... complete
people do not need power plants...but they would use them to get a
final and total boost (to get into the other world) SRP,232...with
his power plants you learned to go very far into that other world.
SRP,281.
WHAT
ARE THE DANGERS OF POWER PLANTS?
THE DRAWBACK IN TAKING POWER PLANTS HAD BEEN
THE TOLL THEY TOOK ON MY PHYSICAL WELL-BEING AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY
OF CONTROLLING THEIR EFFECT.
The drawback in taking power plants had been
the toll they took on my physical well-being and the impossibility
of controlling their effect. The world they plunged me into was
unamenable and chaotic. I lacked the control, the power,... to
make use of such a world. SRP,232. Power plants had made you
lopsided; they had made you cut through your attention of the
tonal and had put you directly in the realm of the second
attention, but without any mystery over that attention. SRP,250.
They cause untold damage to the body. This is their drawback,
especially with the devil's weed. TOP,236.
DESCRIPTION OF DISASSOCIATION
I had told him many times before, that what
made me think I was ill was a series of disruptive sensorial
experience that I had had as after effects of ingesting
hallucinogenic plants. I went through states of total space and
time discordance, very annoying lapses of mental concentration,
actual visions or hallucinations of places and people I would be
staring at as if they really existed. I could not help thinking
that I was losing my mind. FFW,139.
DID
DON JUAN NEED TO SMOKE THE POWER PLANTS?
HE HIMSELF (DJ) DID NOT NEED TO SMOKE
ANYMORE.. (OR) THAT HE RARELY HAD TO SMOKE
He himself (DJ) did not need to smoke
anymore.. (or) that he rarely had to smoke. TDJ,131... because the
smoke is my ally. I don't need to smoke anymore. I call him any
time, any place... I.. go to him freely. TDJ,131.
WHY
DID DON JUAN USE ANTHROPOMORPHIC QUALITIES WHEN DESCRIBING THE
PLANT?
A PRESCRIBED MEANS FOR DEVIATING THE
APPRENTICE'S ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE REAL ISSUE, WHICH WAS
STOPPING THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE.
I brought up the fact that he had described
and discussed those plants in terms of anthropomorphic qualities.
his references to them were always as if the plants had
personalities. he replied that that was a prescribed means for
deviating the apprentice's attention away from the real issue,
which was stopping the internal dialogue. TOP,237 they are the
allies of the man of knowledge....my ally is the little smoke but
that doesn't mean that my ally is in the smoking mixture or in the
mushrooms or in my pipe. they all have to be put together to get
me to the ally and that ally I call little smoke for reasons of my
own SR,39 The ally is not in the smoke..the smoke takes you to
where the ally is and when you become one with the ally you don't
ever have to smoke again. From then on you can summon your ally at
will and make him do anything you want. SR,40.
THE POWER PLANTS ARE NOT AN ESSENTIAL FEATURE
TO THE SORCERER'S KNOWLEDGE
It became evident to me that my original
assumption about the role of psychotropic plants was erroneous.
They were not the essential feature of the sorcerers' description
of the world, but were only an aid to cement, so to speak, parts
of the description which I had been incapable of perceiving
otherwise. My insistence on holding on to my standard version of
reality rendered me almost deaf and blind to DJ's aims. Therefore,
it was simply my lack of sensitivity which had fostered their use.
JTI,xiii
THE POWER PLANTS CAN ONLY AID
Power plants are only an aid.. the real thing
is when the body realizes that it can see. Only then is one
capable of knowing that the world world we look at every day is
only a description. my intent has been to show you that.
JTI,256.
DESCRIPTION AFTER INGESTING POWER
PLANTS
Each of the peyote plants on the field shone
with a bluish, scintillating light. One plant had a cery bright
light. TDJ,145.
