Anyone can try to become a man of knowledge; very few men actually succeed, but that is only natural. The enemies a man encounters on the path of learning to become a man of knowledge are truly formidable; most men succumb to them. – Don Juan, The Teachings of Don Juan

In The Teachings of Don Juan, don Juan discussed the four natural enemies with Castaneda. These, he explained, are fear, clarity, power, and old age. Moving through my life I have found that most warriors are able to overcome fear. They are committed to facing their fears, defying it, and eventually defeating it. In their new states of fearlessness they begin to explore new areas of awareness which brings them to a state of clarity.

Clarity, however, presents a deeper battle, one that sometimes stifles a warrior’s growth. As a warrior arrives to a state of clarity their growth may become halted because they come to believe that they have become expert seers with all the answers. This clarity, don Juan said, is hard to obtain but also blinds and prevents them from learning anything new as they impose their limited knowledge onto others through the belief that they have become powerful seers. They must come to understand that their clarity was merely a point before their eyes.

This feeling of power that they experience reveals the third enemy, that of Power. It is within this state of power that a warrior becomes waylaid and their growth may become stunted. Power is the strongest of all enemies and makes the warrior feel invincible, in control, and undefeatable. As their self-importance begins to increase, the position of their assemblage point becomes fixated and they assume that the power they have come to know belongs to them. At this point a warrior must stop trying to be a man of knowledge and abandon themselves to the point of pure knowing – with nothing to prove and nothing to defend.

The last enemy is Old Age, the time when a warrior has no more fears, no more impatience, clarity of mind, with power in check. He is put on notice not to give in to the desire to lie down and forget. The enemy of old age is conquered when one continues with their unbending will and passion to stand firmly in the power of freedom with diligence and fortitude, sharing his mastery with the world in a state of humility, fluidity, and the knowledge that eternity awaits him.

That said, some warriors fight to defend their position. While the position of their assemblage point remains fixated, their goal is to secure other so-called believers into strengthening that position of the assemblage point thereby making it stronger. As more and more people align with a particular warrior’s beliefs, those beliefs are energetically nourished allowing them to grow and become a story that serves as a trap as it enslaves its members into cult-like behavior, religion, or unity that lacks vision, creativity, and awareness. They become trapped in the patterns that turn into an endless cycle of repetition and look for someone who can lead them as opposed to leading themselves from a state of vision, awareness, creativity and knowledge.

Warriors of freedom, however, are those who challenge the entire matrix in order to cut through the illusory world of man-made concepts in order to strengthen their connecting link with spirit and touch the unknown. More than believers they are knowers. They live in the moment experiencing whatever arises and keep their assemblage points fluid. As they observe the world they recognize it for what it is, knowing that they are surrounded by a beautiful mystery that reveals information, knowledge, and awareness at the moment that it becomes necessary. A warrior is in the flow of universal source energy and looks forward to what can be, not backwards to what once was.

Keep dancing along all of the lines of awareness, those that already exist as well as those you create. The warrior knows that the dance is eternal and never ending. With impeccability, integrity, and humility they stop at nothing in the pursuit of knowledge and increased awareness while giving it all away in joy and freedom.