All magical practices can, with some degree of convention, be divided into two groups:
1. First group - these are practices for preserving, extracting, saving, multiplying and distributing the energy necessary to move the assemblage point (AP). The need for such techniques arose due to the fact that the assemblage point of an ordinary person is firmly fixed in one specific position, corresponding to the perception of the ordinary everyday world, and in order to move it to another position, a colossal supply of energy (personal strength) is needed.
2. Second group - These are techniques for controlled shifting of the assemblage point and holding it in a new position.
Stopping internal dialogue.
Internal dialogue — a way of holding the assemblage point in a position that corresponds to the perception of the ordinary human world. Constant internal chatter takes up most of a person’s free energy. By stopping the internal dialogue, a person, firstly, gets the opportunity to move his assemblage point from a rigid fixation, and secondly — releases a large amount of energy. But since internal dialogue has been our habit since early childhood, it cannot be stopped with just one desire: for this there are various techniques, mainly boiling down to non-doing in its various forms. Some of them are listed below.
NOT-Doing.
Non-doing can include focusing attention on objects of the daily world, which are usually outside the scope of normal attention, and, accordingly, perception and awareness. To those elements that do not make up our daily picture of the world. For example, instead of observing objects, you can examine their shadows, not leaves, but the gaps between the leaves, until a new picture emerges.
Non-doing can be practiced by performing any action or inaction that is not included in the standard inventory —
for example, performing ordinary actions in an unusual way. This is what one of the ways of not walking looks like (“Tales of Strength,” words by JH): “By bending his fingers in a special way, the warrior draws attention to his hands; then, directing his defocused gaze to a point directly in front of him above the horizon, he literally floods his tonal with information. The tonal, without one-on-one interaction with the elements of description, is unable to talk to itself and therefore becomes silent."
The Right Way of Walking.
This is a movement with curled fingers and attention on the hands, in which you need to direct your gaze forward, without specifically focusing on anything, in order to see the entire space in front of you at the same time. This method “overwhelms” the tonal’s attention with information, and it turns out to be unable to maintain the connection between the elements of the world. This slows down the internal dialogue, and the tonal becomes silent.
Contemplation (Gazing).
A special technique, a “way of looking” without focusing on any one part of what is visible. When you contemplate, you see everything... and nothing in particular. Contemplation can be used in the practice of “not doing”, for example, by looking at a tree, a person creates this tree — finds its trunk, branches, leaves, i.e. captures those key elements of which, in his experience, a TREE should consist. In the practice of “contemplation,” one can look not at the leaves themselves, but at the gaps between them, not at the branches, but at the space limited by these branches. Thus, a kind of “ghost tree”, “donut hole” is obtained. Such things are not allocated special descriptive structures in the human inventory list, so the usual course of internal dialogue changes, which in itself shifts the Assemblage Point (AP).
Lucid dreaming OS (Dreaming).
The practice of using the natural shift of the TS (assemblage point) that occurs during sleep. Lucid dreaming is the ability to perceive new worlds. Gives the warrior the ability to perform incredible actions in the world of dreams. In order to start practicing OS, you need not only a reserve of Personal Power (PS), but also a lot of patience. Without a certain supply of drugs, a person will not be able to enter a lucid dream. Dream — practically the only conditionally safe (as far as one can even talk about safety in magic) way of entering other worlds. In addition, OS — this is a kind of training ground where you can learn to control intention, since in dreams nothing (except the creatures present there) has its own power and will. For example, when shooting from a gun in a dream, you cannot be sure that the bullet will fly out of the barrel at all, since there it is driven only by the intention of the shooter, and not by the “power of gunpowder.” In magic, mastering the art of dreaming has its practical significance — through it it is possible to both influence another person and obtain the necessary information about something.
Getting rid of the feeling of self-importance and self-pity ChSV-ChSZH (Losing Self-Importance).
One of the key aspects without which any spiritual growth is hardly possible. Getting rid of ChSV, ChSZh — this is the awareness that we have the habit of feeling sorry for ourselves in order to reduce and then completely eradicate this habit. Conceit, a sense of self-importance — one of the main energy “anchors” of the assemblage point. Just as internal dialogue deprives the assemblage point of mobility, so the sense of self-importance absorbs almost all of a person’s free energy. Self-importance is multifaceted and pervasive, and its elimination — is far from an easy task. The KK books talk about this in sufficient detail.
Action without connection to the result.
An action is performed not for the sake of achieving something, but for the sake of the action itself. In Castaneda’s books, a lot is written about the so-called “impeccability of a warrior.” Doing for the sake of action, moving for the sake of the path, and so on.
Erasing personal history.
With the help of practices of erasing personal history, the “traces” left in the world are removed. This makes war inaccessible and makes it possible to free oneself from the traps of other people's attention. These techniques help release feelings of self-importance and self-pity. A person is connected with the world and society by thousands of threads. As a rule, a person has many destructive attachments — to people of the past, memories, some social connections. The destruction of ties to the outside world helps to achieve impeccability and freedom and makes war inaccessible to the attention of others.
Erasing personal history (PHE) is usually practiced using the following techniques:
REVIEW (Recapitulation).
A technique that allows you to plunge into and relive the events of the past (up to the prenatal period) and take back your strength left in those events. It is best practiced in a dark, compressed space along with proper breathing. In fact, the technique is used to release power that is captured by the world. In addition to Castaneda’s books, the technique is described in great detail in V. Sanchez’s book “The Toltec Way. Recapitulation".
Disrupting the Routines of Life.
Stopping “schematic” behavior begins first of all with eliminating habits. Habits — this is what allows death to track us. Patterns of behavior are, as a rule, determined by the presence of a personal history and are a means of maintaining and creating it. Thus, the destruction of everyday habits — it is not making a personal story and a way of remaining inaccessible to the world. We highly recommend subscribing to a free seminar on the topic of breaking free from habits (you can subscribe to it on the main page of our website below).