I walked through the peyote field calling the
name that mescalito had given me. Something emerged from a
strange, starlike light on a peyote plant. It was a long shiny
object- a stick of light the size of a man. For a moment it
illuminated the whole field with an intense yellowish or amber
light; then it lit up the whole sky above, creating a portentous,
marvellous sight... everything was alive. Everything had exquisite
and intricate detail, and yet everything was so simple. I was
everywhere; I could see up and down and all around, all at the
same time. TDJ,146.
The peyote plant in front of me began to light
up again, and before I could move my eyes the long light entered
again. it hovered over me. I sat up. The light touched my whole
body with quiet strength, and then rolled away out of sight.
TDJ,147.
TYPES
OF POWER PLANTS
MESCALITO
WHAT IS
IT?
MESCALITO IS NOT AN ALLY..IT IS ANOTHER KIND
OF POWER. A UNIQUE POWER. A PROTECTOR, A TEACHER
He advises. He answers whatever questions you
ask. TDJ,45
Mescalito is not an ally..it is another kind
of power. A unique power. A protector, a teacher... Mescalito
can't be tamed (like an ally) it is outside oneself. He chooses to
show himself in many forms to whoever stands in front of him,
regardless of whether that person is a brujo or a farm boy.
TDJ,53. Mescalito is a teacher, not a power to be used for
personal reasons. TDJ,69. Mescalito is gentle, like a baby. Of
course he is terrifying, but once you get to know him, he is
gentle and kind... (he protects).. you can keep him with you at
all times and he will see that nothing bad happens to you.
TDJ,88.. but that does not mean you can make fun of him. because
he is a kind protector he can also be a horror itself with those
he does not like. TDJ,89.
Mescalito is a protector because he is
available to anyone who seeks him. Anyone can partake of
Mescalito. Not everybody likes Mescalito; yet they all seek him
with the idea of profiting without doing any work. Naturally their
encounter is always horrifying... when Mescalito accepts a man
completely.. he appears to him as a man, or as a light. When a man
has won this kind of acceptance, Mescalito is constant. He never
changes after that... to arrive at that point..you have to be a
strong man, and your life has to be truthful. A truthful life is a
life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life. TDJ,104. He
is just a protector and a teacher. He is a power. (he is not
God)... Mescalito has nothing to do with ourselves. He is outside
us. Mescalito is not the same (form) for everybody. TDJ,90. There
are no common forms (for Mescalito.).. he appears in any form to
those who know him a little, but to those who know him well, he is
always constant. TDJ,91. He appears to them someimtes as a man,
like us, or as a light. TDJ,91.Songs and naming Mescalito
description. TDJ,103. He said that the smoke was an ally was
unique, and I reminded him that he had also said the Mescalito was
unique. He argued that each was unique, but the differed in
quality.TDJ,138
He is like nothing you have ever seen. He is
like a man, but at the same time he is not at all like one. It is
difficult to explain to people who know nothing about him and want
to know everything about him all at once. And then, his lessons
are as mysterious as he is himself. No man, to my knowledge, can
predict his acts. You ask him a question and he shows you the way,
but he does not tell you about it in the same manner you and I
talk to each other. TDJ,149.
And because it was available without any
training, Mescalito was said to be a protector. To be a protector
meant that it was accessible to anyone. TDJ,217.
At that moment I felt a great surge of wisdom
engulfing me. A conjecture I had played with for three years
turned then into a certainty. It had taken me three years to
realize, or rather to find out, that whatever is contained in the
cactus Lophophora williamsii had nothing to do with me in order to
exist as an entity; it existed by itself out there, at large. I
knew it then. TDJ,145.
WHAT IS
ITS PURPOSE?
