A.) INTUITION

THE NAGUAL EXISTS BELOW THE SURFACE BUT WE ARE INTUITIVELY AWARE OF IT

 
WE ARE DEEPER THAN WE LOOK AND HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF IT
...that the human psyche is infinitely more complex than our mundane or academic reasoning had led us to believe. TAOD, iii..People have no idea of the strange power we carry within ourselves.. at this moment you have the means to reach infinity. POS,84 ..human beings have a very deep sense of magic..we are part of the mysterious....rationality is only a veneer with us. If we scratch that surface, we find a sorcerer underneath. POS,174..
 
HE SAID THAT THE FEELING EVERYONE KNOWS AS INTUITION IS THE ACTIVATION OF OUR LINK WITH INTENT
He said that the feeling everyone knows as intuition is the activation of our link with intent. POS,31 and inside every human being was a gigantic, dark lake of silent knowledge which each of us could intuit. POS,152,155
 
THE PRESENCE OF THE DOUBLE INSIDE US IS SO SUBTLE THAT WE CAN THROUGH OUR ENTIRE LIVES WITHOUT EVER KNOWING THAT IT IS THERE
The presence of the double inside us is so subtle that we can through our entire lives without ever knowing that it is there.TSC,159.
 
SOME PEOPLE CAN CONTROL THEIR DOUBLE BUT MOST OF US DO NOT EVEN KNOW IT EXISTS
Some persons are masters of the double.. they cannot only focus their awareness on it but also spur it into action. The majority of us, however, are scarcely aware that our ethereal side exists. TSC,136.
 
B.)THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT'S HABITUAL POSITION HAS CHANGED
 
HAS THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT ALWAYS BEEN IN ITS CURRENT HABITUAL POSITION?

A LONG TIME AGO, OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT WAS NOT ON THE POSITION IT IS TODAY BUT RATHER ON THE PLACE OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE. SILENT KNOWLEDGE HAD BEEN THE NORMAL POSITION OF MAN AGES AGO

....it was a general position on the AP that ages ago it had been man's normal position...POS,204.. ..there had been one time when mankind had been on the third point. POS,243.. when silent knowledge was the first point POS,243 ...the whole of humanity has moved away from the abstract, although at one time we must have been close to it. It must have been our sustaining force. And then something happened and pulled us away from the abstract. Now we can't get back to it POS,52
 
THE NORMAL POSITION OF MAN HAS CHANGED TO THE POSITION OF REASON FOR UNKNOWN REASONS
but for reasons which would be impossible to determine, man's AP moved and adopted a new one called reason. POS,204..
 
WHAT PROBABLY MOVED THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT TO ITS CURRENT HABITUAL POSITION?
 
THE TRUE LEADERS OF MANKIND ARE THOSE PEOPLE WHOSE ASSEMBLAGE POINT IS SQUARELY ON THE POSITION OF REASON OR SILENT KNOWLEDGE
...not every human being's AP was squarely on that position either.. This meant that the true leaders of mankind had always been the few human beings whose AP happened to be either on the exact point of reason or of silent knowledge. The rest of humanity was merely the audience. In our day, they were the lovers of reason. In the past, they had been lovers of silent knowledge. They were the ones who had admired and sung odes to the heroes of either position. POS,243 ..those who were on the spot itself were the true leaders of mankind. Most of the time they were unknown people whose genius was the exercising of their reason. POS.242
 
TO SEE THE POSITION OF REASON YOU HAD TO BE FIXED ON THE POSITION OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE
..only those who were squarely in either position could see the other position clearly and that that had been the way the age of reason came into being. The position of reason was clearly seen from the position of silent knowledge... POS, 243, 244
 
THE ONE WAY BRIDGE FROM SILENT KNOWLEDGE TO REASON IS CALLED CONCERN
the one way bridge from silent knowledge to reason was called concern. That is, the concern that true men of silent knowledge had about the source of what they knew. POS, 243, 244
 
THE ASSEMBLAGE POSITION THE PLACE OF CONCERN WAS THE FORERUNNER OF REASON
the AP position the place of concern was the forerunner of reason... POS,204
 
SO AS SOON AS THE OLD LEADERS BECAME CONCERNED THEY BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES
 
WHEN MAN BECAME AWARE THAT HE KNEW HE LOST SIGHT OF WHAT HE KNEW BECAUSE HE WANTED TO KNOW IT LIKE HE KNOWS EVERYDAY LIFE
Sorcerers believe that when man became aware that he knew, he lost sight of what he knew. Man's error was to want to know it directly, the way he knew everyday life. The more he wanted, the more ephemereal it became... man gave up silent knowledge for the world of reason..the more he clings to the world of reason, the more ephemereal intent becomes.. POS,155
 
ANCIENT MAN KNEW IN A DIRECT FASHION WHAT TO DO BUT THIS DEVELOPED A SENSE OF SELFISHNESS WHICH DEVELOPED THE 'SELF'
...ancient man knew, in the most direct fashion, what to do, and how best to do it. But, because he performed so well, he started to develop a sense of selfness, which gave him the feeling he could predict and plan the actions he used to performing. And thus the idea of individual 'self' appeared; an individual self which began to dictate the nature and scope of man's actions...POS,167
 
HAVING A SENSE OF SELF DISCONNECTED MAN FROM SILENT KNOWLEDGE
...it was self-reflection that had disconnected man from the spirit in the first place. POS,167....As the feeling of the individual self became stronger, man lost his natural connection to silent knowledge.. POS,158
 
SINCE MAN COULDN'T RETURN TO SILENT KNOWLEDGE HE SOUGHT SOLACE IN HIS SELFISHNESS AND THIS FIXED HIS ASSEMBLAGE POINT INTO PLACE
...Having lost hope of ever returning to the source of everything, man sought solace in his selfness. And in doing so, he succeeded in fixing his AP in the exact position to perpetuate his self-image. POS,158.....
 
DO WE EVER WANT TO RETURN TO THE POSITION OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE?
 
WE LONG FOR THE POSITION OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE BECAUSE MANKIND HAD SPENT A LONGER PART OF ITS HISTORY THERE
The naugal stated that mankind had spent the longer part of its history in the position of silent knowledge, and that this explained our great longing for it. POS,243
 
GARDEN OF EDEN IS PROBABLY AN ALLEGORY FOR OUR LOSING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF INTENT
..... and that the Christian idea of being cast out from the Garden of Eden.. was probably an allegory for losing our silent knowledge, our knowledge of intent. POS,114
 
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HUMANS SINCE THEY CANNOT GET BACK TO THE PLACE OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE?
 
TO EXPRESS HIS DESPAIR FROM BEING AWAY FROM SILENT KNOWLEDGE HE DOES CYNICAL OR VIOLENT ACTS WITH NO HOPE OF PEACE OR SATISFACTION
Modern man, being heir to that development, therefore finds himself so hopelessly removed from the source of everything that all he can do is express his despair in violent and cynical acts of self-destruction. Don Juan asserted that the reason for man's cynicism and despair is the bit of silent knowledge left in him, which does two things: one, it gives man an inkling of his ancient connection to the source of everything, and two, it makes man feel that without this connection, he has no hope of peace, of satisfaction, of attainment. POS,158
 
MODERN MAN IS NOW IN THE WORLD OF THE FUNCTIONAL AND BORING
....modern man has left the realm of the unknown and mysterious, and has settled down in the realm of the functional. He has turned his back to the world of foreboding and the exulting and has welcomed the world of boredom. FFW,167
 
IT HAS MADE US BECOME DIVIDED AND WE NOW WE THINK IN OPPOSITES/PAIRS
 
WHY DO HUMANS THINK WE ARE DIVIDED INTO OPPOSITES?
 
BEING DIVIDED IS OUR HUMAN CONDITION
Being divided is our human condition.. TSC,43
 
WHY DO HUMANS ALWAYS MAKE PAIRS?
 
AS SOON AS WE BECOME TONAL WE BEGIN MAKING PAIRS BECAUSE WE SENSE THE LOSS OF THE NAGUAL
From the moment we become tonal we begin making pairs. We sense our two sides, but we always represent them with items of the tonal. We say that the two parts of us are the soul and the body. Our mind and matter. Or good and evil. God and Satan. We never realize, however, that we are merely pairing things on the island....TOP,126.
 
HOW DO HUMANS THINK WE ARE DIVIDED?
 
WE THINK THAT THE DUALISM IN US IS BETWEEN THE MIND AND BODY
Clara explained that we are convinced that a dualism exists in us; the mind is the insubstantial part of ourselves, and the body is the concrete part. TSC,43
 
HOW DOES THIS BELIEF OF BEING DIVIDED HURT US?
 
THIS FALSE BELIEF OF OUR MIND/BODY DUALISM KEEPS OUR ENERGY FROM JOINING TOGETHER
This division keeps our energy in a state of chaotic separation and prevents it from coalescing. TSC,43
 
HOW ARE HUMANS REALLY DIVIDED?
 
Humans are divided into the only true opposites: the tonal and the nagual
 
WHY ARE THE TONAL AND NAGUAL REALLY THE TRUE OPPOSITES?
 
ALL OF THE LABELS HUMANS USE FOR THEIR DIVISIONS ARE FOUND IN THE REALM OF THE TONAL..
(CC's arguement that the Transcendental Ego is the Nagual and the Empirical ego is the tonal.) TOP,138. ...everything else you may care to say are only items on the island of the tonal. TOP,138(using the name nagual doesn't that place it on the tonal?) ...I have named the tonal and the nagual as a true pair. That is all I have done. TOP,127.
 