Assuming Responsibility.
It involves awareness of full responsibility for one’s own actions and results, instead of wasting energy on searching for supposedly objective reasons that prevented one from performing correctly (or not performing) certain actions (that is, indulgence). Acceptance of responsibility for every action committed in this world, renunciation of all regrets about its commission and acceptance of any of its consequences; refusal of any excuses and self-justifications for any reason. This technique helps to eradicate the habit that people have of blaming others for their problems.
Stalking.
1. Fixation of the vehicle in the current position, providing a stable perception of the world, which is specific to this particular position of the vehicle.
2. The practice of “noticing yourself” in all states of consciousness, whether in “everyday life”, in dreams or anywhere. The stalker uses the world of everyday life as a hunting ground. Essentially stalking — a way to remain unavailable in the world, but still achieve your goals. Although in the generally accepted sense, a warrior practicing stalking has no goals, since the warrior applies controlled stupidity to everything without exception.
Controlled Folly.
Stalking in practical application. Since the “man of knowledge” understands that there is nothing that is more important than something else —
through controlled stupidity he acts as if it matters.
The man of knowledge “sees” and knows that there is not one thing that is more important than any other thing; he has only his controlled stupidity, and he acts without expecting a result, practicing controlled stupidity. In other words, controlled stupidity —
This is the non-doing of everyday ordinary behavior in a social environment, and at the same time it does not matter at all whether the practitioner is a seer or not.
Using Death as an Advisor.
Treat every action as if it were your last battle. It doesn't matter if you win this battle or lose —
act without ever lowering your hand. This method replaces the usual “advisor” for a person, which is self-pity.
The greatest hunter in this world —
death. She can touch each of us on the shoulder at any moment. Therefore, the most reasonable course of action —
approaching each of your actions as if it were the last battle. Actions prompted by death as an advisor are filled with power. By practicing the above techniques, a person gets the opportunity to enter the mood of a warrior.
You're just filled to the brim with all sorts of nonsense! —
he exclaimed.
The only truly wise adviser we have is death. Every time you feel, as often happens to you, that everything is going very badly and you are on the verge of complete collapse, turn to the left and ask your death if this is so. And your death will answer that you are wrong, and that apart from its touch there is nothing that really matters. Your death will say: “But I haven’t touched you yet!”
Mood of a Warrior.
Steady holding of the assemblage point in a position in which there is no self-pity, but impeccability. This position of the vehicle is called “Place Without Pity”.
Realizing his Death as an “adviser” who can touch your shoulder at any moment, the warrior treats every action as if it were his last. —
like the last battle on this earth. These techniques help accumulate energy without wasting it, as is common among ordinary people, and provide the maximum possible, in a particular situation, opening of the channels of perception. Stalking helps strengthen and maintain the mood of war.
The essence of Castaneda's teachings is not easy to express in a couple of phrases. I read all his books (some more than once), and repeatedly successfully applied the practices described there. And to the question “What is the point?” Of course, I will give my answer. I will also explain the basic concepts of the teachings of this great writer. You just need to keep in mind that Castaneda’s works are multi-layered and multifaceted, any shortcuts will be a simplification.
Just magic
If you want simple, understandable answers, then it would be easier to say that the teachings of Carlos Castaneda are the transfer of magical knowledge and skills, the essence of which is to comprehend the Unknown.
But Carlos Castaneda himself never simplified to such an extent.
The teaching is presented in detail in the books of this author, the main characters of which are Carlos himself and his teacher, the Indian shaman Don Juan. Actually, the teachings of Castaneda are actually the teachings of don Juan. Throughout the action of all the books, the author is precisely a student - and far from the most understanding and capable.
The difficulty is precisely that it is impossible to perceive don Juan’s knowledge from the position of an ordinary person, guided by the usual logic and stereotypes. Everything that don Juan teaches is magic in its purest form; it is incomprehensible to the mind. This is not throwing fireballs or turning stone into gold - it has no material purpose. You could say it's magic for magic's sake. No not like this, this is magic for the sake of Freedom - in the broadest and even transcendental sense of the word.
Below are some of my thoughts on the veracity of Castaneda’s books, a list of books in chronological order and a brief summary of them. If you want a quick summary of Castaneda's teachings, skip straight to chapter
True or not?
It is unknown whether Don Juan actually existed. And if he was, how true is everything said about him in the books? After all, there he is a powerful shaman, capable of doing completely impossible things. He even manages to deceive death.
Castaneda tried to confuse everyone - it is impossible to accurately describe the events of his own biography, it is impossible to confirm or deny the very fact of his travels to South America, where basically all the action took place. And the personality of don Juan remains even more elusive for truth seekers.
I, like many skeptics, am inclined to think that Castaneda is one of the greatest mystifiers of all times, who managed to invent and describe in detail the world of magic, seriously and for a long time capturing the minds of millions of people. Thousands and thousands of followers preach his teachings and apply the practices described in the books. Carlos Castaneda definitely wrote his name in history.
The difficulty for those who seek to get to the bottom of the truth also lies in the fact that his books are not fiction, this is not a fairy tale that one wants to listen to with reverence and in which one wants to believe. No matter which translation you take of Castaneda, you will see complex, muddled language. This is most similar to documentary, to real notes from a person who has been faced with the incomprehensible for a long time and strives to master this incomprehensible. It seems that everything is written incredibly honestly - all the complexes, troubles, and fears of the author come to the surface.
Detailed (sometimes rather tedious) descriptions of magical practices, the meaning of which the author himself cannot fully understand, a detailed description of the sensations during these practices - all this was difficult to simply “invent.”
I see it as akin to poetry. I know talented poets who are able to write beautiful, complex poetry in a state of flow. They may contain words that the author does not even know. In fact, one of my friends writes excellent poems, but she sometimes finds out their meaning only when she looks on the Internet to “decipher” what she has written. Words from dead or rare languages may appear there.
