05-04-2012, 12:00 AM
IUnknownPoet008 wrote:
1. Sorcerers of Antiquity: An Introduction
6
Don Juan stressed, time and time again, that Everything, he was teaching me, had been envisioned and worked out by men he referred to as Sorcerers of Antiquity. He made it very clear, that there was a profound distinction between those Sorcerers and the Sorcerers of Modern Times. He categorized Sorcerers of Antiquity, as men, who existed in Mexico perhaps thousands of years before the Spanish Conquest, men whose greatest accomplishment had been to build the Structures of Sorcery, emphasizing Practicality and Concreteness. He rendered them as men, who were brilliant, but lacking in Wisdom. Modern Sorcerers, by contrast, don Juan portrayed as men, renowned for Their Sound Minds and Their Capacity to rectify the Course of Sorcery, if they deemed (considered) it necessary. Don Juan explained to me, that the Sorcery premises (statements) pertinent (suitable) to Dreaming, were naturally envisioned and developed by Sorcerers of Antiquity. Out of necessity, for those premises (statements) are the Key in explaining and understanding Dreaming, I again have to write about and discuss them. The major part of this book is, therefore, a reintroduction and amplification of what I have presented in my previous works.
"During one of our conversations, don Juan stated that, in order to
appreciate the position of Dreamers (Out-Of-Body-Travellers) and
Dreaming, one has to understand the struggle of modern-day Sorcerers to
steer (move) Sorcery away from Concreteness towards the Abstract.
"What do you call Concreteness, don Juan?" I asked.
"The practical part of Sorcery,"
he said. "The obsessive fixation of the Mind on practices and
techniques (rituals), the unwarranted influence over people.
All of these were in the realm of the Sorcerers of the Past."
"And what do you call the Abstract?"
"The Search for Freedom, Freedom
to perceive, without obsessions, all that's humanly possible. I say
that present-day Sorcerers seek the Abstract, because they seek
Freedom; they have no interest in Concrete Gains. There are no social
functions for them, as there were for the Sorcerers of the Past. So
you'll never catch them being the official Seers or the Sorcerers in
residence."
"Do you mean, don Juan, that the Past has no value to modern-day Sorcerers?"
"It certainly has value. It's
the taste of that Past, which we don't like. I personally detest the
darkness and morbidity of the Mind. I like the Immensity of Thought.
However, regardless of my likes and dislikes, I have to give due credit
to the Sorcerers of Antiquity, for they were the first to find out and
do everything we know and do today.
Don Juan explained, that their
most important attainment was to perceive the Energetic Essence of
things. This Insight was of such importance, that it was turned into
the basic premise (statement) of Sorcery. Nowadays, after lifelong
discipline and training, Sorcerers do acquire the capacity to perceive
the Essence of things, a capacity they call 'Seeing' (seeing Energy
instead of things).
"What would it mean to me to perceive the Energetic Essence of things?" I once asked don Juan.
"It would mean that you perceive
Energy directly," he replied. "By separating the social part of
perception, you'll perceive the Essence of Everything. Whatever we are
perceiving is Energy, but since we can't directly perceive Energy, we
process our perception to fit a Mold (don't accept this Mold: break it
mentally, turn it into Energy, LM).
This Mold is the social part of our perception, which you have to separate."
"Why do I have to separate it?"
"Because it deliberately reduces
the Scope, of what can be perceived, and makes us believe, that the
Mold, into which we fit our perception, is all that exists. I am
convinced that for human to survive now, his/her perception must change
at its social base."
7
"What is this social base of perception, don Juan?"
"The Physical Certainty, that the World is made of Concrete Objects. I
call this a social base, because a serious and fierce effort is put out
by everybody to guide us to perceive the World the way we do."
"How then should we perceive the World?"
"Everything is Energy. The Whole Universe is Energy. The social base of
our perception should be the Physical Certainty, that Energy is All
There Is !
A mighty effort should be made to guide us to perceive Energy as Energy. Then we would have both Alternatives at our fingertips.
"Is it possible to train people in such a fashion?" I asked.
Don Juan replied that it was possible, and that this was precisely,
what he was doing with me and his other apprentices. He (Don Juan) was
teaching us a
new way of perceiving:
first, by making us realize, that we process our perception to fit a Mold;
second, by fiercely guiding us to perceive Energy directly. He assured
me, that this method was very much like the one, used to teach us to
perceive the World of daily affairs" (and to create the Mold of our
social physical Life, this method was the opposite to what we should do
here now , and it was/is used
on 4th Level of Consciousness, to prepare the New Players of our
Planetary Game till our Game is over! This method was described by
R.Monroe as well !)
Don Juan's conception was that Our Entrapment in processing our
perception to fit a Social Mold loses its power when we realize, we
have accepted this Mold, as an inheritance from our ancestors, without
bothering to examine it.