MESCALITO SHOWED HOW TO LIVE
Mescalito showed how to live... he has many
ways of showing it.. sometimes he shows it on his hand, or on the
rocks, or the trees, or just in front of you... it is a teaching
in front of you..Mescalito talks to you but not in words..he talks
differently to every man. TDJ,53. Mescalito takes you out of
yourself to teach you. TDJ,54 (he teaches)..by showing things and
tells you what is what. TDJ,89
Mescalito is a protector because he talks to
you and can guide your acts.. Mescalito teaches the right way to
live. And you can see him because he is outside of you. The
smoke.. is an ally. It transforms you and gives you power without
ever showing its presence. You can't talk to it. But you know it
exists because it takes your body away and makes you as light as
air. Yet you never see it. But it is there giving you power to
accomplish unimaginable things, such as when it takes your body
away. TDJ,138. DJ believed mescalito taught simplification of
behavior. TDJ,217.
HOW
DO YOU GET TO KNOW MESCALITO?
THERE WERE NO EXACT STEPS TO KNOWING
MESCALITO; THEREFORE NO ONE COULD TEACH ABOUT HIM EXCEPT MESCALITO
HIMSELF.
there were no exact steps to knowing
Mescalito; therefore no one could teach about him except Mescalito
himself. This quality made him a unique power; he was not the same
for every man.
TDJ,53. You have to be taught his ways as a
child is taught how to walk .... until he himself begins to make
sense to you... and then you will understand by yourself. You
won't have to tell me anything any more. TDJ,89.
YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT MESCALITO
The opinion of those who care to talk about
him (Mescalito) is not worth much... You will probably talk about
him up to a certain point, and from then on you will never discuss
him. TDJ,90.
HOW
DO YOU KNOW MESCALITO ACCEPTS YOU?
HE HAD ACCEPTED ME BY SHOWING HIMSELF TO ME AS
A LIGHT, TWICE.
..the protector had accepted me and had made
sure I knew that he had accepted me by showing himself to me as a
light, twice. TDJ,149. You are on your own now.. the protector has
accepted you. I will be of very little help from now on. You don't
have to tell me anything more about your relationship with him.
You know his name now; and neither his name, nor his dealings with
you, should ever be mentioned to a living being.
TDJ,148.
WHAT
WERE THE SONGS OF MESCILITO FOR?
THE SONGS (OF MESCALITO) PURPOSE WERE FOR
CALLING THE PROTECTOR AND THAT I SHOULD ALWAYS USE THEM IN
CONJUNCTION WITH HIS NAME TO CALL HIM
the songs (of Mescalito) purpose were for
calling the protector and that I should always use them in
conjunction with his name to call him. TDJ,148.
DEVIL'S
WEED (JIMSON WEED)
WHAT IS
IT?
SHE GIVES THEM A TASTE OF POWER TOO SOON
WITHOUT FORTIFYING THEIR HEARTS AND MAKES THEM DOMINEERING AND
UNPREDICTABLE.
the devil's weed was my benefactor's ally
(Julian) TDJ,56
She distorts men. She gives them a taste of
power too soon without fortifying their hearts and makes them
domineering and unpredictable. She makes them weak in the middle
of their great power. There is a way to overcome it, but not to
avoid it. Whoever becomes the weed's ally must pay that price.
TDJ,56. Description of the parts of the devil's weed and what they
do.
TDJ,57 (1st and 2nd paragraphs) to tame the
devil's weed into an ally is one of the most difficult tasks I
know. She never became one with me.. perhaps because I was never
fond of her. TDJ,57. The weed is only used for power.. The man who
wants his vigour back, the young people who seek to endure fatigue
and hunger, the man who wants to kill another man, a woman who
wants to be in heat- they all desire power. TDJ,65. I don't like
its power! There is no use for it anymore. In other times, like
those my benefactor told me about, there was reason to seek power.