C.) SELF-IMPORTANCE AND THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE

 
WHY DO WE ONLY PERCEIVE IN THE FIRST ATTENTION?
 
THE FIRST ATTENTION EMPHASIZES ONLY CERTAIN EMANATIONS
 
TO BRING OUR WORLD IN FOCUS CERTAIN EMANATIONS MUST BE EMPHASIZED
...in order for our first attention to bring into focus the world that we perceive, it has to emphasize certain emanations selected from the narrow band of emanations where man's awareness is located. The discarded emanations are still within our reach but remain dormant, unknown to us for the duration of our lives. FFW,127.
 
WE CAN'T PERCEIVE THE NAGUAL BECAUSE OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT CLUSTERS EMANATIONS FOR THE FIRST ATTENTION ONLY AND NEVER CLUSTERS EMANATIONS FOR THE SECOND ATTENTION
the AP is responsible for making the first attention perceive in terms of clusters. FFW,142 An example of a cluster of emanations that receive emphasis together is the human body as we perceive it. Another part of our total being, our luminous cocoon, never receives emphasis and is relegated to oblivion; FFW,142
 
WE SELECT THOSE EMANATIONS BECAUSE WE WERE TAUGHT THAT THOSE EMANATIONS ARE PERCEIVABLE AND BECAUSE OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT SELECT AND PREPARE THOSE EMANATIONS FOR BEING USED
Human beings repeatedly chose the same emanations for perceiving because of two reasons. First, and most important, because we have been taught that those emanations are perceivable and second because our AP select and prepare those emanations for being used. FFW,136
 
WHAT DETERMINES WHAT PRECISE EMANATIONS WILL BE USED?
 
OUR LIMITED ENERGY IS SYSTEMATICALLY DEPLOYED IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE USED MOST ADVANTAGEOUSLY BY THE MODALITY OF TIME
an energy that is systematically deployed, beginning at the moment of birth, in order that it may be used most advantageously by the modality of time... POS,8
 
WHAT IS THE MODALITY OF TIME? (TONAL OF THE TIMES)
 
TIME DECIDES WHICH MODE OUR REALITY IS IN OR WHAT PRECISE BUNDLE OF ENERGY FIELD WE ARE USING
the modality of time is the precise bundle of energy fields being perceived..I believe man's perception has changed through the ages. The actual time decides the mode; the time decides which precise bundle of energy fields, out of an incalcuable number are to be used...And handling the modality of time- those few, selected energy fields- takes all our available energy, leaving us nothing that would help us use any of the other energy fields. POS,8
 
TO KEEP A CONTINUITY OF PERCEPTION THESE ALIGNMENTS ARE CONSTANTLY RENEWED WHICH REINFORCES WHAT ALIGNMENT WE HABITUATE ON
 
ALIGNMENT IS CEASELESSLY RENEWED IN ORDER TO GIVE PERCEPTION CONTINUITY
the new seers examined how the perception of the world of everyday life takes place and saw the effects of will. They saw that alignment is ceaselessly renewed in order to imbue perception with continuity. FFW,190.
 
TO KEEP THE PERCEPTION OF OUR WORLD FRESH, THE BURSTS OF ENERGY FROM OUR HABITUAL ALIGNMENTS IS REROUTED TO REINFORCE OUR CHOICE ALIGNMENTS
To renew alignment every time with the freshness that it needs to make up a living world, the bursts of energy that comes out of those very alignments is automatically rerouted to reinforce some choice alignments. FFW,190.
 
THE HABITUAL POSITION OF MAN'S ASSEMBLAGE POINT IS BROUGHT ABOUT BY HABITUATION/CERTAIN EMANATIONS WERE ROUTINELY ALIGNED
..the assemblage point's habitual location is not innate but brought about by habituation. (old sorcerers saw children's AP constantly fluttering).TAOD,75, 76, 77....Certain emanations are routinely aligned because of the fixation of the AP on one specific spot; that is all there is to our world. FFW,303
 
WHAT ARE THE RESULTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY US BEING ON THE HABITUAL POSITION?
 
WE BECOME VERY SELF-REFLECTIVE
 
ALL LIVING BEINGS HAVE SOME DEGREE OF SELF-REFLECTION IN ORDER FOR THEM TO INTERACT BUT NONE HAS MAN'S HIGH DEGREE OF SELF-ABSORPTION
..the awareness of all living beings has a degree of self-reflection in order for them to interact. But none except man's first attention has such a high degree of self-absorption. FFW,93
 
THE FIRST ATTENTION TAKES AN INVENTORY OF THE EAGLE'S EMANATIONS INSIDE THEIR COCOONS/ IT NOTES EVERYTHING ABOUT ITSELF/WE ONLY QUIET OUR EMANATIONS TO REFLECT ON OURSELVES
instead, their first attention takes an inventory of the Eagle's emanations inside their cocoons. FFW,92 inventory.. human beings take notice of the emanations they have inside their cocoons.. No other creatures do that. the moment the pressure from the emanations at large fixates the emanations inside, the first attention begins to watch itself. It notes everything about itself, or at least it tries to, in whatever aberrant ways it can. FFW,92...seers see the emanations inside the cocoon of man are not quieted down for purposes of matching them with those outside... human beings quiet down their emanations and then reflect on them. The emanations focus on themselves. FFW,92 the new seers realized that all organic beings, except man, quiet down their agitated trapped emanations so that those emanations can align themselves with their matching ones outside. Human beings do not do that; FFW,92 seers see the emanations inside the cocoon of man are not quieted down for purposes of matching them with those outside... FFW,92
 
WHAT IS AN INVENTORY?
 
THE INVENTORY IS THE MIND
The inventory is the mind. POS,173.
 
KNOWING AN INVENTORY IS WHAT MAKES A MAN OR SCHOLAR AN EXPERT IN HIS FIELD
Inventory..human beings are creatures of inventory. Knowing the ins and outs of a particular inventory is what makes a man a scholar or an expert in his field...POS,173.
 
WE MUST TAKE AN INVENTORY IT IS THE EAGLE'S COMMAND
to take an inventory is the Eagle's command. FFW,93
 
EXAMPLES OF OUR INVENTORYS..
 
LITERAL-MINDEDNESS
literal-mindedness is a major item of our inventory, and that we have to be aware of it to bypass it. TSC,85.
 
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TAKE THE INVENTORY TOO FAR?
 
TWO THINGS MAY HAPPEN: HUMANS MAY IGNORE THE IMPULSES OF THE EMANATIONS AT LARGE (REASON) OR THEY MAY USE THEM IN A SPECIALIZED WAY (SELF-ABSORPTION)
.... Human beings carry the command of taking an inventory to its logical extreme and disregard everything else. Once they are deeply involved in the inventory, two things may happen. They may ignore the impulses of the emanations at large, or they may use them in a very specialized way....FFW,92 The end result of ignoring those impulses after taking an inventory is a unique state called reason. FFW,92 The result of using every impulse in a specialized way is known as self-absorption. FFW,92.... Contrary to men of reason, who ignore the impulse of the emanations at large, the self-absorbed individuals use every impulse and turn them all into a force to stir the trapped emanations inside their cocoons. FFW,93
 
REASON
 
REASON IS A BY-PRODUCT OF THE HABITUAL POSITION OF THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT
Reason is only a by-product of the habitual position of the assemblage point TAOD,73.
 
OUR PERSPECTIVE IS FROM THE CENTER OF REASON ONLY REGARDLESS OF WHO WE ARE OR WHERE WE COME FROM
We function at the center of reason exclusively, regardless of who we are or where we come from.TOP,237.
 
HUMAN REASON IS A DULL GLOW THAT MAKES THE EGGLIKE SHELL TOUGHER MORE BRITTLE
Human reason appears to a seer as an unusually homogenous dull glow that rarely if ever responds to the constant pressure from the emanations at large - a glow that makes the egglike shell become tougher, but more brittle... reason in the human being should be bountiful, but that in actuality it is very rare. FFW,93
 
MOST PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE THEIR ASSEMBLAGE POINT SQUARELY ON THE LOCATION OF REASON
the majority of people do not have their AP squarely on the location of reason, but in its immediate vicinity.. POS,204.
 
MEN OF TRUE REASON LIVE LONGER THAN SELF-ABSORBED HUMANS
The new seers saw that men of reason are bound to live longer, because by disregarding the impulse of the emanations at large, they quiet down the natural agitation inside their cocoons. FFW,93
 
SELF-ABSORBED/SELF-IMPORTANCE
 
SELF-IMPORTANCE IS THE FORCE GENERATED BY MAN'S SELF-IMAGE, IT KEEPS THE ASSEMBLAGE FIXED
DJ described self-importance as the force generated by man's self-image... it is that force which keeps the AP fixed where it is at the present. POS,158......
 
SELF-ABSORPTION AS SEEN ON THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT ARE INTERMITTENT BURSTS OF WHITE LIGHT FOLLOWED BY LONG PAUSES OF DULLNESS
the majority of human beings turn to self-absorption. Seers see this as intermittent bursts of white light, followed by long pauses of dullness. FFW,93
 
SELF-ABSORBED INDIVIDUALS USE THE IMPULSE OF THE EMANATIONS AT LARGE TO CREATE MORE AGITATION SHORTEN THEIR LIVES
The self absorbed individuals... use the impulse of the emanations at large to create more agitation, shorten their lives. FFW,93
 
WHY CAN'T WE BREAK FROM OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT'S HABITUAL POSITION?
 
