12-16-2017, 12:00 AM
Mental structures are, (as anyone here should already know), everywhere. If you've ever browsed the occult section of a bookstore you've no doubt encountered some books with very complex structures in them. These are purportedly quite useful to those who use them... provided of course they know exactly what each symbol in the structure means, (and probably the right intonation for pronouncing the associated words for them). Without a thorough initiation into the symbol system these books are essentially useless. With a thorough initiation into the symbol systems, my guess is that most of those books are still essentially useless. The concept however can be quite useful.
Since it's far easier to craft our own symbol system than to find a way to get the required many years apprenticeship into the dark arts those books symbols attempt to teach us, (not to mention the finances to pay for it), I recommend this as the preferred route.
"But wait! We shouldn't have any mental structures! Those are all mind and mind is to be done away with! Don Juan tells us that whenever we come up with an explanation for things, (which is a mental structure), the right thing to do is immediately abandon it. You're just creating more work for yourself if you do that."
Yes, I know I'm disagreeing with the advice that Carlos tells us Don Juan gave him about mental structures, as well as many other esteemed authors and speakers on the subject. It is true that most mental structures are as worthless as the paper they probably were never written on. However, I don't believe it's possible to operate without any mental structures. None of the seers, gurus, or enlightened beings I've ever come across do it. Furthermore, Carlos also tells us that DJ explained mankind moved into the position we're in because we wanted to learn how to know things rationally. Well, rational knowing requires the use of mental structures. Surely we didn't, coming from a position of complete direct knowing of everything, choose to go through all this in order to learn how to know things rationally if there's no benefit to doing so.
Example #1 -
Rational knowing is only one use for mental structures. The symbol systems which comprise them can be quite powerful. One obvious example is the Arabic versus the Roman numeral systems. The Arabic symbols are better from a purely pragmatic viewpoint. They are easier to work with. One can perform mathematical operations on them, (the purpose for which they are crafted), much easier than with the Roman system. I invite anyone who disagrees to try doing long division using Roman numerals. This is my guess as to why in the olden days the Arab traders were said to be so shrewd. Simply put, they could add, multiply, divide, etc. the prices of things quickly and often in their heads while the Roman traders used a system that required them to add XIII and XIV to get XXVII if they wanted to do so much as add the price of the 13 and 14 coin items together.
Example #2 -
Another example of mental structures many people use, (one that highlights the importance of language), is when people describe themselves and their "conditions". I've found myself trying to argue on a number of occasions with people when they say "I have depression" or "I have anxiety" that no, the correct terminology is "I make depression" or "I make anxiety". This arguing has accomplished virtually nothing, as some of you here might have guessed. It is worthwhile though to take a look at what is actually happening when they create, and believe in, these mental structures. Initially a person creates the feeling of anxiety or depression for the very first time. They do this by indulging in some thoughts that lead them to this state. Then they continue to indulge further until they recognize the feeling and say "Aha! I am anxious or depressed or whatever!". Now they've given it a name, and an identity. The energy they created with those thoughts is now slightly more condensed. It's got a shape and a feel to it and the next time the person creates that feeling and again says "Aha! I'm anxious or depressed or whatever again!" it will try to morph into that shape again. Over time it will eventually find a shape that it then fills every time it's created.
Eventually, our unfortunate friend creates a habit of creating anxiety/depression/whatever. They may note that and say "I now have a habit of making myself anxious or depressed or whatever!" Thus they've create a new construct, one called habit. The energy associated with such thus condenses some and starts to take on it's shape. Hopefully our friend decides to break the habit. If they believe Don Juan's words that to drop a habit is nothing, and any habit can be dropped with ease just like that they'll have an easier time at it.
