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Re: The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda
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THE CONCEPTUAL ORDER
The Apprentice
The apprentice was the last unit of the operative order. The apprentice was in his own right the unit that brought don Juan's teachings into focus, for he had to accept the totality of the special consensus given on the component elements of all the states of nonordinary reality and all the special states of ordinary reality, before special consensus could become a meaningful concept. But special consensus, by force of being concerned with the actions and elements perceived in nonordinary reality, entailed a peculiar order of conceptualization, an order that brought such perceived actions and elements into accordance with corroboration of the rule. Therefore the acceptance of special consensus meant for me, as the apprentice, the adoption of a certain point of view validated by the totality of don Juan's teachings; that is, it meant my entrance into a conceptual level, a level comprising an order of conceptualization that would render the teachings understandable in their own terms. I have called it the "conceptual order" because it was the order that gave meaning to the unordinary phenomena that formed don Juan's knowledge; it was the matrix of meaning in which all individual concepts brought out in his teachings were embedded.
Taking into account, then, that the apprentice's goal consisted of adopting that order of conceptualization, he had two alternatives: he could either fail in his efforts or he could succeed.
The first alternative, failure to adopt the conceptual order, meant also that the apprentice had failed to achieve the operational goal of the teachings. The idea of failure was explained in the theme of the four symbolic enemies of a man of knowledge; it was implicit that failure was not merely the act of discontinuing pursuit of the goal, but the act of abandoning the quest completely under the pressure created by any one of the four symbolic enemies. The same theme also made it clear that the first two enemies -- fear and clarity -- were the cause of a man's defeat at the apprentice's level, that defeat at that level signified failure to learn how to command an ally, and that as a consequence of such failure the apprentice had adopted the conceptual order in a shallow, fallacious manner. That is, his adoption of the conceptual order was fallacious in the sense of being a fraudulent affiliation with or commitment to the meaning propounded by the teachings. The idea was that upon being defeated an apprentice, besides being incapable of commanding an ally, would be left with only the knowledge of certain manipulatory techniques, plus the memory of the perceived component elements of nonordinary reality, but he would not identify with the rationale that might have made them meaningful in their own terms. Under these circumstances any man might be forced to develop his own explanations for idiosyncratically chosen areas of the phenomena he had experienced, and that process would entail the fallacious adoption of the point of view propounded by don Juan's teachings. Fallacious adoption of the conceptual order, however, was apparently not restricted to the apprentice alone. In the theme of the enemies of a man of knowledge, it was also implicit that a man, after having achieved the goal of learning to command an ally, could still succumb to the onslaughts of his other two enemies -- power and old age. In don Juan's categorization scheme, such a defeat implied that a man had fallen into a shallow or fallacious adoption of the conceptual order, as had the defeated apprentice.
The successful adoption of the conceptual order, on the other hand, meant that the apprentice had achieved the operational goal -- a bona fide adoption of the point of view propounded in the teachings. That is, his adoption of the conceptual order was bona fide in that it was a complete affiliation with, a complete commitment to, the meaning expressed in that order of conceptualization.
Don Juan never clarified the exact point at which, or the exact way in which, an apprentice ceased to be an apprentice, although the allusion was clear that once he had achieved the operational goal of the system -- that is, once he knew how to command an ally -- he would no longer need the teacher for guidance. The idea that the time would come when a teacher's directions would be superfluous implied that the apprentice would succeed in adopting the conceptual order, and in so doing he would acquire the capacity to draw meaningful inferences without the teacher's aid.
Insofar as don Juan's teachings were concerned, and until I discontinued my apprenticeship, the acceptance of special consensus seemed to entail the adoption of two units of the conceptual order: (1) the idea of a reality of special consensus; (2) the idea that the reality of ordinary, everyday-life consensus, and the reality of special consensus, had an equally pragmatic value.
Reality of Special Consensus
The main body of don Juan's teachings, as he himself stated, concerned the use of the three hallucinogenic plants with which he induced states of nonordinary reality. The use of these three plants seems to have been a matter of deliberate intent on his part. He seems to have employed them because each of them possessed different hallucinogenic properties, which he interpreted as the different inherent natures of the powers contained in them. By directing the extrinsic and intrinsic levels of nonordinary reality, don Juan exploited the different hallucinogenic properties until they created in me, as the apprentice, the perception that nonordinary reality was a perfectly defined area, a realm separate from ordinary, everyday life whose inherent properties were revealed as I went along.