THE FIRST ATTENTION CAN NEVER BE COMPLETELY OVERCOME, IT CAN ONLY BE TURNED OFF FOR A MOMENT AND REPLACED WITH THE SECOND ATTENTION
The first attention, the attention that makes the world, can never be completely overcome; it can only be turned off for a moment and replaced with the second attention, providing the body has stored enough of it. EG,141.
 
WE ARE BORN WITH A LIMITED AMOUNT OF ENERGY
 
HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN WITH A FINITE AMOUNT OF ENERGY
..Human beings are born with a finite amount of energy.. POS,8
 
THE RIGHT SIDE CONSUMES TOO MUCH ENERGY
On the right side too much energy and time is consumed in the actions and interactions of our daily life. EG,165.
 
SORCERY OR THE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD IS BEYOND THE AVERAGE MAN BECAUSE HE LACKS THE ENERGY TO DEAL WITH IT
From where the average man stands..sorcery is nonsense or an ominous mystery beyond his reach. and he is right not because this is an absolute fact, but because the average man lacks the energy to deal with sorcery. POS,8 ...you cannot witness fields of energy... not as an average man, that is.. FFW,53....moving the AP or breaking one's continuity is not the real difficulty. The real difficulty is having energy. POS,232....
 
WHAT TAKES UP ALL OF OUR ENERGY?
 
ALL OF OUR AVAILABLE ENERGY GOES TO UPHOLDING OUR WORLD/OUR IMPORTANCE/ FIRST ATTENTION CONSUMES ALL OUR AVAILABLE ENERGY/ALL THE GLOW OF AWARENESS
he added that we all have a determined quantity of basic energy. That quantity is all the energy we have, and we use all of it for perceiving and dealing with our engulfing world. He repeated various times, to emphasize it, that there is no more energy for us anywhere and since our available energy is already engaged, there is not a single bit left in us for any extraordinary perception, such as dreaming....(TAOD, )....the new seers saw that the first attention consumes all the glow of awareness that human beings have, and not one iota of energy is left free...FFW,97...The problem is that all the energy available is consumed by the first attention. FFW,100 ..most of our energy goes into upholding our importance. TAOD,37
 
SELF-IMPORTANCE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL OUR TROUBLES/ OUR PERSONAL HISTORY
Those habitual feelings and thoughts are the source of all troubles..I'm referring to your barrage of habitual feelings and thoughts, your personal history, Everything that makes you into what you think you are, a unique and special person. TSC,38. You are not used to this kind of life; therefore the indications (omens) bypass you. Yet you are a serious person, but your seriousness is attached to what you do, not to what goes on outside you. You dwell upon yourself too much. That's the trouble. And that produces a terrible fatigue. TDJ,51. Seek and see the marvels all around you. You will get tired of looking at yourself alone, and that fatigue will make you deaf and blind to everything else. TDJ,52. You are vulnerable because you feel important.. all that shame was caused by your misguided sense of personal worth. TSC,97. We do confuse ourselves deliberately..all of us are aware of our doings. Our puny reason deliberately makes itself into the monster it fancies itself to be. It's too little for such a big mould,though. TOP,57 the trouble with us is that we take ourselves seriously.. whatever our category our self-image falls into only matters because of our self-importance. If we weren't self-important, it wouldn't matter at all which category we fell into. POS,250. We learn to think about everything.. and we train our eyes to look as we think about the things we look at. We look at ourselves already thinking that we are important. And therefore we've got to feel important. SR,81.You take yourself too seriously.... you are too damn important in your own mind. That must be changed. You are so goddamn important that you feel justified to be annoyed with everything. You're so damn important that you can afford to leave if things don't go your way. I suppose you think that shows you have character. That's nonsense. You're weak and conceited. Self-importance is another thing that must be dropped, just like personal history... JTI,21. ...self-importance is our greatest enemy. what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone. FFW,27 the idea of personal self has no value whatsoever. POS,223...self-importance is not simple and naive.. on the one hand, it is the core of everything that is good in us and on the other hand it is the core of everything that is rotten. FFW,29....for the rational man to hold steadfastly to his self-image insured his abysmal ignorance. He ignored..the fact that sorcery was not incanations and hocus-pocus, but the freedom to perceive not only the world taken for granted, but everything else that was humanly possible. POS,224. He had said that my reason was the demon that kept me chained, and that I had to vanquish it if I wanted to achieve the realization of his teachings. the issue, therefore had been how to vanquish my reason. SRP,239. sorcerers believed it was the position of the AP which made modern man a homicidal egotist, a being totally involved with his self image.POS,158 The position of self-reflection...forces the AP to assemble a world of sham compassion, but of very real cruelty and self-centeredness. In that world the only real feelings are those convienent for the one who feels them. POS,158
 
MESSY LIFE
You always feel compelled to explain your acts, as if you were the only man on earth who's wrong...it's your old feeling of importance. You have too much of it; you also have too much personal history...you don't assume responsibility for your acts; your not using death as an adviser, and above all, you are too accessible. In other words, your life is as messy as it was before I met you. JTI,80... For you the world is weird because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable, my interest has been to convince you that must assume responsibility for being here...JTI,81
 
SELF-PITY
self-pity doesn't jibe with power..the mood of a warrior calls for control over himself and at the same time calls for abandoning himself. JTI,111. Don't you dare give in to self-pity in this house. If you do, this house will reject you; it'll spit you out... TSC,65. There's no way to feel sorry for poor Manfred. No matter what form he's in, he's a warrior. Self-pity... is inside you and expresses itself in different ways..Right now you're calling it "feeling sorry for Manfred" TSC,153.
 
SELF-IMPORTANCE AND SELF-PITY ARE THE SAME THING
  ...sorcerers had unmasked self-importance and found that it is self-pity masquerading as something else.... Self-pity is the real enemy and the source of man's misery. ....Without a degree of pity for himself, man could not afford to be as self important as he is. However, once the force of self-importance is engaged, it develops its own momentum. And it is this seemingly independent nature of self-importance which gives it its fake sense of worth. POS,158
 
THIS SELF-ABSORPTION IS REINFORCED BY THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE
 
THE HABITUAL POSITION OF MAN'S ASSEMBLAGE POINT IS MAINTAINED BY THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE
The position of the AP on man's cocoon is maintained by the internal dialogue, and because of that, it is a flimsy position at best. That's why men and women lose their minds so easily, especially those whose internal dialogue is repetitious, boring, and without any depth. FFW,173
 
WE MAINTAIN OUR WORLD WITH OUR INTERNAL TALK WE REPEAT THE SAME CHOICES OVER AND OVER UNTIL THE DAY WE DIE BECAUSE WE KEEP ON REPEATING THE SAME INTERNAL TALK OVER AND OVER UNTIL THE DAY WE DIE.
You talk to yourself too much. you're not unique at that. Everyone of us do that. We carry on an internal talk... we talk about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. Whenever we finish talking to ourselves the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we kindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die. SR,218.
 
AS LONG AS YOU REMAIN SELF-IMPORTANT YOU CANNOT APPRECIATE THE WORLD AROUND YOU, ALL YOU SEE IS YOURSELF APART FROM EVERYTHING ELSE
As long as you feel that you are the most important thing in the world you cannot really appreciate the world around you. You are like a horse with blinders, all you see is yourself apart from everything else. JTI,23
 
HOW DOES OUR INTERNAL DIALOGUE AND SELF-ABSORPTION DEVELOP?
 
AT BIRTH WE ARE ALL NAGUAL AND OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT IS NOT FIXED
 
BEFORE BIRTH THE DUALITY BETWEEN THE TONAL AND NAGUAL DOESN'T EXIST
She said that before birth, man's imposed duality doesn't exist, TSC,43
 
BUT AT THE MOMENT OF BIRTH, THE TONAL AND NAGUAL BECOME OPERATIVE
every human being had two sides, two seperate entities, two counterparts which became operative at the moment of birth; one was called the tonal and the other the nagual. TOP,119.
 
AT BIRTH THE TWO SIDES ARE SEPERATED BY THE PULL OF MANKIND'S INTENT: ONE PART TURNS OUTWARD AND BECOMES THE PHYSICAL BODY AND THE OTHER INWARD AND BECOMES THE DOUBLE
but that from birth on, the two parts are seperated by the pull of mankind's intent. One part turns outward and becomes the physical body; the other, inward and becomes the double. TSC,43
 
AT BIRTH WE ARE ALL NAGUAL AND FOR A SHORT TIME AFTER
At the time of birth, and for awhile after, we are all nagual. TOP,126.
 
AT FIRST INFANTS HAVE NO FIXED ASSEMBLAGE POINT AND IT MOVES THROUGHOUT MAN'S BAND
The seers see that infants have no fixed AP at first. Their encased emanations are in a state of great turmoil, and their AP shift everywhere in the band of man, giving children a great capacity to focus on emanations that later will be throughly disregarded.FFW,151 The fact of the matter is that many children can see. FFW,151
 
BUT AFTER A SHORT TIME AFTER BIRTH, THE TONAL BEGINS TO DEVELOP AND BEGINS TO OVERTAKE THE NAGUAL
 
WE SENSE, THEN, THAT IN ORDER TO FUNCTION WE NEED A COUNTER PART TO WHAT WE HAVE. THE TONAL IS MISSING AND THAT GIVES US, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, A FEELING OF INCOMPLETENESS
We sense, then, that in order to function we need a counter part to what we have. The tonal is missing and that gives us, from the very beginning, a feeling of incompleteness. TOP,126.
 
