unknown

Carlos and don Juan continue their discussion on awareness, specifically focusing on the first truth: the world is not composed of objects but of the “Eagle’s emanations.” Don Juan clarifies the distinction between the “known,” “unknown,” and “unknowable,” emphasizing that the unknown is within human reach through perception, while the unknowable remains beyond comprehension. He explains that the ancient seers made a crucial mistake by confusing these categories, leading to their downfall, a mistake corrected by the new seers who learned to map the unknown through controlled “seeing.” Don Juan describes the Eagle as the indescribable force that bestows awareness on sentient beings and devours it at death, an interpretation that both fascinates and terrifies Carlos. He further elucidates that human perception utilizes only a minute fraction of these emanations, and that “seeing” involves sensing the Eagle’s emanations as “filaments of light” that are inherently aware.