Nevertheless, it was also possible that the allegedly different properties might have been merely the product of don Juan's own process of directing the intrinsic order of nonordinary reality, although in his teachings he exploited the idea that the power contained in each plant induced states of nonordinary reality which differed from one another. If the latter was true, their differences in terms of the units of this analysis seem to have been in the range of appraisal which one could perceive in the states elicited by each of the three. Owing to the peculiarities of their range of appraisal, all three contributed to producing the perception of a perfectly defined area or realm, consisting of two compartments: the independent range, called the realm of the lizards, or of Mescalito's lessons; and the dependent range, referred to as the area where one could move by one's own means.
I use the term "nonordinary reality," as already noted, in the sense of extraordinary, uncommon reality. For a beginner apprentice such a reality was by all means unordinary, but the apprenticeship of don Juan's knowledge demanded my compulsory participation and my commitment to pragmatic and experimental practice of whatever I had learned. That meant that I, as the apprentice, had to experience a number of states of nonordinary reality, and that firsthand knowledge would, sooner or later, make the classifications "ordinary" and "nonordinary" meaningless for me. The bona fide adoption of the first unit of the conceptual order would have entailed, then, the idea that there was another separate, but no longer unordinary, realm of reality, the "reality of special consensus."
Accepting as a major premise that the reality of special consensus was a separate realm would have explained meaningfully the idea that the meetings with the allies or with Mescalito took place in a realm that was not illusory.
The Reality of Special Consensus Had Pragmatic Value
The same process of directing the extrinsic and intrinsic levels of nonordinary reality, which seemed to have created the recognition of the reality of special consensus as a separate realm, appeared also to have been responsible for my perception that the reality of special consensus was practical and usable. The acceptance of special consensus on all the states of nonordinary reality, and on all the special states of ordinary reality, was designed to consolidate the awareness that it was equal to the reality of ordinary, everyday-life consensus. This equality was based on the impression that the reality of special consensus was not a realm that could be equated with dreams. On the contrary, it had stable component elements that were subject to special agreement. It was actually a realm where one could perceive the surroundings in a deliberate manner. Its component elements were not idiosyncratic or whimsical, but concise items or events whose existence was attested to by the whole body of teachings.
The implication of the equality was clear in the treatment don Juan accorded to the reality of special consensus, a treatment that was utilitarian and matter of course; not at any time did he refer to it, nor was I required to behave toward it in any but a utilitarian, matter-of-course way. The fact that the two areas were considered equal, however, did not mean that at any moment one could have behaved in exactly the same way in either area. On the contrary, a sorcerer's behavior had to be different since each area of reality had qualities that rendered it utilizable in its own way. The defining factor in terms of meaning seems to have been the idea that such an equality could be measured on the grounds of practical utility. Thus, a sorcerer had to believe that it was possible to shift back and forth from one area to the other, that both were inherently utilizable, and that the only dissimilarity between the two was their different capacity for being used, that is, the different purposes they served.
Yet their separateness seemed to be only an appropriate arrangement that was pertinent to my particular level of apprenticeship, which don Juan used for making me aware that another realm of reality could exist. But from his acts, more than from his statements, I was led to believe that for a sorcerer there was but one single continuum of reality which had two, or perhaps more than two, parts from which he drew inferences of pragmatic value. The bona fide adoption of the idea that the reality of special consensus had pragmatic value would have given a meaningful perspective to movement.
If I had accepted the idea that the reality of special consensus was usable because it possessed inherently utilizable properties which were as pragmatic as those of the reality of everyday consensus, then it would have been logical for me to understand why don Juan exploited the notion of movement in the reality of special consensus at such great length. After accepting the pragmatic existence of another reality, the only thing a sorcerer had to do would be to learn the mechanics of movement. Naturally, movement in that instance had to be specialized because it was concerned with the inherent, pragmatic properties of the reality of special consensus.
Re: The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda
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SUMMARY
The issues of my analysis have been the following:
1. The fragment of don Juan's teachings which I have presented here consisted of two aspects: the operative order or the meaningful sequence in which all the individual concepts of his teachings were linked to one another, and the conceptual order or the matrix of meaning in which all the individual concepts of his teaching were embedded.
