01-17-2014, 12:00 AM
Theun Mares- Return of the Warriors. Full PDF at Bookos.org
The first task given to every apprentice is systematically to start undoing all of his social conditioning, for whilst he is still firmly in the grips of this conditioning he cannot make any real progress. The technique for accomplishing this is called not-doing, and this is practiced in conjunction with recapitulation....
In the same way that a total recall of a person's entire life takes a long time to complete, so too is social conditioning not undone overnight.
The apprentice will not immediately succeed in undoing anything of real significance, but by systematically working at it,
he gradually begins to wear away at that conditioning bit by bit.
It also often happens that the apprentice finds himself coming up against what seems to be an insurmountable barrier in either his recapitulation or his not-doing.
He becomes stuck, as it were, and feels that no matter how hard he tries, he just does not seem capable of recalling anything of real value,
nor does he seem to be able to execute not-doing.
WHEN THE WARRIOR FAILS IN ANT ONE PARTICULAR PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE HE IS NOT DEFEATED, BECAUSE IN WALKING THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE WE FIGHT MANX BATTLES -SOME WE WIN, SOME WE LOSE. SUCCESS LIES NOT IN HOW MANX BATTLES WE HAVE WON, BUT IN HOW WELL WE HAVE FOUGHT.
If the apprentice comes up against such an obstacle he has no other recourse but to continue struggling and trying to make a break-through. It may appear to him as if he is failing but this is not really true, because it is always only a temporary failure, if I may use such an odd phrase.
By continuing to struggle the apprentice forces himself to break the fixation of his assemblage point.
This is important because we are incapable of any real progress until we can move the assemblage point.
This is why the Old Seers always forcibly moved the assemblage points of their apprentices prior to instruction.
No-one spends his entire life with the assemblage point in exactly the same position as when he was born.
Throughout life man is constantly adjusting his assemblage point unconsciously However, in doing so,
he 'forgets' many of his experiences and the means by which he has arrived at that knowledge.
To understand this it should be realized that the assemblage point is very much like the dial on a tuner.
The purpose of such a dial is to enable us to access certain radio frequencies which give us a particular broadcasting station.
Every time we move the dial we will access another band of frequencies which will of course constitute another station.
The assemblage point of man works in exactly the same way in that it gives us access to certain energy fields which constitute our view of the world.
Under the impact of this view we gain certain experiences and knowledge which are peculiar only to that particular view.
If then we access other energy fields we also access another view. This new view causes us to lose contact with or to 'forget' the experiences and knowledge gained previously. Needless to say, we do not really forget. It is just that our old view becomes overlaid with the impact of our new view and its attendant experiences.
When knowledge becomes overlaid in this manner it becomes what has been termed subliminal or subconscious.
The fact that knowledge is subconscious does not imply that it ceases to influence our actions. On the contrary, our thoughts and feelings,
and consequently also our actions, are continuously being influenced by this subconscious knowledge.
This is why an apprentice will often struggle to break an old habit. Such subconscious knowledge has the tendency to pop up most unexpectedly,
and the apprentice finds himself having concluded an act triggered by this subliminal knowledge even before he realises what he is doing.
It therefore stands to reason that in order to have total recall and also to be able successfully to practice not-doing,
it is necessary to be able to move the assemblage point back to all of its former positions.
Only by accessing these former positions can we recall the knowledge gained there, and the habits initiated by those experiences.
It is vital to grasp that it does not matter if at first we meet only with apparent failure.
Paradoxical as it may sound, success in walking the Path of Knowledge does not lie in the outcome of our struggle, but only in how impeccably we struggle, because it is this struggle which forces us to move the assemblage point.
Once we can move the assemblage point everything falls into place smoothly and effortlessly.
The only thing which is a struggle is to make the assemblage point move in the first place.
Once this has been accomplished the road lies clear ahead.
This struggle to move the assemblage point is the only thing of value in all of the instruction given to an apprentice. It does not matter which technique is used or what the task may entail; the only purpose of any instruction is to guide the apprentice into struggling to make his assemblage point fluid.
Also, the greater the struggle, the greater will be the apprentice's fluidity in the end. This is analogous to a weight-lifter in training; the more weights he has to push up, the greater will be his strength. Yet the effects of social conditioning are such that if at first a person tries and does not succeed, that person immediately assumes he has failed.
Concluding from this that he does not have the necessary ability, such a person invariably gives up trying.
The important point here is to define what exactly constitutes so-called failure or success.
This concept can only be understood in the context of what is meant by walking a particular path, irrespective of whether this path is a spiritual path or a career.
THE VALUE OF A PATH LIES IN HOW YOU WALK IT. IF YOU FEEL THAT THE PATH YOU ARE WALKING IS NOT FOR YOU, THEN YOU SHOULD ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY. HOWEVER, YOUR DECISION TO WALK A PATH OR NOT SHOULD BE BASED ON THAT CLARITY WHICH SPRINGS FROM THE DISCIPLINED LIFE OF A WARRIOR, AND NOT ON FEAR OR AMBITION. DECISIONS TAKEN IN THE SOBER LIGHT OF CLARITY CANNOT POSSIBLY OFFEND ANYONE, LEAST OF ALL YOURSELF.
As we have already seen, at the end of the day it does not matter how many battles we have won or how many we have lost, as the only thing of importance is whether or not we fought and, if we did, how well we fought. Did we run from a battle because of fear, or did we fight bravely, giving it our all?
