Raving Fans

1. Reality is merely a description of the world we have been conditioned to accept.

For a sorcerer, reality, or the world we all know, is only a description.

Perception as conditioning. Don Juan explains that from the moment of birth, everyone we encounter acts as a teacher who incessantly describes the world to us. We learn to interpret sensory data in a highly specific, shared manner until we become full-fledged members of this collective description. This continuous flow of perceptual interpretations is so seamless that we mistake it for absolute, objective reality.

Stopping the world. To break this dogmatic certainty, an apprentice must learn to "stop the world." This is not a metaphorical concept but a literal state of awareness where the normal flow of interpretation is interrupted by introducing an alien description—in this case, the sorcerer's description.

• The world we know is just one of many possible descriptions.
• "Looking" is passive, while "seeing" is responding to a world outside our learned description.
• Stopping the world is the indispensable first step to truly seeing.

The role of plants. While Castaneda initially believed psychotropic plants were the only avenue to this non-ordinary reality, don Juan reveals they were merely aids. They served to cement parts of the description that Castaneda's stubborn, rational mind was otherwise too insensitive to perceive. True sorcery lies in shifting one's perception without relying on external substances.

2. Erasing personal history frees you from the expectations and thoughts of others.

It is best to erase all personal history, because that would make us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people.

The trap of history. When people know your personal history, they pin you down with their thoughts and expectations. Your parents, friends, and relatives have you completely figured out, and you compulsively feed their ideas of you by explaining your every move. This constant need to explain and validate yourself drains your personal power and limits your freedom.

Creating a fog. To free yourself from these mental shackles, you must systematically erase your personal history. By creating a fog around your life, you become mysterious, unpredictable, and ultimately free from the binding certainties of others.

• Begin by not revealing what you really do to anyone.
• Leave those who know you well to break the tie of their thoughts.
• Avoid explaining your actions, as explanations destroy the freshness of what you do.

The ultimate freedom. Don Juan emphasizes that having no personal history means nothing you say can be taken as a lie, because no one has a baseline to judge you. It keeps you perennially alert and on your toes, living in an exciting state where even you do not know which bush the rabbit will pop out from.

3. Shedding self-importance allows you to perceive the world as an equal participant.

As long as you feel that you are the most important thing in the world you cannot really appreciate the world around you.

The blinders of ego. Self-importance is a debilitating trait that makes you feel justified in being constantly annoyed, offended, or impatient with your surroundings. It acts like blinders on a horse, forcing you to focus only on yourself while remaining blind to the magnificent, mysterious world around you. To become a hunter of power, this inflated sense of ego must be dropped.

Equality with nature. Don Juan demonstrates the dissolution of self-importance by treating plants and animals as absolute equals. A hunter must apologize to a plant before taking it, acknowledging that his own body will eventually serve as food for the earth.

• Talk to plants in a loud, clear voice to lose your sense of self-importance.
• Recognize that humans are no better or more important than anything else in nature.
• Treat the world with a feeling of genuine liking and respect.

Shedding the anger. When you lose your self-importance, you no longer feel the need to defend your ego or get angry when things do not go your way. You become fluid and capable of appreciating the mysteries of the universe without the constant interference of your self-centered pride.

4. Death is the only wise adviser that can put your life's pettiness into perspective.

Death is the only wise advisor that we have.

The constant companion. Death is not a distant, abstract event but our eternal companion, always sitting to our left at an arm's length. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, defeated, or consumed by petty worries, you must turn to your left and ask advice from your death. Death will immediately remind you that its touch is the only thing that truly matters, and that it has not touched you yet.

Dropping the pettiness. Living with the acute awareness of your impending death instantly dissolves the immense amount of pettiness that characterizes ordinary life. It forces you to assess your actions and make every single moment count, rather than wasting your limited time on earth in stupid moods or useless complaints.

• Use the chill of death's presence to wake yourself up from sluggishness.
• Realize that you do not have "plenty of time" to hesitate or delay your change.
• Let the awareness of death guide you to act with power and precision.

The hunter's advantage. A hunter who maintains an intimate relationship with death proceeds judiciously and with a strange, consuming happiness. Because he knows each act could be his last battle on earth, he naturally gives it his best, which dulls the edge of his fright and fills his life with an incomparable flair.

5. Assuming full responsibility for your decisions eliminates doubt and remorse.

To assume the responsibility of one's decisions means that one is ready to die for them.

No room for regret. In a world where death is the hunter, there is absolutely no time for doubts, regrets, or remorse. An ordinary man behaves as if he is immortal, believing he can cancel, regret, or doubt his decisions. A warrior, however, knows that any decision he makes could result in his immediate death, leaving no room for such weaknesses.

The power of decision. Assuming responsibility means that you know exactly why you are acting, and you proceed with your actions without looking back. It is the difference between being a weak victim of circumstances and being a powerful agent of your own destiny.

• Make decisions in the face of your inevitable death to give them power.
• Eliminate the habit of complaining about the consequences of your choices.
• Understand that in the face of death, there are no small or big decisions—only decisions.

Shining your spirit. Don Juan contrasts Castaneda's father's weak, unfulfilled resolutions with the impeccable actions of a warrior. To assume responsibility is to shine your spirit, ensuring that you either carry out your decisions to the very end or reject them outright from the start.

6. Becoming inaccessible means touching the world sparingly and with tenderness.

To be inaccessible means that you touch the world around you sparingly.