2. The operative order had four main units with their respective component ideas: (1) the concept "man of knowledge"; (2) the idea that a man of knowledge had the aid of a specialized power called an ally; (3) the idea that an ally was governed by a body of regulations called the rule; and (4) the idea that the corroboration of the rule was subject to special consensus.
3. These four units were related to one another in the following manner: the goal of the operative order was to teach one how to become a man of knowledge; a man of knowledge was different from ordinary men because he had an ally; an ally was a specialized power, which had a rule; one could acquire or tame an ally through the process of verifying its rule in the realm of nonordinary reality and through obtaining special consensus on that corroboration.
4. In the context of don Juan's teachings, becoming a man of knowledge was not a permanent accomplishment, but rather a process. That is to say, the factor that made a man of knowledge was not solely the possession of an ally, but the man's lifelong struggle to maintain himself within the boundaries of a system of beliefs. Don Juan's teachings, however, were aimed at practical results, and his practical goal, in relation to teaching how to become a man of knowledge, was to teach how to acquire an ally through learning its rule. Thus the goal of the operative order was to provide one with special consensus on the component elements perceived in nonordinary reality, which were considered to be the corroboration of the ally's rule.
5. In order to provide special consensus of the corroboration of the ally's rule, don Juan had to provide special consensus on the component elements of all the states of nonordinary reality and the special states of ordinary reality elicited in the course of his teachings. Special consensus, therefore, dealt with unordinary phenomena, a fact that permitted me to assume that any apprentice, by accepting special consensus, was led into adopting the conceptual order of the knowledge being taught.
6. From the point of view of my personal stage of learning, I could deduce that up to the time when I withdrew from the apprenticeship don Juan's teachings had fostered the adoption of two units of the conceptual order: (1) the idea that there was a separate realm of reality, another world, which I have called the "reality of special consensus"; (2) the idea that the reality of special consensus, or that other world, was as utilizable as the world of everyday life.
***
Nearly six years after I had begun the apprenticeship, don Juan's knowledge became a coherent whole for the first time. I realized that he had aimed at providing a bona fide consensus on my personal findings, and although I did not continue because I was not, nor will I ever be, prepared to undergo the rigors of such a training, my own way to meet his standards of personal exertion was my attempt to understand his teachings. I felt it was imperative to prove, if only to myself, that they were not an oddity.
After I had arranged my structural scheme, and was capable of discarding many data that were superfluous to my initial effort of uncovering the cogency of his teachings, it became clear to me that they had an internal cohesion, a logical sequence that enabled me to view the entire phenomenon in a light that dispelled the sense of bizarreness which was the mark of all I had experienced. It was obvious to me then that my apprenticeship had been only the beginning of a very long road. And the strenuous experiences I had undergone, which were so overwhelming to me, were but a very small fragment of a system of logical thought from which don Juan drew meaningful inferences for his day-to-day life, a vastly complex system of beliefs in which inquiry was an experience leading to exultation.
Re: The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda
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Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:40 am
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Appendix A
The Process of Validating Special Consensus
Validating special consensus involved, at every point, the cumulation of don Juan's teachings. For the purpose of explaining the cumulative process, I have arranged the validation of special consensus according to the sequence in which the states of nonordinary reality and special ordinary reality occurred. Don Juan did not seem to have fixed the process of directing the intrinsic order of nonordinary and special ordinary reality in an exact manner; he seemed to have isolated the units for direction in a rather fluid way.
Don Juan began to prepare the background for special consensus by producing the first special state of ordinary reality through the process of manipulating cues about the environment. He isolated by that method certain component elements from the range of ordinary reality, and by isolating them, he directed me to perceive a progression toward the specific, in this instance the perception of colors that seemed to emanate from two small areas on the ground. Upon being isolated those areas of coloration became deprived of ordinary consensus; it seemed that only I was capable of seeing them, and thus they created a special state of ordinary reality.
Isolating those two areas on the ground by depriving them of ordinary consensus served to establish the first link between ordinary and nonordinary reality. Don Juan directed me to perceive a portion of ordinary reality in an unaccustomed manner; that is, he changed certain ordinary elements into items that needed special consensus.
The aftermath of the first special state of ordinary reality was my recapitulation of the experience; from it don Juan selected the perception of different areas of coloration as the units for positive emphasis. He isolated for negative emphasis the account of my fear and fatigue, and the possibility of my lacking persistence.
