Tensegrity Seminars

Los Angeles (4) - August 1995 [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ] To:   alt.dreams.castaneda Date:   2 Aug 1995 11:52:01 -0400 One of Dan's recent posts indicates that Rich was there and took notes, so this post of mine may be unnecessary, but since I wrote this up I might as well post it... - David Worrell *** First Night. I arrived a half hour earlier than the one hour early they asked us to be, and was directed, by workers stationed at various locations, into the cafeteria, after being stamped with a little heart that can only be seen under ultraviolet light. The cafeteria is a long narrow rectangle with the stage facing the narrow side. I took a seat near the center on the back wall since it was still quite close to the stage. Amalia Marquez walked through several times carrying a walkie talkie, and she appeared to be coordinating things. I hear many people speaking Spanish, and later, during the Tensegrity, the Chacmools would have those who spoke spanish exclusively gather around one of their people (a young woman I had not seen before), who translated for them.. They seem to have quite a few people working for them, who are wearing little badges with the picture from the cover of the Tensegrity video (with no names). One of the workers kept running over to the door marked "Teachers" and knocking on it, but no one answered (don't know what that was about). At 6:30 (we were told to be there at 6:00) the place was not as full as I thought it would be. Douglas Parnell of Cleargreen welcomed us to Los Angeles, and made a series of practical announcements related to the facilities. Lectures may be here in the cafeteria also, to keep the energy all in one place, he said. The Chacmools then came in, along with a short, vibrant, gray-haired man with a very expressive face, who did not introduce himself, but simply took off his coat and began to address us. It was Carlos Castaneda. He said that he was scared to use the microphone and had us all gather around very close. I don't think there were more than 125 people or so in here. He talked about those present as being people who had a genuine interest in this alternative, as opposed to "detractors". Then he talked about how to answer those who ask for "proof". Basically, the only way to prove anything is "you go with me", he said. He spoke of how the proof of the law of gravity requires basic knowledge of physics to comprehend, and that you would have to take sorcery 101 to get his "proof". He said that he is often asked, "How come you never mentioned magical passes in your books?". To this he replies, "I did!". Don Juan was always stretching and cracking his joints in various ways, and he told Carlos, "why don't you imitate it?" He made the point again that: "the magical passes were discovered, not invented". Discovered by sorcerers of antiquity, over 10,000 years ago. Carlos said that always blew him away. He could handle say, 4000 years ago, but don Juan always insisted it was closer to 10,000. Anyhow, ancient shaman could see energy as it flows in the universe. We can't. Our involvement is controlled by our interpretation. He then told a story about a "liberal" or "liberated" couple (he speaks with something of a spanish accent, and occasionally I miss a word or two), who lived together and finally decided to go ahead and get married. They had a big wedding planned by their families which seemed in the end to them to go against everything they were. While driving together on a trip, a little inner voice told the woman to go to a little chapel by themselves and get married, so they did. Carlos asks: "where is the revolution?". There was really no revolution. After all, all they did was get married. He talked about how don Juan offered a true revolution. Carlos talked about how "conservative" he is compared to most modern people, and even compared himself to "Mexicans", whom he considers more "liberal" than himself (I believe he was speaking mostly in regard to sexual morality here). He even called himself a "momma's boy". Carlos then talked about how he resisted don Juan's teachings. He said he did this "as a matter of principal". He was an educated and well traveled modern man, and don Juan was just "an indian". He repeated the story of Juan asking him if he thought they were equals (recounted in Ixtlan). Don Juan asked him: "what do you want?" Carlos did not know; he couldn't really answer the question. Don Juan said that he could "summon up his entire life in an instant", and here Carlos did not even have an idea of what he wanted... Don Juan said: "I am a navigator. I navigate into the unknown. To do this, I must know everything." He was a pragmatist who left no stone unturned. Carlos thought the same of himself, but don Juan said to Carlos: "you don't even know where the stones are". Don Juan was truly "affected by everything he discovered" (unlike the academic who after classes is just like every other man). Don Juan was "a true pragmatist" and "a true scientist". Sorcerers are pragmatists. Carlos exhorted us to: "Do it! Don't sit and speculate." He repeated over and over that the old sorcerers were able to see energy as it flows in the universe, and were capable of cancelling out the interpretation system that makes the world the world. Carlos said that there is something in us that is not allowing us to examine detail. We gloss over any unusual elements, unless there is something blatantly missing (he gave the example that we would interpret the room as a room, unless perhaps the whole roof were gone or something of that magnitude). A sorcerers goal is: "to purposefully arrive at the cancellation of the interpretation system". He noted that the shape of humans of antiquity was more oblong or egglike, and that today we are round, like luminous balls. He then recounted the way the assemblage point exclusively selects certain of the myriad luminous fibers which run every which way, and how when the position changes, the world changes, but all this takes place *within* the confines of the luminous egg. He then spoke of how denying ourselves the experience of our totality is "not our fault", as "circumstances force us" to where "the only position possible is self-reflection". When there is a momentary lull in this, nobody listens. There is something impinging on us...the universality of this ME ME ME, that never lets up until we die. WHY? Why so uniform? This is very suspicious, the way we all die holding onto ME ME ME. The explanation: He recounted again the way the old sorcerers saw energy, the way they cancelled the interpretation system, the way they discovered that in dreaming the assemblage point shifted---the further the more bizarre. The old sorcerers used anything they could find to elicit that shift. They found that "certain positions of the body gave an optimum level of energy". They discovered "different sequences of movements to get that feeling of well-being", i.e. they discovered the magical passes, and guarded them with rituals of secrecy. Now...in their practices they also noticed the presence of some unknown entities. These entities were the "fastest things they could