impeccability

A Witness to Acts of Power – An Appointment With Knowledge

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 78 minutes of reading

In this chapter, I unexpectedly find don Juan in Sonora, where he reveals that my true path to sorcerers’ knowledge lies in accumulating personal power, not through hallucinogenic plants or intellectual explanations. We visit a power spot where I am challenged to “see” a mysterious “moth,” which don Juan clarifies is a manifestation of knowledge. Despite my rational attempts to explain away the unsettling encounter, don Juan continually emphasizes the role of personal power, impeccability, and the silencing of internal dialogue in understanding the world of sorcerers. He introduces the concept of the “double,” exemplified by don Genaro’s seemingly impossible appearance, challenging my perceptions of reality and demanding that I embrace the unfathomable nature of existence through experience, rather than solely through reason. The chapter concludes with me witnessing Don Genaro’s “double” in a profound and baffling manner, leaving me with a deep sense of perplexity and a clear imperative to continue cultivating my personal power.

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A Witness to the Acts of Power – The Secret of The Luminous Beings

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 37 minutes of reading

In this chapter, Don Juan and Don Genaro initiated a series of challenging tests designed to push me beyond my conventional understanding, culminating in a demonstration of “the secret of the luminous beings.” Through exercises in focusing my will and stopping internal dialogue, I experienced profound perceptual shifts, such as witnessing “the ally” as a moth and “seeing” people as energetic forms. Don Juan explained that all beings are luminous and that our perception is governed by an “assemblage point” that can be moved through discipline and personal power. The chapter concluded with Don Genaro’s astonishing reappearance, which further blurred the lines between ordinary reality and the sorcerers’ world, emphasizing that my reason alone was insufficient to grasp these events and that true understanding lay in direct perception and the cultivation of my will.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – Having to Believe

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 23 minutes of reading

In this chapter, I met Don Juan in Mexico City, where he appeared in a suit, a deliberate incongruity designed to challenge my perception. He emphasized the warrior’s need for “impeccability” and “humbleness” over self-confidence, asserting that true understanding comes from accumulating personal power rather than seeking convenient explanations. Through the vivid retelling of my dream-control experiences and a symbolic story about two cats, Don Juan introduced the crucial distinction between merely “believing” and “having to believe”—the latter being a warrior’s conscious choice to accept unfathomable realities, particularly the omnipresent nature of death, as a source of power and mystery, exemplified by a dying man we observed in the park.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – In Nagual’s Time

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 32 minutes of reading

Carlos recounts his Thursday return to the market where don Juan had “shoved” him, only to find the coin and book stands only appear on Sundays, confirming the unreality of his previous experience. Don Juan and don Genaro appear, teasing him about his physical appearance. Don Genaro demonstrates extraordinary feats like standing horizontally on a tree trunk and gliding through the air, which Carlos struggles to comprehend and often experiences with physical discomfort or an altered state of perception. Don Juan explains that these are manifestations of the nagual, a non-rational aspect of reality, and emphasizes the importance of a clean tonal (the rational self) to interact with the nagual without being overwhelmed or destroyed. He clarifies that while his role as teacher is to work with Carlos’s tonal, don Genaro, as Carlos’s benefactor, introduces him to the nagual, demonstrating its boundless possibilities, even if the “how” remains indescribable and outside the realm of rational understanding.

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The Tonal and the Nagual – The Whispering of The Nagual

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 26 minutes of reading

Carlos returns to Don Genaro’s house and is greeted by don Juan and don Genaro, who playfully tease him about his physical appearance. They then accompany him to a field of eucalyptus trees, where don Genaro performs gravity-defying feats, such as standing horizontally on a tree trunk and gliding through the air like an eel. Carlos experiences these events with a mix of awe, physical discomfort, and altered perceptions, such as seeing don Genaro as a furry crocodile. Don Juan explains that these are manifestations of the nagual, a non-rational aspect of reality that can only be witnessed, not explained, and that his role is to protect Carlos’s tonal (rational self) from being overwhelmed. They also discuss the importance of a clean tonal, how the nagual “splits” an individual, and the dangers of indulging in bewilderment when confronting the unknown. Don Juan emphasizes that a warrior must maintain impeccable control and distinguish between the world of the tonal and the world of the nagual, using his will to navigate between them.