During the subsequent preparatory period he placed the bulk of speculation on the units he had isolated, and he carried over the idea that is was possible to detect in the surroundings more than the usual. From the units drawn from my recapitulation don Juan also introduced some of the component concepts of man of knowledge.
As the second step in preparing special consensus on the corroboration of the rule, don Juan induced a state of nonordinary reality with Lophophora williamsii. The total content of that first state of nonordinary reality was rather vague and disassociated, yet the component elements were very well defined; I perceived its characteristics of stability, singularity, and lack of ordinary consensus almost as clearly as in later states. These characteristics were not so obvious, perhaps because of my lack of proficiency; it was the first time I had experienced nonordinary reality.
It was impossible to ascertain the effect of don Juan's previous directing on the actual course of the experience; however, his mastery in directing the outcome of subsequent states of nonordinary reality was very clear from that point on.
From my recapitulation of the experience, he selected the units to direct the progression toward specific single forms and specific total results. He took the account of my actions with a dog and connected it with the idea that Mescalito was a visible entity. It was capable of adopting any form; above all it was an entity outside oneself.
The account of my actions also served don Juan in setting the progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal; in this instance the progression was toward a dependent range. Don Juan placed positive emphasis on the notion that I had moved and acted in nonordinary reality almost as I would have in everyday life .
The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was set by giving negative emphasis to the account of my incapacity to pay logical attention to the perceived component elements. Don Juan hinted that it would have been possible for me to examine the elements with detachment and accuracy; this idea brought forth two general characteristics of nonordinary reality, that it was pragmatic and that it had component elements that could be assessed sensorially.
The lack of ordinary consensus for the component elements was bought forth dramatically by an interplay of positive and negative emphasis placed on the views of onlookers who observed my behavior during the course of that first state of nonordinary reality.
The preparatory period following the first state of nonordinary reality lasted more than a year. Don Juan employed that time to introduce more component concepts of man of knowledge, and to disclose some parts of the rule of the two allies. He elicited also a shallow state of nonordinary reality in order to test my affinity with the ally contained in Datura inoxia. Don Juan used whatever vague sensations I had in the course of that shallow state to delineate the general characteristics of the ally by contrasting it with what he had isolated as Mescalito's perceivable characteristics.
The third step in preparing the special consensus on the corroboration of the rule was to elicit another state of nonordinary reality with Lophophora wil1iamsii. Don Juan's previous directing seems to have guided me to perceiving this second state of nonordinary reality in the following manner:
The progression toward the specific created the possibility of visualizing an entity whose form had changed remarkably, from the familiar shape of a dog in the first state to the completely unfamiliar form of an anthropomorphic composite that existed, seemingly, outside myself.
The progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal was evident in my perception of a journey. In the course of that journey the range of appraisal was both dependent and independent, although a majority of the component elements depended on the environment of the preceding state of ordinary reality.
The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was, perhaps, the most outstanding feature of my second state. It became evident to me, in a complex and detailed manner, that one could move around in nonordinary reality.
I also examined the component elements with detachment and accuracy. I perceived their stability, singularity, and lack of consensus very clearly.
From my recapitulation of the experience, don Juan emphasized the following: For the progression toward the specific he gave positive emphasis to my account that I had seen Mescalito as an anthropomorphic composite. The bulk of speculation on this area was centered on the idea that Mescalito was capable of being a teacher, and also a protector.
In order to direct the progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal, don Juan placed positive emphasis on the account of my journey, which obviously had taken place in the dependent range; he also put positive emphasis on my version of the visionary scenes I viewed on the hand of Mescalito, scenes that seemed to be independent of the component elements of the preceding ordinary reality.
The account of my journey, and the scenes viewed on Mescalito's hand, also enabled don Juan to direct the progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality. He first put forth the idea that it was possible to obtain direction; second, he interpreted the scenes as lessons concerning the right way to live.
Some areas of my recapitulation which dealt with the perception of superfluous composites were not emphasized at all, because they were not useful for setting the direction of the intrinsic order.
The next state of nonordinary reality, the third one, was induced for the corroboration of the rule with the ally contained in Datura inoxia. The preparatory period was important and noticeable for the first time. Don Juan presented the manipulatory techniques and disclosed that the specific purpose I had to corroborate was divination.
