Tensegrity Seminars

Los Angeles (2) - August 1995 [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ] To:      alt.dreams.castaneda Date:    2 Aug 1995 00:35:39 -0700 Aug 1, 1995 Tensegrity workshop in LA Carlos showed up for this first meeting. It was a surprise to everyone. Several of the other members of his group had already been present, taking information, checking people in, even directing traffic. But when it was time for the Chacmools to make their entrance, Carlos lead the way. He walked quickly up to the front of the group and introduced himself. He was wearing brand new Levi pants, and a dress shirt with no pockets. He explained later that his shirt had no pockets because he used to be a smoker. Despite previous descriptions of Carlos as short and homely, I found him to be short and handsome. He was elderly, but in a very vigorous way. All of his hand movements were quick and energetic, he bounced about during his lecture, pounding his hands on the platform at key moments. Even sounds in the room such as the slamming of doors often fell into line with the timing of his lecture. His eyes had the difference that a sorcerer's eyes are supposed to have. His left eye was blank and dark and slightly crossed from the other. He had straight, relatively short, nearly fully gray, hair. He was short, extremely slim, but slightly more muscular in his chest area. I sure with that Rich had been there to take notes. As it is, I'll have to do it from memory. I was only a few feet from Carlos and he kept up constant eye contact with the audience. Taking notes would have been quite inappropriate. That means that my quotes will be off and my stories not quite the same as what Carlos said. But I'll try to keep the differences to a minimum. Carlos started by telling us that people often ask him, "How come this Tensegrity stuff wasn't in the books?" Carlos answered that it was, it was all over the place. He sited the example of don Juan cracking his bones. He told a short story of how he enjoyed that so much that he started a conversation with don Juan about it. Don Juan suggested that he copy him exactly and learn to do it himself. That was the beginning of his Tensegrity training. Carlos told us that don Juan once asked him if he didn't think it was strange that the position of the assemblage point of the entire world was so uniform. When Carlos said that it hadn't occurred to him, don Juan elaborated, asking him if it wasn't a really great mystery that with all of the places and cultures in the world that we all shared the common fixation with I, I, I, Me, me, me. Carlos elaborated that we aren't born with that idea, but that it is taught to us and that we clutch the idea to the our very grave. He said that we go to the grave thinking "me, me, me". And at no time in our lives do we give it up. Don Juan explained that it wasn't our fault that we were like that, that something else was the cause. Then he described the flyers to Carlos. He said that seers had perceived something streaking by so fast that it was fast even to the eye of a sorcerer. These turned out to be possessors of awareness without a physical being. The feed off our energy, licking us until only the self-reflection energy is left. It's their intention that we never look anywhere else. They want us to just keep quiet and let them feed. Carlos didn't believe in the flyers. During his lecture he emphasized how difficult it had all been for him to believe, being an academic and subconsciously considering himself superior to don Juan. Carlos asked don Juan if he could see the flyers. Don Juan said, "Of course you can see them. But not in your present condition." Carlos wanted to know why, and don Juan told him that it was because he was "too fat." At this point Carlos explained that he loved to eat bacon sandwiches at that time. He would eat 17 a day, and then another 12 peanut butter and jelly. He also explained that for a sorcerer it wasn't appropriate to go to Bally's health spa or to exercise in an ordinary manner. He said that a sorcerer would only condition his body in that manner with Tensegrity. Carlos explained the purpose of Tensegrity in the same manner as the Chacmools: to give a flavor to our awareness that isn't palitable to the flyers. But he also gave another explanation. He described how some galaxies were thought to be held together by a gigantic black hole at their center. Although no one had proven that, it was the only thing that could explain why the planets hadn't spiraled out of the system long ago. He said that the same concept could be used to describe us. We were a collection of luminious filaments with an even brighter glow of awareness. Something kept that awareness from escaping into infinity. It was that force that held the awareness there which Tensegrity was directed at. Carlos said that once asked don Juan if there was any way to know if the Tensegrity was working for him. Don Juan said that there was a test, but that it was too disgusting to tell him about. After being egged on in this manner, Carlos just couldn't resist and begged don Juan to tell him the test, even if it was offensive. Don Juan said, "All right, but you have to promise to tell me the results, no matter how offensive." Carlos readily agreed. Don Juan told Carlos to go into his bathroom at home, drop his pants, bend over and grab his ankles, and point his butt towards the east. Then he was to fart. If the tensegrity was working, it would be a long and volumous fart. If the Tensegrity was not working, it would be just a little peep. Carlos explained that don Juan was very crude, but that he (Carlos) was guillable enough to believe the test. He actually tried it, and reported the results back to don Juan. "I'm in really bad shape...", he said. Don Juan turned to his associates, laughing, and repeated, "He's in bad shape!" Carlos explained that don Juan's payment for teaching him had been endless hours of entertainment at Carlos' expense. Carlos related the story of how don Juan cured