Encounters With The Nagual: Part 1 - Chapter 05. The Path of the Warrior.

Encounters With The Nagual ©2004 by Armando Torres:

Part 1 - Chapter 05. The Path of the Warrior.

One morning I received a phone call, and to my surprise it was Carlos. He told me that he would arrive at the airport in Mexico City in four hours, and asked me if I could pick him up.

I told him it would be a pleasure.

He gave me the number of his flight, and I figured that he was calling from the airport in Los Angeles since that would fit the time required for the trip.

When he arrived, I accompanied him on some errands related to the printing of his book. Afterwards, we went to a cafe for a chat. Before saying goodbye, we agreed to meet at the place where he was giving a lecture that night.

The weather was terrible, and perhaps that was why, when I arrived at the house where the appointment was, I found that just a few people had arrived. I placed my coat, sopping wet, over the back of a seat, and sat down in a corner near Carlos.

The core of his statements that evening was that the universe in its great entirety is feminine; and is of a predatory nature with a tenacious battle of consciousness going on, where, as always, the strongest absorbs the weakest.

Carlos said, "On the cosmic scale, the strength of a being is not measured by its physical capability, but by its capacity to manipulate awareness.

"It follows that if we are to take the next evolutionary step, it must be done by means of discipline, and determination. Those are our weapons.

"Through their seeing, sorcerers witness the evolutionary struggle, and they take their place in it.

"With their ever-ready disposition for combat-- ready for the worst, and without complaining about the result-- seers take as a title 'warriors'.

"A warrior considers the world we live in to be a great mystery, and a warrior knows that the mystery is there to be revealed to those who deliberately look for it.

"That attitude of audacity will move the tentacles of the unknown, and will make the spirit manifest itself to you."

Carlos explained to us that the warriors' audacity is born out of their awareness of, or even their contact with, their imminent death.

Carlos told us the story of a girl who one day arrived at his editor's office. She put a small mat down on the floor, sat down on it, and told the editor, 'I will not leave until I speak to Carlos Castaneda.'

All attempts to discourage her were useless. The girl remained inflexible. Finally, the editor called Carlos and told him that a crazy girl demanded his presence.

Carlos said to us, "What could I do? I went there and I met her.

"When I asked her the reason for her strange behavior, she told me that, being deadly sick, she had gone to the desert to die. But, while she meditated in solitude, she understood that she had still not tried everything, and she decided to play her last card. For her, that meant to know the nagual in person.

"Impressed by her story, I made her a unique proposition, saying, 'Leave everything and come to the world of the sorcerers'. She answered at once, 'I am game!'

"When I heard her words, my hair stood on end, because Don Juan used to say the same thing to me, 'If we are going to play, then let us play. But we play to the death'.

Carlos continued, "This is the sorcerer's feeling in front of destiny.

"I bet my life on this intent; nothing less.

"I know that my end is waiting for me everywhere, and I know there is nothing I can do to avoid it.

"I walk down my path with utmost concentration.

"I accept the responsibility of living fully.

"I risk everything on this single hand.

"As a warrior, I know that victory is not guaranteed when faced with death.

"Even so, I freely enter into battle, not because I believe I will win, but for the excitement of this war.

"For me, entering the war is already a victory. And while I fight, I am happy, because for one who is already dead, every second of life is a gift."

Carlos continued by saying that what makes it possible for the world we share to exist just as we see it, is our attention and the attentions of all our fellow human beings focused simultaneously, and connected in a tight net of interpretations reinforced by agreement.

Someone asked him to further clarify this topic.

Carlos explained, "The domain of attention is of supreme importance in the path of sorcerers, because attention is the primary matter of creation. In all worlds, degrees of evolution are measured by the ability to realize, or to be aware.

"In order to manipulate and understand the emanations which arrive to our senses, sorcerers develop the power of their attention. They sharpen it through discipline to exquisite levels which allow them to transcend human limitations, and to fulfill all the possibilities of perception.

"Their concentration is so intense that they can penetrate the thick armor of appearances, and expose the essence of things.

"Seers call that degree of increased awareness 'seeing'.

"Even though such a fixed attention may seem like stubbornness, obsession, or fanaticism, for the practitioner it is nothing but discipline."

He warned us not to confuse the discipline of sorcerers with people's repetitive routines.

Carlos said, "Discipline, as understood by a warrior, is creative, open, and produces freedom.