men performed phenomenal deeds, were admired for their strength
and feared and respected for their knowledge. My benefactor told
me stories of truly phenomenal deeds, that were performed long,
long ago. But now we, the Indians, do not seek that power any
more.... they do not seek its power, a power that acts like a
magnet, more potent and more dangerous to handle as the root goes
deeper into the ground. When one arrives to a depth of four yards-
and they some people have- one finds the seat of permanent power,
power without end. Very few humans have done this in the past and
nobody has done it today. TDJ,67. The devil's weed has never
protected anyone. She serves only to give power. TDJ,88 The second
portion of the devil's weed is used for seeing. With it a, a man
can soar through the air to see what is going on at any place he
chooses. TDJ,105. The second portion of the devil's weed is used
to fly. TDJ,127. As you learn more, and take it often in order to
fly, you will begin to see everything with great clarity. You can
soar through the air for hundreds of miles to see what is
happening at any place you want, or to deliver a fatal blow to
your enemies far away... she will teach you unimaginable
things...(for) every man is different. My benefactor never told me
what he had learned. He told me how to proceed, but never what he
saw. That is only for oneself... (CC tells DJ everything)
now...later you will not. TDJ,127. the devil's weed is only one
path to the secrets of a man of knowledge. There are other paths.
But her trap is to make you believe that hers is the only way. I
say it is useless to waste your life on one path, especially if
that path has no heart. TDJ,158.
You like flattery, and the devil's weed
flatters you. Like a woman, she makes you feel good. The devil's
weed also requires strength, but of a different kind. It is closer
to being virile with women. The strength required by the smoke is
strength of the heart. TDJ,160.
LITTLE
SMOKE
WHAT IS
IT?
THE SMOKE IS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO WATCH AND
SEE
the little smoke only tells me what to do.
TDJ,69.. It's not the same for everybody. many fear it and won't
touch it or even get close to it. The smoke is like everything
else; it wasn't made for all of us... (it is) the smoke of
diviners. TDJ,70. the smoke is for those who want to watch and
see. And in my opinion, the smoke is peerless. Once a man enters
into its field, every other power is at his command. it's
magnificent. of course it takes a lifetime. it takes years alone
to become aquainted with its two vital parts; the pipe and the
smoke mixture. The pipe was given to me by my benefactor...
TDJ,70. I like the little smoke as an ally because it doesn't
demand much of me. SR,40. its effect are so dreadful that only a
strong man can stand the smallest puff. Everything is terrifying
and confusing at the outset, but every new puff makes things more
precise. And suddenly the world opens up anew! Unimaginable! When
this happens the smoke has become one's ally and will resolve any
question by allowing one to enter into inconceivable worlds. This
is the smoke's greatest property, its greatest gift. And it
performs its function without hurting in the least. I call the
smoke a true ally! TDJ,70,71. The smoke will come. You will feel
it. It will set you free to see anything you want to see. Properly
speaking, it is a matchless ally. But whoever seeks it must have
an intent and a will beyond reproach. He needs them because he has
to intend and will his return, or the smoke will not let him come
back. Second, he must intend and will to remember whatever the
smoke allowed him to see, otherwise it will be nothing more than a
piece of fog in his mind. TDJ,82. The smoke teaches but not as
Mescalito does. TDJ,139 it does not show the same things. It shows
you how to handle its power, and to learn that you must take it as
many times as you can. TDJ,140. ..what I felt was its unimaginable
power. And to handle that power.. one has to live a strong life.
The idea of a strong life not only [ertains to the preparation
period, but also entails the attitude of the man after the
experience. He said the smoke is so strong one can match it only
with strength; otherwise, one's life would be shattered to bits. I
asked him if the smoke had the same effect on everyone. He said it
produced a transformation, but not in everyone. TDJ,140. ..all
that was needed with the smoke was the proper attitude. TDJ,141.
the only secrets never to be revealed (about the smoke) were how
to make the mixture, how to move around, and how to return; other
matters concerning the subject were of no importance. TDJ,141. DJ
told CC he had never seen anyone smoking before.
TDJ,140.
4.
CLEANING OUR WAREHOUSE/TONAL
WHAT
IS CLEANING YOUR WAREHOUSE?
CLEANING AND REORDERING THE ISLAND MEANS
REGROUPING ALL ITS ELEMENTS ON THE SIDE OF REASON
By now you must have realized that cleaning
and reordering the island of the tonal means regrouping all its
elements on the side of reason. TOP,245
WHY
DO WE HAVE TO CLEAN OUR WAREHOUSE?