Worst, our friend might not believe in or want to acknowledge their own part in creating their situation. This person will then start to say "I have anxiety or I have depression", and may blame it on chemical imbalances, low level autism or any number of things that they see as outside of their own control. Now they've created a monster. By using, (albeit unknowingly), their own symbol system they've performed a work of pure magic and created for themselves a nearly self-volitional entity called anxiety, depression or whatever to plague themselves with so they can demonstrate to everyone else how unique their situation is and how special that makes them. Try to tell them otherwise, that no they're just making themselves worry or frown a lot by what they choose to think about and they'll curse you out before long. Don't nobody tell them they aren't special!
The above examples should suffice to demonstrate that mental structures aka symbol systems can have power. Even when the person using them isn't aware that they are using them they can still greatly affect their life. The symbol systems I've shown above are quite different, and there's lots of ways to create and arrange them. There's 3 takeaways from this. The first is to think about your own symbol systems that you are using and might not even be aware of. How is it working? What does it look like? Where does the energy in it condense? The second is to design deliberately your own symbol system to help you achieve whatever it might be that you want to achieve. How can you make it work? How about zooming in and out, adding or taking away parts? Maybe adding a part to help take away other parts that work against your goals? The third takeaway is that as of yet no one has designed a purely associative symbol system based on nuts before, (or if they did they didn't tell me about it).
So we've got lots of kinds of nuts out there. Peanuts, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, etc. What is the perfect pairing of alcoholic beverage to nuts? It would seem peanuts would be a natural for beer, due to their long-standing association in bars. The stronger flavors of Brazil nuts might need a strong compliment like a dark brandy or even a port. The complex flavor of the walnut seems custom made to accompany a fine rum, combining in a way that can best be described as playful, while pine nuts are a shoo-in for the gin drinker's nut of choice. Of course, no pairing of nut and beverage is complete without the proper type of cigar. Now, the cigar you need should not only match the drink and the nut but should also be appropriate for the season....
Since it's far easier to craft our own symbol system than to find a way to get the required many years apprenticeship into the dark arts those books symbols attempt to teach us, (not to mention the finances to pay for it), I recommend this as the preferred route.
"But wait! We shouldn't have any mental structures! Those are all mind and mind is to be done away with! Don Juan tells us that whenever we come up with an explanation for things, (which is a mental structure), the right thing to do is immediately abandon it. You're just creating more work for yourself if you do that."
Yes, I know I'm disagreeing with the advice that Carlos tells us Don Juan gave him about mental structures, as well as many other esteemed authors and speakers on the subject. It is true that most mental structures are as worthless as the paper they probably were never written on. However, I don't believe it's possible to operate without any mental structures. None of the seers, gurus, or enlightened beings I've ever come across do it. Furthermore, Carlos also tells us that DJ explained mankind moved into the position we're in because we wanted to learn how to know things rationally. Well, rational knowing requires the use of mental structures. Surely we didn't, coming from a position of complete direct knowing of everything, choose to go through all this in order to learn how to know things rationally if there's no benefit to doing so.
Example #1 -
Rational knowing is only one use for mental structures. The symbol systems which comprise them can be quite powerful. One obvious example is the Arabic versus the Roman numeral systems. The Arabic symbols are better from a purely pragmatic viewpoint. They are easier to work with. One can perform mathematical operations on them, (the purpose for which they are crafted), much easier than with the Roman system. I invite anyone who disagrees to try doing long division using Roman numerals. This is my guess as to why in the olden days the Arab traders were said to be so shrewd. Simply put, they could add, multiply, divide, etc. the prices of things quickly and often in their heads while the Roman traders used a system that required them to add XIII and XIV to get XXVII if they wanted to do so much as add the price of the 13 and 14 coin items together.