His previous directing of the three aspects of the intrinsic order seemed to have produced the following results: The progression toward the specific was manifested in my capacity to perceive an ally as a quality; that is, I verified the assertion that an ally was not visible at all. The progression toward the specific also produced the peculiar perception of a series of images very similar to those I had viewed on Mescalito's hand. Don Juan interpreted these scenes as divination, or the corroboration of the specific purpose of the rule.
Perceiving that series of scenes entailed also a progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal. This time the range was independent of the environment of the preceding ordinary reality. The scenes did not appear to be superimposed on the component elements, as had the images I viewed on Mescalito's hand; in fact, there were no other component elements besides those that were part of the scenes. In other words, the total range of appraisal was independent.
The perception of a completely independent range also exhibited progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality. Divining implied that one could give a utilitarian value to whatever had been seen.
For the purpose of directing the progression toward the specific, don Juan put positive emphasis on the idea that it was impossible to move by one's own means in the independent range of appraisal. He explained movement there as being indirect, and as being accomplished, in this particular instance, by the lizards as instruments. In order to set the direction of the second aspect of the intrinsic level, the progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal, he centered the bulk of speculation on the idea that the scenes I had perceived, which were the answers to divination, could have been examined and extended for as long as I wanted. For guiding the progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality, don Juan placed positive emphasis on the idea that the topic to be divined had to be simple and direct in order to obtain a result that could be usable.
The fourth state of nonordinary reality was elicited also for the corroboration of the rule of the ally contained in Datura inoxia. The specific purpose of the rule to be corroborated had to do with bodily flight as another aspect of movement.
A result of directing the progression toward the specific may have been the perception of soaring bodily through the air. That sensation was acute, although it lacked the depth of all the earlier perceptions of acts that I had presumably performed in nonordinary reality. Bodily flight appeared to have taken place in a dependent range of appraisal, and it appeared to have entailed moving by one's own power, which may have been the result of a progression toward a wider range of appraisal.
Two other aspects of the sensation of soaring through the air may have been the product of directing the progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality. They were, first, the perception of distance, a perception that created the feeling of an actual flight, and second, the possibility of acquiring direction in the course of that alleged movement.
During the subsequent preparatory period don Juan speculated on the supposedly deleterious nature of the ally contained in Datura inoxia. And he isolated the following areas of my account: For directing the progression toward the specific, he placed positive emphasis on my recollection of having soared through the air. Although I did not perceive the component elements of that state of nonordinary reality with the clarity that was customary by then, my sensation of movement was very definite, and don Juan used it to reinforce the specific result of movement. The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was established by centering the bulk of speculation on the idea that sorcerers could fly over enormous distances, a speculation that gave rise to the possibility that one could move in the dependent range of appraisal and then switch such movement over into ordinary reality.
The fifth state of nonordinary reality was produced by the ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana. It was the first time that the plant was used, and the state that ensued was more in line with a test than with an attempt to corroborate the rule. In the preparatory period don Juan presented only a manipulatory technique; as he did not disclose the specific purpose to be verified I did not believe the state was elicited to corroborate the rule. Yet the direction of the intrinsic level of nonordinary reality set earlier appeared to have terminated in the following results.
Directing the progression toward specific total results produced in me the perception that the two allies were different from each other, and that each was different from Mescalito. I perceived the ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana as a quality -- formless and invisible, and producing a sensation of bodilessness. The progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal resulted in the sensation that the total environment of the preceding ordinary reality, which remained within my awareness, was usable in nonordinary reality; that is, the expansion of the dependent range seemed to have covered everything. The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality produced the peculiar perception that I could go through the component elements within the dependent range of appraisal, in spite of the fact that they appeared to be ordinary elements of everyday life.
Don Juan did not demand the usual recapitulation of the experience; it was as if the absence of a specific purpose had made this state of nonordinary reality only a prolonged transitional stage. During the subsequent preparatory period, however, he speculated on certain observations he had made on my behavior during the course of the experience.
He placed negative emphasis on the logical impasse that prevented my believing that one could go through things or beings. With that speculation he directed the progression toward a specific total result of movement through the component elements of nonordinary reality perceived within the dependent range of appraisal.
