Sunday 27 October 2013

A Path with Heart – Don Juan

Quoted From Carlos Castaneda: “Don Juan’s Teaching”

Don Juan said:
Anything is one of a million paths.
Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path;
if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions.
To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life.
Only then will you know that any path is only a path,
and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do.
But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.

I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately.
Try it as many times as you think necessary.
Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question.
This question is one that only a very old man asks.

My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it.
Now I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere.
They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush.
In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere.
My benefactor’s question has meaning now. Does this path have a heart?
If it does, the path is good; if it does not, it is of no use.

Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart the other does not.
One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it.
The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path.

A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it.
On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.

For me there is only the traveling on paths that have a heart, or on any path that
may have heart. There I travel… and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.

And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly.

Don Juan, a Yaqui Sorcerer

.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Finding My Blue

Dear Sky,

I shall no longer fly back to Oz to see you.
Looks like I need to find my own blue.

No escape, to the Land of Oz,
To be in your loving embrace.
My path is here now, and falling apart with each pace.

I look to escape but there is no way out.
All decisions seem riddled with doubt.
No exit. No leaving. No going back.
No escaping via that old side track.

It seems I shall stay here and accompany the Dweller.
My ever loving Nemesis and tall story teller.
The One who takes me to the Threshold.
And makes me realise how I long to be Whole.

I seek to transform his aggression,
but anger is the only expression,
that I manage to give back as my gift.
I cannot see actions of love, nor care.
The contradictions I see make me confused and scared.
I watch as I see words and actions clash.
Fury he stirs with responses so brash.

No closer to understanding the truth of the matter.
No heart to heart, on his part, only chatter.
If there is no willingness for peaceful agreement, understanding and love.
Then in the company of his own judgements I shall leave him thereof.

So sweet Sky of Oz,
Looks like I will not see you this year,
Time to face the cold with the cloudy days now here.

One thing I will tell you, and you can be sure.
From all I could give, you would be worthy of more.

.