Month: May 2015

Further Comments on Carlos Castaneda  and the Teachings of Don Juan Matus   -by Bill Brown

In my previous post entitled “The Topic of Topics” I discussed mudshadows, or archons eating our energy. They control us by keeping the amount of awareness available to us to a bare minimum thus keeping us alive but, just barely. In this way the mudshadows keep us in bondage because if we cannot be aware of them then we cannot free ourselves from them. Juan Matus taught Carlos Castaneda that we could be free of the mudshadows by living a warrior’s life. A life of magic, discipline and wonder. We start living this warrior’s life by learning to stop talking to ourselves. This incessant “internal dialog” is what maintains our world. It also makes us vulnerable to the archons.

In order to understand the importance of this “internal dialog” and how it helps us maintain our world, we have to view the human being as an energetic unit. Everything is energy and the human being no less so. According to the teachings of Don Juan the bubble of energy that is a living being, contains a portion of the same energy that pervades the Universe at large. This energy is in the form of an uncountable number of self-aware luminous filaments that pass through our “luminous cocoon” continuously.

Don Juan asserted that the “luminous cocoon” of every living entity has in its cocoon an agent known as the “assemblage point”. This point is responsible for our perception, and has the potential to be quite mobile. At birth this point is in motion continuously and it is the duty and responsibility of parents, teachers, friends and anyone who comes in contact with a child to help it slow down this moving point and stop it in the right position. The considerable power of all these people does eventually slow this point down until it stops moving. How is this accomplished? They teach the child to talk to itself.

It is this talking to ourselves that maintains this point fixed at the same position in the cocoon as every other person in this world, and every other person sees the same world in the same way.

The assemblage point in man is located on the back of its cocoon high up near the crest and to the right of center, on the surface. The point is situated within a specific band of energy known as “the band of man”. This band of energy contains the “known”, which is our world and everything in it that we are aware of. It also contains the “unknown”, which is everything we are not aware of, but could be with enough energy and awareness. When this “assemblage point” moves into the cocoon towards the center then we are always moving into the “unknown” since it is all new. Thus the “unknown” becomes the “known”. When the “assemblage point” moves out of the “band of man” it enters the “unknowable”. It is a vast region where human traits do not come into play at all.

Don Juan taught Carlos that the luminous filaments passing through our luminous cocoon create a pressure on the cocoon. The energy inside the cocoon is the same as the energy outside the cocoon separated by the luminous shell. The majority of the luminous filaments pass through the luminous shell effecting no change, however those luminous filaments that pass through the “assemblage point” become aligned –due to this pressure- with the same luminous filaments inside the cocoon, and it is this alignment that gives rise to perception. The “assemblage point” is responsible for further refining of this alignment by organizing the luminous filaments into clusters. These clusters account for the “structure” of the world. Every human perceives this structure in the same way. The pressure on the cocoon and, the energy of the alignment of luminous filaments cause other luminous filaments surrounding it to glow. This is “the glow of awareness”. It is this “glow of awareness” that makes us human.  (Z pinch in EU parlance. -Alison)

Humans have a penchant for habitual behavior and routines, and talking to ourselves is one such habitual behavior, and it is established through habit. Since the exact location of the “assemblage point” is an arbitrary one then a huge effort must be made to hold it in place and, the “internal dialog” is how we anchor it. Almost every human has experienced a shift of his or her “assemblage point” either on purpose or by accident. Alcohol, drugs, fatigue, sickness or fright can cause a shift away from the habitual location, because all of these things can stop the “internal dialog”. The problem is that we are never prepared for this sudden shift and we struggle to reestablish our “internal dialog” and bring our “assemblage point” back to its’ habitual location.

There is another way to move our “assemblage point”. Sleeping! The only way to fall asleep is to stop the “internal dialog”. Many people have trouble sleeping because of their busy minds but eventually sleep will come. When the “internal dialog” stops in this manner then the “assemblage point” naturally drifts away from its’ habitual location and we dream. Since the “assemblage point” shifts to a different location, different luminous filaments become aligned, thus allowing for different perceptual input. Don Juan said that the greater the shift of the “assemblage point” the more vivid and bizarre are the dreams. Don Juan also taught Carlos that along the edges of “mans band of awareness” is an incalculable storehouse of human junk that we have accrued in our life. Along the right edge is violence, sexuality, and action. Along the left edge is God, spirituality, and bliss. When our “assemblage point” shifts to these edges we get dreams that are a jumble of visions from this storehouse of junk. We recognize things from our dreams because of it.

We can train ourselves to stop our “internal dialog” the same way we established it when we were children. Through repetition we can learn to disrupt our continuity and “stop the world”. We already do it when we dream.  

We are all in agreement on where to anchor the “assemblage point”. Over time we have all agreed that location will be the place of concern, or self-importance.

 By B. Brown