There is also such a phenomenon as channeling, when people, using their brains, communicate with beings from the immaterial world, who can dictate entire volumes of their thoughts, as if without the participation of the person himself.
As I said, recently I have become a skeptic and I would say that all these texts come from somewhere, but I will only say that we still do not know the capabilities of our own brain, but it is capable of a lot. And even “inventing worlds” is far from the limit.
There are those who claim that everything described is simply hallucinations captured on paper, resulting from the use of psychedelic substances. But this is said either by those who have not read these books at all, or who have read only the very first ones, called “The Teachings of Don Juan” (1968) and “A Separate Reality” (1971). There the author actually describes the use of the substance mescaline, extracted from a cactus called “Peyote”. But in the same books it was repeatedly mentioned that for Castaneda these were a kind of “crutches” that accelerated the process of entering an altered state of consciousness, but which could have been completely dispensed with.
Skeptics' take on the life of Carlos Castaneda in the BBC film:
Books
Here I will give a list of Carlos Castaneda's books in order - in the chronology in which they were originally published and give a brief description.
"The Teachings of Don Juan" (1968)
Perhaps the most difficult work of Castaneda to understand.
If you want to get acquainted with his teachings, but you do not want to wade through the jungle
meanings and long strange descriptions, DO NOT start with this book.
In general, in my opinion, the best book to start dating
with Castaneda is the ninth book in the series: “The Art of Dreaming”.
It is interesting that “The Teaching” is a dissertation on anthropology, which makes it easy to readobviously does not add.
The author, while a student at the University of California, in search of information about medicinal plants, meets an Indian from the Yaqui tribe, Don Juan Matus. A year later, don Juan tells the author that he has magical knowledge and that he chose Carlos as his student.
Having collected a significant part of the material from the shaman’s stories, the author understands that the only path to true comprehension of Knowledge is the experience of magical reality. This path leads to the acquisition of Power. Some of the helpers in this are the so-called “allies”, certain magical entities that you interact with. A warrior (a person who has taken the path of magic) comprehends this new reality and gains Power.
"Separate Reality" (1971)
The author turns out to be not ready to accept the new reality, which did not fit into the usual picture of the world at all. After writing his first book, Carlos tries to forget everything he experienced. But a couple of years after the last events described in the previous book, he still returns.
The next stage of magical training begins. Carlos is being reinitiated. We are introduced to a new character - another shaman, a friend of don Juan, don Genaro. A significant part of the book is devoted to the mental processes associated with “vision” - one of the superpowers that the author is taught. Carlos watches the so-called “peyote ceremony” and enters into a discussion with don Juan and his relatives (it’s funny that many of them consider the shaman to be just a crazy old man). They talk about magic and other things - even politics. Don Juan introduces Carlos to one of the key concepts of his teaching - Controlled Stupidity.
This book largely repeats what has already been described in the previous one - this is quite typical for Castaneda. He often returns to what he said and looks at it from slightly different angles.
In general, it’s worth saying that Castaneda’s books are endowed with some amazing quality: you can read the work for the tenth time in a row, immersing yourself in events and dialogues that seem to be well known to you, but each time you don’t exactly discover something for yourself... something completely new... No - you are amazed that it is as if you are reading certain passages for the first time. And this happens again and again when you pick up a book that has been read to holes.
“A Separate Reality,” just like the first book, will seem very difficult for a beginner to understand.
"Journey to Ixtlan" (1972)
The title of the book is an allegory told to the author by Don Genaro. Ixtlan in his story is the homeland to which a magician who has acquired Knowledge is trying to return. But it turns out that returning to the previous way of life, having become a different person, is no longer possible. Being in the old picture of the world, communicating with ordinary people who now seem like ghosts, becomes completely uninteresting.
The book describes the stages of the Path of the Warrior - a magician who hunts for Power. In search of her, Carlos travels with don Juan through the mountains of Mexico. Continuing to describe his training with his mentor, Castaneda talks about the practices of Stopping the World, Erasing Personal History and Dreaming.
Carlos tries his best to be a skeptic and explain the unusual things happening to him from a rational perspective. In the end, he still gives up clinging to the usual picture of the world and “stops the world.”
"Tales of Power" (1974)
One of the most interesting works of the master.
Don Juan teaches Carlos to enter an altered state of consciousness using the Stop. Carlos learns that magicians can be in two places at the same time by creating a double (Double). Don Juan also talks about Tonal and the Nagual.
Carlos's training is coming to an end and he needs to make a real leap into the abyss - together with two other students, he must jump from the top of the mountain. Don Juan and don Genaro themselves leave this world forever.
"Second Ring of Power" (1977)
Jumping from a cliff into an abyss, Carlos survived. He returns to Mexico and meets several of don Juan's students. He discovers the ability to leave his own body, continues to realize and remember much of what don Juan taught him... Everything goes towards Carlos taking on the functions of the leader of a new detachment of magicians.
"Eagle's Gift" (1981)
Carlos decides to become the leader of a squad of magicians, but things don't go very well. Students begin to remember events that did not exist in the world of habitual perception of reality. Castaneda quarrels with his charges. As a result, it turns out that Carlos cannot be a leader due to the unusual structure of his energy body.
The students leave Castaneda, and he himself heads to Los Angeles.
"Fire from Within" (1984)
Carlos is going through a new stage - another revolution is taking place in the perception of don Juan's teachings. As the author shifts his Assemblage Point into a state of heightened awareness, he continues to recall events related to his training. The reader is introduced to the concept of Petty Tyrants, which provides the opportunity to view any negative situation as a learning tool.
"The Power of Silence" (1987)
Continuations of Carlos' memories, in which don Juan talks about his teachers, about Intention - the main force in the universe, about Stalking - the art of Warrior behavior in the ordinary world.