THE SECOND ATTENTION WAS REACHED ONLY AFTER WE
HAVE CLEANED OUR TONAL
That attention was reached only after warriors
had swept the top of their tables clean. SRP,256. The island of
the tonal has to be swept clean and maintained clean. That's the
only alternative a warrior has. A clean island offers no
resistence; it is as if nothing were there...TOP,171. One of the
sources of your bafflement and discomfort is that your tonal
doesn't let go of your eyes. the day it does, your nagual will
have won a great battle. Your obsession or, better yet, everyone's
obsession is to arrange the world according to the tonal's rules;
so everytime we are confronted with the nagual, we go out of our
way to make our eyes stiff and intransigent. I must appeal to the
part of your tonal which understands this dilemma and you must
make an effort to free your eyes. TOP,169 .All are views that seem
to be unchallengable; and as long as you three persist in using
them, your bubbles of perception have not been cleared and the
sorcerers explanation will have no meaning. TOP,247 She stressed
that unless this storehouse is cleared out, there is no way for us
to be what we really are. TSC,74. She explained that by storing
energy, we can dissolve our preconceptions about the world and the
body, thus making room in our wherehouse for other possibilities.
TSC,111 after the tonal shrinks, the warrior is closing the gate
from the other. TOP,173.
THE TONAL MUST TEMPER THE NAGUAL
the nagual by itself was of no use it had to
be tempered by the tonal. They said I had to leap willingly and be
aware of my act....the sorcerers' secret in using the nagual was
in our perception, that leaping was simply an exercise in
perception, and that it would end only after I succeeded in
perceiving, as a perfect tonal, what was at the bottom of the
ravine. TOP,251.
That's what a sorcerer needs before anything
else, a strong,free tonal. The stronger it gets the less it clings
to its doings, and the easier it is to shrink. TOP,153.
THE MORE ITEMS YOU DISCARD THE MORE YOU MAKE
ROOM FOR OTHER THINGS
It proves to me, just like when you saw the
shadows moving, that you're freeing your energy. You are beginning
to empty your warehouse. the more items of your inventory you
discard, the more you make room for other things.
TSC,76.
HOW
DO SORCERER'S CLEAN THEIR TONAL? (CALLED SHRINKING THE
TONAL)
THE TEACHER TRIES TO GET THE APPRENTICE TO
GROUP HIS VIEW OF THE WORLD ON ONE HALF OF OUR BUBBLE OF
PERCEPTION (TONAL) AND THE BENEFACTOR OPENS THE BUBBLE ON THE SIDE
THAT HAS BEEN CLEANED(NAGUAL) AND THE APPRENTICE CAN EXPERIENCE
THE TOTALITY OF THEMSELF
. The art of the teacher was to force his
disciple to group his view of the world on the right half of the
bubble...the right half is the tonal. The teacher always addresses
himself to that side and by presenting his apprentice..with the
warrior's way he forces him into reasonableness and sobriety, and
strength of character and body; and by presenting him..with
unthinkable but real situations which the apprentice cannot cope
with, he forces him to realize that his reason, although it is a
most wonderful affair, can only cover a small area. Once the
warrior is confronted with his incapacity to reason everything
out, he will go out of his way to bolster and defend his defeated
reason, and to that effect he will rally everything he's got
around it. The teacher sees to that by hammering him mercilessly
until all of his view of the world is on one half of the bubble.