BUT FROM BIRTH THE TONAL BEGINS TO DEVELOP..
We begin to groom it at the moment of birth. The moment we take the first gasp of air we also breathe in power for the tonal. So, it is proper to say that the tonal of a human being is intimately tied to his birth. TOP,122
 
WHEN THE TONAL DOES DEVELOP, IT BEGINS TO OUTSHINE THE NAGUAL
Then the tonal starts to develop and it becomes utterly important to our functioning, so important that it opaques the shine of the nagual, it overwhelms it. From the moment we become all tonal we do nothing else but to increment that old feeling of incompleteness which accompanies us from the moment of our birth, and which tells us constantly that there is another part to give us completeness. TOP,126. Our first ring of power is engaged very early in our lives and that we live under the impression that that is all there is to us. SRP,242
 
WHY DOES THE TONAL START TO DEVELOP?
 
PEOPLE START TO TEACH US HOW AND WHAT TO PERCEIVE
 
FROM OUR TEACHERS, WE LEARN WHAT TO PERCEIVE
we perceive this is a hard fact. But what we perceive is not a fact of the same kind, because we learn what to perceive... FFW,53
 
THE ISLAND OF THE TONAL IS MADE BY OUR PERCEPTION WHICH HAS BEEN TRAINED TO FOCUS ON CERTAIN ELEMENTS
I have called that view the island of the tonal. I've said that everything we are is on that island. The sorcerer's explanation says that the island of the tonal is made by our perception, which has been trained to focus on certain elements and all of them together form our view of the world. TOP,245
 
WE LEARN MOODS LIKE SOLACE, HAVEN AND FEAR
Solace, haven, fear, all of them are moods that you have learned without ever questioning their value. TOP,26.
 
EVERYONE A CHILD WHO COMES INTO CONTACT WITH IS A TEACHER
He pointed out that everyone who comes into contact with a child is a teacher who incessantly describes the world to him, JTI,ix.
 
WE START TO DEVELOP AN INTERNALIZED DIALOGUE WITHIN OURSELVES WHICH BEGINS TO TAKE UP ALL OUR ENERGY AND FIXES THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT INTO PLACE
 
AS INFANTS WE ARE TAUGHT TO REPEAT AN ENDLESS DIALOGUE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THIS ENDLESS DIALOGUE BECOMES INTERNALIZED AND THAT FORCE ALONE KEEPS THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT FIXED
Human beings when they are infants..are taught by everyone around them to repeat an endless dialogue about themselves. The dialogue becomes internalized and that force alone keeps the AP fixed..infants have hundreds of teachers who teach them exactly where to place their AP. FFW,151 The internal dialogue is a process that constantly strengthens the position of the AP, because that position is an arbitrary one and needs steady reinforcement. FFW,151 ....the new seers say that when we were taught to talk to ourselves, we were taught the means to dull ourselves in order to keep the AP fixed on one spot. FFW,168.
 
THERE COMES A MOMENT WHEN THE CHILD PERCEIVES THE WORLD AS DESCRIBED AND BEGINS AN ENDLESS FLOW OF PERCEPTUAL INTERPRETATIONS (CALLED THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE) WHICH IS RARELY OPEN TO QUESTION
until the moment when the child is capable of perceiving the world as it is described....we have no memory of that portentous moment, simply because none of us could possibly have had anything else. From that moment on, however, the child is a member. He knows the description of the world; and his membership becomes full-fledged, I suppose, when he is capable of making all the proper perceptual interpretations which, by confirming to that description, validate it. the reality of our day-to-day life consists of an endless flow of perceptual interpretations which we, the individuals who share a specific membership, have learned to make in common... The idea that the perceptual interpretations that make up the world have a flow is congruous with the fact that they run uninterruptedly and are rarely, if ever, open to question. In fact, the reality of the world we know is so taken for granted that the basic premise of sorcery, that our reality is merely one of many descriptions, could hardly be taken as a serious proposition. JTI,ix. We are all born that light and bouncy, but we become earth bound and fixed. We make ourselves that way. TOP,39.
 
WE BEGIN TO THINK VERY QUICKLY THAT WHAT WAS TAUGHT TO US AND WHAT WE CAN SEE IS OUR ONE AND ONLY REALITY AND OUR PERCEPTION CLOSES.
 
THE SELF-REFLECTED VIEW IS AT FIRST A DESCRIPTION BUT IT KEEPS BEING GIVEN TO US UNTIL ALL OF OUR ATTENTION IS CAUGHT BY IT AND IT BECOMES A VIEW
That view is first a description, which is given to us from the moment of our birth until all of our attention is caught by it and the description becomes a view.TOP,244. For a sorcerer, reality, or the world we all know, is only a description ...what I held in my mind was merely a description of the world; a description that had been pounded into me from the moment I was born. JTI,ix. We are perceivers.The world we perceive though is an illusion. it was created by a description that was told to us since the moment we were born.FFW,74. We the luminous beings are born with two rings of power, but we use only one to create the world. That ring, which is hooked very soon after we are born, is reason, and its companion is talking. between the two they concoct and maintain the world. So, in essence, the world that your reason wants to sustain is the world created by a description and its dogmatic and inviolable rules, which the reason learns to accept and defend. The secret of the luminous beings is that they have another ring of power which is never used, the will. The trick of the sorcerer is the same trick of the average man. Both have a description; the average man upholds his with reason; the, other upholds it with his will. Both descriptions have their rules and the rules are perceivable, but the advantage of the sorcerer is that will is more engulfing than reason. FFW,74.
 
WE LIVE IN A BUBBLE OF PERCEPTION WHICH CLOSES SOMETIME AFTER BIRTH AND WE WITNESS OUR OWN SELF-REFLECTION ON ITS WALLS
Sorcerers say that we are inside a bubble. it is a bubble into which we are placed at the moment of our birth. At first the bubble is open, but then it begins to close until it has sealed us in. That bubble is perception. We live in that bubble all our lives. And what we witness on its round walls is our own reflection.TOP,244.. If what we witness on the walls is our own reflection then the thing thats being reflected must be the real thing.The thing reflected is our view of the world. TOP,244.The bubble is opened in order to allow the luminous being a view of his totality. ..Naturally, this business of calling it a bubble is only a way of talking, but in this case it is an accurate way...TOP,245
 
WE THINK THAT THE WORLD IS SOLID AND FILLED WITH OBJECTS AND FORGET IT IS JUST A DESCRIPTION POUNDED INTO US EVERYDAY SINCE BIRTH
 
WE BEGIN TO THINK OF THE WORLD AS A PLACE OF OBJECTS AND SOLIDITY
The world of objects and solidity is a way of making our passage on earth convenient. It is only a description that was created for us. We, or rather our reason, forget that the description is only a description and thus we entrap the totality of ourselves in a vicious circle from which we rarely emerge in our lifetime. TOP,97. there was no world at large but only a description of the world which we had learned to visualize and take for granted. TOP,122....we think it is a world of objects and its not... the world is not as solid and as real as our perception has been led to believe, but it isn't a mirage either.. FFW,52.. .To believe that the world is only as you think it is, is stupid. JTI,64. ...human beings employ the Eagle's emanations and interpret them as reality. But what man senses is such a small portion of the Eagle's emanations that its ridiculous to put much stock in our perceptions and yet it isn't possible for us to disregard our perceptions. FFW,60. the basic premise of sorcery...that for a sorcerer, the world of everyday life is not real, or out there, as we believe it is. JTI,ix. ...Sorcerers call it the secret of the luminous beings and it is the fact that we are perceivers. We men and all the other luminous beings on earth are perceivers. That is our bubble, the bubble of perception. Our mistake is to believe that the only perception worthy of acknowledgement is what goes through our reason. Sorcerers believe that reason is only one center and it shouldn't take so much for granted. TOP,246 the conviction that there is a real you is a result of the fact that you have rallied everything you've got around your reason.TOP,267
 
WE REGARD THE VISUAL AS THE ONLY REALITY BECAUSE WE RELY ON LANGUAGE AND REASON
Because we rely on language and reason.. it is the level of the visible that we regard as reality. it appears to have an order, and is stable and predictable. Yet in actuality, it is elusive, temporary and ever changing. What we judge as permanent reality is only the surface appearance of an unfathomable force. TSC,187.
 
