((( THE NATURE OF REALITY )))

[Genardo Sacateca]

"A
Vision of the sorcerer's world that is full of mind-spinning
implications in the Castanedian tradition." - United Press International

"His stories of initiation into the world of magic and
sorcery... can be both shocking and terrifying... "The Fire From Within"
will fascinate you." - The Nashville Tennessean
"One can't exaggerate the significance of what Castaneda has done." - The New York Times
BACK COVER
Each
of Carlos Castaneda's books is a brilliant and tantalizing burst of
illumination into the depths of our deepest mysteries, like a sudden
flash of light, like a burst of lightning over the desert at night,
which shows us a world that is both alien and totally familiar .. the
landscape of our dreams.
 
THE FIRE FROM WITHIN is the author's
most brilliant, thought-provoking and unusual book, one in which
Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan and his "disciples," at last
constructs, from the teachings of don Juan and his own experiences, a
stunning portrait of the "sorcerer's world" that is crystal-clear and
dizzying in its implications.
"It's impossible to view the world in quite the same way after reading THE FIRE FROM WITHIN." - Chicago Tribune

MY COMMENT:
Well,
it doesn't seem to me that it matters to these reviewers whether or not
don Juan was an actual person, does it? Were they more intelligent that
the bulk of you in this forum or less intelligent? I vote: 'MORE
INTELLIGENT'.

"1. The New Seers
I had arrived in the
city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico on my way to the mountains to look for
don Juan. On my way out of town in the early morning, I had the good
sense to drive by the main square, and there I found him sitting on his
favorite bench, as if waiting for me to go by.
I joined him. He
told me that he was in the city on business, that he was staying at a
local boardinghouse, and that I was welcome to stay with him because he
had to remain in town for two more days. We talked for a while about my
activities and problems in the academic world.
As was customary
with him, he suddenly hit me on my back when I least expected it, and
the blow shifted me into a state of heightened awareness.
We sat in silence for a very long time. I anxiously waited for him to begin talking, yet when he did, he caught me by surprise.
"Ages
before the Spaniards came to Mexico," he said, "there were
extraordinary Toltec seers, men capable of inconceivable deeds. They
were the last link in a chain of knowledge that extended over thousands
of years.
"The Toltec seers were extraordinary men- powerful
sorcerers, somber, driven men who unraveled mysteries and possessed
secret knowledge that they used to influence and victimize people by
fixating the awareness of their victims on whatever they chose."
He
stopped talking and looked at me intently. I felt that he was waiting
for me to ask a question, but I did not know what to ask.
"I have
to emphasize an important fact," he continued, "the fact that those
sorcerers knew how to fixate the awareness of their victims. You didn't
pick up on that. When I mentioned it, it didn't mean anything to you.
That's not surprising. One of the hardest things to acknowledge is that
awareness can be manipulated."
I felt confused. I knew that he
was leading me toward something. I felt a familiar apprehension; the
same feeling I had whenever he began a new round of his teachings.
I
told him how I felt. He smiled vaguely. Usually when he smiled he
exuded happiness. This time he was definitely preoccupied. He seemed to
consider for a moment whether or not to go on talking. He stared at me
intently again, slowly moving his gaze over the entire length of my
body. Then, apparently satisfied, he nodded and said that I was ready
for my final exercise, something that all warriors go through before
considering themselves fit to be on their own. I was more mystified than
ever.
"We are going to be talking about awareness," he
continued. "The Toltec seers knew the art of handling awareness. As a
matter of fact, they were the supreme masters of that art. When I say
that they knew how to fixate the awareness of their victims, I mean that
their secret knowledge and secret practices allowed them to pry open
the mystery of being aware. Enough of their practices have survived to
this day, but fortunately in a modified form. I say fortunately because
those activities, as I will explain, did not lead the ancient Toltec
seers to freedom, but to their doom."
"Do you know those practices yourself?" I asked.
"Why,
certainly," he replied. "There is no way for us not to know those
techniques, but that doesn't mean that we practice them ourselves. We
have other views. We belong to a new cycle."
"But you don't consider yourself a sorcerer, don Juan, do you?" I asked.
"No,
I don't," he said. "I am a warrior who sees. In fact, all of us are los
nuevos videntes- the new seers. The old seers were the sorcerers.
"For
the average man," he continued, "sorcery is a negative business, but it
is fascinating all the same. That's why I encouraged you, in your
normal awareness, to think of us as sorcerers. It's advisable to do so.
It serves to attract interest. But for us to be sorcerers would be like
entering a dead-end street."

MY COMMENT:
The
book is filled with knowledge like this. Like I keep saying you people
in this forum have one of two choices. Either you believe there actually
was a don Juan or...you believe that CC was a literary super-genius.
There is no other choice
So, what is your choice?

TO BAREFOOT:
You
are so friggin clueless. I am like a person writing that it doesn't
matter whether or not Jesus was an actual person in a forum full or
atheists! They are not going to agree with me without rejecting their
atheism and, from my experiences, atheists hold onto their beliefs like
nuns hold onto their crucifixes