Tag Archives: third attention

The Flaw with Words

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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.

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Precursor to Third Attention

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He explained that what he called the key to everything was the firsthand knowledge that the earth is a sentient being and as such can give warriors a tremendous boost; it is an impulse that comes from the awareness of the earth itself at the instant in which the emanations inside warriors’ cocoons are aligned with the appropriate emanations inside the earth’s cocoon. Since both the earth and man are sentient beings, their emanations coincide, or rather, the earth has all the emanations present in man and all the emanations that are present in all sentient beings, organic and inorganic for that matter. When a moment of alignment takes place, sentient beings use that alignment in a limited way and perceive their world. Warriors can use that alignment either to perceive, like everyone else, or as a boost that allows them to enter unimaginable worlds. – Carlos Castanda, The Fire from Within

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The Unfathomable Sea of Awareness

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Flower of Life

Human beings are unable to enter and remain for any extended length of time inside the realm of cosmic awareness – the state which Don Juan called ‘the third attention’. Either we leave it and forget, or we stay and melt into that unfathomable sea. But the power that governs us has found the way to get around this limitation, by creating organisms in which individual entities work as members. – Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual

It is, in my experience, extremely difficult to put the abstract into words because in seeking words to describe an abstract experience we potentially dilute it as well as create the fixation of the assemblage point. The Eagle’s emanations, as written by Carlos Castaneda, are Fluid, forever in motion, and yet unchanged, eternal.

It is said that the Eagle bestows awareness and also devours awareness by making sentient beings relinquish it at the moment of death. In The Fire from Within Don Juan describes the eagle’s emanations as, A presence, almost a mass of sorts, a pressure that creates a dazzling sensation. One can catch only a glimpse of them, as one can catch only a glimpse of the Eagle itself and, there is nothing visual about the Eagle. The entire body of a seer senses the Eagle.

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Fusion With the Emanations at Large

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Seers maintain, naturally, that awareness always comes from outside ourselves, that the real mystery is not inside us. Since by nature the emanations at large are made to fixate what is inside the cocoon, the trick of awareness is to let the fixating emanations merge with what is inside us. Seers believe that if we let that happen we become what we really are – fluid, forever in motion, eternal. ~ Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within

The degree of awareness of every individual sentient being depends on the degree to which it is capable of letting the pressure of the emanations at large carry it.

As human beings accumulate experience, the band of emanations inside their cocoon begins to glow. In some instances, the glow of this band of emanations increases so dramatically that it fuses with the emanations from the outside. Seers, witnessing an enhancement of this kind, had to surmise that awareness is the raw material, and attention, the end product of maturation.

Attention is the harnessing and enhancing of awareness through the process of being alive. To examine what seers see in the first attention is essential for the warrior-traveler dedicated to freedom. It allows the first attention the only opportunity it will ever have to realize its own workings as well as the machinations of the mold of man.

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The New Seers

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According to Don Juan, massive changes in energy are happening at the present time, which will inevitably cause the emergence of a new cycle of warriors. To differentiate them from their predecessors, I have called them modern seers, or seers of the new era. ~ Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual

The Toltec Path blog has been up for one year and has visitors from over 80 countries and a growing number of subscriptions. First let me thank everyone who takes the time to read the content on this site and to those who offer their perceptions and ideas. My dedication as a warrior of freedom spans most of my lifetime and this blog has provided me with the realization that that there are a lot more of you out there than I had previously thought. Some of you may not utilize the syntax that is predominantly used here or associate yourselves with some of the predilections that are described her, yet you know in your heart that you are a warrior of freedom, a Toltec by nature, and that’s all that really matters.

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Third Attention

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An ordinary man sees the world as it is, as he’s been taught, conditioned and instructed to see it. A warrior sees the lines of the universe and knows the interconnectedness of all things. ~ Don Juan

The first attention basically consists of everything that ordinary man considers what it means to be human. It is the reality that has been constructed and developed in order to deal with the daily world and encompasses an awareness restricted to the physical body.

In second attention, one operates on an energetic level and the second attention is largely developed through deliberate training or accidental trauma which puts one back in touch with the energetic essence with which they were born. Sorcerers can see from second attention. This seeing includes the ability to hold the awareness of inorganic beings, to perceive energy directly and the capacity to connect with silent knowledge and intent.

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