THERE IS ONLY PERCEPTION AND THE NAGUAL AND THINGS LIKE EVIL, THE DEVIL, WITCHCRAFT COMES FROM OUR REASON
...Turn everything into what it really is: the abstract, the spirit, the nagual. There is no witchcraft, no evil, no devil. There is only perception. POS,216
 
EVIL IS A CONCATENATION OF THE MIND BECAUSE OF THE FIXATION OF THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT ON ITS HABITUAL POSITION
evil is merely a concatenation of the human mind, overwhelmed by the fixation of the assemblage point on its habitual position. TAOD,239
 
AND WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT TO US IS BASED UPON WHATEVER SOCIETY WE ARE IN AT THE TIME
 
THE PARAMETERS OF OUR NORMAL PERCEPTION HAS BEEN IMPOSED ON US AS PART OF OUR SOCIALIZATION
It is a sorcerer's idea that the parameters of our normal perception have been imposed upon us as part of our socialization, not quite arbitrarily but laid down mandatorily nonetheless. TSC,viii
 
WE ARE FIXED FOREVER IN OUR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS TO FOLLOW THE PATH THAT HABITUAL MAN HAS LINED UP FOR US.
Our fellow men are black magicians. And since you are with them, you too are a black magician. think for a moment. Can you deviate from the path that they've lined up for you? No. Your thoughts and your actions are fixed forever in their terms. That is slavery..TOP,26. He said I was pimping for someone else. That I was not fighting my own battle, but the battles of some unknown people..and that in his world of precise acts and feelings and decisions was infinitely more effective than the blundering idiocy I called my life. JTI,58. ...our thoughts think us, our feelings feel; we do not have much say in the matter...the Buddha explains, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought." EE,M,10,11
 
OUR REALITY IS CONTINUALLY UPHELD BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL BEEN TAUGHT THE SAME TO AGREE ON WHAT IS REAL
 
FOR THINGS TO BE REAL IN OUR WORLD WE HAVE TO AGREE UPON THEM
Things are real only after one has learned to agree on their realness. What took place this evening... cannot possibly be real to you, because no one could agree with you about it. TOP,25. let's say that when every one of us is born we bring with us a little ring of power. That little ring is almost immediately put to use. So every one of us is already hooked from birth and our rings of power are joined to everyone else's. In other words, our rings of power are hooked to the doing of the world in order to make the world.... for instance, our rings of power, yours and mine, are hooked right now to the doing in this room. We are making this room. Our rings of power are spinning this room into being at this very moment. JTI,211...every one of us knows the doing of rooms because, in one way or another, we have spent much of our lives in rooms. JTI,212 All I did was to hook my ring of power to your own doing... you yourself did the rest and so did the others... we all have been taught to agree about doing..you don't have any idea of the power that that agreement brings it....but, fortunately, not-doing is equally miraculous, and powerful. JTI,212.
 
OUR REALITY IS FURTHER ENHANCED BECAUSE HUMANS CAN SKIM THEIR PERCEPTIONS
 
SKIMMING MAKES OUR PERCEPTION EVEN MORE REAL THAN OTHER CREATURES
The skimmings of men are more real than what other creatures perceive. FFW,158
 
THE PROBLEM WITH SKIMMING IS THAT IS MAKES THINGS SO REAL WE FORGET WE HAVE CONSTRUCTED THEM BY COMMANDING OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT TO APPEAR WHERE THEY DO
that is our pitfall. they are so real to us that we forget we have constructed them by commanding our AP to appear where they do. We forget they are real to us only because it is our command to perceive them as real. We have the power to skim the top off the alignments, but we don't have the power to protect ourselves from our own commands. That has to be learned. FFW,158.
 
D.) INVENTORY AND SHIELDS
 
AND BY THE TIME WE OUR TEENAGERS, SOCIETY HAS FILLED US UP WITH ITS INVENTORY LIKE AN ENORMOUS WAREHOUSE WITH NO SAY FROM US AND IT USUALLY NEVER CHANGES
 
WE ARE LIKE A GIANT WAREHOUSE THAT STORES OUR FEELINGS, IDEAS, BEHAVIOR PATTERNS ETC.,
try to imagine yourself as a giant warehouse.. in that wherehouse, someone other than yourself has stored feelings, ideas, mental dialogues and behavior patterns. Since it is your wherehouse, you can go in there and rummage around any time you want and use whatever you find there.TSC,74.
 
OUR PROBLEM IS THAT WE HAVE NO SAY OVER OUR INVENTORY AND USUALLY OUR INVENTORY NEVER CHANGES
the problem is that you have absolutely no say over the inventory, for it was already established before you came into possession of the wherehouse. Thus you are drastically linked in your selection of items... she added that our lives seem to be an uninterrupted time line because in our wherehouses the inventory never changes. TSC,74.
 
AND OUR ENERGY FIELD IS CONSTANTLY LESSENED AND MADE MORE RIGID AS WE GET OLDER AND IT BECOMES HARDER TO CHANGE
 
THE WEB GETS PORTIONS OF ITSELF LOST OR ENTWINED IN OTHER PEOPLE'S BANDS OF ENERGY AND GETS TORN TO SHREDS
This web of energy gets torn to shreds during daily living. Huge portions of it become lost or entwined in other people's bands of energy. If a person loses too much vital force, he becomes ill or dies. TSC,134...
 
MAN'S INVENTORY ALSO TOUGHENS THE COCOON TO THE POINT OF MAKING IT INFLEXIBLE
Man's inventory not only takes it all, but it also toughens the cocoon to the point of making it inflexible. FFW,100
 
AND SO FINALLY, WE DEVELOP OUR CONTINUITY FOR ALL OF OUR LIVES
 
WHAT IS CONTINUITY?
 
CONTINUITY IS THE IDEA THAT WE ARE A SOLID BLOCK AND OUR WORLD IS NOT CHANGEABLE
continuity..the idea that we are a solid block.. in our minds, what sustains our world is the certainty that we are unchangeable... we may accept that our behavior or our reactions and opinions can be modified, but the idea that we can change appearances, to the point of being someone else.. is not part of our underlying order of our self-reflection.... POS,172
 
ONE ASPECT OF THESE MANDATORY PERCEPTION PARAMETERS IS AN INTERPRETATION CENTER
One aspect of these obligatory parameters is an interpretation system, TSC,viii
 
WHAT IS AN INTERPRETATION SYSTEM?
 
AN INTERPRETATION SYSTEM PROCESSES SENSORY DATA INTO MEANINGFUL UNITS AND USES THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE AS A WAY TO INTERPRET THESE UNITS
which processes sensory data into meaningful units and renders the social structure as a structure of interpretation. TSC,viii
 
OUR INTERPRETATION REQUIRES FAITHFUL AND BLIND ADHERENCE TO ALL ITS CONCEPTS/ NONE OF WHICH CALLS FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF DIRECTLY PERCEIVING ENERGY
Our normal functioning within the social order requires a blind and faithful adherence to all its precepts, none of which calls for the possibility of directly perceiving energy. For example, DJ maintained that it is possible to perceive human beings as fields of energy, like huge, oblong, whitish luminous eggs. TSC,viii
 
WE STIFLE OUR POTENTIAL TO SEE AND THAT EVENTUALLY THE SEER IS FILLED WITH BITTERNESS AND HATRED AND FINALLY DESTROYS US
Yet in spite of the clarity and accuracy of the seer's assessment's, we never pay attention to it or give the seer a chance to make itself heard. Through a continual suppression, we stifle its growth and prevent it from developing its full potential. TSC,99. In the end, the seer inside us is filled with bitterness and hatred.. the ancient men of wisdom who invented the recapitulation believed that since we never stop subduing the seer, it finally destroys us.TSC,99.
 
WHAT PROTECTS US AND KEEPS US FROM EXPERIENCING THE NAGUAL?
 
THE TONAL PROTECTS US
The tonal is rightfully so, a protector, a guardian - a guardian that most of the time turns into a guard. TOP,120
 
HOW DOES THE TONAL HELP PROTECT US FROM THE NAGUAL?
 
THE TONAL SUPRESSES THE NAGUAL
The tonal's great art is to supress any manifestations of the nagual in such a manner that even if its presence should be the most obvious thing in the world, it is unnoticeable. TOP,131
 
THE FIRST ATTENTION BLOCKS OUT THE UNKNOWN SO WELL THAT IT DOESN'T EXIST FOR US/WE NEVER BELIEVE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US
The first attention works very well with the unknown. It blocks it; denies it so fiercely that in the end, the unknown doesn't exist for the first attention. FFW,94..the world kept him so busy that he had neither the time nor the inclination really to examine the matter.. the spirit tried, uselessly, to reveal their connection. Using an inner voice, the spirit disclosed its secrets, but the man was incapable of understanding the revelations. Naturally he heard the inner voice, but he believed it to be his own feelings he was feeling and his own thoughts he was thinking. POS, 23, reason doesn't deal with man as energy. FFW, 130....we are not aware of being linked to everything else..POS,114 ....being too rational is a handicap. POS,174 Our great enemy is the fact that we never believe what is happening to us. SRP,55... It was stupidity that forced us to discard anything that did not form with our self-reflective expectations...as average men, we were blind to the most crucial piece of knowledge available to a human being: the existence of the AP and the fact that it could move.POS,224. Mr. Abelar promised that he himself would guide me to deliberately open the first gate after I had successfully accomplished the abstract flight. he emphasized that in order to open the gates, a complete change of attitude is necessary because our preconceived notion that we are solid is what keeps the double imprisoned, rather than any physical structure of the body itself. TSC,160.
 
ONE OF THE SELF'S STRONGEST LINES OF DEFENSE IS INDEED OUR RATIONALITY
One of the self's strongest lines of defense is indeed our rationality.. TAOD,83
 
WE ARE BARRED FROM SILENT KNOWLEDGE BY NATURAL BARRIERS, SPECIFIC TO EACH INDIVIDUAL
Don Juan remarked that each of us was barred from silent knowledge by natural barriers, specific to each individual; and that the most impregnable of CC barriers was the drive to disguise my complacency as independence. POS, 62.. (Like things he didn't want to do were disguised as things he chose not to do.. but really he was too lazy to do them.)
 
THE TONAL USES SHIELDS TO PROTECT US
 
SHIELDS ENGAGE ALL OF OUR AWARENESS AND THIS KEEPS US FROM SEEING THE ROLLING FORCE
We have consuming interests that engage all of our awareness. We are permantely worried about our station, our possessions. These shields, however do not keep the tumbler away, they keep us from seeing it directly, protecting us in this way from getting hurt from seeing the balls of fire hitting us. FFW,241
 
THE ROLLING FORCE IS LETHAL WHEN WE CAN SEE IT, BUT OTHERWISE WE ARE OBLIVIOUS TO IT BECAUSE WE HAVE PROTECTIVE SHIELDS
...It's lethal when seen, but otherwise we are oblivious to it, in our ordinary lives, because we have protective shields. FFW,241
 
AVERAGE PEOPLE HAVE SPECIAL SHIELDS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES.. PEOPLE ARE BUSY DOING WHAT PEOPLE DO
An average man is equally surrounded by those inexplicable forces is oblivious to them because he has other kinds of special shields to protect himself.... People are busy doing that which people do. Those are their shields. SR,216,217.
 
