Authors: Carlos Castaneda
I was warned beforehand that there was no possible way of knowing what my individual threshold might be, and that the only way of finding this out was through direct experience. This is exactly what happened to me. Following don Juan's suggestion, I had persisted in forcing myself to remain silent, and one day, while walking at .UCLA, I reached my mysterious threshold. I knew I had reached it because in one instant, I experienced something don Juan had described at length to me. He had called it stopping the world. In the blink of an eye, the world ceased to be what it was, and for the first time in my life, I became conscious that I was seeing energy as it flowed in the universe. I had to sit down on some brick steps. I knew that I was sitting on some brick steps, but 1 knew it only intellectually, through memory. Exponentially, 1 was resting on energy. I myself was energy, and so was everything around me. I had canceled out my interpretation system.
After seeing energy directly, I realized something which became the horror of my day, something that no one could explain to me satisfactorily except don Juan. I became conscious that although I was seeing for the first time in my life, I had been seeing energy as it flows in the universe all my life, but I had not been conscious of it. To see energy as it flows in the universe was not the novelty. The novelty was the query that arose with such fury that it made me surface back into the world of everyday life. I asked myself what had been keeping me from realizing that I had been seeing energy as it flows in the universe all my life.
"There are two issues at stake here," don Juan explained to me, when
I asked him about this maddening contradiction. "One is general awareness. The other is particular, deliberate consciousness. Every human being in the world is aware, in general terms, of seeing energy as it flows in the universe. However, only sorcerers are particularly and deliberately conscious of it. To become conscious of something that you are generally aware of requires energy, and the iron-hand discipline needed to get it. Your inner silence, the product of discipline and energy, bridged the gap between general awareness and particular consciousness."
Don Juan stressed, in every way he was able, the value of a pragmatic attitude in order to buttress the advent of inner silence. He defined a pragmatic attitude as the capacity to absorb any contingency that might appear along The way. He himself was, to me, the living example of such an attitude. There w; isn't any uncertainty or liability that his mere presence would not dispel.
He reiterated every time he could that the effects of inner silence were very unsettling, and that the only deterrent to this condition was the pragmatic attitude which was the product of a superbly pliable, agile, strong body. He said that for sorcerers, the physical body was the only entity that made any sense to them, and that there was no such thing as a dualism between body and mind. He further stated that the physical body involved both the body and the mind as we knew them, and that in order to counterbalance the physical body as a holistic unit, sorcerers considered another configuration of energy which was reached through inner silence: the energy body. He explained that what I had experienced .it the moment in which I had stopped the world was the resurgence of my energy body, and that this configuration of energy was the one which had always been able to see energy as it flowed in the universe.
THE MAGICAL PASSES THAT AID THE ATTAINMENT OF INNER SILENCE
36. Drawing Two Half-Circles with Each Foot
The total weight of the body is on the right leg. The left foot is placed half a step in front of it, and it slides on the floor, drawing a half-circle to the left; the ball of the foot comes to rest almost touching the right heel. From there, it draws another half-circle to the back (fig. 189). These circles are drawn with the ball of the left foot. The heel is kept off the ground, in order to make the movement smooth and uniform.
The movement is reversed and two more half-circles are drawn in this fashion, starting from the back and going to the front. Figure 189 The same movements are executed with the right
foot after the whole weight of the body is transferred to the left leg. The knee of the leg that supports the weight is bent for strength and stability.
37. Drawing a Half-Moon with Each Foot
The weight of the body is placed on the right leg. The left foot goes half a step in front of the right one, drawing a wide semicircle on the ground around the body from the front, to the left, to the back of the body. This semicircle is drawn with the ball of the foot (fig. 190). Another semicircle is drawn from the back to the front, in the same fashion. The same movements are executed with the right leg, after transferring the weight to the left leg.
38. The Scarecrow in the Wind with the Arms Down
Figure 190 The arms are kept extended laterally at the level of the shoulders with the elbows bent and the forearms dangling downward at a strict ninety-degree angle. The forearms swing freely from side to side, as if moved by the wind alone. The forearms and the wrists are kept straight and vertical. The knees are locked (fig. 191).
39. The Scarecrow in the Wind with the Arms Up
Just as in the preceding magical pass, the arms are extended laterally at the level of the shoulders, except the forearms are turned upward, bent at a ninety-degree angle. The forearms and wrists are kept straight and vertical (fig. 192). Then they swing freely downward to the front (fig. 193) and upward again. The knees are locked.
40. Pushing Energy Backward with the Full Arm
The elbows are acutely bent and the forearms held fight against the sides of the body, as high as possible, with the hands held in fists (fig.194). As an exhalation is made, the forearms are fully extended downward and backward as high as possible. The knees are locked, and the trunk bends slightly forward (fig. 195). As an inhalation is made, the arms are then brought forward to the original position by bending the elbows. Then the breathing is reversed as this movement is repeated; instead of exhaling as the arms are pulled backwards, an inhalation is taken. An exhalation follows as the elbows are bent and the forearms are brought upward against the axilla.
41. Pivoting the Forearm
The arms are held in front of the body with the elbows bent and the forearms vertical. Each hand is bent at the wrist, resembling the head of a bird, which is at eye level, with the fingers pointing toward the face (fig. 196). Keeping the elbows vertical and straight, the wrists are flipped back and forth, pivoting on the forearms, making the fingers of the hands move from pointing at the face to pointing forward (fig. 197). The knees are kept bent for stability and strength.