him of smoking. Carlos explained that he'd smoked since he was a boy, and that he used to get out of breath very easily from exercise, so he'd catch his breath by inhaling cigarettes. One time don Juan announced that they were going on a little trip to the mountains for 10 days. Carlos said that the place they were going was a place with extreme ravines and really outstanding landscapes. Don Juan told him not to worry about bringing anything, except maybe cigarettes since they would be gone for 10 days. He told him to be very generous and bring 50 packs. Don Juan told him to wrap them in foil and cloth because the coyotes might carry them off, they just couldn't resist the intoxicating smell of tobacco. Carlos said that he suspected something was going to happen, so the first day he smoked like mad. Then he went to bed, and when he woke up in the morning the cigarettes were gone. Don Juan wasn't worried. He told Carlos, "How far could a coyote possibly go carrying a huge bundle of cigarettes? He's probably gotten them stuck in a branch or in a rock crevice not 20 yards from here. All we have to do is find the trail." Don Juan spent the next 8 hours with Carlos trying to locate the trail. Carlos was chuckling at this point in his story. He said that the trail they found went up and down the most extreme ravines he had ever seen. Eventually they followed it to a very deep and dangerous ravine. Don Juan asked him if he really wanted to go down there after the cigarettes. Carlos said that at that point he was so desperite for a cigarette that he would have done anything. He went down, didn't find the cigarettes, and got stuck. It was nighttime by then, so don Juan told him not to worry, he'd get him out of there in the morning. The next day don Juan found a very windy and roundabout path that allowed him to get back up. I can't remember how many days had elapsed by that time in the story, but don Juan finally announced to Carlos that perhaps, if he would be willing to smoke some local "dark" tobacco, they could find some cigarettes in a nearby town. Carlos said that he responded, "Of course, I'll smoke ANYTHING! I'd even smoke YOU if I could." Don Juan then proceeded to show him the way to a local town, but after a while he admitted, "I'm getting old. I'm lost." Carlos said that he was furious at that point. He confided to us that there were many times in his association with don Juan that he would have loved to have done harm to him, but that he was afraid of don Juan. After a few days of being "lost", Carlos noticed that his ability to climb up and down the ravines was outstanding. And he no longer had any craving for cigarettes. At that point, don Juan announced that he was tired of roaming about with Carlos, that it was time to go home. He walked not 20 yards and pointed out that this was the road to home. Carlos said that the road had been there all the time, but that he hadn't a clue and actually believed they were lost. A good portion of Carlos' lecture was aimed at dispelling the rumors and speculation about the chacmools. Carlos stated that he had tried to build up a base of serious practicioners on his own for years, teaching Tensegrity among other things. But he had failed. All he had suceeded in doing was providing lingo to unscrupulous people who actually went out and proceeded to bury people in dirt coffins and claimed to be able to teach them stalking and dreaming. Carlos looked incredulous as he said, "How could they possibly teach stalking and dreaming?" He said that the chacmools had, in an extremely short time, succeeded where he had failed. He said that his assemblage point was in a different place than ours, but that the chacmools were halfway between here and infinity. Carlos emphasized that he would be talking to us again, many times. He said that he would be back to answer questions when both groups (the 2 classes) were together, I guess meaning on a sunday lecture. Then he said that we should suspend judgement because this class was very special. It was designed to produce a specific effect on us. He looked around and said that he was looking at our heels, that he was looking for that "spark". He said that at the end of three weeks there would be plenty of sparks. Then we could talk. Until then, it was just one person talking to another, and he didn't have anything to say except, "Let's get a hamburger" and "What's your name?" But if we made the commitment to join in his incredible exploration, then he was bound to do everything in his power for us. He didn't want the knowledge to just die with him, to end there. He wanted to give it to us. The last thing Carlos said was, "Let's Boogy!" The Chacmools then came out to teach. There's no point to relating the tensegrity movements they taught, except to say that I hadn't learned them on the first tape or at any of three workshops I'd attended recently. The teaching was very different, they were focusing in on VERY minor point. Yet they made these seem to be extremely important. For instance, we practiced just moving our thumb in tight to our hands, while lifting the arm ever so slightly, and looking for a feeling in our chest and armpits. Likewise, the horse stance used was shallower and there was an emphasis on turning in the toes. Kylie told us to look for a feeling of tension on the inside thigh, and also told us to practice walking around for the next three weeks, with our toes pointed slightly inward. They also advised us to cut out refined sugar for the three weeks, cut back on starches, and cut back on fruit. Also, eat less salt. They emphasized that this course was special, and was designed to produce a very specific effect. I asked one of the chacmools if the two course schedules, the A and B, were going to be the same thing. She stated that it had been planned that way, but that who knows what will happen energetically. Well, that's all for tonight. Dan [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ]

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