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF A SHIELD?
 
TAKING AN INVENTORY MAKES US INVULNERABLE WHICH IS WHY THE INVENTORY CAME INTO EXISTENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE
taking an inventory makes us invulnerable. That is why the inventory came into existence in the first place. FFW,94
 
WRITING
writing was the best protective shield that I had. TOP,31.I was indulging in being broad minded and good...a warrior never lets his guard down..be yourself...it is not a matter whether you like it or not. What matters is, what can you use as a shield?TOP,76.
 
DOES THE TONAL ALWAYS PROTECT US?
 
AS A RULE THE TONAL MUST DEFEND ITSELF AT ANY COST, EVERYTIME IT IS THREATENED
...as a rule the tonal must defend itself, at any cost, every time it is threatened; so it is of no real consequence how the tonal reacts in order to accomplish its defence. TOP,173.
 
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO US IF OUR TONAL DID NOT PROTECT US?
 
THE NAGUAL COULD DESTROY THE TONAL WHEN IT COMES OUT
The nagual once it learns to surface, may cause a great damage to the tonal by coming out without any control. TOP,157.
 
A THREAT TO THE TONAL ALWAYS RESULTS IN DEATH
The tonal must be protected at any cost. The crown has to be taken away from it, but it must remain as the protected overseer. Any threat to the tonal always results in its death. And if the tonal dies, so does the whole man. TOP,157. (SEE HUMAN SHIELDS)
 
WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS TO BEING PROTECTED BY THE TONAL?
 
THE TONAL'S ORIGINAL FUNCTION IS TO PROTECT OUR BEING (MAKING SENSE OUT OF THINNGS) BUT IT EVENTUALLY BECOMES A GUARD BECAUSE IT LIMITS OUR PERCEPTION
I would say then that the tonal is a guardian that protects something priceless, our very being. Therefore, an inherent quality of the tonal is to be cagey and jealous of its doings. And since its doings are by far the most important part of our lives, it is no wonder that it eventually changes, in every one of us, from a guardian into a guard. TOP,120,121. A guardian is broad-minded and understanding.. a guard is a vigilante, narrow-minded and most of the time despotic. I say,then, that the tonal in all of us has been made into a petty and despotic guard when it should be a broad-minded guardian. TOP,121.
 
so don juan's references to the guardian was not the guardian itself but to the tonal in which it must be overcome before we can enter into the other side 10/23/94
 
SHIELDS ARE A GREAT HELP AND A HINDERANCE, THEY GIVE US A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY
Shields are great help and a great hinderance to us. They pacify us and at the same time fool us. They give us a false sense of security. FFW,241
 
WHY DON'T PEOPLE BREAK THEIR SELF-REFLECTION?
 
THE THINGS PEOPLE DO ARE SHIELDS AGAINST THE FORCES THAT SURROUND US; WHAT WE DO AS PEOPLE GIVES US COMFORT AND MAKES US FEEL SAFE
Your problem is that you confuse the world with what people do. Again you're not unique at that. Every one of us does that. The things people do are shields against the forces that surround us; what we do as people gives us comfort and makes us feel safe; what people do is rightfully important, but only as a shield. We never learn that the things we do as people are only shields and we let them dominate, and topple our lives. In fact I could say that for mankind, what people do is greater and more important than the world itself. SR,219. Our flaw is to insist on remaining on our monotonous, tiring, but convenient island. the tonal is the villain and it shouldn't be. TOP,155.
 
PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF FREEDOM OF PERCEPTION BECAUSE IT DISRUPTS OUR COMFORTABLE SPOTS OF SELF-REFLECTION AND IT REQUIRED A HUGE AMOUNT OF STRENGTH TO DO IT
People might not appreciate that, and that's because they don't want to be free. freedom is frightening. FFW,290. Cutting our chains (ego) is marvelous but also very undesirable for nobody wants to be free....the chains imprison us, but by keeping us pinned down on our comfortable spots of self-reflection, they defend us from the onslaughts of the unknown. POS,101...the average man trembles at the possibility of freedom. POS,224...the strangest part of this mystery (moving the AP) is that it is so easy to accomplish.. but what is not easy is to convince ourselves that it is possible. There, right there, is our safety catch. We have to be convinced. And none of us wants to be. FFW,237. it took enormity of strength to let go of the intent of everyday life....EG,308.
 
DOES THE TONAL EVER NOTICE THE NAGUAL?
 
SOMETIMES THE TONAL NOTICES THE NAGUAL AND THE TOTALITY OF OURSELVES ARISES
..on certain occasions, however, or under certain special circumstances, something in the tonal itself becomes aware that there is more to us. It is like the voice that comes from the depths, the voice of the nagual. You see the totality of ourselves is a natural condition which the tonal cannot obliterate altogether, and there are moments, especially in the life of a warrior, when the totality becomes apparent. At those moments one can surmise and assess what we really are. TOP,131.
 
THE TONAL IS ALWAYS USED BUT SOMETIMES THE NAGUAL ACTS OUT AND TERRIFIES THE TONAL
..the tonal rules and yet it is very vulnerable. the nagual..never, or almost never, acts out; but when it does, it terrifies the tonal. TOP,157.
 
IS IT EASY TO EXPERIENCE THE NAGUAL ?
 
FOR AVERAGE PEOPLE IT IS A ONE-SHOT AFFAIR THAT IS THE RESULT OF A RANDOM MOVEMENT OF THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT
He called the mystical experience a chance seeing, a one-shot affair that has no significance whatsoever because it is the result of a random movement of the AP. FFW,282. . Sometimes if we have enough personal power we can catch a glimpse of the mould even though we are not sorcerers; when that happens we say that we have seen God. SRP,139..
 
PROBABLY EVERY PERSON HAS HAD A CHANCE TO MOVE THEIR ASSEMBLAGE POINT
possibly every human being under normal living conditions had had at one time or another the opportunity to break away from the bindings of convention...not social convention..but the conventions binding our perception. A moment of elation would suffice to move our AP and break our conventions. (see moving the AP) So, too, a moment of fright, ill, health, anger, or grief. POS,215,232,242.
 
MYSTICS
all the mystics and spiritual teacher's had moved their assemblage points, either through discipline or accident, to a certain point and then they returned to normalcy carrying a memory that lasted them a lifetime. POS,215
 
WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THE TONAL EXPERIENCES THE NAGUAL?
 
WHEN AN INVENTORY FAILS OR WE ENCOUNTER PHENOMENOM THAT WE CANNOT EXPLAIN, THE PERSON EITHER ENLARGES HIS INVENTORY OR HIS WHOLE WORLD OF SELF-REFLECTION COLLAPSES (STOPPING THE WORLD)
when an average person's inventory fails, the person either enlarges his inventory or his whole world of self-reflection collapses. POS,173. Interpretation system..(when we encounter phenomenom that is beyond our sytem of interpretation we have two options)...Sometimes as a fluke, an average person ends up performing it (moving the assemblage point and fixating it) and entering into another world. But this is immediately explained away as insanity or hallucination. TAOD,190
 
1. REVAMP OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM
 
1. REVAMP OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM; THIS MEANS TO ENLARGE WHAT WE EXPERIENCE AS REALITY WHICH DOES NOT ENDANGER OUR INTEGRETY OF REALITY.
Revamp our interpretation system...to enlarge its capabilities..reality becomes fluid and the scope of what can be real is enhanced without endangering the integrity of reality. TAOD.97
 
CREATE SOMETHING OUR MIND CAN HANDLE
 
WE CAN TRANSFORM A FIELD OF ENERGY INTO ANYTHING WE WANT, THE RANGE IS SO BROAD ESTABLISHING UNITS ARE USELESS BUT WE USUALLY TRANSFORM IT INTO SOMETHING FAMILIAR LIKE THE IMAGE OF A PHYSICAL BODY
the second attention is unavoidaby drawn to focus on our total being as a field of energy, and transforms that energy as anything suitable. The easiest thing is of course the image of the physical body, with which we are already thoroughly familiar from our daily lives and the use of our first attention. What channels the energy of our total being to produce anything that might be within the boundaries were, except that at the level of luminous beings the range is so broad that it is futile to try and establish limits- thus, the energy of a luminous being can be transformed through will into anything. EG,23. since I was a Catholic (Taisha)... my own way of adapting my inventory would be to turn the spirit into a sort of a guardian angel; a kind, protective male that watches over me. TSC,85 ...Social part... since we can't directly perceive energy, we process our perception to fit a mold. This mold is the social part of perception. .. it deliberately reduces the scope of what can be percieved and makes us believe that the mold into which we fit our perception is all that exists.... TAOD, 3.
 
WE CONFORM THE WORLD/UNKNOWN THINGS TO OUR THOUGHTS
Your knowledge of the world told you that in the bushes one can find only animals prowling or men hiding behind the foliage. You held that thought, and naturally you had to find ways to make the world conform to that thought. let's not call it thinking then. It is rather the habit of having the world conform to our thoughts. When it doesn't, we simply make it conform. TOP,27.
 