The other half of the bubble which has been cleared, can then be
claimed by something sorcerers call will. TOP,245,246
We can better explain this by saying that the
task of the teacher is to wipe clean one half of the bubble and to
reorder everything on the other half. The benefactor's task then
is to open the bubble on the side that has been cleaned. Once the
seal is broken, the warrior is never the same. He then has the
command of his totality. Half of the bubble is the ultimate center
of reason, the tonal. The other half is the ultimate center of
will, the nagual. That is the order that should prevail; any other
arrangement is nonsensial and petty, because it goes against our
nature, it robs us of our magical heritage and reduces us to
nothing. TOP,246. The delicate manoeuvre of leading a luminous
being into the totality of himself requires that the teacher work
from inside the bubble and the benefactor from outside. TOP,245
The teacher's task is to rearrange the view, to prepare the
luminous being for the time when the benefactor opens the bubble
from the outside...TOP,244. the job of a teacher, insofar as the
apprentice's perception is concerned, consists of reordering all
the elements of the island on one half of the bubble. ..the
teacher reorders the view of the world. TOP,245 My task has been
to disarrange your ordinary view, not to destroy it, but to force
it to rally on the side of reason. TOP,245
SORCERER'S DO NOT OBLITERATE ANYTHING FROM THE
TONAL BUT ALTERS THE USE ASSIGNED TO THOSE ELEMENTS
the sorcerers' world called for a drastic
transformation, the sorcerers explanation said that the island of
the tonal was complete and not a single elment could be removed.
Change then, did not mean obliterating anything but altering the
use assigned to those elements.. TOP,234. If you then change the
facade of self-pity, you would have shifted its place of
prominence...one changes the facade by altering the use of
elements of the island..(this means that you can't get rid of
things on the island but since all things are equal you can change
one for the other..like replacing self-pity with death as what you
think about when you start stressing.)..self-pity was useful to
you because you either felt important important and deserving of
better conditions, better treatment, or because you were unwilling
to assume responsibility for the acts that brought you to the
state that elicited, or because you were incapable of bringing the
idea of your impending death to witness your acts and advise
you...TOP,234,235 Without using those four techniques you never
could've succeeded in changing them..but changing facades means
only that one has assigned a secondary place to a formerly
important element. Your self-pity is still a feature of your
island; it will be there in the back in the same way that the idea
of your impending death, or your humbleness, or your
responsibility for your acts were there, without ever being used.
TOP,235 in order for self-pity to work you had to feel important,
irresponsible and immortal. When those feelings were altered in
some way, it was no longer possible to feel sorry for
yourself..the same was true with all the other elements which
you've changed on your island. TOP,235 there is no way to get rid
of self-pity for good; it has a definite place and character in
your island, a definite facade which is recognizable. Thus every
time the occasion arises, self-pity becomes active. It has
history. TOP,234,235 The only important matter is that the tonal
of a warrior must be acquainted with other alternatives.
TOP,174..
ERASING PERSONAL HISTORY AND ITS THREE
COMPANION TECHNIQUES ARE THE SORCERERS MEANS FOR CHANGING THE
FACADE OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE ISLAND
....erasing personal history and its three
companion techniques are the sorcerers means for changing the
facade of the elements of the island..for instance, by erasing
personal history, you have denied use to self-pity;
TOP,235
YOU
MUST TALK TO THE TONAL TO GIVE UP CONTROL
IN THE BEGINNING, ONE HAS TO TALK TO THE
TONAL. IT IS THE TONAL THAT HAS TO RELINQUISH CONTROL. BUT IT
SHOULD BE MADE TO DO SO GLADLY.
In the beginning, one has to talk to the
tonal. It is the tonal that has to relinquish control. But it
should be made to do so gladly. For example, your tonal has
relinquished some controls without much struggle, because it
became clear to it that, had it remained the way it was, the
totality of you would be dead by now.In other words, the tonal is
made to give up unnecessary things like self-importance and
boredom. The whole trouble is that the tonal clings to those
things when it should be glad to rid itself of that crap. the task
then is to convince the tonal to become free and fluid. TOP,153.