perceive". They called them "flyers". They feed on us. Awareness is a sheen like a plastic cover which makes us more luminous. The sheen has been eaten away to our toes by the flyers. Self-reflection is the product of that fringe of energy at our toes. So we are not responsible. The revolution of don Juan: to deny fulfilling agreements in which he did not take part, i.e. not to be eaten. That was his choice. It was a conscious refusal on his part. Now the scientist might ask: "can I see those flyers?" His answer is: "you'll have to remake yourself". To "moderate the body's internal tools": use the magical passes. But as handed down by the ancient sorcerers, they were "murky, secret". They were also modifed for different individuals through the ages. They have developed Tensegrity for more general dissemination (I am paraphrasing there), to "turn them into something applicable to all of us". Later in his talk Carlos said to "suspend judgment and see how extraordinary is the body". Carlos noted that don Juan told him: "I'm younger than you", and it was true. Carlos said that then he was more like an old man, who could not walk very far, and smoked a lot (Carlos recounted the story of how don Juan helped him quit smoking ---this story is in an old Magical Blend interview so I won't repeat it). Later in the talk Carlos also noted how most of the people he grew up with are "geriatric cases", while he "can still jump" and is alive and fit. He did indeed appear quite vigorous (and by my calculations he will be 70 in December). Carlos gave us an analogy: Like the stars---there are 400 billion in our galaxy---something is holding them in a spiral. It is thought to be like a giant black hole. The human body is the same---as fields of energy you see a luminous ball of energy. Without some cohesive force we would have escaped into infinity. That force is to be tapped. The intent is there. The passes have intention of their own built right in, to make your awareness reach that binding force. Carlos said he used to ask don Juan: "How do I know that I'm touching the force?". Don Juan said that the answer was kind of "gross", and asked him if he was sure he wanted to know. Carlos said yes, and so don Juan told him he would have to go to the bathroom, pull down his pants and bend over and grab his ankles, and point his butt due east, and fart. Don Juan said that if your fart is "voluminous, fabulous...then you're on the right track". If it's just a little peep you are in bad shape. Well, Carlos tried it, and came back having to report that he was in bad shape. Don Juan echoed his words to everyone and they all laughed at him. The point: it's absurd. And Carlos reiterated how part of what don Juan got out of teaching him was endless enjoyment laughing at Carlos' imbecility. Carlos said that we do not have a need to genuinely inquire... Instead we have a need to fulfill ideologies. He talked about some absurdities of theology, such as talking about the virginity of Mary, etc. He claimed that sorcery is "the only philosophical inquiry remaining". It is "vastness itself". But we are "immortals preoccupied with ideologies". A couple of fragments: "Don Juan was not encumbered. He did not defend the self." The purpose of "expressing the toes" is a lowly one. With regard to his structure as a Nagual man, Carlos talked about how "he is not of the proper structure to teach", and praised the Chacmools for finally managing to get a large number of people interested in the work to the point of practicing (he mentioned that all his efforts at this had failed). Carlos said that he was "made for tremendous stress", but not to teach (he quipped "you should see the stress in my personal life"). Carlos said that he was going to talk with us a lot, and let us ask him questions. He said that we have three weeks, and told us to work hard to see if we could get to the point where he could talk with us some more. He said to "suspend judgement", and do the work and then we would see. He emphasized that there is no point in ordinary conversation, but that if we could work up the awareness, he would definitely be there for us. Finally he said: "let's boogie!". Then he picked up his coat and sunglasses, and left as we applauded. The Chacmools took over, and Kylie asked us how we felt, in a tone that implied she wanted us all to shout "Great!" or something. We tried, but there wasn't much spirit for it. She then asked us again, sort of like, "cmon, you can do better than that", and we all tried again to respond enthusiastically, but it was still a bit feeble and introspective (I for one was feeling rather contemplative at that moment, and I was also a bit stiff from having sat for 45 minutes on the hard tile floor listening to Carlos, after having already sat there for an hour waiting for them to come). Anyhow, Kylie then began by having us focus on some basics. She had us go over the "pulled in thumb" position of the hands. She talked about considering the flat (not cupped) hand and the forearm as a unit of sorts, and said there were two ways of doing the "locked thumb" position: 1) Just pull the thumb in to the side of the index finger tight. 2) Pull the thumb clear in and fold it across the palm. We practiced both of these quite a bit, while extending our forearms in front of us, palms up, and simultaneously pushing slightly upward with our palms, while looking to feel a feeling in our armpit/chest area, something like "lines of energy" extending down our arms. Then we went over the horse position. Legs at shoulder width, toes pointed only very slightly inward, knees bowed very slightly outward, so that there is some pressure on the inner thighs. Specific recommendations of the Chacmools: Walk with your toes slightly turned in for the entire three weeks. Cut out starches, refined sugars, don't eat too much fruit, don't eat extra salt, and drink lots of water. Eat lots of protein. Nyei gave us a motto: "If you over exert it, you hurt it", after telling us to perform the movements with finesse. It was emphasized a couple of times not to do the movements robotically, and to try to feel the way your body does them each time you do them, without straining, and see if you can hook into the intent. Nyei said that: "every movement is to bring silence". And to: "focus on precision and allow some other type of energy to come in". We were taught two new magical passes: The "Butterfly positions", and "Pushing the Right Body to the Left and the Left Body to the Right". The Butterfly positions had two parts associated, which could be called: 1)  Butterfly fluttering 2)  Butterfly in repose The second movement (Pushing the Right to Left, etc.) was a very difficult one, and consisted of three separate arm movements combined with a sweeping leg movement. I have decided not to describe the movements fully at this time, and instead I will focus on learning the movements with my body, until I am certain I have them down pat, and THEN I will describe them if it seems appropriate (probably after the whole workshop is over). - David [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ]

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