Don Juan Matus

The Active Side of Infinity – The End of An Era: The Deep Concerns Of Everyday Life

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 17 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Castaneda, feeling a strange emotional agitation, seeks don Juan’s counsel. Don Juan explains that this turmoil signifies the “end of an era” in his life, as his perception shifts and his time in the ordinary world runs out. At don Juan’s request for a “formal talk,” Castaneda recounts a recent attempt to change his life by moving to a new city for summer school. There, he took a job listening to tapes of people discussing their everyday problems and was horrified to realize their self-absorbed, repetitive complaints were identical to his own, shattering his sense of individuality. His disillusionment was compounded when his boss, a psychiatrist, subjected him to a long, sordid, and self-pitying account of a failed sexual encounter. The final blow came when his pompous anthropology professor made a lewd joke in class, collapsing Castaneda’s world under the weight of the mundane’s “deep concerns.” Overwhelmed, he fled back to Los Angeles, an experience don Juan finds hilarious, explaining it as Castaneda’s old world hitting him with its tail as it comes to an end.

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The Active Side of Infinity – The View I Could Not Stand

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 11 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Castaneda describes the final disintegration of his old way of life. After his perception was altered by the events of the previous chapter, he finds himself unable to relate to his “family of friends” in Los Angeles as he once did. He suddenly sees them as tense, self-absorbed, and banal, just like the psychiatrist and professor who had horrified him. This new judgmental attitude fills him with guilt. He recounts two final, tragicomic stories of his friends’ self-made dramas—one involving a violent domestic dispute sparked by the snapping of a towel, and another chronicling his friend Rodrigo’s repeatedly failed attempts to escape Los Angeles. Unable to feel his usual empathy, Castaneda is instead galvanized by the finality of the situations and flees to don Juan, confessing his new, critical view of his friends. Don Juan explains that this is a sign of the “end of an era,” which can only be complete when the “king dies”—that is, when Castaneda finally accepts the truth that he is just like the friends he now judges.

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The Active Side of Infinity – The Unavoidable Appointment

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 12 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Castaneda is consumed by guilt and depression over the death of his anthropologist friend, Bill, to whom he never replied to his last letter. He seeks out don Juan, who reveals he “saw” the moment of Bill’s death and had previously warned Castaneda about his friend’s declining state by describing the open “gap” in his luminous body, a sign visible to a sorcerer. Don Juan chastises Castaneda for his lack of “sobriety” and for believing he had infinite time, which led him to postpone thanking his friend, leaving him “stuck with a ghost on his tail.” The only recourse, he explains, is to keep his friend’s memory alive. He then teaches Castaneda about the nature of sadness for a sorcerer, explaining it as an impersonal, abstract force from infinity that affects them because they have no shields. To illustrate this, he tells the story of the Great Garrick, the world’s funniest comedian, who, when advised to see his own show to cure his melancholy, reveals his identity, showing he has no external cure for his profound sadness.

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The Active Side of Infinity – The Breaking Point

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Active side of Infinity / By / 20 minutes of reading

In this chapter, don Juan explains that sorcerers need a “breaking point” for inner silence to truly set in. He tells Castaneda that his breaking point is to leave his friends and his entire way of life, proposing that he “die” by isolating himself in a dilapidated hotel room until his “person”—his mind and its attachments—is gone. Castaneda initially refuses, and don Juan leaves him, seemingly for good. After a period of feeling elated and free, Castaneda’s old life resumes until his complete and frightening identification with a self-sabotaging friend pushes him to his own breaking point. He spontaneously rents a room in a Hollywood hotel and stays for months until his old self “dies.” Later, mired in a new, meaningless life and contemplating suicide, don Juan reappears. He tells Castaneda that he has finally reached his breaking point and gives him one hour to dissolve his current life before meeting him in Mexico. Failing to meet the deadline, Castaneda uses a technique to achieve inner silence and “dreams” he is with don Juan, who confirms he made the journey not through a dream, but through his inner silence.

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Author’s Note – The Art of Dreaming

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming / By / 8 minutes of reading

In this introductory note, Carlos Castaneda clarifies his use of the term “sorcery” to describe the teachings of his mentor, don Juan Matus, distinguishing it from conventional definitions. He explains that for don Juan, sorcery is about manipulating perception to access other real worlds, a practice called “the art of dreaming.” Castaneda recounts his own experiences learning this art, his interactions with two distinct groups of apprentices, and the challenges of reconciling his experiences in the “second attention” with everyday reality. He states that the purpose of this book is to rearrange and present don Juan’s lessons on dreaming in a linear fashion, made possible by years of dedicated practice, and to ultimately explain the legacy don Juan left to his final students as an act of gratitude.

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Journal of Applied Hermeneutics – Queries about the Warriors’ Way: What is the point of doing all those Practices?

A Journal of Applied Hermeneutics, Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Nagualism, Warrior Path, Way of the Warrior / By / 4 minutes of reading

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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The Teachings of Don Juan: The Four Natural Enemies on the Path of Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Nagualism, Stalking, The Teachings of Don Juan / By / 10 minutes of reading

Carlos Castaneda presses don Juan to reveal the nature of the “man of knowledge” and the formidable obstacles on the path. Don Juan explains that a man of knowledge is someone who has faithfully navigated the difficulties of learning by confronting and overcoming four natural enemies: Fear, Clarity, Power and Old age.

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The Author’s Commentaries on the Occasion of the Thirtieth Year of Publication of The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan / By / 18 minutes of reading

In this commentary, Carlos Castaneda reflects on the thirtieth anniversary of his book, “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.” He discusses the initial challenges of his anthropological fieldwork with the Yaqui shaman Don Juan Matus, highlighting the support of Dr. Clement Meighan and Professor Harold Garfinkel, whose influences shaped his deep immersion into the study of shamanistic cognition. Castaneda explains that his work evolved from mere data collection to internalizing the shamans’ unique perception of reality, which centers on energetic facts like “seeing” energy directly and the concept of the assemblage point. He elaborates on the shamans’ understanding of the cosmos, awareness, and the “definitive journey” beyond death, presenting these insights as a “cognitive revolution” offered by Don Juan.

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

A Journal of Applied Hermeneutics, Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda / By / 5 minutes of reading

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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