The art of inaccessibility. Being inaccessible, or unavailable, does not mean hiding in a secretive or paranoid manner. Instead, it means retrieving yourself from the middle of a heavily trafficked way where everyone can watch and influence your comings and goings. It is the art of interacting with the world without squeezing it out of shape or exhausting yourself.

Sparing and tender use. An ordinary person is hungry and desperate, constantly consuming and exhausting the people, plants, and animals around him. A hunter, conversely, knows he will lure game into his traps over and over, so he does not worry or cling out of desperation.

• Eat one quail instead of five to avoid greed and waste.
• Deal intimately with your world while remaining completely detached from it.
• Avoid using and squeezing the people you love until they shrivel to nothing.

Avoiding worry. Worrying makes you unwittingly accessible to everyone and everything, causing you to cling to anything out of desperation. By becoming inaccessible, you tap the world lightly, stay only as long as necessary, and then swiftly move away, leaving hardly a mark.

7. Disrupting your life's routines prevents you from becoming predictable prey.

A hunter that is worth his salt does not catch game because he sets his traps, or because he knows the routines of his prey, but because he himself has no routines.

The trap of predictability. Animals are fixed by heavy routines and predictable quirks, which is precisely what allows a skilled hunter to track and trap them. Unfortunately, most human beings behave exactly like their prey, living highly structured, predictable lives governed by rigid habits. This predictability makes humans easy prey for other forces or people.

Fluid and unpredictable. To stop being prey, a hunter must systematically disrupt the routines of his own life. He must become free, fluid, and completely unpredictable, ensuring that his actions cannot be foreseen by anyone or anything.

• Change simple habits, such as the exact times you eat or sleep.
• Avoid turning new activities, like hunting or learning, into rigid routines.
• Emulate the "magical deer" that has no routines and is impossible to track.

The magical deer. Don Juan shares a story of encountering a magical deer that was completely aware of the routines of ordinary men. By doing something entirely unpredictable—standing on his head and weeping—don Juan bypassed the deer's expectations, allowing him to communicate with this magical being.

8. Living in the mood of a warrior requires balancing absolute control with total abandon.

A warrior makes his own mood.

Control and abandon. The mood of a warrior is a revolutionary state of mind that requires you to calculate everything with absolute precision (control) and then let go completely to act without hesitation (abandon). It is a state of being that cuts through all the useless mental garbage, leaving you purified and perfectly tuned to survive in the best possible fashion.

Invulnerability to offense. An ordinary man is constantly offended and upset by the actions of his fellow men, feeling like a helpless leaf at the mercy of the wind. A warrior, however, can be physically injured but never offended, because he regards his fellow men, wild beasts, and plants as absolute equals.

• Use fear or any intense situation to spur yourself into the warrior's mood.
• Act with the full knowledge that you are fighting your last battle on earth.
• Eliminate the habit of whining, complaining, and feeling self-pity.

The power of the mood. When you act within the mood of a warrior, there is no power that can push you against your better judgment. You become invulnerable to the maliciousness of others, focusing entirely on the strategic actions required to survive and thrive in an awesome, mysterious world.

9. Practicing "not-doing" collapses your standard perception to "stop the world."

The first deliberate step to storing personal power was to allow the body to 'not-do.'

The power of not-doing. "Doing" is the continuous, learned process that makes the world familiar and predictable—it is what makes a rock a rock and a bush a bush. "Not-doing," on the other hand, is the deliberate act of focusing on the unfamiliar aspects of reality, such as the shadows of leaves or the spaces between objects. It is the key to storing personal power and ultimately "stopping the world."

Shattering the familiar. By practicing not-doing, you allow your body to perceive the world outside of the description you have been conditioned to accept. This practice breaks your dogmatic certainty and opens the door to "seeing" the true, luminous nature of the universe.

• Focus on the shadows of leaves rather than the leaves themselves.
• Look at the shadow of a boulder as a door into not-doing.
• Cross your eyes to superimpose shadows, revealing their depth and transparency.

The lines of the world. When you master not-doing, you begin to feel and see the "lines of the world"—the infinite, fluorescent white lines that join us to everything else. This state of perception collapses your standard reality, allowing you to experience the universe as a fluid, interconnected web of energy.

10. The journey to Ixtlan is a metaphor for the sorcerer's irreversible path of knowledge.

Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge, because the art of a warrior is to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.

The irreversible path. The journey to Ixtlan is a powerful metaphor for the sorcerer's irreversible path of knowledge. Once a warrior learns to "see" and "stop the world," his old familiar reality is lost forever, and he can never return to his ordinary life. He becomes a traveler who is perpetually on his way home, knowing he will never reach it.

Phantom travelers. On this endless journey, everyone the sorcerer encounters is merely an ephemeral, phantom traveler. Their feelings, worries, and eagerness belong to a world he has left behind, making them seem unreal and fleeting compared to the vastness of the sorcerer's universe.

• Accept that the things, people, and places you loved will be left behind.
• Understand that your feelings do not die, but your relationship to the world changes completely.
• Use the impeccable spirit of a warrior to survive the supreme loneliness of the path.

The final dance. When a warrior's time on earth is up, he returns to his "place of predilection" to perform his last dance of power. Death sits and watches this magnificent final stand, a gesture of respect for an impeccable spirit who has successfully balanced the terror and the wonder of existence.