The point is to convince the tonal that there are other worlds
that can pass in front of the same windows. the nagual showed you
this morning. So let your eyes be free; let them be true
windows.The eyes can be the windows to peer into boredom or to
peak into that infinity. TOP,170
A SHOVE BY THE NAGUAL IS ONE TECHNIQUE TO
SHRINK THE TONAL AND ENTER INTO THE NAGUAL
A shove is then the technique for shrinking
the tonal. One must shove at the precise instant; for that, of
course, one must know how to see... once the man has been shoved
and his tonal has been shrunk, his nagual, if it is already in
motion, no matter how small this motion is, will take over and
achieve extraordinary deeds.....your nagual took over this morning
and you ended up in the market. TOP,154.
YOU MUST GET PERSPECTIVE ON YOUR TONAL, WATCH
IT FROM A DISTANCE
..He told them that sorcerers were obligated
to watch their tonals from a distance in order to have a better
grasp of what was really around them..... average men does not
have the grasp that a sorcerer has because an average man is right
on top of his table, holding on to every item on it.
SRP,255..
IS
CLEANING YOUR TONAL EASY?
THE TONAL WOULD RATHER KILL ITSELF THAN
RELINQUISH CONTROL
What you were doing this morning was absurd.
You call it explaining. I call it a sterile and boring insistence
of the tonal to have everything under its control. Whenever it
doesn't succeed, there is a moment of bafflement and then the
tonal opens itself to death...It would rather kill itself than
relinquish control. And yet there is very little we can do to
change that condition...(to change)..TOP,171.
IT TAKES A LONG TRAINING TO TEACH THE TONAL
NOT TO GO CRAZY WHEN THE NAGUAL COMES OUT
No one is capable of surviving a deliberate
encounter with the nagual without a long training. It takes years
to prepare the tonal for such an encounter. Ordinarily, if an
average man comes face to face with the nagual the shock would be
so great that he would die. TOP,171.
WARRIORS KNOW WHEN TO SHRINK THE TONAL AND TO
STOP IT
A grave issue for a warrior is to know exactly
when to allow his tonal to shrink and stop it. This is a great
art. A warrior must struggle like a demon to shrink his tonal; and
yet at the very moment the tonal shrinks, the warrior must reverse
all that struggle to immediately halt that shrinking.
TOP,173...
DANGERS
OF HURTING OUR TONAL
ONE SHOULD GET TO THE NAGUAL WITHOUT MALIGNING
THE TONAL AND ABOVE ALL WITHOUT INJURING ONE'S BODY.
...I know that what matters is not to learn a
new description but to arrive at the totality of oneself. One
should get to the nagual without maligning the tonal and above all
without injuring one's body. TOP,238
A SORCERER MUST TRY TO BREAK THE UNITY OF
BEING ON THE TONAL WITHOUT ENDANGERING HIS BEING
a sorcerer, however, has to break that unity,
but without endangering his being. A sorcerer's goal is to
last..he doesn't take unnecessary risks, therefore he spends years
sweeping his island until a moment when he could in a manner of
speaking, sneak off it. TOP,189
WHEN THE TONAL SHRINKS THE OPENING OF THE
SECOND ATTENTION IS OPEN AND HE MIGHT BE SWEPT AWAY BY A REAL WIND
IF HE DOESN'T SHUT IT IMMEDIATELY
But when his tonal shrinks, he is on the windy
side, and that opening must be shut tight immediately, or he would
be swept away. TOP,173. And this is not just a way of talking.
Beyond the gate of the tonal's eyes the wind rages. I mean a real
wind. No metaphor. A wind that can blow one's life away. In fact,
that is the wind that blows all living things on this earth
TOP,173.
YOU SHOULD NOT LET THE TONAL SHRINK ITSELF OUT
OF THE PICTURE
...the problem here is not to let the tonal
shrink itself out of the picture.TOP,173...
TO MAKE YOUR TONAL FEEL SAFE IS ALWAYS THE
TASK OF THE TEACHER
At this point your reason admits that the
nagual is indescribable, not because the evidence has convinced
it, but because it is safe to admit that. Your reason is on safe
ground, all the elements of the tonal are on its side... To make
your reason feel safe is always the task of the teacher...
TOP,267