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The Sorcerers’ Explanation – The Predilection of Two Warriors

Ancient Cycle, Authors, Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power / By / 27 minutes of reading

Don Juan and Carlos meet Don Genaro, Pablito, and Nestor for what Don Juan declares will be their last journey together. Don Juan offers a poignant farewell, reminding Carlos of a cherished memory and the warrior’s way of accepting fate. Don Genaro shares a story about warriors facing a death sentence, emphasizing the importance of impeccability when confronting the unknown. As dusk settles, Don Juan and Don Genaro prepare Pablito and Carlos for their final plunge into the unknown, explaining that this is where the “bubble of perception” opens, and one can directly experience their totality as a cluster of feelings. They perform a final demonstration of “swimming” with the earth, revealing the warrior’s ultimate love for the world as the antidote to loneliness and the key to freedom. The chapter concludes with Pablito and Carlos, having bid their farewells, taking a final leap into the unknown, leaving Carlos alone in a new, unquantifiable state of being.

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The Requirements of Intent – Intending Appearances

Ancient Cycle, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence / By / 34 minutes of reading

In this account, Castaneda describes an extraordinary experience where his reasoning faculties ceased, and he felt a profound physical elation, being propelled through the chaparral without fatigue, a state don Juan later calls entering “silent knowledge” due to a movement of his assemblage point. During this, Castaneda perceives himself “looming over the bushes” and experiences being “here and here,” simultaneously observing the desert floor and the tops of shrubs, and being in two places at once (his standing spot and the jaguar’s location). This state allowed him to witness a real jaguar that he pursued, despite his academic mind trying to rationalize it as a mountain lion due to the unusual fauna. Don Juan explains that this spontaneous shift of Castaneda’s assemblage point was a result of the “spirit” moving it, and that for a sorcerer, intent—which is the spirit—can manipulate this point. He clarifies the difference between a profound “movement” and a smaller “shift” of the assemblage point and introduces the “third point” as freedom of perception, intent, and the spirit, which allows for a tridimensional perception beyond the usual two-dimensional reality. Don Juan emphasizes that while Castaneda’s experience was vital for him to access silent knowledge, the jaguar itself was the true manifestation of the spirit, a source of awe and magic, serving as a vehicle for his realizations. He also highlights the “macabre connection between stupidity and self-reflection” in average men who are blind to the existence and manipulability of the assemblage point and fear the freedom that sorcery offers.

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The Requirements of Intent – The Two One-Way Bridges

Ancient Cycle, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence / By / 24 minutes of reading

Castaneda reflects on his “here and here” experience, prompting don Juan to explain that such a “movement of the assemblage point” is a sorcerer’s goal, achieved through impeccability and curtailing self-reflection to access inner energy. Don Juan recounts his own initiation by nagual Julian, who, to teach him about the spirit, threw him into a raging river, forcing a shift into silent knowledge and split perception. Don Juan later learns from nagual Elías that Julian’s act was a masterful display of “waking up intent” to bring him to the “third point”—freedom of perception. This “third point” is a bridge from “reason” (the current human state) back to “silent knowledge,” accessible through “concern” and “pure understanding,” with the spirit responding to “gestures” of true abandon rather than words.

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The Requirements of Intent – The Ticket to Impeccability

Ancient Cycle, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence / By / 36 minutes of reading

In “The Ticket to Impeccability,” don Juan continues to explain to Castaneda that a warrior’s journey involves moving the assemblage point and invalidating their old continuity to achieve impeccability, which he likens to a sorcerer’s symbolic death. Don Juan recounts his own “death” experience, wherein, as a young man, he was tricked by the nagual Julian and his cohort of women into believing in a terrifying monster, living in fear and working as their valet for three years. This intense period, marked by a loss of self-importance and a developing detachment, ultimately led to don Juan’s confrontation with the “monster,” which he discovered was merely an energetic surge, a manifestation of his own fear. After this realization and a period of trying to live a “normal” life, characterized by a loss of detachment and deep poverty, don Juan underwent a profound recapitulation of his life, which culminated in a literal “death” in a field. This symbolic death, which the Eagle then “spat out” due to his impeccable recapitulation, served as his “ticket to impeccability,” a state of heightened awareness that allowed him to return to Julian’s household as a true sorcerer, “dead” to the world, and prepared to face the world as a warrior.

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