A warrior’s love is the world. He embraces this enormous earth. The earth knows that he loves it and it bestows on him its care. That’s why his life is filled to the brim and his state, wherever he’ll be, will be plentiful. He roams on the paths of his love and, wherever he is, he is complete. ~ Don Juan, Tales of Power

In spite of the fact that sorcerers are intensely depthful and are so efficient with their energy they are often misunderstood. Impeccable warriors speak few words and those few words are often direct as a result of speaking from the place of intent, the place of pure knowing. Those words convey an essence which, to some, falls short of human emotion.

The following is an excerpt from a 1997 interview with Carol Tiggs, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau.

Q: Some readers of Carlos Castaneda’s literary works have reproached him for the lack of a bigger spiritual presence in his books, for never having used words like “love.” Is the world of a warrior really that cold? Don’t you feel human emotions? Or do you perhaps give a different meaning to those emotions?

A: Yes, we give them a different meaning, and we don’t use words like “love” or “spirituality” because the old nagual convinced us that they are empty concepts. Not love or spirituality themselves, but the use of these two words. His line of argument was as follows: if we really consider ourselves immortal beings who can afford the luxury of living amongst gigantic contradictions and endless selfishness; if all that counts for us is immediate gratification, how can we make love or spirituality something authentic?

For the old nagual these concepts were manqué, lifeless, words that nobody is prepared to back up. He said that every time we are confronted with these contradictions, we solve them by saying that, as human beings, we are weak. The old nagual told us that, as a general rule, we human beings were never taught to love. We were taught only to feel gratifying emotions, pertinent exclusively to the personal Me. Infinity is sublime and without pity, he said, and there’s no room for fallacious concepts, no matter how pleasant they may seem to us.

The nagual was right in saying that the use of certain words merely house empty concepts. A sorcerer’s love is all-encompassing and deeper than most people can begin to perceive. A sorcerer doesn’t feel “love” as a concept of what love is in her head but instead, she will feel love with her entire body as a result of constantly being fully immersed in it.

This, also from Tales of Power, encapsulates a sorcerer’s love of the world:

Only if one loves this earth, this life, with unbending passion can one release one’s sadness. Warriors are always joyful because their love is unalterable and their beloved, the earth embraces them and bestows upon them inconceivable gifts.

Only love of this splendorous life can give freedom to a warrior’s spirit, and his freedom is joy, efficiency, and abandon in the face of any odds. That’s the last lesson. It’s always left for the very last moment, for the moment of ultimate solitude. When a person faces death and aloneness, only then does it make sense.

Death in this instance does not necessarily mean the end of one’s life. In loving the earth with this level of intensity one can know what it means to truly love and be loved. It is a monumental surrender. And in loving the earth with unbending passion, all of earth’s inhabitants are loved equally. And that’s the difference between a sorcerer’s love and an ordinary person’s love. A sorcerer loves all beings, all things equally and in utter freedom.

Loving in this way is an immersion, something that can be felt and understood but not explained. This level of love can be experienced when one is quiet, so quiet that they no longer exist. The earth has a pulse, a heartbeat, and if you take the time to connect to that pulse you will know in that moment that you are connected to everything and you will get a sense of what it means to love and be loved in utter freedom. And then you will know that you exist as a mere microcosm of all things simultaneously. This feeling encompasses much more than what the word “love” could even come close to depicting, hence the sorceresses reluctance in even attempting to name it.

The old nagual told us that, as a general rule, we human beings were never taught to love. We were taught only to feel gratifying emotions, pertinent exclusively to the personal Me.

Interesting statement and oh, so true. If only everyone was taught to know love at these all encompassing and deepest levels. This female warrior is so grateful for this amazing path of awareness and freedom and all of the impassioned beauty that is available to anyone who would take the time to be truly open to it and enter into to it. Love…for no reason at all!