WHAT MADE THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT MOVE LATERALLY IN MAN'S BAND WAS A HUGE DESIRE TO RENDER THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE INTO WHAT IS MOST FAMILIAR TO US: THAT IS WHY WE SEE THE MOLD OF MAN AS A MAN AND THE BARRIER OF PERCEPTION AS A WALL OF FOG
I asked him why it was that I always saw the mold of man as a male. he said that it was because my AP did not have the stability then to remain completely glued to its new position and shifted laterally in man's band. It was the same case as seeing the barrier of perception as a wall of fog. What made the AP move laterally was a nearly unavoidable desire, or necessity, to render the incomprehensible in terms of what is most familiar to us: a barrier is a wall and the mold of man cannot be anything else but a man. he thought that if I were a women I would see the mold as a woman. FFW,287.
 
THE AVERAGE MAN CALLS UNUSUAL PERCEPTIONS WITCHCRAFT
the average man, incapable of finding the energy to perceive beyond his daily limits, called the realm of extraordinary perception sorcery, witchcraft, or the work of the devil, and shied away from it without examining it further. POS,216...
 
WE EXPLAIN SHIFTS AS FANTASIES IF IT IS MINIMAL AND HALLUCINATIONS IF THE SHIFT IS CONSIDERABLE
If the shift is minimal, the results are explained as fantasies of the mind. If the shift is considerable, the results are called hallucinations. FFW,?? (missed one, anyone know?)
 
THE AVERAGE MAN BELIEVES THAT THE INEXPLICABLE FORCES WILL EVENTUALLY BE EXPLAINED
The world is indeed full of frightening things and we are helpless creatures surrounded by forces that are inexplicable and unbending. The average man, in ignorance, belives that those forces can be explained or changed; he doesn't really know how to do that, but he expects that the actions of mankind will explain them or change them sooner or later. SR,214.
 
FOR AN AVERAGE MAN, WHEN THE AP SHIFTS, THEY THINK THEY ARE LOSING THEIR MIND
when a person's AP loses its rigidity (shifts) then if they're not warriors, they think they're losing their minds.. if they're warriors, they know they've gone crazy, but they patiently wait. To be healthy and sane means that the AP is immovable. When it shifts, it literally means that one is deranged. FFW,138
 
COINCIDENCE
 
WE TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT ATTENTION CAN BECKON AN EVENT AND WE TALK ABOUT IT IN TERMS OF COINCIDENCE
But that was also the function of attention in general (the more it is exercised the better chance of getting the desired results,) a function so taken for granted in our daily life that it has become unnoticeable; if we encounter a fortuitous occurrence, we talk about it in terms of accident or coincidence, rather in terms of our attention having beckoned the event. EG,139...
 
REPAIRING THE CONTINUITY
 
IF CONTINUITY BREAKS IT'S ALWAYS INSTANTLY REPAIRED
..continuity is so important in our lives that if it breaks it's always instantly repaired. POS, 176
 
WHENEVER THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT SHIFTS WE COMPENSATE FOR IT SO WE ARE CONSTANTLY REBALANCING OURSELVES AND GO AS IF NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO US
since the AP normally shifts during dreams...whenever we undergo an induced shift we are all experts at immedietely compensating for it. We rebalance ourselves constantly and activity goes on as if nothing has happened to us. FFW,285. the event was so farfetched for me that I could not even begin to understand it in any logical way. As usual when things of that nature confronted me, I would lump them into an amorphous category of "perceptions under conditions of severe stress". I argued that in cases of severe stress, perception could be greatly distorted by the senses. My explanation did not explain anything but seemed to keep my reason pacified. EG,140.
 
WHEN OUR ASSEMBLAGE POINT DOES MOVE ACCIDENTLY OUR SOCIAL BACKGROUNDS RETURN IT TO ITS HABITUAL SPOT
But ordinarily, whenever we had a chance to move our AP we become frightened. Our religious, academic,social backgrounds would come into play. They would assure our safe return to the flock; the return of our AP to the prescribed position of normal living. POS,215,232,242.
 
EVERYTHING WE DO IS REALLY A DISGUISE
everything we do is in some way merely a disguise. Everything we do.. is a matter of doing. A man of knowledge could hook himself to everyone's doing and come up with weird things. But they are not weird, not really. They are weird only to those who are trapped in doing... JTI,211
 
WHEN HUMANS TRY TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT ALL YOU ARE DOING IS TRYING TO MAKE THE WORLD MORE FAMILIAR
So when you're trying to figure it out, all you're doing is trying to make the world more familiar. You and I are right here, in the world that you call real, simply because we both know it. You don't the world of power, therefore you cannot make it into a familiar scene. JTI,137

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE REVAMP OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM?

PROBLEMS THAT SOME SEERS CAUSE WITH THEIR INTERPRETATIONS OF WHAT THEY EXPERIENCE/ THE MISINTERPRETATION OF THE EAGLE
More important than seeing itself is what seers do with what they see... look at what some seers have done to us. We are stuck with their vision of an Eagle that rules us and devours us at the moment of our death...DJ thought it would be accurate to say that there is a force that attracts our consciousness much as a magnet attracts iron shavings.FFW,58.. our flaws remain with us even after we become seers... so when you see the that force (Eagle), you may very well agree with the lax seers who called it the Eagle.. on the other hand, you may resist the temptation to acsribe human attributes to what is incomprehensible, and actually improvise a new name for it, a more accurate one. FFW,59...
 
WHY DO PEOPLE THINK THE MOLD OF MAN IS GOD?
 
WE THINK THE MOLD IS GOD BECAUSE WE ARE WHAT IT STAMPS US WITH
The mold is our God because we are what it stamps us with and not because it has created us from nothing and made us in its image and likeness...FFW,281
 
WHY ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEEN THE MOLD OF MAN ARE WRONG ABOUT WHAT HOW THEY INTERPRET IT?
 
THEY BELIEVE IT IS AN OMNIPOTENT CREATURE/PROTECTOR OF MAN
Mystics and old seers have seen the mold of man but could not understand what it is. Mystics, throughout the centuries, have given us moving accounts of their experiences. But these accounts, however beautiful, are flawed by the gross and despairing mistake of believing the mold of man to be an omnipotent, omniscient creature; and so is the interpretation of the old seers, who called the mold of man a friendly spirit, a protector of man. FFW,281
Anyone who sees the mold of man automatically assumes that it is God. FFW,282 He said that if we call it God it is the truth. The mould is God. SRP,139..
 
ALL PEOPLE'S BELIEF IN GOD IS BASED ON FAITH AND IS A SECOND HAND CONVICTION
..he said my belief was based on faith and as such, was a secondhand conviction that did not amount to anything; my belief in the existence of God was, like everyone else's, based on hearsay and not on the act of seeing. FFW,282.
 
IT IS ARROGANT AND SELF CENTERED TO PRAY TO THE MOLD OF MAN
in DJ's opinion to fall on our knees in the prescence of the mold of man reeks of arrogance and human self centeredness. FFW,281.
 
WE REGARD THAT THE IDEA OF OUR GOD UNCHALLENGABLE
one of the most sturdy aspects of our inventory... like a powerful glue that bound the AP to its original position. FFW,277
 
E.) THE TRICKERY OF LANGUAGE
 
WHEN THE NAGUAL IS EXPERIENCED, WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN AND DESCRIBE?
 
THE TONAL IS CONVINCED BY REASON/THE NAGUAL WITH ACTIONS YOU CANNOT EXPLAIN THE NAGUAL WITH THE TONAL
Your tonal has to be convinced with reasons, your nagual with actions, until one props the other.TOP,157. Whenever you are in the world of the nagual, you should be impeccable; no time for rational crap. SRP,198. The tonal and nagual are two different worlds. in one you talk, in the other you act. SRP,235. I've never put a ban on talking..we can talk about the nagual to your heart's content, as long as you don't try to explain it. ...I said that the nagual is only for witnessing..so we can talk about what we witnessed and about how we witnessed it. You want to take on the explanation of how all that is possible, though and that is an abomination. You want to explain the nagual with the tonal. TOP,186 You know very well that we make sense in talking only because we stay within certain boundries, and those boundaries are not applicable to the nagual. TOP,187.
 
REASONING STOPS IN THE SECOND ATTENTION
my reasoning faculties ceased to function. Literally, I felt as though a dark blanket had covered me and obscured my thoughts. And I let go of my reason with the abandon of one who doesn't have a worry in the world. I was convinced that if I wanted to dispel the obscuring blanket, all I had to do was feel myself breaking through it. In that state, I felt I was being propelled, set in motion. Something was making me move physically from one place to the other. I did not experience any fatigue. The speed and ease with which I could move elated me. POS,216... Reason craps out in an instant when it is out of its safe narrow bounds. (?) (missed this one, anyone know?)
 
