Don Juan….no not that one

June 18, 2013 — age, clarity, don juan, enemies, fear, Mexican, mind, old, power, shaman

Here’s some wise words from Don Juan – no not the much written about Spanish womaniser – I mean the Mexican shaman of the same name; but you knew that didn’t you?

He speaks about the ‘enemies’ we will encounter before we can become ‘a man [woman] of knowledge’:

“The first enemy we will encounter is Fear, [and] if we turn away our life can become harmless and ineffective. Dispelling the fear leads to the second enemy – Clarity of Mind – through which we may become assured and courageous. But if this newly acquired sense turns into a feeling of invincibility, it will block our pathway to further learning and understanding.

Having attained clarity of mind, we will then meet our third enemy –  Power, which can blind us and divert us from pursuing our quest for learning. At this point, the danger is that we may come to the end of our life without ever understanding our selves and the world about us.

By defeating these three enemies, we have no more fears; our clarity of mind and the self-control over power mean that we are almost at the end of our quest, but we must now confront the last enemy –Old Age. This is a battle we can and must fight while knowing we can never win….if we give in to tiredness or yearn to rest we will become feeble and loose our clarity, power and knowledge. But….if he ‘lives his fate….he can be called a man of knowledge, if only for a brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last invincible enemy. That moment of clarity, power and knowledge is enough”.

That brief moment creeps ever closer, so make sure you have a curious day.