The sorcerer, nagual, who was known as don Juan to Carlos Castaneda, was a Yaqui Indian who carried on an ancient Mexican line of sorcery and shamanism. Carlos Castaneda wrote many best-selling books about his experiences with don Juan Matus. Always profound, don Juan continuously pointed the way to opening our eyes.
When nothing is for sure we remain
alert, perennially on our toes. It is more
exciting not to know which bush the rabbit
is hiding behind than to behave as though we knew everything.
-From Journey to Ixtlan
As long as a man feels that he is the
most important thing in the world, he
cannot really appreciate the world
around him. He is like a horse with blinders;
all he sees is himself, apart from everything
else.
-From Journey to Ixtlan
Whenever a warrior decides to do
something, he must go all the way, but
he must take responsibility for what he
does. No matter what he does, he must
know first why he is doing it, and then he
must proceed with his actions without
having doubts or remorse about them.
-From Journey to Ixtlan
For an average man, the world is
weird because if he's not bored with it,
he's at odds with it. For a warrior, the
world is weird because it is stupendous,
awesome, mysterious, unfathomable. A
warrior must assume responsibility for
being here, in this marvelous world, in
this marvelous time.
-From Journey to Ixtlan
The average man is aware of everything
only when he thinks he should be;
the condition of a warrior, however, is to
be aware of everything at all times.
-From Tales of Power
The basic difference between an ordinary
man and a warrior is that a warrior
takes everything as a challenge, while an
ordinary man takes everything as a
blessing or a curse.
-From Tales of Power
Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word is enough to change the course of our lives. If we don't, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won't make a damn bit of difference.
Do you know that at this very moment you are surrounded by eternity? And do you know you can use that eternity, if you so desire? Do you know that you can extend yourself forever in any direction and use it to take the totality of yourself forever in any direction? Do you know that one moment can be eternity? If you had enough personal power, my words alone would serve as a means to round up the totality of yourself and get to the crucial part of it out of the boundaries in which it is contained.
-From Tales of Power
Every living thing has been granted
the power, if it so desires, to seek an
opening to freedom and go through it.
From The Eagle's Gift.
The world of people goes up and
down and people go up and down with
their world; warriors have no business
following the ups and downs of their
fellow men.
From The Second Ring of Power
We talk to ourselves incessantly
about our world. In fact we maintain our
world with our internal talk. And whenever
we finish talking to ourselves about
ourselves and our world, the world is
always as it should be. We renew it, we
rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our
internal talk. Not only that, but we also
choose our paths as we talk to ourselves.
Thus we repeat the same choices over
and over until the day we die, because we
keep on repeating the same internal talk
over and over until the day we die. A warrior
is aware of this and strives to stop
his internal talk.
-From A Separate Reality
We choose only once. We choose
either to be warriors or to be ordinary
men. A second chance does not exist. Not
on this earth.
From The Second Ring of Power
Once inner silence is attained, everything
is possible. The way to stop talking
to ourselves is to use exactly the same
method used to teach us to talk to
ourselves; we were taught compulsively
and unwaveringly, and this is the
way we must stop it: compulsively and
unwaveringly.
From The Fire From Within
A warrior is always joyful because his love is unalterable and his beloved, the earth, embraces him and bestows upon him inconceivable gifts.
-From Tales of Power
Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
-From The Teachings of don Juan
It doesn't matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power.
-From Journey To Ixtlan
The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.
-From Tales of Power
The flaw with words is that they always make us feel
enlightened, but when we turn around to face the world they always
fail us and we end up facing the world as we always have, without
enlightenment. For this reason, a warrior seeks to act rather than
to talk, and to this effect, he gets a new description of the
world where talking is not that important, and
where new acts have new reflections.
-From Tales of Power
We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.
-From Journey To Ixtlan
I am already given to the power that rules my fate.
And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend.
I have no thoughts, so I will see.
I fear nothing, so I will remember myself.
-From The Eagle's Gift
The world of daily life consists of two points of reference. We have for example, here and there, in and out, up and down, good and evil, and so on and so forth. So, properly speaking, our perception of our lives is two-dimensional. None of what we perceive ourselves doing has depth.
A sorcerer perceives his actions with depth. His actions are tridimensional for him. They have a third point of reference.
-From The Power of Silence
Warriors have an ulterior purpose for their acts
which has nothing to do with personal gain.
The average man acts only if there is a chance for profit. Warriors act not for profit, but for the spirit.
From The Power of Silence
When a man embarks on the warriors'
path he becomes aware, in a gradual manner, that ordinary life has been left forever behind. The means of the ordinary world are no longer a buffer to him;