“The Art of Dreaming” (1995)
This book reveals techniques for entering a lucid dream and using it to travel to other worlds. Carlos's visits to other realities and meetings with their inhabitants - inorganic beings - are described. At the end of the book, the author meets with an ancient shaman - the Death Defier.
"The Active Side of Infinity" (1995)
This book is interesting because it does not contain not only the already familiar conversations with don Juan and magical practices, but also a description of the author’s life and work in Los Angeles - in conditions that are far from magical.
"Wheel of Time" (1998)
This is no longer a full-fledged work, but a collection of quotes.
"Magic Passes" (1998)
Here Castaneda describes the Tancegrity system of energy exercises. The origin and technique of performing magical passes is described.
It is also worth mentioning that in addition to Castaneda’s books, there are books by his students, known under the pseudonyms Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner.
Basics of Castaneda's teachings
Basic concepts of Castaneda's teachings
Path of the Warrior- a way of living, the goal of which is to achieve complete freedom and endless awareness. This is the path from the world of imposed beliefs, values, stereotypes to the world of freedom. A set of certain life attitudes leads a person who has chosen the path of magic (“Warrior”) through life (“Battlefield”). A warrior who has passed the Path becomes a Man of Knowledge and reaches the highest degree of awareness. Infinite awareness implies that a person retains all acquired knowledge and continues to be aware of himself even when he leaves this world forever.
Unbreakable Intent- one of the key qualities that a Warrior possesses and without which it is impossible to achieve his goal.
“Intention is one of those forces that exist in the universe. Magicians call upon Intention and it comes to them. Intention paves the way to achieving a goal. This means that magicians always achieve their goals..."
Knowledge- the art of mastering Intention, searching for complete freedom, magic.
Personal Power- what allows the Warrior to move along his Path. Everything a person does is determined by the level of his Personal Power. We can say that this is a kind of energy resource that a magician can collect and accumulate in various ways.
Indulgence- in a broad sense, this is what replaces an action adequate to the moment. (for example, reflection, fear) Indulgence takes as much or even more Personal Power than is required to perform the action.
Sense of Self-Importance- one of the key problems that prevents the magician from achieving his goal. Castaneda describes FSA as a feeling of superiority over someone or something, the importance of oneself and one’s actions.
Controlled Stupidity- this is detachment from one’s “I”and the Sense of Self-Importance associated with it. Controlled Stupidity allows the Warrior to interact with society and its representatives.
Assemblage point- this is the point at which the perception of a living being is formed. Described as a rounded spot of intense luminosity at a subtle level. By shifting the Assemblage Point, the magician changes his perception (or moves to a different reality altogether) - he enters an altered state of consciousness, in which he is able to otherwise perform actions that are impossible for him in his normal state.
Not doing- a magical practice that involves performing absurd actions. Its goal is to move the Assemblage Point.
Stalkers And Dreamers- types into which magicians are divided depending on the magical practices performed.
Dreamers interact with the world through . With its help, they move between worlds, can be in different places at the same time, turn into animals and do other incredible things.
Stalkers interact with reality with the help of Controlled Stupidity. From the point of view of the average person, Stalkers do not do anything supernatural. For example, they can very naturally and believably play the role of a completely different person, easily negotiate with people and generally get what they need within the confines of normal everyday reality.
Dream is a practice known as Lucid Dreaming. According to Castaneda, however, this is a broader phenomenon. He distinguishes seven Dream Gates, which refer to the level of mastery of the dreamer. The fourth gate, for example, refers to the ability, leaving one’s own body, to travel to other places - that is, essentially Astral Flights in esoteric terminology.
Tonal- in fact, all the perception that a person can in any way voice and designate.
Nagual- everything that lies beyond any comprehension. Everything that is beyond the limits of reason and feelings. That which cannot be named or defined.
Castaneda also often uses the concept of Nagual in a different meaning: he is a teacher, a leader of magicians (Warriors), leading them to comprehend the unknown.
Energy body – a satellite of the physical body, which is a ghostly configuration that consists of pure energy. It has an external appearance (vaguely reminiscent of an egg), which can be seen by magicians (using, in fact, Vision) - a Glowing Cocoon.
Inorganic beings- beings in the form of formless energy fields with awareness.
Allies(Ollies) are inorganic creatures that inhabit the Earth along with organic ones, which magicians can use to deepen Knowledge and accumulate Personal Power.
How will Castaneda's teachings help in ordinary real life?
If you are not going to follow the Path of the Warrior for the sake of a not very clear goal, sacrificing your usual reality, without any guaranteed “benefits,” you should be wondering whether at least something from Castaneda’s teachings can be used in your everyday life. Let's say you're just interested in self-development. You don’t want to plunge into the wilds, but you want to learn some useful skills. Well, here's something for you:
Stop indulging!
The most obvious “usefulness” of Castaneda’s teachings. Here, it would seem, everything is simple: Instead of being afraid, worrying, or thinking a lot about any matter, you just need to take it and do it. Follow the path that you have chosen, no matter what. But in fact, we all engage in indulgence all the time. Carlos himself in his works is simply a source of uninterrupted indulgence. One way to avoid indulging is
“Don Juan to Castaneda: “Carlos, stop indulging - people are watching”” Joke
Stopping Internal Dialogue
It would be more correct to call it an internal monologue. It's just the flow of our thoughts. The theme of stopping the incessant “talking” in our heads is not new at all and existed long before Castaneda - mainly in Eastern spiritual teachings. It is obvious that 90 percent (or even more) of all the reflection that occurs in the head and accompanies our entire life is useless mental garbage that does not carry any constructiveness. It only wastes energy and distracts from the main thing. Getting rid of internal dialogue, at least for a while, can bring calm, clarity, and fulfillment.
The methods of stopping Internal Dialogue that Castaneda gives are unlikely to be mega-effective for beginners. Easier to use.