WE HAVE NO WAY TO TALK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE BECAUSE WE HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE EXPERIENCE (THE WORDS ARE NOT PART OF OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM)
My difficulty in grasping his concepts and methods stemmed from the fact that the units of his description were alien and incompatible with those of my own. JTI,ix Sure I can explain anything, he said, laughing, But could you understand it? JTI,190. Don't take that leap in the sense that you understand a leap...once again, this is only a way of speaking. As long as you think that you are a solid body you cannot conceive what I am talking about. TOP,95. Of course you cannot understand it.. you are trying to think about it and what I said does not fit with your thoughts. SR,82 What I perceived in those states of altered consciousness was incomprehensible and impossible to interpret by means of our everyday mode of understanding the world. In other words, the condition of inapplicability entailed the cessation of the pertinence of my world view. SR,9. Our difficulty in understanding (DJ's teachings) it stems, no doubt, from the alien units of meaning with which it deals. SR,10. I instantly realized that I had entered again into a state in which I could think coherently, but I could not talk. don Juan told me not to worry. He said our speech faculty is extremely flimsy and attacks of muteness are common among sorcerers who venture beyond the limits of normal perception. ..he warned me that it was not possible to rely on my rationality to understand my experience, not because my rationality was in any way impaired but because what had taken place was a phenomenon outside the parameters of reason. TAOD,72,73 I became incapable of rendering intelligently what I saw . My sensation was that I had reached states of perception for which I had no lexicon. TAOD,198 emanations cannot be rendered at all in a language of comparisons. FFW,62 The journey (entering the unconscious fully aware) cannot be adequately described. EE. M,10. he said that if he attempted to explain the perceptual bias of the second attention in terms of the perceptual bias of the first attention, he would only trap himself hopelessly in words. EG,265. Freedom...cannot be an investment...an adventure with no end, in which we risk our lives and much more for a few moments of something beyond words, beyond thoughts or feelings. TAOD,81 One could come into it by changing levels of awareness, therefore HA was an entrance..but even the entrance could not be explained. One could only make use of it. POS,97 Dreaming can only be experienced. TAOD, ii,iii.
To explain what we are and what we do is the most trying thing in the world. I wish I could make it clearer, but I can't. So, it's pointless to keep insisting on explanations when there are none. TSC,175 .....beware of the frustrating desire to explain the sorcery experience in cogent, well-reasoned terms. the sorcerers experience is so outlandish.. that sorcerers consider it an intellectual experience, and use it to stalk themselves with. Their trump card as stalkers, though, is that they remain keenly aware that we are perceivers, and that perception has more possibilities than the mind can conceive of.. in order to protect themselves from that immensity..sorcerers learn to maintain a perfect blend of ruthlessness, cunning, patience and sweetness. POS, 246,247 For the nagual there is no land, or air, or water..so the nagual glides, or flies. or does whatever it may do, in naguals time and that has nothing to do with tonal's time. The two things don't jibe. TOP,189. The view of the nagual must prevail if one is going to use the nagual the way sorcerers do. TOP,262 there is nothing of that sort in the nagual. (order in our perception) . TOP,263
I can't describe it..not because it is a personal matter, but because there is no way to describe it. TOP,174.... not because I don't want to, but simply because I can't. My tonal stops there....TOP,175. the reason why I never wanted to discuss your encounters with power plants, or let you talk obsessively about them; there was no point in elaborating about the unspeakable. Those were true excursions into the nagual, the unknown. TOP,238.
Whenever the nagual prevails, even if it is only for an instant, there is no way of describing the feeling that the body experiences. TOP,228. In the case of seeing..thinking is not the issue at all, so I cannot tell you what it is like to see. SR,86. Seeing is very difficult and is not a matter of talk. SR,105. There is really no way to talk about it.(seeing) SR,170. ...For awhile you were all nagual and could not talk. TOP,154....The affairs of the nagual can be witnesses only with the body, and not the reason. TOP,155
 
WORDS ONLY CONFUSE,TRICK,FAIL US WHEN DESCRIBING THE NAGUAL
..in the sorcerer's world there are only contradictions of terms.. in practice there are no contradictions. POS,166...the problem with words was that any attempt to clarify the sorcerers description only made them more confusing. POS,225 We always get tricked by words... TAOD, ii,iii That's the flaw with words. They always force us to feel enlightened, but when we turn around to face the world they always fail us and we end up facing the world as we always have, without enlightenment. TOP,29 (See sorcerers way: action) Definitions change as knowledge increases.. POS,7 The danger of definitions is that they simplify matters to make them understandable; in this case, in defining attention, one runs the risk of transforming a magical, miraculous accomplishment into something commonplace. FFW,82
 
WE USE MANY WORDS TO EXPLAIN ONE KIND OF EXPERIENCE
...nagualism, knowledge, witchcraft, mastery of intent, the search for total freedom..POS,7
 
EVERY EXPERIENCE CAN BE DIFFERENT FOR EVERY PERSON
It is impossible to explain that knowing..because it is different for every man. SR,68.
 
KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE CAN EXIST INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER
 
KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE CAN EXIST INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER
Knowledge and language can exist independent of each other, they are seperate..... there is no way to talk about the spirit because the spirit can only be experienced.... POS, 52 ....we begin tosee ..and then we begin to know without having to use words.. POS,9 ...and. above all, I understood that that knowledge could not be turned into words. That knowledge was there for everyone. It (silent knowledge) was there to be felt, to be used, but not to be explained. POS,97
 
WE HAVE DIFFICULTY ACCEPTING THE NAGUAL BECAUSE WE THINK THAT WE COULD NEVER KNOW THINGS WITHOUT WORDS OR THOUGHTS
that is to know that ... knowledge and language can exist independent of each other...the crux of our difficulty to going back to the abstract was our refusal to accept that we could know without words or even without thoughts. POS,52
 
USING FEELINGS AS THOUGHTS
My reactions to his comments were not thoughts proper but rather complete units of feeling, which had all the innuendos of meaning that I usually associate with thinking. TOP,209.
 
WHY DO PEOPLE USE METAPHORS TO EXPLAIN THE NAGUAL?
 
SOMETIMES A SORCERER HAS TO CHANGE A DESCRIPTION INTO SOMETHING KNOWN TO HELP NOVICES UNDERSTAND AN UNKNOWN CONCEPT/USING SYMBOLIC TERMS
.... he was of course tailoring his description to fit my mentality..... TAOD, ii,iii. Those are ways of talking about mysteries for which there are no words. TOP,85. Everything one sees is so unique that there is no way to talk about it except by comparing it to something known to us..... TAOD,7
...we are so visual, so ruled by our predator's perception, that everything we must see must be rendered in terms of what the predator's eyes normally sees. TAOD, 7
Don Juan explained that the events unleashed by sorcerers as a result of silent knowledge were so simple and yet so abstract that sorcerers had decided long ago to speak of those events only in symbolic terms. POS, 61
I said that we talked, but that wasn't so. To say that we had a conversation is only a way of arranging it so I can talk about it. The deer and I did something, but at the time it was taking place I needed to make the world conform to my ideas... I had been talking all my life.. therefore my habits prevailed and were extended to the deer. When the deer came to me and did whatever it did, I was forced to understand it as talking. The world..had to conform to its description; that is, the description reflected itself. ..another point..was that we had learned to relate our selfs to our description of the world in terms of what he called habits. the way to overcome them is to persist in acting like a warrior. the rest comes of itself and by itself. TOP,28.
 
WHY WILL WE PROBABLY NEVER BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN THE NAGUAL?
 
FOR ANY ATTEMPT AT EXPLAINING THE MOVEMENT OF THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT, THE PERSON WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO GO FROM THE PLACE OF REASON AND THE PLACE OF SILENT KNOWLEDGE AT WILL.
for a movement of my AP to make sense, I would need to have energy to fluctuate from the place of reason to the place of silent knowledge.. POS,220..in other words, the experiences from moving the AP can be described, to at least yourself, only when the position of the AP has become part of your new continuity. This occurs only when the person has enough energy to move the AP to that position at will. Before that the experience is only thought of as a hallucination or a something that doesn't fit in with your rationality so it can't be thought of as something that makes sense.
Paradoxically, I found what he was saying incomprehensible, yet also familiar and believable. ... that was so because he was directly addressing a part of me that was not quite rational and had the ability to grasp things directly, especially if a sorcerer spoke to it directly... something in the intensity of his eyes forced me to listen and follow his explanations. TSC,138.
 
WHICH PEOPLE ARE THE CLOSEST PEOPLE FOR EXPLAINING THE NAGUAL?
 
POETS AND POEMS ARE THE CLOSEST PEOPLE WHO CAN EXPLAIN THE NAGUAL
Don Juan said that poets were keenly aware of our connecting link with the spirit, but that they were aware of it intuitively, not in the deliberate, pragmatic way of sorcerers. Poets have no first hand knowledge of the spirit..that is why their poems cannot really hit the center of true gestures of the spirit. they hit pretty close to it ,though.... poets can explain what can hardly be explained. POS, 63,121
 
2. OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM COLLAPSES (STOPPING THE WORLD) AND WE PERCEIVE THINGS WITHOUT INTERPRETATION.
 
2. DISREGARD OUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM (STOPPING THE WORLD) TO PERCEIVE THINGS WITHOUT INTERPRETATION: OUR REALITY AS WE KNOW IT IS SHATTERED
Disregard our interpretation system..the scope of what can be perceived without interpretation grows inordinately. the expansion of our perception is so gigantic that we are left with very few tools for sensory interpretation and thus, a sense of an infinite realness that is unreal or an infinite unrealness that could very well be real but is not. TAOD,97
 
IF THE NEW ITEMS OF THE INVENTORY CONTRADICT THE INVENTORY'S UNDERLINING ORDER, THE PERSON MIND COLLAPSES (STOPPING THE WORLD)
The average person is willing to incorporate new items into his inventory if they don't contradict the inventory's underlying order. But if the items contradict that order, the person's mind collapses.POS,173. Sorcerers count on this when they attempt to break the mirror of self-reflection. POS,173.
 
IT IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE A SHATTERED CONTINUITY
...it is impossible to restore a shattered continuity.... it is impossible of using the continuity dictated by the new position of their AP...the new continuity does not offer the assuredness they need to function as if they were in the world of everyday life. The sorcerers don't resolve this problem with continuity, the spirit resolves it...that is why impeccability is all that counts.... and that seems to beckon a solution... POS,231.