"To perceive a World of hard Objects, that had either a positive or a
negative value must have been utterly necessary for our ancestors'
survival," don Juan said. '"After ages of perceiving in such a manner,
we are now forced to believe that the World is made up of Objects."
"I can't conceive the World in any other way, don Juan," I complained.
"It is unquestionably a World of Objects. To prove it, all we have to
do is bump into them."
"Of course it's a World of Objects. We are not arguing that."
"What are you saying then?"
"I am saying, that this is first a World of Energy; then it's a World
of Objects. If we don't start with the premise (statement), that it is
a World of Energy, we'll never be able to perceive Energy Directly.
We'll always be stopped by the physical certainty, of what you've just
pointed out: the Hardness of Objects."
His argument was extremely mystifying to me. In those days, my mind
would simply refuse to consider any way to understand the World, except
the One, with which I was familiar. Don Juan's Claims and the Points,
he struggled to raise, were outlandish propositions, that I could not
accept, but could not refuse either.
"Our way of perceiving is a Predator's Way," he said to me on one
occasion. "A very efficient manner of appraising and classifying food
and danger. But this is not the only way we are able to perceive. There
is Another Mode, the One I am familiarizing you with: the Act of
Perceiving the Essence of Everything, Energy Itself, directly.
"To perceive the Essence of Everything will make us understand,
classify, and describe the World in entirely new, more exciting, more
sophisticated terms." This was don Juan's Claim. And the more
sophisticated terms to which he was alluding were those, he had been
taught by his predecessors, terms, that correspond to Sorcery Truths,
which have no rational foundation and no relation whatsoever to the
facts of our daily World, but which are self-evident Truths for the
Sorcerers, who perceive Energy directly and See the Essence of
Everything. For such Sorcerers, the most significant act of Sorcery is
to See the Essence (Energies) of the Universe. Don Juan's version was,
that the Sorcerers of Antiquity, the First Ones to See the Essence of
the Universe, described it in the best manner. They said, that the
Essence of the Universe resembles Incandescent Threads (yellow at that
Time, but now they are White), stretched into Infinity in every
conceivable direction, Luminous (White) Filaments (M-Field, LM), that
are Conscious of Themselves in ways impossible for the Human Mind to
comprehend.
from http://www.theshiftofcons...ness.info/castaneda.html
I think the point is that you need to quote and change the font in order to read it!
1. Sorcerers of Antiquity: An Introduction
6
Don Juan stressed, time and time again, that Everything, he was teaching me, had been envisioned and worked out by men he referred to as Sorcerers of Antiquity. He made it very clear, that there was a profound distinction between those Sorcerers and the Sorcerers of Modern Times. He categorized Sorcerers of Antiquity, as men, who existed in Mexico perhaps thousands of years before the Spanish Conquest, men whose greatest accomplishment had been to build the Structures of Sorcery, emphasizing Practicality and Concreteness. He rendered them as men, who were brilliant, but lacking in Wisdom. Modern Sorcerers, by contrast, don Juan portrayed as men, renowned for Their Sound Minds and Their Capacity to rectify the Course of Sorcery, if they deemed (considered) it necessary. Don Juan explained to me, that the Sorcery premises (statements) pertinent (suitable) to Dreaming, were naturally envisioned and developed by Sorcerers of Antiquity. Out of necessity, for those premises (statements) are the Key in explaining and understanding Dreaming, I again have to write about and discuss them. The major part of this book is, therefore, a reintroduction and amplification of what I have presented in my previous works.
"During one of our conversations, don Juan stated that, in order to
appreciate the position of Dreamers (Out-Of-Body-Travellers) and
Dreaming, one has to understand the struggle of modern-day Sorcerers to
steer (move) Sorcery away from Concreteness towards the Abstract.
"What do you call Concreteness, don Juan?" I asked.
"The practical part of Sorcery,"
he said. "The obsessive fixation of the Mind on practices and
techniques (rituals), the unwarranted influence over people.
All of these were in the realm of the Sorcerers of the Past."
"And what do you call the Abstract?"
"The Search for Freedom, Freedom
to perceive, without obsessions, all that's humanly possible. I say
that present-day Sorcerers seek the Abstract, because they seek
Freedom; they have no interest in Concrete Gains. There are no social
functions for them, as there were for the Sorcerers of the Past. So
you'll never catch them being the official Seers or the Sorcerers in
residence."
"Do you mean, don Juan, that the Past has no value to modern-day Sorcerers?"
"It certainly has value. It's
the taste of that Past, which we don't like. I personally detest the
darkness and morbidity of the Mind. I like the Immensity of Thought.
However, regardless of my likes and dislikes, I have to give due credit
to the Sorcerers of Antiquity, for they were the first to find out and
do everything we know and do today.
