Those of us attempting to access the essence of nagualism must accept an outrageous premise; even though the teachings of don Juan are now available in print, the silent knowledge that underlies those teachings remains completely beyond the power of the written word. The Toltecs insist that anything truly “of the spirit” must be actualized as a personal experience rather than simply written or talked about as an intellectual concept. – Tomas, Creative Victory

For years I have included in my blog posts, “Don’t believe a word I say, have your own experience!” Having spent the past couple of weeks contemplating my decade’s long journey in awareness on the Toltec path got me to thinking about – once again – recapitulating these teachings; it seems as though most of them have become superfluous for me. While there was a time when much of these practices were necessary, it is now time to actualize the fact that power is and power moves.

The Buddha expressed it beautifully by simply asking his students to remember. And what were they to remember? Remember their self. To come into the awareness of the ever-present field of consciousness from which they emerged into form. Remember? Re-member. Merge with the center of consciousness within, there is no separation there is only power.

When the island of the tonal (first attention) is swept clean and we are in balance with the nagual (second attention) we find ourselves in a continual state of fluidity where we recognize that there is only humility in the face of self (third attention). And what is the self? It is pure consciousness, a power that is backed only by unbending intent. Power is and power moves. Almost every path is a path of evolution and at some point in time a path may reach its evolutionary end. This doesn’t mean that we stop evolving; it means that the tools offered by a particular path have become worn out or are no longer necessary. For some new tools are needed, for others no tools are required. With the teachings and lessons fully integrated we have only to re-member the center of consciousness within to the single point through which we and all things emerged.

Immersed in this single point of awareness brings us beyond the warrior’s dialogue and into a life of impeccable action. If we choose to remain trapped within the rhetoric of a path that we have clearly outgrown, we become individuals within a social construct – an assemblage of data so to speak – with that very data fixating our assemblage points in alignment to another person’s story. There comes a point in time when we need to liberate ourselves from the story.

For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly. – don Juan. After traversing a path’s full length, we may come to find that the teachings offered, that were once so valuable, now have the potential to entrap us.

When we release the words that are so often wrought with expectation we find that we have the ability to move freely into deeper realms of the abstract. It is experience that allows us to move beyond the limitations of those who claim to hold the key to awareness and thus, hold all of the answers. When we have our own experiences we recognize that there truly is no truth, there is only perception. And each perception has the potential to offer magnificent insight and intriguing concepts into the worlds that lie beyond the limitation of words that were previously used to describe a particular experience.

It is impossible to explore the Toltec experience without transcending this insidious and fatal flaw with language. We must respect the unfathomable nature of the mysterious universe by rejecting the ludicrous notion that simply reading and thinking about nagualism will eventually lead us to a direct and silent understanding of the abstract. – Tomas

Keep Dancing!