01 June 2010

Warriors with Minds on Easy Chairs

I hyperventilate. It happens everywhere. Sometimes inside the bathroom. Sometimes in the middle of the road. Then, I try and call someone who can talk me out of it. All of them say, "Put your mind at ease."

But, how?

**

Here is an abrupt extract from Carlos Castaneda's Tales of Power: (pg 52)

 "Should I try to find an explanation for what happened, then? I[Carlos] asked.
 "Certainly!" he[don Juan] retorted. "It's your duty to put your mind at ease. Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over the walls; they don't demolish them."
 "How can I jump over this one?" I asked.
 "First of all, I think its deadly wrong for you to regard anything in such a serious fashion," he said as he sat down by my side. "There are three kinds of bad habits which we use over and over when confronted with unusual life situations. First, we may disregard what's happening or has happened and feel as if it had never occurred. That one is the bigot's way. Second, we may accept everything at its face value and feel as if we know what's going on. That's the pious man's way. Third, we may get obsessed with an event because either we cannot disregard it or we cannot accept it wholeheartedly. That's the fool's way. Your way? There is a fourth, the correct one, the warrior's way. A warrior acts as if nothing had ever happened, because he doesn't believe in anything, yet he accepts everything at its face value. He accepts without accepting and disregards without disregarding. He never feels as if he knows, neither does he feel as if nothing had ever happened. He acts as if he in control, even though he might be shaking in his boots. To act in suc a manner dissipates obsession."

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