02-19-2013, 12:03 AM
While imparting his instructions, Don Juan stressed in every possible way the fact that the enormous emphasis the shamans of his lineage had put on physical prowess and mental well-being had lasted to the present day. I was able to corroborate the truth of his statements by observing him and his fifteen sorcerer companions. Their superb physical and mental balance was the most obvious feature about them.
I once asked him directly why sorcerers put so much stock in the physical side of man. I had always thought that he himself was a spiritual man. Don Juan's reply was a total surprise to me.
"Shamans are not spiritual at all," don Juan said. "They are very practical beings. It is a well-known fact, however, that shamans are generally regarded as eccentric, or even insane. Perhaps that is what makes you think that they are spiritual.
"They seem insane because they are trying to explain things that cannot be adequately described with words. In the course of such futile attempts to give complete explanations that cannot be completed under any circumstances, they must touch on matters outside the coherence of the average man. So of course their explanations seem to be senseless.
"You need," he went on, "a pliable body if you want physical prowess and level headedness. These are the two most important issues in the lives of shamans because they bring forth sobriety and pragmatism; the only indispensable requisites for entering into other realms of perception.
"To navigate in a genuine way in the unknown, requires an attitude of daring, but not one of recklessness. In order to establish a balance between audacity and recklessness, a sorcerer has to be extremely sober, cautious, skillful, and in superb physical condition."
"But why in superb physical condition, don Juan?" I asked. "Is the desire or the will to journey into the unknown not enough?"
"Not in your pissy life!" he replied rather brusquely. "Just to conceive facing the unknown- much less entering into it- requires guts of steel, and a body that would be capable of holding those guts. What would be the point of being gutsy if you do not have mental alertness, physical prowess, and adequate muscles?"
The superb physical condition that don Juan had steadily advocated from the first day of our association- the product of the rigorous execution of the magical passes- was, by all indications, the first step toward the redeployment of our inherent energy. This redeployment of energy was, in don Juan's view, the most crucial issue in the lives of shamans, as well as in the life of any individual.
--
"Shamans are not spiritual at all," don Juan said.
(edit: merging posts made in quick succession on same topic)
I once asked him directly why sorcerers put so much stock in the physical side of man. I had always thought that he himself was a spiritual man. Don Juan's reply was a total surprise to me.
"Shamans are not spiritual at all," don Juan said. "They are very practical beings. It is a well-known fact, however, that shamans are generally regarded as eccentric, or even insane. Perhaps that is what makes you think that they are spiritual.
"They seem insane because they are trying to explain things that cannot be adequately described with words. In the course of such futile attempts to give complete explanations that cannot be completed under any circumstances, they must touch on matters outside the coherence of the average man. So of course their explanations seem to be senseless.
"You need," he went on, "a pliable body if you want physical prowess and level headedness. These are the two most important issues in the lives of shamans because they bring forth sobriety and pragmatism; the only indispensable requisites for entering into other realms of perception.
"To navigate in a genuine way in the unknown, requires an attitude of daring, but not one of recklessness. In order to establish a balance between audacity and recklessness, a sorcerer has to be extremely sober, cautious, skillful, and in superb physical condition."
"But why in superb physical condition, don Juan?" I asked. "Is the desire or the will to journey into the unknown not enough?"
"Not in your pissy life!" he replied rather brusquely. "Just to conceive facing the unknown- much less entering into it- requires guts of steel, and a body that would be capable of holding those guts. What would be the point of being gutsy if you do not have mental alertness, physical prowess, and adequate muscles?"
The superb physical condition that don Juan had steadily advocated from the first day of our association- the product of the rigorous execution of the magical passes- was, by all indications, the first step toward the redeployment of our inherent energy. This redeployment of energy was, in don Juan's view, the most crucial issue in the lives of shamans, as well as in the life of any individual.
--
"Shamans are not spiritual at all," don Juan said.
(edit: merging posts made in quick succession on same topic)