In any case, only regular training will bring tangible results. And you can start them right now, without Castaneda and without yoga. Just relax, focus on your breathing and take a few seconds to feel the silence and get rid of thoughts in your head. For the same few seconds - after all, the “talker” will immediately return to you. But if you do this regularly, little by little, calmly, without fanaticism, the effect will not be long in coming.
The Practice of Revising Personal History
Personal History is everything you know about yourself and your life. Castaneda's teachings presuppose its Erasure, and Revision is only a step towards this. But still useful. The complete Erasure of Personal History can be questioned. But many psychologists consider Revision to be a rather useful practice. What is she? This is remembering all the more or less significant moments of your life.
Moreover, you don’t just remember everything - you relive it all again, reproduce all your thoughts and feelings that took place during this or that event.
At the same time, you seem to remove the energy charge from everything you have experienced and return this energy to yourself. You can imagine and talk through this process. It makes sense to linger longer on strong, especially negative, memories.
Upon completion, if you did everything correctly, you will receive an unprecedented energy boost - a resourceful state.
The practice is long-term. You will have to devote many hours - or rather, even days - to this. You will have to use a pen and notepad to write down all the memories, dwell on each one in more detail, work through it carefully, take breaks and return to the starting point.
Before going to bed, I myself sometimes use the practice of reviewing the past day. I remember everything that happened to me that day, from waking up to the current moment. I also focus more carefully on the most significant and emotional moments. I remove the “energy charge” - for simplicity, I often accompany this with a deep inhalation and exhalation.
Important!
This practice can also be useful in the context of a separate event that just happened to you. For example, you had a fight with someone. You can become aware and practice Revision this event - regain the energy you spent, restore your calm, balance and continue doing your business.
Get rid of the Sense of Self-Importance
A sense of Self-Importance does not allow us to adequately perceive the world around us and ourselves in this world, and becomes the cause of resentment and irritation. HSV is comparable to such a concept as Pride. Although Castaneda interprets it somewhat more broadly. EHS gives rise to an overly serious attitude towards one’s thoughts, feelings and, in general, everything that happens.
Anxiety is accompanied by anxiety and fear of doing something wrong. In general, a huge amount of tension accumulates if you consider something important. This tension binds and prevents you from acting in a relaxed, impartial manner.
"I asked, meansIs it that he never acts sincerely, and that his actions are just acting.
“My actions are always sincere,” don Juan replied. —But they are not more, how acting a game.
- But after all Then absolutely Allwhat you do mustbecontrolled stupidity, -I was amazed.
Yes, t“Yes, it is,” he confirmed.”
The practice of Controlled Stupidity helps you get rid of emotional distress, when you treat what you do consciously and easily. More precisely, you yourself choose how to relate to something. If, for example, something bad happened, you turn on awareness and choose for yourself exactly what you want to feel and how you want to relate to what happened: to experience grief, joy or indifference.
Constant practice of Controlled Stupidity allows you to treat life as a game and thereby makes life much easier.
Regular, calm awareness of the fact that you are mortal helps to get rid of emergency situations. Don Juan calls death the best adviser to the Warrior and calls to constantly remember it.
The listed practices relate to Stalking - essentially the art of interacting with everyday reality, according to the teachings of Castaneda.
Lucid dreaming
It makes sense to highlight them separately. Lucid dreams, i.e. Dreams in which you are fully aware of yourself and are able to control events, can enrich and brighten your life. However, it is hardly worth starting with Castaneda - he can frighten a beginner and instill considerable fear of the OS. If you want to do them, I suggest reading articles about.
It is worth saying that the very teachings of Don Juan in the light of Castaneda’s works sometimes look quite frightening. Just look at the inorganic creatures that are capable of not only killing, but also kidnapping and forever locking your subtle body in their worlds. During the learning process, Carlos is almost always afraid of something, apprehensive, or at least perplexed. So, if you are approaching these books with a practical purpose, filter the information.
At the same time, Don Juan appears more in the form of a cheerful old man-provocateur, who constantly laughs at his incompetent student and plots all sorts of intrigues for him.
Bottom line
Despite the abundance of interesting philosophical opinions and magical practices, the essence of Castaneda’s teachings cannot be reduced to either one or the other. Yes, if you set out to find as many wise thoughts as possible, you will find them. If you want to engage in self-development, there are techniques here.
Just like there are mystical revelations, adventures, funny dialogues, although, I repeat, this literature can be called easy to read with a stretch.
There is a common saying that yogis often cite when they want to tell what the essence of their teaching is. They say that there is a Path and there are flowers that grow along this path. The flowers are wonderfully beautiful and smell magical. But they are not the purpose of the journey, they are only a kind of “bonus” to this journey. Moreover, it is not always present.
Also, the magical world described by Castaneda, with movements in space and between worlds, with transformations into animals, with communication with incredible creatures - these are the same “flowers”.
All these incredible possibilities and superpowers attract the average person. Especially if his reality is gray and ordinary. He strives into this magical world, sometimes collecting along the way everything that Castaneda warned against, further increasing his Sense of Self-Importance, boasting of his achievements (to himself and others), indulging at every step,
According to Castaneda, the ultimate goal of the path is Freedom. Including freedom from the need for self-affirmation, recognition, consolation. The Warrior's path is always uncertainty and loneliness.
The power of recapitulation is that it stirs up all the garbage in a person’s life and brings it to the surface.
Carlos Castaneda "The Active Side of Infinity"
Recapitulation is an effective magical practice whose main goal is to cleanse the individual perception of the practitioner from private identifications with the forms of manifestation of forces and energies.
Almost every serious tradition has in its arsenal of techniques one or another form of this magical practice, and the degree of elaboration of details is the main difference between them.
The proposed recapitulation technique is most adapted for integration with everyday life. It does not set as its goal the acquisition of specific superpowers obtained as a result of the practice of recapitulation; its main task is to preserve the current purity of perception with a consistent revision of elements of the past based on events that arise during life activity. This approach is most comparable to karmic hygiene, for which an increase in the individual magical power of the practitioner is a natural consequence of its presence.
