In Castaneda’s works (specifically The Eagle’s Gift) he writes how, at a certain point, the team of sorcerers realizes that the odds against their succeeding on their quest for freedom are so vast as to be insurmountable. At that point, the male sorcerers effectively give up; but since they have trained themselves over decades to act impeccably, and since they don’t know of any other way to live, they continue acting impeccably, without a shred of hope left that acting impeccably will ever pay off. (The female sorcerers, CC writes, act as if they always knew the goal was impossible, so they experience no major change of outlook.) It is at this point that the sorcerers realize that living impeccably cannot be a strategy for gain; it can only ever be an expression of the warrior’s freedom, his impeccability, and his boundless love for life.
The path of the warrior (struggle) would seem to be the antithesis of surrender. But really, it is the essential prerequisite for surrender.
A warrior should be prepared only to battle. His spirit is not geared to indulging and complaining, nor is it geared to winning or losing. The spirit of a warrior is geared only to struggle, and every struggle is a warrior's last battle on earth. Thus the outcome matters very little to him. In his last battle on earth a warrior lets his spirit flow free and clear. And as he wages his battle, knowing that his will is impeccable, a warrior laughs and laughs.
It is my commitment to teach you to see . I am compelled, therefore, to teach you to feel and act like a warrior. To see without first being a warrior would make you weak; it would give you a false meekness, a desire to retreat; your body would decay because you would become indifferent. It is my personal commitment to make you a warrior so you won't crumble.
The trick is, then, for us to maintain the necessary illusion that surrender is possible, long enough, so that we continue on the path of the warrior until that path becomes fully ingrained into our being. So by the time we realize that surrender is not possible, and that we will never attain it, it is too late to “quit.” At this point, since we cannot give up anymore, all we can do is… surrender.
We surrender to the impossibility of surrender.
Then we will see that freedom was not a goal to be reached, but a state ~ a knowing ~ that was within us all along. We are all free, all of us. We can never be anything but free. Put another way: there is no need for us, as persons, to surrender; because what we are surrendering to already has us, through and through. Instead, we get to surrender. This is the real “Eagle’s Gift”: our tenderest compliance with this awareness, which then gives way to a forward benevolence (our command becomes the eagle’s command): the movement of the spheres.
8 comments:
I so look forward to your posts because they are both simple and challenging.
Whilst not fully grasping the teaching of this post at this moment, I know that it contains an important truth for me.
Perhaps you can suggest the best way to prepare myself to accept the surrender to surrendering?
come join the fun and frolicking with the other lost souls!
; )
quietly observing, till i have something to contribute.
A prile of shite, you make it up as you go along. as ever.
cheers
I just finished watching Apocalypto again with new eyes, after rereading some of c.c.'s first book, then finished off Michael Tsarion's The Origins Of Evil. Now I'm reading of the warrior's path here at the argo.
Tonight I renew my order as you are forming your own Jason. I moved home to Erie to continue what I had began-
I had read of the Ojibwe and began to better understand a relationship to the land. There is power in the north country... it is drawing us all together.
There is a theory, the proto Ojibwe birthed the native people of all America. Based on the antiquity of their language and shared myth.
They propagated the land in search of something, and splintered here. Later admitting they had lost their way.
Maybe it remains.
Maybe that's why the mystics are gathering here, and seek reconciliation?
Pluto reflects galactic center as I write. Soon we pass unto our *death, gathering to rejoice once more as Pluto himself says, in the ecstasy of Athena's demise.
i only got halfway through apocalypto and then something intervened, i forget what; a solar eclipse perhaps...?
I'll download it now, thanks for posting, shadey
you are always welcome
Strange, but I too have always seen the bid for freedom as an impossibility for me. Without "real"sorcerers to beat my ass into shape, I figured that I'd never "make it". Also, some close calls with altered states of perception really fucked me up and threw me into a very long funk, energetically speaking, but also emotionally and physically.
But, the teachings always seeped back in, like a basement leak you thought was fixed before you built the new wall over it.
Now, I am taking up the teachings for the simple fact that it is what I choose to do. I don't hope to gain anything, I don't expect to ever see. I'm only learning how best to use my energy, through accepting life as a challenge and through slowly learning how to stalk myself(oh so fucking painful!). That is impeccability's path.
When I read your messages I seem to consistently have tears well up ....something is touched..don't know what..Perhaps a longing..Anyways Thank you for your spirit and energy you share.
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