Don Juan explained, that their
most important attainment was to perceive the Energetic Essence of
things. This Insight was of such importance, that it was turned into
the basic premise (statement) of Sorcery. Nowadays, after lifelong
discipline and training, Sorcerers do acquire the capacity to perceive
the Essence of things, a capacity they call 'Seeing' (seeing Energy
instead of things).
"What would it mean to me to perceive the Energetic Essence of things?" I once asked don Juan.
"It would mean that you perceive
Energy directly," he replied. "By separating the social part of
perception, you'll perceive the Essence of Everything. Whatever we are
perceiving is Energy, but since we can't directly perceive Energy, we
process our perception to fit a Mold (don't accept this Mold: break it
mentally, turn it into Energy, LM).
This Mold is the social part of our perception, which you have to separate."
"Why do I have to separate it?"
"Because it deliberately reduces
the Scope, of what can be perceived, and makes us believe, that the
Mold, into which we fit our perception, is all that exists. I am
convinced that for human to survive now, his/her perception must change
at its social base."
7
"What is this social base of perception, don Juan?"
"The Physical Certainty, that the World is made of Concrete Objects. I
call this a social base, because a serious and fierce effort is put out
by everybody to guide us to perceive the World the way we do."
"How then should we perceive the World?"
"Everything is Energy. The Whole Universe is Energy. The social base of
our perception should be the Physical Certainty, that Energy is All
There Is !
A mighty effort should be made to guide us to perceive Energy as Energy. Then we would have both Alternatives at our fingertips.
"Is it possible to train people in such a fashion?" I asked.
Don Juan replied that it was possible, and that this was precisely,
what he was doing with me and his other apprentices. He (Don Juan) was
teaching us a
new way of perceiving:
first, by making us realize, that we process our perception to fit a Mold;
second, by fiercely guiding us to perceive Energy directly. He assured
me, that this method was very much like the one, used to teach us to
perceive the World of daily affairs" (and to create the Mold of our
social physical Life, this method was the opposite to what we should do
here now , and it was/is used
on 4th Level of Consciousness, to prepare the New Players of our
Planetary Game till our Game is over! This method was described by
R.Monroe as well !)
Don Juan's conception was that Our Entrapment in processing our
perception to fit a Social Mold loses its power when we realize, we
have accepted this Mold, as an inheritance from our ancestors, without
bothering to examine it.
"To perceive a World of hard Objects, that had either a positive or a
negative value must have been utterly necessary for our ancestors'
survival," don Juan said. '"After ages of perceiving in such a manner,
we are now forced to believe that the World is made up of Objects."
"I can't conceive the World in any other way, don Juan," I complained.
"It is unquestionably a World of Objects. To prove it, all we have to
do is bump into them."
"Of course it's a World of Objects. We are not arguing that."
"What are you saying then?"
"I am saying, that this is first a World of Energy; then it's a World
of Objects. If we don't start with the premise (statement), that it is
a World of Energy, we'll never be able to perceive Energy Directly.
We'll always be stopped by the physical certainty, of what you've just
pointed out: the Hardness of Objects."
His argument was extremely mystifying to me. In those days, my mind
would simply refuse to consider any way to understand the World, except
the One, with which I was familiar. Don Juan's Claims and the Points,
he struggled to raise, were outlandish propositions, that I could not
accept, but could not refuse either.
"Our way of perceiving is a Predator's Way," he said to me on one
occasion. "A very efficient manner of appraising and classifying food
and danger. But this is not the only way we are able to perceive. There
is Another Mode, the One I am familiarizing you with: the Act of
Perceiving the Essence of Everything, Energy Itself, directly.
"To perceive the Essence of Everything will make us understand,
classify, and describe the World in entirely new, more exciting, more
sophisticated terms." This was don Juan's Claim. And the more
sophisticated terms to which he was alluding were those, he had been
taught by his predecessors, terms, that correspond to Sorcery Truths,
which have no rational foundation and no relation whatsoever to the
facts of our daily World, but which are self-evident Truths for the
Sorcerers, who perceive Energy directly and See the Essence of
Everything. For such Sorcerers, the most significant act of Sorcery is
to See the Essence (Energies) of the Universe. Don Juan's version was,
that the Sorcerers of Antiquity, the First Ones to See the Essence of
the Universe, described it in the best manner. They said, that the
Essence of the Universe resembles Incandescent Threads (yellow at that
Time, but now they are White), stretched into Infinity in every
conceivable direction, Luminous (White) Filaments (M-Field, LM), that
are Conscious of Themselves in ways impossible for the Human Mind to
comprehend.
from http://www.theshiftofcons...ness.info/castaneda.html
I think the point is that you need to quote and change the font in order to read it!