"It is the ability to face the unknown, and transform old feelings of knowing into reverent astonishment.

"Discipline is considering things that exceed the scope of our habits.

"Discipline is a daring to face the only war that is worthwhile. The battle for increased self awareness.

"Discipline is the courage to accept the consequences of our actions, whatever they may be, without self-pity or feelings of blame.

"Having discipline is the key to handling attention, because it takes us to the 'will'.

"The will allows us to modify our world until it becomes what we want it to be, and Not like the one which was imposed on us from the outside.

"For this reason, will is the starting point on a warrior's new state of intent. Will's power is so great that, when it is focused on something, it can produce the most astonishing effects."

As examples, he told us many stories about extraordinary events he had witnessed.

He maintained that underlying each one of those 'beyond unusual' actions of the sorcerers were years of discipline, sobriety, and detachment.

Warriors place the highest value on those attributes, and together those attributes constitute the state of being which they call impeccability.

Saving energy allows for increased analytical thinking, but energetic impeccability does not have anything to do with an intellectual position, or a belief, nor anything like that.

Impeccability is simply the technique for freeing and increasing awareness. And it builds.

"As warriors accept with humility what we are, we do Not squander our power on lamenting because things are not other than they are.

"If a door is closed, we do not kick it and punch it. Instead, we attentively study the lock and figure out how to open it.

"In the same way, if our life is not satisfactory, the warrior is neither offended, nor complains. On the contrary, a warrior designs strategies to alter the course of their destiny.

"If we learn how to curb our self-pity, and at the same time make room for the authentic 'me', we will become drivers of cosmic intent, and conduits for torrents of energy.

"In order to flow in such a way, we must learn to trust our resources and to understand that we were born with everything we need for the extravagant adventure which is our life.

"As a warrior, each man or woman who has entered the path of sorcery knows that they are responsible for themselves. They do not look aside seeking approval, nor do they try to discharge their frustrations on others.

"Don Juan often told me, ‘What you are looking for is within yourself. You have to struggle to make your actions final-- to achieve your own clarity. Commit yourself before it is too late.’

"A noteworthy aspect of impeccability which particularly concerns sorcerers' daily lives is knowing how exercising freedom affects others; and knowing how to avoid the resulting friction at any cost.

"Occasionally, our relationships with others will generate friction and expectations.

"As a fighting sorcerer, I pay close attention to my potential contacts, and become a hunter of signs.

"If there are no signs, I do not interact with people. I am content to wait because although I do not have time, I do have all the patience in the world. I know that too much is at stake and I will not risk ruining everything by one false move.

"Since I am never desperate to achieve contact with anyone, as a warrior I can choose my affections with sobriety and detachment. I take care at all times that the people I consent to be with are compatible with my energy.

"The secret to my achieving such clarity of vision could be defined as the difference between 'identifying myself' versus 'not identifying myself'. As sorcerer, I identify myself with the abstract, and Not with the everyday world. That allows me to be independent and take care of myself."

Then Carlos told us a story about a guy who considered himself to be a great warrior, but every time he had problems at home and his wife did not make him dinner, or she did not wash or iron his clothes, he collapsed in chaos. After a long battle with that situation, the man decided to introduce a radical change in his life. But, instead of reforming his character, like he might have, he changed his wife for another one.

"Please realize that, face-to-face with our destiny, each one of us is alone so take control of your life.

"It is inconceivable for me to feel destitute because I have self-control and I do not need anything from anybody.

"A warrior polishes life details, develops their imagination, and puts their ingenuity to the test by resolving situations.

"By concentrating on details, I learn how to cultivate delicacy, subtlety, and elegance.

"Don Vicente Medrano said that the beauty of our struggle is shown in the invisible stitches, and a sorcerer's trademark is 'intent fulfilled.'

"Independence and control of details produces the capacity to persist precisely at the point where other people would cease to act.

"When arriving at this point, the warrior is a step away from impeccable conduct.

"Impeccability is born then of a delicate balance between our internal being and the forces of the external world.

"You have achieved your freed awareness from effort, time, dedication, and your being permanently attentive to the objective.

"Your intent is never lost from your sight.

"And since persistence defeats apathy, excercising intent initially requires persistence.

"It is as simple as that.

"The threshold of magic is my intent sustained beyond what might seem possible, desirable, or reasonable.

"It is my mental leap to become tuned to the will of the Eagle's emanations, and to allow the emmanations' command to loosen the rigidity of my limits.

