Page:Para leer a Carlos Castaneda.djvu/28

 THE MOOD OF A WARRIOR

A warrior in the knowledge path must tone his spirit in the right mood. Don Juan says that to find spirit perfection is the only true activity of our manhood. A warrior is inflexible in this search and thus maintains an attitude towards life and the things in life that allow him to break free from fear, ambition, complaint and sadness. A warrior knows that nobody does anything to anyone; that one hurt himself with people and feelings.

A warrior is not "hooked" with anything or anyone. Therefore the warrior needs the "right mood" to fight every battle on earth, because he knows that without that mood he "disfigures and crooks". There is power in a life that lacks this mood. Nobody "harms" a warrior, no one pushes him, moves, or forces him to do things that he does not want to.

A warrior cannot be a leaf in the wind or an empty can that people kicks in all directions and none. When a warrior makes a decision, he lets go, and when it flows, he provides temperance and strength through his actions and mood, because he is trained to survive, and always survives in the best way. For a warrior apprentice there is nothing offensive in the acts and thoughts of others, provided he acts in the right mood. When the warrior mood is correct, a "protective cocoon" generated by the "power" that protects him.

"—Looking for the warrior spirit perfection is the only task worthy of our manhood... —The hardest thing in this world is to adopt a warrior mood —he said—. It is no use being sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something to us. Nobody is doing anything to anyone, much less to a warrior." C.C.

A BATTLE OF POWER

Through teachings, Castaneda is taken to a point where he must make a fundamental choice; the effort required to cross a "bridge" will determine fully entering the nagual world; it is abandoning the "comfort" and security to be able to cross the bridge, penetrate the wonderful and frightening world of the unknown.

Don Juan repeatedly suggested the Castaneda apprentice that he must live as a warrior, with the right mood and in search of power; that the sum of the power to will define the totality of his actions; that an apprentice that acquire enough "personal power", is a being that, —through discipline, responsibility, control and objectives inflexibility and practicing impeccable techniques to lose importance— acquires enough energy that can be channeled to "see" and interpret the world and his own life in a different way.

When the warrior loses power, he turns old and fat overnight, and as death is always stalking, as soon as the power of a warrior dwindles, death simply touches him.

Don Juan teaches Castaneda that a life time is needed and an immense effort to live near the power, and sometime be "alone with him". The warrior must therefore have an impassive spirit, and whatever he does, will never reveal what he really feels and thinks.