Carlos Castaneda

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – What is Intentionality?

Castaneda begins with a note on his use of language before exploring “intentionality,” seeking to move beyond standard philosophy. He traces the term from the medieval Scholastics to the 19th-century philosopher Franz Brentano, who defined it as the unique characteristic of mental phenomena to be directed toward an object. Castaneda then connects this to the sorcery concept of “calling intent”. From a sorcerer’s perspective, he explains, intent is not a mental product but a tangible, energetic force that exists outside the physical body and can be engaged with.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – Queries about the Warriors’ Way: When am I going to see? Are you doing something to me?

In this section, Castaneda addresses two common questions. The first concerns when a practitioner will achieve “seeing,” the direct perception of energy. He explains that while practices are important, the crucial element is to “intend” the outcome—the state sorcerers call “stopping the world,” which is achieved by obliterating self-importance. The second question is about fear over strange physical sensations during Tensegrity. Castaneda recounts how don Juan Matus explained such feelings not as external manipulation, but as natural physiological responses or a product of one’s own victim mentality. Don Juan’s advice was to counter fear by being “impeccable”.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – The Second Principle of the Warrior’s Way: We Are What Our Inception Is

Castaneda presents the second premise of the warriors’ way: “We Are What Our Inception Is”. He relays don Juan Matus’s difficult teaching that one’s energetic makeup is profoundly shaped by the conditions of one’s conception. Don Juan used the term “bored fuck” (B.F.) for those conceived without genuine parental excitement, who are consequently energetically weak and needy. Don Juan’s practical advice for a B.F. was to become a “miser of energy” through abstinence from draining behaviors. The ultimate goal, he explained, is to remake oneself by “intending the inconceivable,” using any available emotional or sensational spark as fuel for transformation.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – What are Warrior Guardians?

In this log, Castaneda defines a “warrior guardian” as don Juan Matus’s term for a sorcerer—someone capable of interrupting their normal system of interpretation. He explains that the group known as the Chacmools was dissolved according to the dictates of energy, a force a warrior must obey. A new group selected by energy, the Energy Trackers, has replaced them. Castaneda relays don Juan’s explanation of energy tracking as following the trail of energy’s flow, which is experienced as a physical feeling rather than a visual sight. This new group naturally formed and developed this capacity, allowing energy to reveal itself to them.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – Readers of Infinity

In this author’s note, Castaneda reaffirms the journal’s goal: to disseminate the ideas from don Juan Matus’s cognitive world. He recounts his early, unsuccessful attempts to publish the work, which was rejected for not fitting conventional formats. He then announces a significant change: the journal’s name is changed from “The Warriors’ Way” to “READERS OF INFINITY”. This new title is inspired by don Juan’s concept of “reading infinity,” a state of perception achieved through “inner silence” where a seer can read the infinity that reveals itself on the horizon. The journal is presented as an invitation for everyone to take up this challenge.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – What is Phenomenology?

Castaneda explores the philosophical method of Phenomenology, as developed by Edmund Husserl. He explains its core concepts, particularly the “epoché” or the “suspension of judgment,” a reduction intended to get back to the origin of experience. However, Castaneda argues from his experience with don Juan Matus that this suspension of judgment is impossible to achieve as a purely intellectual exercise. For sorcerers, suspending their interpretation system is not a philosophical choice but a practical necessity for survival required to perceive the unknown. He therefore proposes to correlate the intellectual propositions of Western philosophy with the pragmatic accomplishments of sorcerers.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – Third Principle of the Warrior’s Way: Perception Must Be Intended In Its Completeness

Castaneda presents the third premise of the warriors’ way: “Perception Must Be Intended In Its Completeness”. He relays that don Juan Matus taught that all perception is inherently neutral, and must be accepted without judgment. Don Juan distinguished his teachings as entries from a “book of navigation” detailing sorcerers’ direct perceptions. The key to this premise is reinterpreting energy without the mind, an act requiring the whole being. This complete interpretation is achieved through the union of the physical body and the “energy body”. Therefore, intending perception in its completeness means reinterpreting energy with both of these essential parts of oneself fully engaged.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – The Force that Holds Us Together as Fields of Energy

In this entry, Castaneda explores a concept from ancient sorcerers: a vibratory, “agglutinating force” that holds humans together as a unit of energy fields. Don Juan taught that practicing the magical passes is the key to becoming conscious of this force. Castaneda recounts that while ancient sorcerers learned to use this force to dissolve their physical mass, they became obsessed with controlling it after finding they could not act in that state. He explains that modern practitioners, in contrast, seek only to become aware of this force for the sake of knowledge and well-being. According to don Juan, its only permissible use is for a sorcerer to employ it to burn from within at the moment of death.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – A New Area for Philosophical Inquiry

Castaneda proposes a new area for philosophical inquiry based on two core concepts from ancient Mexican sorcerers: “seeing” and “intent”. He defines “seeing” as the human capacity to directly perceive energy as it flows in the universe, using the entire organism. “Intent” is described as a conscious, universal force that sorcerers can engage with through the act of “intending”. Castaneda argues that the direct perception of energy can create a new form of subjectivity, free from the limits of language, allowing for a pragmatic and active intentionality that could transform philosophy into a practical discipline.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – How to do Tensegrity

Castaneda explains that the magical passes, the foundation of Tensegrity, should be practiced not as exercise but as a way of “beckoning power”. Don Juan taught that their “magic” is a “touch of the spirit” that connects one to the life force. Castaneda notes that the confusion felt by new practitioners from the sheer number of movements is a deliberate sorcerers’ device to “saturate” the mind and induce “inner silence”. From this state, a practitioner gains clarity and knows instinctively how to use the movements to continue what don Juan called humanity’s interrupted “journey of awareness”.

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