Don Juan used those same observations to direct the second aspect of the intrinsic level, a more extensive range of appraisal. If movement through things and beings was possible, then the dependent range had to expand accordingly; it had to cover the total environment of the preceding ordinary reality which was within one's awareness at any given time, since movement entailed a constant change of surroundings. In the same speculation it was also implicit that nonordinary reality could have been used in a more pragmatic manner. Moving through objects and beings implied a definite point of advantage which was inaccessible to a sorcerer in ordinary reality.
Don Juan next used a series of three states of nonordinary reality, elicited by Lophophora williamsii, to prepare further the special consensus on the corroboration of the rule. These three states have here been treated as a single unit because they took place during four consecutive days, and during the few hours in between them I had no communication whatsoever with don Juan. The intrinsic order of the three states has also been considered a single unit with the following characteristics. The progression toward the specific produced the perception of Mescalito as a visible, anthropomorphic entity capable of teaching. The ability to give lessons implied that Mescalito was capable of acting toward people.
The progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal reached a point where I perceived both ranges at the same time, and I was incapable of establishing the difference between them except in terms of movement. In the dependent range it was possible for me to move by my own means and volition, but in the independent range I was able to move only with the aid of Mescalito as an instrument. For example, Mescalito's lessons comprised a series of scenes that I could only watch. The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was implicit in the idea that Mescalito could actually deliver lessons on the right way to live.
During the preparatory period that followed the last state of nonordinary reality in this series, don Juan selected the following units. For the progression toward the specific, he placed positive emphasis on the ideas that Mescalito was instrumental in moving one through the independent range of appraisal, and that Mescalito was a didactic entity capable of delivering lessons by allowing one to enter into a visionary world. He also speculated on the implication that Mescalito had voiced its name and had supposedly taught me some songs; those two instances were constructed as examples of Mescalito's capacity to be a protector. And the fact that I had perceived Mescalito as a light was emphasized as the possibility that it might at last have adopted an abstract, permanent form for me.
Stressing these same units also served don Juan in directing the progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal. During the course of the three states of nonordinary reality I clearly perceived that the dependent range and the independent range were two separate aspects of nonordinary reality which were equally important. The independent range was the area where Mescalito delivered its lessons, and since these states of nonordinary reality were supposed to have been elicited only to seek such lessons, the independent range was, logically, an area of special importance. Mescalito was a protector and a teacher, which meant that it was visible; yet its form had nothing to do with the preceding state of ordinary reality. On the other hand, one was supposed to journey, to move in nonordinary reality, in order to seek Mescalito's lessons, an idea that implied the importance of the dependent range.
The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was set by devoting the bulk of speculation to Mescalito's lessons. Don Juan constructed these lessons as being indispensable to a man's life; it was a clear inference that nonordinary reality could have been used in a more pragmatic manner to draw points of reference which had value in ordinary reality. It was the first time don Juan had verbalized such an implication.
The subsequent state of nonordinary reality, the ninth in the teachings, was induced in order to corroborate the rule of the ally contained in Datura inoxia. The specific purpose to be corroborated in that state was concerned with divination, and the previous direction of the intrinsic level ended in the following points. The progression toward a specific total result created the perception of a coherent set of scenes, which were purported to be the voice of the lizard narrating the events to be divined, and the sensation of a voice that actually described such scenes. The progression toward an independent range of appraisal resulted in the perception of an extensive and clear independent range that was free from the extraneous influence of ordinary reality. The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality ended in the utilitarian possibilities of exploiting the independent range. That particular trend was set up by don Juan's speculation on the possibility of drawing points of reference from the independent range and using them in ordinary reality. Thus the divinatory scenes had an obvious pragmatic value, for they were thought to represent a view of acts performed by others, acts to which one would have had no access by ordinary means.
In the following preparatory period, don Juan emphasized more of the component themes of man of knowledge. He seemed to be getting ready to shift to the pursuit of only one of the two allies, the ally humito. Yet he gave positive emphasis to the idea that I had a close affinity with the ally contained in Datura inoxia, because it had allowed me to witness an incidence of flexibility of the rule when I had made an error in performing a manipulatory technique. My assumption that don Juan was ready to abandon teaching the rule of the ally contained in Datura inoxia was fostered by the fact that he did not isolate any areas of my recapitulation of the experience to account for directing the intrinsic level of the subsequent states of non ordinary reality.
Next was a series of three states of nonordinary reality elicited to corroborate the rule of the ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana. They have been treated here as a single unit. And although a considerable time elapsed in between them, during those intervals don Juan made no attempt to speculate on any aspect of their intrinsic order.
The first state of the series was vague; it ended rapidly and its component elements were not precise. It had the appearance of being more like a transitional stage than like a state of nonordinary reality proper.
The second state had more depth. I perceived the transitional stage into nonordinary reality separately for the first time. During the course of that first transitional stage don Juan revealed that the specific purpose of the rule, which I had to corroborate, dealt with another aspect of movement, an aspect requiring his exhaustive supervision; I have rendered it as "moving by adopting an alternate form." As a consequence, two aspects of the extrinsic level of nonordinary reality became evident for the first time: the transitional stages, and the teacher's supervision.
Don Juan used his supervision during that first transitional stage to pinpoint the subsequent direction of the three aspects of the intrinsic level. His efforts were channeled, in the first place, to produce a specific total result by guiding me to experience the precise sensation of having adopted the shape of a crow.
The possibility of adopting an alternate form in order to achieve movement in nonordinary reality entailed in turn an expansion of the dependent range of appraisal, the only area where such movement could take place.
The pragmatic use of nonordinary reality was determined by directing me to focus my attention on certain component elements of the dependent range, in order to use them as points of reference for moving.
During the preparatory period that followed the second state of the series, don Juan refused to speculate on any part of my experience. He treated the second state as if it had been merely another prolonged transitional stage.
The third state of the series, however, was paramount in the teachings. It was a state in which the process of directing the intrinsic level culminated in the following results: The progression toward the specific created the easy perception that I had adopted an alternative form so completely that it even induced precise adjustments in the way I focused my eyes and in my way of seeing. A result of close adjustments was my perception of a new facet of the dependent range of appraisal -- the minutiae that formed the component elements -- and that perception definitely enlarged the range of appraisal. The progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality culminated in my awareness that it was possible to move in the dependent range as pragmatically as one walks in ordinary reality.
In the preparatory period following the last state of nonordinary reality, don Juan introduced a different type of recapitulation. He selected the areas for recollection before he had heard my account; that is, he demanded to hear only the accounts that pertained to the pragmatic use of nonordinary reality and to movement.
From such accounts he set the progression toward the specific by giving positive emphasis to the version of how I had exploited the crow's form. Yet he attached importance only to the idea of moving after having adopted that form. Movement was the area of my recapitulation on which he placed an interplay of positive and negative emphasis. He gave the account positive emphasis when it enhanced the idea of the pragmatic nature of nonordinary reality, or when it dealt with the perception of component elements which had permitted me to obtain a general sense of orientation, while seemingly moving in the dependent range of appraisal. He placed negative emphasis on my incapacity to recollect with precision the nature or the direction of such movement.
In directing the progression toward a wider range of appraisal, don Juan centered his speculation on my account of the peculiar way in which I had perceived the minutiae that formed the component elements that were within the dependent range. His speculation led me to the assumption that, if it were possible to see the world as a crow does, the dependent range of appraisal had to expand in depth and had to extend to cover the whole spectrum of ordinary reality.
To direct the progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality, don Juan explained my peculiar way of perceiving the component elements as being a crow's way of seeing the world. And, logically, that way of seeing presupposed entrance into a range of phenomena beyond normal possibilities in ordinary reality.
The last experience recorded in my field notes was a special state of ordinary reality; don Juan produced it by isolating component elements of ordinary reality through the process of cuing about his own behavior.
The general processes used in directing the intrinsic level of nonordinary reality produced the following results during the course of the second special state of ordinary reality. The progression toward the specific resulted in the easy isolation of many elements of ordinary reality. In the first special state of ordinary reality, the very few component elements that were isolated through the process of cuing about the environment were also transformed into unfamiliar forms deprived of ordinary consensus; however, in the second special state of ordinary reality its component elements were numerous, and, although they did not lose their quality of being familiar elements, they may have lost their capacity for ordinary consensus. Such component elements covered, perhaps, the total environment that was within my awareness.
Don Juan may have produced this second special state in order to strengthen the link between ordinary and nonordinary reality by developing the possibility that most, if not all, of the component elements of ordinary reality could lose their capacity to have ordinary consensus.