"But few people are willing to walk the extra mile, or to pay the price."

Carlos admitted that as an apprentice, and on several occasions, he considered abandoning his teacher and his benefactor.

He was oppressed by the magnitude of the task he was given by them.

What saved him in the end, and gave him a second-wind, was a wave of energy that the warrior finds within himself when everything seems lost.

"Many apprentices, after searching for years and not finding anything to satisfy their expectations, retire disappointed without knowing that they are actually just a few steps from their goal."

He shook his head and commented sadly, "We should not die on the beach after swimming so far..."

"When I gained flexibility, humility, and a sense of independence, and I gained a control of details and I persisted, as a warrior in search of impeccability I knew that I had gained the power of my decisions.

"Now I am authorized to do, or not do, according to what suits me. Nobody can force me to do anything.

"It is at this point that I need, more than ever, to be the owner of my emotions and of my mind because otherwise clarity joined with power makes an explosive mixture. I could easily become reckless.

"So, my path as a warrior consists of saving energy and freeing my awareness.

"Everything that goes against that threatens my impeccable intent.

"As an apprentice, although I accumulated a surplus of free awareness and energy in my luminosity, never-the-less circumstances would take particularly dramatic turns for me.

"My dilemma was the same which faces a hang-glider who, after struggling for hours to get up to the mountaintop carrying his heavy equipment, finds that weather conditions are no longer right for the flight. In a situation like that, it is tempting for the athlete to decide to jump anyway than to decide to remain on the ground.

"If the athelete has not learned to control their decisions appropriately, the most probable outcome is that the athelete jumps to death.

"In the same way, there were times when as an apprentice I forgot that my objective was not to nourish my ego, and I entered into situations which were stronger than I.

"For an apprentice this constitutes a serious breach of discipline that will unavoidably plunge one into unresolvable labyrinths of power. This situation can be fatal, and in those cases power will have become one's executioner.

"A warrior of knowledge does not senselessly surrender to the excitement of war.

"First I observe the conditions, gauge my possibilities, and establish my support points. Then, depending on this evaluation, I will rush forth, or retreat without the slightest hesitation.

"I do not deal blows out blindly, but rather, I try to turn every step into an immaculate exercise of strategy.

"The apprentice, who does not learn in time to properly decide how, when, and with whom to enter into battle, is removed. Either someone kills them, or they are defeated so many times that they do not rise again.

"The warriors' final challenge is to balance all the attributes of their path. Once they do that, their purpose becomes inflexible.

"They are no longer moved by a desperate desire for gain. They are the owners of their will, and can put it to their personal service.

"When they arrive at that point, a warrior has learned how to direct their awareness and act impeccably. And for them to continue growing impeccably depends totally on the energy they accumulate... on the awareness they free."

Carlos gave as an example an apprentice who uses their recently won powers to become rich, and then comes to a forked road. Then they either enter into the mindset of 'I want this and that', or they choose to cultivate their intent.

If they choose the first option, they have arrived at the end of their path because no matter how much energy they dedicate to the yearnings of their ego, they are never really satisfied.

In the second option, on the other hand, they will have found their route to freedom.

"Intent can be described as tuning our attention to cosmic awareness, which in turn transforms our volition into commands of the Eagle.

"We must be daring to attempt it deliberately, but once there, everything becomes possible. Intent allows sorcerers to live in a extra-ordinary world, and to intend a destiny of freedom. For them, freedom is a fact, not just a Utopia.

"By ignoring the principles of the warrior's way, modern humans have wound up in a diabolical trap made up of family, religious, and social concerns.

"They work eight hours a day in order to maintain their way of life. Then they return home to where their spouses await them.

"Their children, seemingly identical to any other of a billion children, endlessly demand things from their parents. This forces the parents to continue on in chains until their powers are drained. They become useless old objects who sit meditating over their memories in a corner of the house.

"The parents had always heard that this is happiness, but they do not feel happy. They feel shackled.

"Be Warriors and stop all that. Realize your potential and free yourselves.

"Free yourselves from whatever. Do not impose limits on yourselves. If you can defy the force of gravity and fly, that is great. And if you have the impetus to challenge death and buy a ticket to eternity, that is tremendous.

"Take a risk! Get out of the trap of self-reflexion and dare to perceive all that is humanly possible.

"A warrior of knowledge makes an effort to be authentic, and will not accept any compromises because the object of their fight is total freedom."