via negativa
The problem I have with Castaneda’s teachings, and most teachings, is that they give you something to do; something to add to your already overfull zen cup.
What we are ‘trying’ to get at with the mind is already here beneath the mind, in back of it, sourcing it, prior to it.
You don’t need to recondition the mind. You need to lose the mind; drop it; stop it; quiet stillness and silence…
But this isn’t something you have to do!
Just LOOK!!! It’s already there/here, behind the content of your mind.
It has always been. It’s what you truly are.
Just SEE this, directly… and everything else will take care of itself.
If you need this Castaneda-ized to make it worth your while – the island of the tonal is floating in the vast sea of awareness that is the nagual. You are the awareness, not the content. Yet you are all of it, content too. The content isn’t different than the awareness. It seems different when you’ve identified with it.
D5 Creation
I don’t think that anything you’ve just said is in opposition to anything that is in Castaneda’s books.
When Castaneda once asked don Juan how he was in such great physical shape at such an advanced age, and not “old” at all, don Juan said that the way he achieved this was not in what he did, but in what he didn’t do.
I believe that what you’re talking about is exactly what is meant by “not-doing”.
There are lots of techniques and methods in Castaneda’s works, but I think they are all aimed at regaining the link with intent, the nagual, oneness, the tao, etc.
However accurate I think you are at saying that the techniques aren’t that important – it’s the loss of the idea of self that counts, I still have to acknowledge that it doesn’t come easy for 99.999% of those who approach it. Therefore techniques such as those related to sorcery, buddhism, hindu, tantra, etc, have been created in order to help people, not reprogram themselves, but lose the idea of self that has been ingrained into everything we know.
Yeah, I agree with you, 100%.
I just want to help anyone not get obsessed with these techniques as the goal, the root. I think it’s easy to forget, and then the technique becomes something for the mind to do, and then we’re getting nowhere, except maybe getting self-important about how much we practice or how much knowledge we have of various techniques… or we abandon the path… or practice for a lifetime without realising the truth…
Nagual Carlos has helped us enough not to get obsessed, don’t ever worry…
Hey True! 😛 What’s been going on?
(sorry to intrude on the thread)