INTEGRATION

Let’s not waste our time with pseudo-academia and cultural stupidity.

We’re here on earth for a short time.  There’s powerful energies and forces at work, both inside and outside of us.  Outside of us is a big question-mark.  The external reality – from outside our window, to outside our galaxy – is perceived, interpreted and described uniquely and differently by every living person.  To intellectualize about this vast, powerful and magical field is a self-indulgent sham.

Inside of us, is a world we do indeed have access to… if we so choose.  How that choice differs intrinsically from the outside world, is that it becomes personal, and is imbued with the sovereign responsibilities and challenges that we as individuals can uniquely claim.

Beyond that, the inside world is about consciousness, awareness, and connection with the primal energies that give us life itself… not in a hypothetical way, but in a real way: an experiential way.  This is where words begin to falter and footsteps must be taken.

It’s a dance.

Carlos Castaneda’s life with Don Juan was such a dance.  Regardless of all the speculations about accuracy and authenticity, Castaneda’s work contained a truth that spoke to us all.  And it played out in a most endearing, entertaining, provocative… and sometimes challenging way.  We could all relate to the trepidation, inertia and egocentric fear that plagued Carlos as a student.  And we all listened to and longed for the truth that cut through Carlos’ bullshit like a knife.  It glistened.  It came from the depths.  It spoke with a voice that we all know in some strange and archetypal way.  It’s almost like it tapped into and underlined our most basic darkness as humans and our most fantastic light.

But, where does one go, after Carlos Castaneda?

This is a very hard act to follow.  Some of us went down to the desert, in hopes we’d find a magical shaman to take us on our “definitive journey”.  Maybe some tried the Tensegrity path, or other paths: martial arts, yoga, meditation, lucid dreaming.  And on and on.

Maybe it worked; maybe it didn’t.

There is no right and wrong here, no path or principal being prescribed.  Everything in life comes back to each and every one of us as individuals.  We are each this incredible pearl, this gem of indescribable beauty and worth – lost inside the pages of books we didn’t write.

Beneath all our layers of programming, so-called egocentric life scripting, and learned patterns of fear, allegiance, motivation… lies an original “us”… an awake, aware, bounteous cluster of energetic fibers of light: light that responds to light itself.  Light that hungers for light itself.  Light that inherently knows wisdom, truth and insight when it tastes it.  And light that also rejects stupidity, intellectual drivel and indulgence.

Our “centers” – our energetic cores – each have a unique purpose in life.  A unique dance to do.  A song to sing.  A play that wants to unfold.  The layers that are heaped on us by society: parents, religion, education, culture, etc… are not us.  They are in fact, layers that often prevent or inhibit us from finding our true self, and from living our true life.

A driving purpose in life – for those who respond to the inner calling – becomes a call to “un-learn”, to “un-layer” and unpack the falsehood that has imprisoned us from day one on this human journey.  To discover who we are on a deeper level.  By whatever practices and pathways we take, to nourish our deep self, and break the patterns of inertia and self-indulgence that keep us anchored in the mundane.

“The task of the shaman is to set free the energy bound in our stories, in our wounds, and to transform this energy into power and compassion within us, so that we may reclaim our own souls.” – Alberto Villoldo

The Journey

The pathway of Carlos Castaneda is a powerful mirror for the longings of the human soul. This is not a minor thing, and cannot be trivialized or understated. Just as the questions and longings for truth exist at deep levels in each of us, the very truth we long for also exists in each of us. The place of silent knowledge, the place governed by pure intent, lies dormant like a seed in each of us, waiting for water. It’s up to each of us to water that seed, so that it can unfold and realized its true potential.

One of the powerful cores of Castaneda’s teachings is the importance of having a living teacher, referred to as The Nagual in his books, a mentor, instructor, guide for the definitive journey. Teachers are prolific in this world… finding a true teacher on the true pathway of heart is another thing. The old saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” is very powerful, very timeless, and very true. Prepare your heart for the teachings you need in life. Your teacher will appear.