I have spent thirty-five years of my life seeking the maturity of a warrior. I have gone to places that defy description, seeking that sensation of being seasoned by the onslaughts of the unknown. I went unobtrusively, unannounced, and I came back in the same fashion. The works of warriors are silent and solitary, and when warriors go, or come back, they do it so inconspicuously that nobody is the wiser. To seek a warrior’s maturity in any other fashion would be ostentatious, and therefore, inadmissible. ~ Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time

As we dance our way more deeply into the unknown we come to understand that the things we see and experience can no longer be understood by most and it becomes a moot point to even attempt to describe it. All we can do is just keep dancing within the myriad of lines of awareness that bring us to a deeper understanding of the way of the warrior. Don Juan told Carlos, to enter into the marvels of this world, or into the marvels of another world, one needs to be a warrior: calm, collected, indifferent, seasoned by the onslaughts of the unknown. You are not seasoned that way yet. Therefore, it is your duty to seek that fulfillment before you could talk about venturing into the infinite.

How does a warrior become seasoned? By walking aimlessly through the deserts, forests, beaches, etc. of the world in a state of absolute presence to what is unfolding around her as well as what had unfolded before her existence. As she does, she accumulates personal power through the immensity of the unknown, no longer bound to the reflections of her ideas or the explanations that pigeon hole everything into the world as she once knew it. Fulfillment comes when reason ceases to be and clarification takes its place.

Pushing beyond limits at all times allows the warrior to gracefully enter into a state of humility that far surpasses any amount of the self-confidence previously felt in claiming to know something with certainty. Personal power and humility are a necessity for the warrior who is ready to leap into abyss. Without these, it is easy to become caught in the web of comparisons of what the leaper believes to know through the self-confidence that keeps them aligned to the mold of man.

Presence. Awareness. Alignment.  When a warrior moves in a state of utter presence, connected fully to their surroundings, personal power increases. As personal power increases, the warrior is able to come into heightened states of awareness that allow them to see that which defies description. And when the warrior recognizes the onslaughts of the unknown, he moves with fluidity into a state of receiving knowledge directly as he aligns with eternity.

“Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word uttered to us might be sufficient to change the course of our lives. But if we don’t have enough personal power, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won’t make a damn bit of difference.” ~ Don Juan, Tales of Power

For a warrior, every moment is an appointment with knowledge, free from indulging on past events. The self-confidence gained from past events only serves to fixate the assemblage point on convenient explanations that serve no purpose in the sorcerer’s world. The only thing a warrior can do is to just keep dancing into the unknown, with a sense of wonder, humility, and impeccability.