It is not definable. When you practice it, you perceive it. If you try to understand it, you block it. Don’t see it as something difficult or complex, because it is not something from another world; it is just silencing the mind. ~ Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual

I have to admit that no matter how hard I have been trying there are just no words coming so I am posting some quotes that I find valuable. Feedback, thoughts and your quotes welcome, thanks for reading!

This is the nature of sorcerers’ knowledge; take it or leave it. You cannot reason it out; it is not possible to “verify it” intellectually. The only thing we can do with it is to put it into practice, exploring the extraordinary possibilities within our being.The power that governs us has granted us a choice. Either we spend life prowling around our familiar habits, or we encourage ourselves to get to know other worlds. The only thing which can give us the necessary jolt is the awareness of death.

Death is the gateway to infinity. A door made to the exact measure of each of us, which we will all pass through someday, returning to our origin. Our lack of understanding impels us to see it as a common reducer. But no, there is nothing common about it.

When a warrior has put an end to his routines, when he doesn’t care anymore whether he has company or is alone, because he has heard the silent whisper of the spirit; then you can say that, truly, he has died. From that point on, even the simplest things in life become extraordinary for him.

Sorcerers maintain that talking about ourselves makes us accessible and weak, while learning how to be quiet fills us with power. A principle of the path of knowledge is to turn your own life into something so unpredictable that not even you yourself knows what’s going to happen.

The sorcerer’s objective is to break the fixation of social interpretations, and to see energy directly. To see is a total perceptual experience. Seeing energy as it flows is an imperious need on the path of knowledge. Ultimately, all the effort of sorcerers is guided to that end. It is not enough for a warrior to know that the universe is energy; he has to verify it for himself.

Recapitulation starts from inside and sustains itself. It is matter of silencing the mind, and our energy body will take control, doing what is a delight for it to do. You feel well, comforted; far from draining you, it gives you rest. Your body perceives it as an inexplicable energy bath.

Sorcerers abide by their experience. They have changed ‘believing’ for seeing. They speak of the spirit, not because they believe in its existence, but because they have seen it. But they don’t see it as a loving father who watches over us from up above. For them, the spirit is something much more direct and immediate, a state of awareness which transcends reason.

Sorcerers don’t look for definitions, but for results. If a practice is able to elevate our level of awareness, what does it matter how we explain it to ourselves! The means by which we will start acting to save and increase our energy are not important, because once we are in possession of our totality, we enter a new field of attention where we don’t care about concepts anymore, and things demonstrate themselves.

Silence is a passageway between worlds. When our mind stays silent, incredible aspects of our being emerge. Starting from that moment, a person becomes a vehicle of intent, and all his acts begin to ooze power.

What is required of a modern warrior is a condition of sustained energy gain, until his attention can flow between reason and silent knowledge. When moving in that way, he is more sane than ever, and yet he is not a rational being. From whichever position he assumes, he will always be sighting the other side, and his vision acquires perspective and depth. Sorcerers describe this condition as ‘being double’ or ‘losing the mind’.

Above quotes by Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual