25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

The Requirements of Intent – The Ticket to Impeccability

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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25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

The Requirements of Intent – Breaking the Mirror of Self-Reflection

In this continuation, Don Juan further explains the process of breaking the mirror of self-reflection, emphasizing that the assemblage point can be moved by the nagual’s presence, but ultimately, it’s the spirit that makes the actual movement. He clarifies that instruction isn’t what moves the assemblage point; instead, it’s the curtailment of self-importance, which then releases energy, launching the assemblage point into a new perception. Don Juan illustrates this by recounting his manipulative tactics in Guaymas, which shattered Castaneda’s continuity and forced his assemblage point to the “place of no pity.” He reveals that his feigned senility was a deliberate act of masked ruthlessness, designed to bypass Castaneda’s rationality and lead him to a state of detached hardness, thereby beginning his journey into a “dreaming state” and the world of sorcery.

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25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

The Descent of the Spirit – The Place of No Pity

In this chapter, Don Juan orchestrates a dramatic scenario to teach Castaneda about ruthlessness and the “place of no pity.” By feigning a debilitating stroke, Don Juan forces the narrator into extreme discomfort and self-pity, pushing his assemblage point—a key concept in Castaneda’s work representing the focal point of perception—away from its usual position of self-reflection. This intense experience reveals to the narrator a dualism within himself: an old, indifferent part and a new, anxious part. Don Juan explains that this shift allows access to silent knowledge and frees one from self-importance, which is revealed as disguised self-pity. The lesson culminates in Don Juan’s swift recovery, exposing the entire event as a deliberate act to initiate the narrator into a deeper understanding of sorcery and a state of being characterized by detachment and sobriety.

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25 May
Book excerpts, Carlos Castaneda, Power of Silence

The Trickery of the Spirit – The Four Moods of Stalking

This chapter, “The Four Moods of Stalking,” details don Juan’s instruction on the fundamental principles of stalking, emphasizing its four core moods: ruthlessness, cunning, patience, and sweetness. Through a vivid recollection triggered by a specific technique, the narrator recalls a pivotal early lesson in heightened awareness with don Juan and his companions, Silvio Manuel and Vicente Medrano. This lesson, which involved a surprising “test” of being tied up like a dog, revealed the narrator’s “indulgence” rather than the desired stalking traits. Don Juan explains that stalking is the art of breaking routine behavior to move the assemblage point, a feat that requires impeccability and goes beyond personal gain, ultimately leading to direct, “silent knowledge” of intent, which can only be truly commanded and utilized, not fully articulated or explained in words.

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