For the magician, recapitulation is a way of returning to this extraordinary force what it lent us at the moment of our birth. It is absolutely incredible, don Juan said, that this force is content with the above-mentioned experience anew. Since the only thing she wants from us is self-awareness, then if we give it to her in the form of recapitulation, she does not ultimately take away our life, but allows us to go with it to freedom. This is how magicians theoretically explain recapitulation.
This is a basic technique that allows stalkers to first highlight their main tonal façade elements. In other words, we can say that this technique allows you to understand where exactly the energy leak occurs. That is, to find out exactly how you react to the world, and gives you the opportunity to manage your reactions, emotions and even feelings. Through recapitulation, a person can first find the “buttons” with the help of which those around him, society, as well as himself (yes, yes, we ourselves often press our buttons - Pity, Importance, Fear, etc.) press on him and so are forced to react in one way or another, while losing the lion's share of the available energy. And when the buttons are found, the prerequisites for their neutralization are already created. In fact, a person is capable of fundamentally changing the “facade of the tonal.” And for dreamers, this is the main channel for drawing energy for dreams. Why do you think some people have dreams and others don’t? Natural data? - nothing like that! The main reason why people cannot DO dreams is because they have never REVIEWED.
The technique itself was invented by ancient seers on the American continent several thousand years ago. They discovered that as a person’s life progresses, energy fibers begin to remain in surrounding details (both physical and emotional-psychological). And over time, it turns out that most of the fibers are “stuck” somewhere in the past. Namely, they (energy fibers) are not enough to stalk (track oneself inside) or dream. But note - awareness (maha mudra) is not stalking, but only a prerequisite for it (this is true, by the way), just as maha mudra is not yet a Toltec dream, but only a prerequisite for it, since it is not enough to realize oneself in dream! For Toltec, you also need to take some steps.
The very essence of recapitulation is the return to oneself of one’s luminosity (energy fibers). Then a person becomes stronger, but loses touch with the past. For some this is scary. But this is the Toltec way - to be free from everything, including the past. And fear, as you know, is the first enemy of a man of Knowledge.
To carry out a recapitulation, you need to add up a list of all the people (or all the events) that were in your life. This takes from several weeks to months. Already putting together the list itself is part of the recapitulation. The INTENTION of the Toltec Seers begins to tighten. And energy is released. This is how a person often comes to his first dream.
Technically, performing a recapitulation is quite simple. A few key details stand out: location, breath, and list.
The place should be secluded and quiet. Pre-recapitulation is usually carried out while sitting in a cardboard or wooden box in a position with knees raised and pressed to the chest. From time to time, you have to change the position of your legs because your legs become numb; for this you can use meditative yoga asanas (sukh-asana, vajrasasna, half-lotots, lotus, guptasana). The box must have a ventilated top - holes are cut in the top cover. Even better is to make the top out of thin wooden planks in the form of a lattice. This is what Castaneda writes: "...that stalkers use boxes or earthen coffins to close themselves in while they relive, rather than simply review, every moment of their lives. The reason why stalkers must review their lives in such a detailed way is that the gift of the eagle to man includes his consent to accept a surrogate instead of real consciousness, if this surrogate is a perfect copy."
The list should be prepared in advance, for example in a separate notebook. People who are selected for recapitulation in a given session can be written out on a piece of white plastic. As you review it, you erase the names from the plastic with a regular eraser. And the main list is stored further in the notebook; it will be needed later, since there are several circles of recapitulation. The first circle is a brief recapitulation of all the people and events associated with them. The second circle is a detailed recapitulation of all phenomena, remembering everything down to the smallest details (color, smell, taste, thoughts...) Traditionally, a recapitulation is carried out from the present time until birth. And the third circle of recapitulation is the compilation of a mosaic of the recapitulated life according to random plots, relying on the Spirit. That is, in the third round the list is actually no longer needed. To compile the list itself, you can use the principle of dividing people by areas of activity. It’s a good idea to take a flashlight with you in your drawer, since recapitulations are often carried out at night, when everyone at home is asleep :).
Breath. There are several types of breathing described by Castaneda and his cohort. But the essence is the same - with the help of breathing we regain lost energy fibers. We use a synthesized version of breathing from several descriptions. The first person from the list is taken. Chin on right shoulder. As you turn your head, you take a breath, reviving the events associated with this person. The head returns to the central position and exhalation occurs. Then the event is remembered, and from time to time you should do “fanning with the wind” (c) Juan Matus: inhale - turn the head from the right shoulder to the left, exhale - turn the head from the left shoulder to the right. During inhalation, we return our energy fibers, while exhaling, we throw away others. When the event is recapitulated (and this is based on internal sensations), we turn our heads from right to left and back WITHOUT breathing. By doing this we break off the remnants of the energy fibers connecting us. In addition, the process of remembering itself can be conveniently divided into:
remembering the details of an event, remembering people and relationships, recapitulating one’s Attitude to a given event.
"...Florinda explained that the key to revision was breathing. For her, breathing was magical because it was a life-giving function. She said that revision was easy if you could reduce the area of arousal around the body. That was the point of the box "Then the breath will bring out deeper and deeper memories. Theoretically, stalkers should remember every feeling they had in life, and this process begins with their breath..."
There is one caveat. If you do not want to break (change) your relationship with any person, hold off on recapitulating him. Our relationship is based on energy exchange. And by breaking the energy balance (or imbalance:)) with a given person (husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend...), you provoke a change in the relationship.
DEPRESSION AS ONE OF THE EFFECTS OF REVIEWING
Recently, the technique of recapitulation has gained specific popularity (perhaps sometimes unjustified and excessive). Traditionally (i.e., in accordance with Castaneda’s books), recapitulation is included in the technology of stalking, although its meaning is truly universal, as evidenced, in particular, by the practice of dreamers.
