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[Christopher]

The most profound story I’ve ever read comes one from one of Carlos Castaneda’s books, I can’t recall which one, but it was like many of his “Tales of eternity” they always hint at more than they actually say .

 

This one starts with the old shaman Don Juan and his apprentice the anthropology student Carlos observing some desert creatures as they scurried about in the desert chaparral.

 

Don Juan commented that a man could survive in the dessert by hunting those animals, But first you would need to study them and know their habits.

He explain how they followed a pattern that could be mapped as a circle around a burrow. Once these feeding cycles are learned snares could be set and escape routes could be routed, so the animals own cyclical behavior became its venerability.

But he warned his apprentice, as you follow these behaviors and set your snares every day in the same way, you also make yourself venerable because you too are being observed.

He said there were predators even more attuned to theses circular patterns of the dessert, so some day something could be waiting for you along one of your well worn paths.

 

He went on to say that there existed in nature an ultimate balance between awareness of these cyclical movements in the world and a spontaneity of action in ones self, an unpredictability that wells up from the spirit.

Once this balance is achieved the hunter becomes a “magical warrior.”

“A magical warrior can never be trapped” don Juan said or “be caught without an escape route,” because he can never be reduced to behaviors .

 

This “warrior’s path” are no longer connected to cycles of the world, but of the spirit, thus he can always “see” what is coming without being seen himself.

 

Also, he said there existed in the world animals “magical creatures.” that have achieved this balance.

 

Don Juan recounted that he himself had achieved this state as a young man and became a magical warrior, and seemed to always know instinctively what to do in any situation, until one day he was hunting on a heavily forested ridge top. He remembered hearing a strange sound that sent shivers though his body.

 

He knew instinctively that he was to about to have an encounter with a magical creature, and for the first time since he had reached this state he had no clue what to do.

 

So he did the most illogical thing. He stood on his head and began to cry, after some time he felt something breathing in his ear, he fell over in a sitting position and looked up at the most beautiful deer that he had ever seen, and then it spoke “ Why are you crying ?” the deer inquired “ Because I'm sad ” Don Juan heard himself reply, then he remembered the deer lowered his head and said very clearly “ Don’t be sad ” and ambled away.

 

After listening to Don Juan’s story, Carlos, being an anthropologist and a man of logic and science, replied that the story was ridicules “deer’s do not talk !” he said “I know I know” the old shaman replied “It was the damnedest thing.”

[infamous]

The most profound story I’ve ever read comes one from one of Carlos Castaneda’s books, I can’t recall which one, but it was like many of his “Tales of eternity” they always hint at more than they actually say .

This stroy reminds me of something I learned many years ago. We humans all get ourselves into a few difficult situations along the way as we travel this road of life. Many times foolish decisions could lead to our destruction and believe me I have made a few foolish decisions along the way. What kept me from falling victim to these foolish decisions was the knowledge that; If you can remember how you got yourself in trouble, you can find your way back.

[sanctus]

Well infamous, I have to say I like your senetence very much, but there are decisions you can make which you can't unmake. Or do you mean by "finding your way back", something else than un-making, sort of something like accepting the situation and make the best of it?

[infamous]

Well infamous, I have to say I like your senetence very much, but there are decisions you can make which you can't unmake. Or do you mean by "finding your way back", something else than un-making, sort of something like accepting the situation and make the best of it?

Exactly sanctus, if you can remember how you got where your at, "you can find your way back". It's very true that many of our foolish decisions can never be "unmade" however, if we can understand what lead us to these actions, we'll have a better chance to heal the wounds and use better judgement the next time.

[CraigD]

… So he did the most illogical thing. He stood on his head and began to cry, after some time he felt something breathing in his ear, he fell over in a sitting position and looked up at the most beautiful deer that he had ever seen, and then it spoke “ Why are you crying ?” the deer inquired “ Because I'm sad ” Don Juan heard himself reply, then he remembered the deer lowered his head and said very clearly “ Don’t be sad ” and ambled away. …

 

… After listening to Don Juan’s story, Carlos, being an anthropologist and a man of logic and science, replied that the story was ridicules “deer’s do not talk !” he said “I know I know” the old shaman replied “It was the damnedest thing.”

Man, I love that Castaneda, peyote and all! Thanks for bringing it back to mind – you’ve brightened my whole day. :)

 

Some of my fondest teen-age memories of reading his books, which, at the time, I credulously accepted as complete nonfiction, despite numerous cautions that Don Juan and accompanying characters were at least substantially embellished, at most whole-cloth fabrications. My credulity eventually gave way, about the same time, it seemed, as that of publishers: You’ll notice that reprints of the trilogy (“Teachings” through “Ixtlan”), originally printed with an “Anthropology” category on the spine, are more recently categorized “Fiction”. 1981’s “Eagle’s Gift”, to the best of my knowledge, was never published as nonfiction.

 

Fiction or not, profound or nonsense, Castaneda was my introduction to New Age writing, and has a permanent house in my heart.

 

Thought the early ‘80s, I found it increasingly difficult to resolve a New Age worldview with a naturalistic, scientific one, and occasionally inwardly cursed Carlos as a charlatan and a fraud. Yaqui sorcery seemed a laughably impractical life strategy, and I’d repeatedly counted coup on every level I could imagine on practically every magic warrior of my acquaintance (by the end of the 80s, I was immersed in Rainbow family living, so knew a lot of magic warriors, young and old) via the path of the mundane western reductionist, while at the same time becoming something of a respected adept at a pragmatic spiritual discipline of my own invention, known by various terms, the best of which I’d say is “laughing rainbow psychic judo”. Like the Eagle’s Path of the magic warrior, it involves a lot of purposeful unpredictability.

 

In the early 1990s, I was introduced to the fiction of another New Age writer, Starhawk. Both as a writer and as a genuine human being, activist, and teacher, I’ve come to respect her far more than I do Carlos (who I love still), and recommend her to all my fellow travelers (especially “The Fifth Sacred Thing” and “Walking to Mercury”). Welcome home.