Example #2 -
Another example of mental structures many people use, (one that highlights the importance of language), is when people describe themselves and their "conditions". I've found myself trying to argue on a number of occasions with people when they say "I have depression" or "I have anxiety" that no, the correct terminology is "I make depression" or "I make anxiety". This arguing has accomplished virtually nothing, as some of you here might have guessed. It is worthwhile though to take a look at what is actually happening when they create, and believe in, these mental structures. Initially a person creates the feeling of anxiety or depression for the very first time. They do this by indulging in some thoughts that lead them to this state. Then they continue to indulge further until they recognize the feeling and say "Aha! I am anxious or depressed or whatever!". Now they've given it a name, and an identity. The energy they created with those thoughts is now slightly more condensed. It's got a shape and a feel to it and the next time the person creates that feeling and again says "Aha! I'm anxious or depressed or whatever again!" it will try to morph into that shape again. Over time it will eventually find a shape that it then fills every time it's created.
Eventually, our unfortunate friend creates a habit of creating anxiety/depression/whatever. They may note that and say "I now have a habit of making myself anxious or depressed or whatever!" Thus they've create a new construct, one called habit. The energy associated with such thus condenses some and starts to take on it's shape. Hopefully our friend decides to break the habit. If they believe Don Juan's words that to drop a habit is nothing, and any habit can be dropped with ease just like that they'll have an easier time at it.
Worst, our friend might not believe in or want to acknowledge their own part in creating their situation. This person will then start to say "I have anxiety or I have depression", and may blame it on chemical imbalances, low level autism or any number of things that they see as outside of their own control. Now they've created a monster. By using, (albeit unknowingly), their own symbol system they've performed a work of pure magic and created for themselves a nearly self-volitional entity called anxiety, depression or whatever to plague themselves with so they can demonstrate to everyone else how unique their situation is and how special that makes them. Try to tell them otherwise, that no they're just making themselves worry or frown a lot by what they choose to think about and they'll curse you out before long. Don't nobody tell them they aren't special!
The above examples should suffice to demonstrate that mental structures aka symbol systems can have power. Even when the person using them isn't aware that they are using them they can still greatly affect their life. The symbol systems I've shown above are quite different, and there's lots of ways to create and arrange them. There's 3 takeaways from this. The first is to think about your own symbol systems that you are using and might not even be aware of. How is it working? What does it look like? Where does the energy in it condense? The second is to design deliberately your own symbol system to help you achieve whatever it might be that you want to achieve. How can you make it work? How about zooming in and out, adding or taking away parts? Maybe adding a part to help take away other parts that work against your goals? The third takeaway is that as of yet no one has designed a purely associative symbol system based on nuts before, (or if they did they didn't tell me about it).
So we've got lots of kinds of nuts out there. Peanuts, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, etc. What is the perfect pairing of alcoholic beverage to nuts? It would seem peanuts would be a natural for beer, due to their long-standing association in bars. The stronger flavors of Brazil nuts might need a strong compliment like a dark brandy or even a port. The complex flavor of the walnut seems custom made to accompany a fine rum, combining in a way that can best be described as playful, while pine nuts are a shoo-in for the gin drinker's nut of choice. Of course, no pairing of nut and beverage is complete without the proper type of cigar. Now, the cigar you need should not only match the drink and the nut but should also be appropriate for the season....
Yeah, I think the notion of doing away with mental constructs altogether for now and forevermore is silly....but I guess its anyone's choice, ultimately. And, to be fair to CC and DJ, that really wasn't what was encouraged. I remember DJ saying, at some point to CC, that the key wasn't to vanquish the rational mind altogether. The key was simply to put it in its rightful place.....to be able to "put it on the back burner" as he described, to give one perceptual options beyond the fixation of the "habitual position of the assemblage point". The issue is that, for the bulk of humanity, the mental construct solidifying the current sense of consensual reality was so predominantly emphasized that its become fixated and hardened to a state that it requires enormous, perpetual effort to loosen those moorings......if, of course, one wants to perceive something different....a different position of the AP......or even to feel the tinge of "strangeness" and magic associated with minute shifts of the AP. In that respect, inner silence....the capacity to suspend the compulsive drive to uphold the current mental construct....was emphasized over and over again.