Indeed, recapitulation is the stage that sooner or later everyone who expects serious achievements in Castaneda’s discipline has to go through. The revision would rightly be called a “basic cleansing” of the tonal, which is a necessary condition for quality dreaming and stalking, for effective work with intention, maintaining impeccability, especially for the higher realizations of nagualism - the formation of a double and teleportation.
Moreover, recapitulation is often accompanied by very dramatic effects, which everyone who wants to really get close to the nagual should be aware of. In particular, recapitulation can lead to depression, which deserves special mention.
As a matter of fact, depression as one of the effects of recapitulation is a relevant topic only because today's Toltecs do not fully imagine the consistency and inner spirit of Don Juan's discipline. Tradition prescribes the use of recapitulation only after fully mastering the ideas of impeccability in everyday life, after mastering at least the initial skills of stopping internal dialogue and a certain restructuring of the hierarchy of life values in the Castaneda spirit. This process takes time. It should be kept in mind that recapitulation is by no means intended for beginners. However, enthusiasts of recent years often believe that the introduction to Toltec magic begins precisely with Tensegrity and recapitulation. As a result, quite often the first causes psychoenergetic disorders, and recapitulation causes depression and ugly personality changes.
Of course, personal history, after careful recapitulation, does not often evoke positive emotions. Subconsciously, we are always aware that our thoughts and actions are unlikely to coincide with the image that will strengthen self-esteem, i.e. will strengthen the sense of self-importance - the main defense of the ego from aggression from the external environment. Recapitulation makes our ego helpless, it loses internal guidelines and literally freezes before the revelations of that impartial observer, who is the center of pure awareness, the assemblage point - because it has nothing to do with feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, disappointment and hope. A non-egoistic, “naked” look at oneself can shock a normal person (“tonal man”) to such an extent that the world seems like hell, and the entire previous life - a fall into the abyss, where there is no meaning or outcome of the struggle. It is easy to imagine what consequences such discoveries usually lead to.
Similar effects are often demonstrated by amateur psychoanalysis. An analyst who is not gifted with the proper tact and intuition can literally destroy a patient by telling him the true motives for his behavior. Unfortunately, our ego is much uglier than we imagine, and our self-esteem is a more fragile entity than we would like. The collapse of these fundamental criteria of self-image for the “man of the tonal” can be an existential catastrophe. And these are not empty words; they are confirmed by personal experience of communicating with beginning “Toltecs”.
So, for a neophyte, recapitulation is, first of all, a source of trouble, uncertainty and self-abasement, sometimes reaching destructive proportions. Depression is the most common and far from the worst consequence of recapitulation. It can be protracted or short, deep or superficial: in any case, the results of such oppression will certainly manifest themselves in the life of the subject. Such results, as a rule, benefit only those who stubbornly follow Don Juan's ideas for the rest of their lives. Otherwise, the “ego system”, upset by untimely recapitulation, significantly reduces the effectiveness of the individual in implementing ordinary scenarios of ego self-realization in the world of the tonal. Simply put, a person becomes unhappy here without gaining anything “there”. It is imperative to remember that the fragmentary use of Toltec technology often does harm than good. We often forget that ancient magic was never intended for mass use by laymen with their tendency to select from the whole the most convenient parts, the closest ideas and the easiest ways to carry them out. Today, it is a rare person who is able to modify the ancient technique of self-transformation “for himself” - first try to figure out whether you are capable of this. Perhaps it is precisely in these cases that a “guru” is needed - an instructor, adviser, etc. Unfortunately, we rarely meet such specialists.
It is easy to see that the cause of depression after recapitulation is, to one degree or another, a collapse of self-esteem. It turns out that we are not as smart as we previously thought, not as educated, not as friendly, not as spiritual, etc. and so on. Let's face it: recapitulation makes us all look disgusting. If your self-esteem has not changed, rest assured that this was not a recapitulation, but another self-deception. Only a true warrior in this situation can avoid depression.
What to do in the event of such a crisis? Of course, the technique of recapitulation itself contains the solution to all problems. Consistent consideration of one's own experiences - without fear, without subterfuge, until the very end - prevents the emergence of depressive reactions or conditions. The trouble is that most of us, when faced with the horror of Reality, shy away and freeze somewhere in the corner with our hearts pounding. A fleeting glance at oneself causes tetanus almost literally. By trying and constantly retreating back (and this is the most common recapitulation scenario), we create optimal conditions for depression, comprehensive self-deprecation and despair - that is, exactly what prevents any progress on the path of self-transformation.
The exposed person is simply offended that she was put in such an awkward position. It is here that it is unexpectedly discovered that the true Self (nagual) has little in common with the personality (tonal) we are accustomed to. I want to say right away that the obvious analogy with consciousness and the unconscious is inappropriate here, since it reflects only a small part of the problem - these are not just two sides of the psyche, these are precisely two PARTS OF OUR BEING, firmly connected with behavior, reactions, and most importantly - the energetic tone of the whole. Resentment automatically turns into an unconscious refusal of any further activity - that is, we are dealing with one of the options for “tonal compression.” Castaneda was absolutely right when he pointed out that the tonal is very vulnerable, shy and touchy. There is also a metaphysical explanation for this - the tonal is secondary and optional for Reality, its other side is well aware of this, and that is why with such unbridled and dark passion it fights against any attacks on its own existence.
A whole treatise could be written on this topic, but the most important thing is easy to understand: IT IS NOT REVIEW THAT PROVIDES THE NECESSARY IMPECCITY, BUT IMPECCITY GUARANTEES THE CORRECT PROCESS OF REVIEW. This is an important point and should not be forgotten.
All magical practices can, with some degree of convention, be divided into two groups:
1. First group - these are practices for preserving, extracting, saving, multiplying and distributing the energy necessary to move the assemblage point (AP). The need for such techniques arose due to the fact that the assemblage point of an ordinary person is firmly fixed in one specific position, corresponding to the perception of the ordinary everyday world, and in order to move it to another position, a colossal supply of energy (personal strength) is needed.