( bold highlights added )
The first task given to every apprentice is systematically to start undoing all of his social conditioning, for whilst he is still firmly in the grips of this conditioning he cannot make any real progress. The technique for accomplishing this is called not-doing, and this is practiced in conjunction with recapitulation....
In the same way that a total recall of a person's entire life takes a long time to complete, so too is social conditioning not undone overnight.
The apprentice will not immediately succeed in undoing anything of real significance, but by systematically working at it,
he gradually begins to wear away at that conditioning bit by bit.
It also often happens that the apprentice finds himself coming up against what seems to be an insurmountable barrier in either his recapitulation or his not-doing.
He becomes stuck, as it were, and feels that no matter how hard he tries, he just does not seem capable of recalling anything of real value,
nor does he seem to be able to execute not-doing.
WHEN THE WARRIOR FAILS IN ANT ONE PARTICULAR PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE HE IS NOT DEFEATED, BECAUSE IN WALKING THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE WE FIGHT MANX BATTLES -SOME WE WIN, SOME WE LOSE. SUCCESS LIES NOT IN HOW MANX BATTLES WE HAVE WON, BUT IN HOW WELL WE HAVE FOUGHT.
If the apprentice comes up against such an obstacle he has no other recourse but to continue struggling and trying to make a break-through. It may appear to him as if he is failing but this is not really true, because it is always only a temporary failure, if I may use such an odd phrase.
By continuing to struggle the apprentice forces himself to break the fixation of his assemblage point.
This is important because we are incapable of any real progress until we can move the assemblage point.
This is why the Old Seers always forcibly moved the assemblage points of their apprentices prior to instruction.
No-one spends his entire life with the assemblage point in exactly the same position as when he was born.
Throughout life man is constantly adjusting his assemblage point unconsciously However, in doing so,
he 'forgets' many of his experiences and the means by which he has arrived at that knowledge.
To understand this it should be realized that the assemblage point is very much like the dial on a tuner.
The purpose of such a dial is to enable us to access certain radio frequencies which give us a particular broadcasting station.
Every time we move the dial we will access another band of frequencies which will of course constitute another station.
The assemblage point of man works in exactly the same way in that it gives us access to certain energy fields which constitute our view of the world.
Under the impact of this view we gain certain experiences and knowledge which are peculiar only to that particular view.
If then we access other energy fields we also access another view. This new view causes us to lose contact with or to 'forget' the experiences and knowledge gained previously. Needless to say, we do not really forget. It is just that our old view becomes overlaid with the impact of our new view and its attendant experiences.
When knowledge becomes overlaid in this manner it becomes what has been termed subliminal or subconscious.
The fact that knowledge is subconscious does not imply that it ceases to influence our actions. On the contrary, our thoughts and feelings,
and consequently also our actions, are continuously being influenced by this subconscious knowledge.
This is why an apprentice will often struggle to break an old habit. Such subconscious knowledge has the tendency to pop up most unexpectedly,
and the apprentice finds himself having concluded an act triggered by this subliminal knowledge even before he realises what he is doing.
It therefore stands to reason that in order to have total recall and also to be able successfully to practice not-doing,
it is necessary to be able to move the assemblage point back to all of its former positions.
Only by accessing these former positions can we recall the knowledge gained there, and the habits initiated by those experiences.
It is vital to grasp that it does not matter if at first we meet only with apparent failure.
Paradoxical as it may sound, success in walking the Path of Knowledge does not lie in the outcome of our struggle, but only in how impeccably we struggle, because it is this struggle which forces us to move the assemblage point.
Once we can move the assemblage point everything falls into place smoothly and effortlessly.
The only thing which is a struggle is to make the assemblage point move in the first place.
Once this has been accomplished the road lies clear ahead.
This struggle to move the assemblage point is the only thing of value in all of the instruction given to an apprentice. It does not matter which technique is used or what the task may entail; the only purpose of any instruction is to guide the apprentice into struggling to make his assemblage point fluid.
Also, the greater the struggle, the greater will be the apprentice's fluidity in the end. This is analogous to a weight-lifter in training; the more weights he has to push up, the greater will be his strength. Yet the effects of social conditioning are such that if at first a person tries and does not succeed, that person immediately assumes he has failed.
Concluding from this that he does not have the necessary ability, such a person invariably gives up trying.
The important point here is to define what exactly constitutes so-called failure or success.
This concept can only be understood in the context of what is meant by walking a particular path, irrespective of whether this path is a spiritual path or a career.
THE VALUE OF A PATH LIES IN HOW YOU WALK IT. IF YOU FEEL THAT THE PATH YOU ARE WALKING IS NOT FOR YOU, THEN YOU SHOULD ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY. HOWEVER, YOUR DECISION TO WALK A PATH OR NOT SHOULD BE BASED ON THAT CLARITY WHICH SPRINGS FROM THE DISCIPLINED LIFE OF A WARRIOR, AND NOT ON FEAR OR AMBITION. DECISIONS TAKEN IN THE SOBER LIGHT OF CLARITY CANNOT POSSIBLY OFFEND ANYONE, LEAST OF ALL YOURSELF.
As we have already seen, at the end of the day it does not matter how many battles we have won or how many we have lost, as the only thing of importance is whether or not we fought and, if we did, how well we fought. Did we run from a battle because of fear, or did we fight bravely, giving it our all?
( bold highlights added )