Page:Para leer a Carlos Castaneda.djvu/150

 world, what is required is "detachment". But mentions that more than detachment requires affection and abandonment.

To efficiently penetrate this world, needs to be a cautious, restrained, indifferent warrior, tuned to the battles with the unknown. And this is only achieved through forging the "warrior path".

THE SECOND RING OF POWER

A warrior knows that he cannot change and yet, devotes himself to trying to change, in spite of all. A warrior never disappoints himself when failing to change. It is the only advantage a warrior has over common man.

The only freedom a warrior has is to behave impeccably. But impeccability is not his only freedom, but the only way to straighten human form.

The core of our being is the act of perceiving, and the magic of our being is the act of being conscious. Perception and consciousness are the same and an inseparable functional unit.

COMMENTARY

Castaneda remembers Florinda Matus as his great teacher. He mentions that she had the power and detachment necessary to refine it, in the finishing touches before the departure of the nagual Don Juan Matus.

In this text, Castaneda tells that one day he went to see a doctor over a fistula he had that due to a fall on a cactus a while back. He consulted Florinda on the matter and she tells him that a nagual has lost its power, if he requires a doctor to heal. This has to do with his "alleged cancer death". Of course that the nagual Castaneda did not die in 1998 in a hospital bed from liver cancer.

It is also interesting to analyze what Castaneda says of the Don Juan disciples, who according to him, spent their time fighting over their ego manic outbursts and he defines them as an errant bunch. This must be assessed, because if they worked hard for years with naguales such as Don Juan and Don Genaro, and yet, they fail to acquire sobriety and wisdom, what can be expected of us "readers". That is why it is necessary to solidly set foot on the ground, and realize that dealing with the "warrior path", is an almost impossible task and that it is confined to very few people. That one thing is reading about the warriors and something very different is living as warriors.

THE EAGLE’S GIFT

It is recommended for warriors not to have material things in which to focus their power, but focus it on the spirit, in the true flight into the unknown and not trivialities.

Anyone who wants to follow the warrior path must be free from the compulsion to possess things and stick to them.

When a warrior ceases to have any kind of expectations, people actions no longer affect him. A strange peace becomes the force that governs his life. He has adopted one of the warrior life concepts: detachment.