Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan’s Teachings

Ed: This was one of the reasons why I retired at an early age. It just didn’t make sense to subject myself to the emotional turmoil when I did’nt have to. Anyway, thaks for pointing this out. It is quite a revelation.

M: Although you are in intrinsically a state of being that is essentially foreign to society as a vast majority, you are most certainly, “not” alone. If you can commit to yourself and “the way of knowledge,” your direction will be altered, literally forever.

Ed: I am very open to the above concept.

M: The concept is yourself: it is only what you are and your processes will become. You may accept or reject it, however rejection will not alter the basis of what you are through your inheritance.

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M: To describe individuals that I’m closely connected to, two terms are used: proteges and apprentices; which hopefully without arrogance, places myself in the function of a facilitator/mentor for these individuals. There are perhaps about 100 individuals scattered throughout the planet in various intensities of connection that are described by these two categories. Just to expand this babble, the distinction between the terms “proteges” and “apprentices” is as follows.

M: Originally, starting about 1961 (yes, 39 years ago) I was requested by my then management to “mentor” a new staff member who would be assigned to myself. Since I had a model of what a “mentor” was, having had one since about aged 13, (we lost contact about the time I reached age 40, but he was called 5 years ago to say “thanks” and to let him know that there are now perhaps 100 individuals with whom his technique is directly linked) it was an easy process. As time, activity, and opportunity continued, more were slowly added to the “protege list,” called that because the connections were always technical/professional/science-based.

M: It became quickly obvious, in confirmation of my experience with my own mentor, that it was not possible to execute thoroughly the task without working profoundly with the individual and his/her personal attributes. From this observation, a litany was devised: a person’s ability to be objective about his/her experimental data results or his/her theoretical results, is founded on the person’s ability to trust; a person’s ability to trust is founded on the person’s ability to trust him/herself; a person’s ability to interact with another and be credible is founded upon his/her self-esteem that transcends ego; a person’s ability to transcend ego is indicated on his/her ability to love him/herself, absent the dependency of ego; a person’s ability to love another, is founded on his/her ability to love self; and, if such love is to be based without the barter (almost an economic exchange) of dependencies (e.g., “I will love you if you behave or perform in a specific way and my love of you is predicated upon those behaviours.”) so that love of both self and another can truly be “unconditional,” then self-esteem must be extended within the person so that it can exist in the form of whole acceptance without self-deprecation.

M: Simple.

M: There was another mentor who was engaged circa 1975/6, a licensed psychologist, and the relationship was intense between that period and about 1980, although contact was continued through about 1983. (He was also an Episcopalian Priest, and the first time I saw him in “priestly attire” was in 1983 when he performed the ceremony when wife and self married.) This mentor, though a paid psychologist, was an empath. He taught me the elements of self-acceptance that were still unstable and the pieces of self-objectivity that had been tweaked or missed. By the time of our later activity (circa 1978) he had taught be the technique of moving my consciousness out of the physical body and out of the human form. Through him, the ability to link myself to another as sentient energy (he served as the prototype) to another was learned, and it was possible with effort, to “see through his eyes” (literally). With those attributes that seemed intrinsic to my heritage, enhanced, my existence was altered forever and the “link” between my sentient consciousness and my body was enhanced in dramatic ways. Any “rattle” of intent, will, emotions, became amplified as “impacts” to the body.

M: For every attribute of ability, there is a commensurate demand of responsibility. These two elements, for those like myself, are inextricable, as they are for you.

M: The story goes on.

M: Starting about 1978 there was from professional sources, an increasing demand to add proteges, and in the period from about 1978 to 1982, several were added. Some of these individuals had the attributes similar to myself. The wife of one male who sought acceptance as a protege (since this is for me a life commit, it’s not taken capriciously in terms of who is compatible) circa 1981 was instantly identified as “like.” The protege (male) was cautioned (a standard statement upon acceptance of one as a protege) “If you do this, your life will change, and quickly, and you will never be able to return to the condition that you now have.” With that acceptance, the engagement was made and within one year their life styles were catapulted about (according to him) about three-to-one. His wife is now a licensed nurse and in terms of metaphysical ability, extraordinarily powerful. She uses her abilities as a natural empath, a traveller, and a healer in ways that (given her position in profession) society can never suspect. Perfect.

M: She is called “an apprentice,” to separate from those with whom the relationship was initiated as “professional.”

M: There is, of course, much more to this rattle. Perhaps this open-discussion. Perhaps this is sufficient. ————-

Ed: One of the things that has not been discussed, but rather implied are the core values one exhibits on the path. Bob has alluded to the facility for honesty and his surprise when others don’t always share this trait with him. But we have not had a detail discussion relative to the importance of core values. When it comes to values and the path I can only speak for myself but would be interested in hearing others views on the subject.

R: I like to think of it in terms of CC/DJM’s, “impeccability is the only thing that counts on the path of knowledge.” Impeccability is something we personally expand within us. That is, our expression of impeccability is at most, equal to our current level of what impeccability is for us at any given time. And all too often, our expression of even what we currently hold as impeccability is below that level of current understanding.

Ed: I pretty much agree with the above. And its like the old saying, not an exact quote…oh what a wicked web we weave when first we set out to decieve…I really do not think there actually is a right or wrong, but …. when we do things that are considered wrong, we cause ourselves a lot of problems, we cause bad feelings from others and society about and towards us, and we lose a LOT of our energy.

M: Specifically, it is observed that everyone who exists has a set of core values that are emphasized in various parameters. Since the core values form a reference for each person, it is observed that they form a part of reality for each person. Given that, it’s possible to say that every individual walks with his/her set of individual and alternate realities to everyone else.

Ed: I like everybody else started development of my value system as part of the socialization process. However, these were cultural values and not universal values. These were drilled into me by the church, the educational system and by my Mother, my Father died when I was eight years old and have little memory of him. However, during this process, there was always the real me, my essence, so to speak, that was the final arbitrary of whether to take them at face value, with a grain of salt, or to reject them entirely. Through this process, I have came to accept certain values that just make sense. They are not cultural values but rather universal in nature. Some of them that come to mind are:

R: We use language this way, and we say that our core values are integrity, love, etc., almost like a recapitulation. I think doing so serves to instill the concepts into our impeccability base in a way that has us act from that base more consistently in line with it; that is, it frees up energy.

Ed: 1. Integrity

My definition of integrity is the goal of trying to be honest in one’s transactions. I would qualify “being honest” as using discretion of when to be totally honest, and would restrict this application to only those situations that really “mattered.” In other words brutal honesty sometimes is not only not required, but could be unusually cruel for no good purpose. Another component of this ability is the goal of being dependable in one’s relationships regarding friends, family, and work situations. Another way of expressing this is taking responsibility for one’s actions.