2. Second group - These are techniques for controlled shifting of the assemblage point and holding it in a new position.
Stopping internal dialogue.
Internal dialogue - a way of holding the assemblage point in a position that corresponds to the perception of the ordinary human world. Constant internal chatter takes up most of a person’s free energy. By stopping the internal dialogue, a person, firstly, gets the opportunity to move his assemblage point from a rigid fixation, and secondly - releases a large amount of energy. But since internal dialogue has been our habit since early childhood, it cannot be stopped with just one desire: for this there are various techniques, mainly boiling down to non-doing in its various forms. Some of them are listed below.
NOT-Doing.
Non-doing can include focusing attention on objects of the daily world, which are usually outside the scope of normal attention, and, accordingly, perception and awareness. To those elements that do not make up our daily picture of the world. For example, instead of observing objects, you can examine their shadows, not leaves, but the gaps between the leaves, until a new picture emerges.
Non-doing can be practiced by performing any action or inaction that is not included in the standard inventory -
for example, performing ordinary actions in an unusual way. This is what one of the ways of not walking looks like (“Tales of Strength,” words by JH): “By bending his fingers in a special way, the warrior draws attention to his hands; then, directing his defocused gaze to a point directly in front of him above the horizon, he literally floods his tonal with information. The tonal, without one-on-one interaction with the elements of description, is unable to talk to itself and therefore becomes silent."
The Right Way of Walking.
This is a movement with curled fingers and attention on the hands, in which you need to direct your gaze forward, without specifically focusing on anything, in order to see the entire space in front of you at the same time. This method “overwhelms” the tonal’s attention with information, and it turns out to be unable to maintain the connection between the elements of the world. This slows down the internal dialogue, and the tonal becomes silent.
Contemplation (Gazing).
A special technique, a “way of looking” without focusing on any one part of what is visible. When you contemplate, you see everything... and nothing in particular. Contemplation can be used in the practice of “not doing”, for example, by looking at a tree, a person creates this tree - finds its trunk, branches, leaves, i.e. captures those key elements of which, in his experience, a TREE should consist. In the practice of “contemplation,” one can look not at the leaves themselves, but at the gaps between them, not at the branches, but at the space limited by these branches. Thus, a kind of “ghost tree”, “donut hole” is obtained. Such things are not allocated special descriptive structures in the human inventory list, so the usual course of internal dialogue changes, which in itself shifts the Assemblage Point (AP).
Carlos Castaneda is an American of Peruvian origin, his cycle “The Teachings of Don Juan” tells about the years spent as an apprentice with an old Indian who learned the Truth, the relationship between matter and spirit, man’s place in the world and his interaction with nature. Castaneda's practice is aimed at teaching people not to go with the flow of their lives, but to become helmsmen themselves, to directly influence the surrounding reality and current events. A whole complex of practices is united by the term “stalking” - these are methods that give internal strength, increase the level of energy of the neophyte, and clarify his consciousness. It is believed that all of Castaneda's followers are divided into two large groups: dreamers and stalkers. The magicians of antiquity, says the teacher, were fluent in both methods, but modern followers rarely reach this level.
What to practice according to Castaneda in order to compare with the magicians of antiquity?
The goal of any technique of the American guru is to get rid of personality, to erase one’s own “I”. This is best achieved through “recapitulation” - mentally returning to past events to pick up the energy left there. In everyday life, it is recommended to practice “controlled stupidity” - every emotion, every experience is the action of our personality, to which we are in slavery. You need to get rid of passions, but imitate them so accurately that neither those around you nor yourself have any doubt that you really experience them. First of all, writes the American herald of a new era of spiritual quest, you need to learn to be aware of yourself in dreams, this will be the first step along the Path of the Warrior. At night we do not control the matter of sleep. But this is a journey through an endless database, through embodied and potential worlds. The ancient masters, says Carlos, knew how to stay in this subspace for as long as they saw fit, so they could even travel between worlds. For the modern average person, it will be a feat to already learn to understand that he is sleeping. The next step will be to influence the fabric of the dream, the classic notorious flights of one's own free will and an instant change of scenery if the plot of the dream gets out of control. To do this, when you fall asleep, you need to focus your attention on your palms, try to examine them in the smallest detail. It just sounds simple, but in fact it takes neophytes weeks to master this basic exercise. So, through a dream, “from the inside” of reality, you can influence the front side, but there are others ways – Castaneda speaks of third attention, turning off internal dialogue, and managing the energy of intention. What can a person achieve who has mastered the art of the old Indian? Literally - everything. He becomes omnipotent. Moreover, he claims Carlos Castaneda, practice influencing your astral body, shifting the mysterious assemblage point that determines our perception, and other metaphysical exercises were the norm for our ancestors. Some of the magical practices of the ancients were transformed by Don Juan and his students, and this is how Tensegrity arose - the art of magical passes aimed at shifting the assemblage point and holding it in a new position.
Reflections
As one of the classics ironically said, a person consists of “heart and body,” and the former has always been the object of unflagging interest of philosophers, scientists and ordinary people. Firstly, the very fact of its existence raises strong doubts, because it is unprovable, and secondly, if the needs of the body are clear, then how to train and develop an abstract substance is a big question. However, there is such a need, and subconsciously everyone feels it. Otherwise the proposed practice, Carlos Castaneda was a pioneer of its kind, but not a unique phenomenon. Writers Richard Bach, Paulo Coelho, Vadim Zeland write about the same thing. Moreover, if you pay close attention to eastern religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto and others - it turns out that there is no secret sacred knowledge, everything was said thousands of years ago. They all say the same thing in different words: you are at the center of your unique universe. It’s up to you to decide what it will be like, and we will just give you a weapon for this and teach you how to use it.
castaneda practices