From my own point of view, however, that last special state was the final summation of my apprenticeship. The formidable impact of terror on the level of sober consciousness had the peculiar quality of undermining the certainty that the reality of everyday life was implicitly real, the certainty that I, in matters of ordinary reality, could provide myself with consensus indefinitely. Up to that point the course of my apprenticeship seemed to have been a continuous building toward the collapse of that certainty. Don Juan used every facet of his dramatic exertion to accomplish the collapse during that last special state, a fact prompting me to believe that complete collapse of that certainty would have removed the last barrier that kept me from accepting the existence of a separate reality: the reality of special consensus.
Re: The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda
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Appendix B
Outline for Structural Analysis
THE OPERATIVE ORDER
The First Unit
MAN OF KNOWLEDGE
TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A MATTER OF LEARNING
There were no overt requirements
There were some covert requirements
An apprentice was selected by an impersonal power
The one that was chosen (escogido)
The power's decisions were indicated through omens
A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD UNBENDING INTENT
Frugality
Soundness of judgment
Lack of freedom to innovate
A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD CLARITY OF MIND
Freedom to seek a path
Knowledge of the specific purpose
Being fluid
TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A MATTER OF STRENUOUS LABOR
Dramatic exertion
Efficacy
Challenge
A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS A WARRIOR
He had to have respect
He had to have fear
He had to be wide-awake
Awareness of intent
Awareness of the expected flux
He had to be self-confident
TO BECOME A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE WAS AN UNCEASING PROCESS
He had to renew the quest of becoming a man of knowledge
He was impermanent
He had to follow the path with heart
The Second Unit
A MAN OF KNOWLEDGE HAD AN ALLY
AN ALLY WAS FORMLESS
AN ALLY WAS PERCEIVED AS A QUALITY
The ally contained in Datura inoxia
It was woman-like
It was possessive
It was violent
It was unpredictable
It had a deleterious effect on the character of its followers
It was a giver of superfluous power
The ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana
It was male-like
It was dispassionate
It was gentle
It was predictable
It was beneficial to the character of its followers
It was a giver of ecstasy
AN ALLY WAS TAMABLE
An ally was a vehicle
The ally contained in Datura inoxia was unpredictable
The ally contained in Psilocybe mexicana was predictable
An ally was a helper
The Third Unit
AN ALLY HAD A RULE
THE RULE WAS INFLEXIBLE
Exception due to ally's direct intervention
THE RULE WAS NONCUMULATIVE
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED IN ORDINARY REALITY
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED IN NONORDINARY REALITY
The states of nonordinary reality
Nonordinary reality was utilizable
Nonordinary reality had component elements
The component elements had stability
They had singularity
They lacked ordinary consensus
The specific purposes of the rule
First specific purpose, testing (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion
Second specific purpose, divination (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-absorption
Third specific purpose, bodily flight (Datura inoxia)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-absorption
Fourth specific purpose, testing (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation
Fifth specific purpose, movement (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation
Sixth specific purpose, movement by adopting an alternate form (Psilocybe mexicana)
Manipulatory technique, ingestion-inhalation
The Fourth Unit
THE RULE WAS CORROBORATED BY SPECIAL CONSENSUS
THE BENEFACTOR
Preparing special consensus
The other states of nonordinary reality
They were produced by Mescalito
It was contained
The container was the power itself
It did not have a rule
It did not need apprenticeship
It was a protector
It was a teacher
It had a definite form
Nonordinary reality was utilizable
Nonordinary reality had component elements
The special states of ordinary reality
They were produced by the teacher
Cuing about the environment
Cuing about behavior
The recapitulation of the experience
The recollection of events
The description of the component elements
Emphasis
Positive emphasis
Negative emphasis
Lack of emphasis
Guiding special consensus
The extrinsic level of nonordinary reality
The preparatory period
The period prior to nonordinary reality
The period following nonordinary reality
The transitional stages
The teacher's supervision
The intrinsic level of nonordinary reality
Progression toward the specific
Specific single forms
Progressive complexity of perceived detail
Progression from familiar to unfamiliar forms
Specific total results
Progression toward a more extensive range of appraisal
Dependent range
Independent range
Progression toward a more pragmatic use of nonordinary reality
Progression toward the specific in special states of ordinary reality
THE CONCEPTUAL ORDER
THE APPRENTICE
The fallacious adoption of the conceptual order
The bona fide adoption of the conceptual order
Reality of special consensus
The reality of special consensus had pragmatic value