42. Moving Energy in a Ripple
The knees are kept straight, and the trunk stoops over. Both arms are kept dangling at the sides. The left arm moves forward with three ripples of the hand, as if the hand were following the contour of a surface with three half-circles on it (fig. 198). Next, the hand cuts across the front of the body in a straight line from left to right, then from right to left (fig. 199), and moves backward at the side of the body with three more ripples, drawing in this fashion the thick shape of an inverted capital letter L - at least six inches thick. The same movements are repeated with the right arm.
43. The T Energy of the Hands
The two forearms are held at right angles right in front of the solar plexus, making the shape of a letter T. The left hand is the horizontal bar of the letter T with the palm turned upward. The right hand is the vertical bar of the letter T with the palm turned downward (fig. 200).
Next, the hands turn back and forth at the same time with considerable force. The palm of the left hand is turned to face downward, and the palm of the right hand is turned to face upward, both hands maintaining the same letter T shape (fig. 201).
These same movements are executed again, placing the right hand as the horizontal bar of the letter T and the left hand as the vertical one.
44. Pressing Energy with the Thumbs
The forearms, bent at the elbows, are held right in front of the body in a perfectly horizontal position, maintaining the width of the body. The fingers are curled in a loose fist, and the thumbs are held straight, cradled on the curled index fingers (figs. 202, 203). An intermittent pressure is exerted between the thumb and the index finger and the
curled fingers against the palm of the hand. They contract and relax, spreading the impulse to the arms. The knees are kept bent for stability.
45. Drawing an Acute Angle with the Arms Between the Legs
The knees are locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front and, moving repeatedly forward and backward, they draw an acute angle with its vertex between the legs (figs. 204, 205).
46. Drawing an Acute Angle with the Arms in Front of the Face
The knees are locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front of the body and, moving repeatedly from the Kick to the front, they draw an acute angle, with its vertex in front of the face (figs. 206, 207).
47. Drawing a Circle of Energy Between the Legs and in Front of the Body
The knees are kept locked, with the hamstrings as fight as possible. The trunk is bent forward, with the head almost at the level of the knees. The arms dangle in front of the body. The two arms cross at the wrists, the left forearm on top of the right one. The crossed arms swing back between the legs (fig. 208). From there, each one makes an outward circle in front of the face. At the end of the circle, the arms point forward, the left wrist on top of the right one (fig. 209). From there, they draw
two inward circles that end between the legs, with the wrists crossed once more in the initial position.
Then the right wrist is made to rest on top of the left one, and the same movements are repeated.
48. Three Fingers on the Floor
The arms are brought slowly over the head as a deep inhalation is taken. A slow exhalation begins while the arms are brought all the way down to the floor, keeping the knees locked and the hamstrings as fight as possible. The index and middle fingers of each hand touch the floor a foot in front of the body, and then the thumb is also brought to rest on , the floor (fig. 210). A deep inhalation is taken while that position is held. The body straightens, and the arms are raised above the head. The air is exhaled as the arms come down to the level of the waist.
49. The Knuckles on the Toes
The arms are raised above the head as a deep inhalation is taken. As the air is exhaled, the arms are brought all the way down to the floor, keeping the knees locked and the hamstrings as fight as possible. The knuckles are brought to rest on top of the toes as the exhalation ends (fig. 211). A deep inhalation is taken while that position is held. The body straightens, and the arms are raised above the head. The exhalation begins when the arms are brought down to the level of the waist.
50. Drawing Energy from the Floor with the Breath
A deep inhalation is taken as the arms are raised above the head; the knees are kept bent. The exhalation begins as the trunk turns to the left and bends down as far as possible. The hands, with the palms down, come to rest around the left foot, with the right hand in front of the foot and the left hand behind it; they move back and forth five rimes as the exhalation ends (fig. 212). A deep inhalation is taken then, and the body straightens as the arms move over the head. The trunk turns to the right, and the exhalation begins
as the trunk bends down as far as possible. The exhalation ends after the hands move back and forth five times by the right foot. Another deep breath is taken, and the body straightens up as the arms move above the head and the trunk pivots to face the front; then the arms come down as the air is exhaled.
THE FOURTH SERIES
The Separation of the Left Body and the Right Body: The Heat Sences
Don Juan taught his disciples that for the shamans who lived in Mexico in ancient times, the concept that a human being is composed of two complete functioning bodies, one on the left and one on the right, was fundamental to their endeavors as sorcerers. Such a classificatory scheme had nothing to do with intellectual speculations on the part of those sorcerers, or with logical conclusions about possibilities of distribution of mass in the body.
When don Juan explained this to me, I countered that modern biologists had the concept of bilateral symmetry, which means "a basic body plan in which the left and right sides of the organism can be divided into approximate mirror images of each other along the midline."
"The classifications of the shamans of ancient Mexico," don Juan replied, "were more profound than the conclusions of modern scientists, because they stemmed from perceiving energy directly as it flows in the universe. When the human body is perceived as energy, it is utterly patent that it is composed not of two parts, but of two different types of energy: two different currents of energy, two opposing and at the same nine complementary forces that coexist side by side, mirroring, in this fashion, the dual structure of everything in the universe at large."
The shamans of ancient Mexico accorded each-one of these two different kinds of energy the stature of a total body, and spoke exclusively in terms of the left body and the right body. Their emphasis was on the left body, because they considered it to be the most effective, in terms of the nature of its energy configuration, for the ultimate goals of shamanism. The shamans of ancient Mexico, who depicted the two bodies as streams of energy, depicted the left stream as being more turbulent and aggressive, moving in undulating ripples and projecting out waves of energy. When illustrating what he was talking about, don Juan asked me to visualize a scene in which the left body was like half of the sun, and that all the solar flares happened on that half. The waves of energy projected out of the left body were like those solar flares - always perpendicular to the round surface from which they originated.