The Loneliness of Man. The final chapter from the book Journey to Ixtlan, when Don Genaro talks about tackling his ally, captures the essence of what it is like to realize that the world is not quite as it seems, and that we are essentially all alone.
Poignant. From one of my bookmarked/subscribed YouTube channels, All Things Perceptual.
Just speculating, but since it looks like the last post you made on the subreddit was from over two years ago, before u/danl999 started posting, you must have seen Reddit mentioned in the news about the GameStop stocks thing, remember that you still had a Reddit account, and decided to make a new vid?
You also duplicated the post on r/videos, a sub with over 24 million people. 😬.
Edit: No worries. Looks like the feed jumps from 3 hours ago to 1 hour ago and your vid made 2 hours ago isn't represented in there. Maybe it was too long for them?
Confirmed. A search for "loneliness" on r/videos turns up the most recent vid as being posted 7 days ago. Your vid is good, but we don't need that much attention.
[-]
u/danl999
5 points2021-02-08 18:01
24 million would destroy this place.
We'd have to go into hiding, like the new seers did.
In sorcery, history (intent) repeats itself.
But it's too soon for the spanish invaders!
[-]
u/canedatum
3 points2021-02-08 18:44
Agreed. Radio silence is necessary unfortunately.
[-]
u/danl999
4 points2021-02-08 19:12
We're up to 1 nasty attack a week now.
Used to be 3 weeks.
That sort of thing killed Carlos.
I'm thinking I'll have to resume the ban on private chat, except for people who've been around to prove they aren't nuts or on a giant pretending trip.
Or find a replacement for myself, who the newbies will focus on as the guy to get attention from.
Any volunteers for "leader"???
Here's a new rule of thumb:
Someone wants to be leader: They have absolutely no sorcery knowledge.
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
2 points2021-02-08 19:55
Any volunteers for "leader"???
Not me!!! 🤮 Though I do enjoy the busy-work, in moderation. Refining and improving.
And maybe a little cajoling and big-picture strategizing.
Besides, that's why Reddit is setup to work best with multiple moderators to shoulder the burden. Democracy vs. Monarchy.
Backing everything up to Archive.org is my latest project.
[-]
u/danl999
3 points2021-02-08 20:20
I know why you like that...
Intent rewards it.
You become "teacher's pet" with intent being the teacher.
It's a lot like being the helpful student in the 5th grade who learns to run the mimeograph machine.
Mostly so he can inhale the vapors and get high.
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
2 points2021-02-08 18:50
If that happened we could just make the subreddit private for a while, and then make it public again after things settled down. Anyone that was already joined wouldn't be at all affected.
I have the option to allow posts on the subreddit to show up in the main feed r/all seen by everybody on Reddit disabled. It's designed to specifically help smaller subreddits from being overwhelmed with an influx of people.
But I have the option to allow Reddit's algorithm to recommend the subreddit to people with similar interests turned on. Discovery is also turned on.
[-]
u/danl999
3 points2021-02-08 19:16
I hear reddit actually advertised on the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, there are even more deeply hidden things going on, with the digital coin network.
Casinos, where people can chat while gambling or earning Ethereum or bitcoin.
The Taiwanese bosses' son is experimenting in there, with that method of earning digital coins.
The experiences he has chatting with people, at his "roulette wheel" ($8000 each), are remarkably similar to the bad players who visit here.
[-]
u/AllThingsFTW
1 points2021-02-09 00:06
Thank you for commenting. I have been preparing to make a new video since I have finished dealing with the petty tyrant who has been occupying all of my attention the past 2 years. Posts in r/videos usually get buried but I thought I would give it a shot.
[-]
u/TechnoMagical_Intent
2 points2021-02-09 00:11
dealing with the petty tyrant who has been occupying all of my attention
I hear ya! And things have really changed in this subreddit since you last visited.
[-]
u/AllThingsFTW
2 points2021-02-09 00:19
I am seeing that as I look around. I like the new mood here
[-]
u/danl999
7 points2021-02-08 16:45
I always worry a bit when people like the early books.
Just keep in mind, for your own learning safety, that's a training in how the old seers viewed the world.
Not how we should behave or understand things.
It came about because of the period. The 60s.
Before power plants were taboo, when Einstein died with traces of LSD in his brain (yea, they kept his darned brain in a jar), and somewhere just before Timothy Leary told the hippies, "Never trust anyone over 30".
Back then, anthropologists would do anything to be the first to study the use of power plants among Indians.
Approaching don Juan like that, it was only natural don Juan used that to distract him, while they pushed him into heightened awareness when he wasn't looking, and did the real teaching.
You cannot teach individuals! But, you can keep them preoccupied with something they want, while doing the teaching in secret. Especially if you have an entire lineage behind you, including a double being.
In my opinion (blasphemy?) the secret training was done at the same time.
Meaning, he didn't lose weeks of time when they did that.
He didn't lose any time. In fact, he gained time. He was in the double.
When the double fully comes out, it doesn't necessarily even know it's the double. Especially if it's interacting with people it knows.
Perhaps that part was just too nutty for Carlos to write about.
Nyei hinted at it in a recent interview.
But you even start to encounter it yourself as you learn.
One aspect of the first books puzzles me a bit.
Those first books are where don Juan tried to teach Carlos the world view of a "Man of Knowledge".
Or, a sorcerer. I can't recall exactly what was said.
But the point was, with 2 views of the world you can sneak through the middle and find the seers view.
Which by the way, you can also do to some extent by living somewhere else and getting to learn that culture in great detail. The more different, the better.
At one point in perhaps later books, don Juan explains how the Men of Knowledge were merely "sorcery guild" members (perhaps in the Olmec empire) who handled ceremonial aspects of that culture.
Baking, mask making, medicine.
Baking, think Easter cookies to understand how that could be sorcery. Or "moon cakes" in Taiwan. Both are likely religious symbols thousands of years old if you study history.
Or at least, Easter Cookies come from Ishtar cakes in the bible.
But, the "Men of Knowledge" could not see. They were ritual controllers.
And yet, in the early books, especially when you read what don Juan said later, he was teaching the old seers ways in order to connect Carlos to the "Intent of the Sorcerer's of Ancient Mexico".
And those sorcerers could in fact see!
So were they men of knowledge who never actually learned to see, and were basically inventory experts who REALLY understood their inventory.
Meaning, they could do cool stuff with it.
Or were they the same as the "old seers".
Or were both groups present?
Maybe the "old seers" are from 10,000 years ago, and Men of Knowledge are from when the Olmecs formed the first government. That would be a 9000 year distance between them.
And a simpler question, how come part of the Castaneda community obsesses over the idea of becoming a "Man of Knowledge"?
When, that's not a very desirable thing to be.
Do people stop reading with this very book you've shown?
[-]
u/AllThingsFTW
2 points2021-02-09 00:01
I think a lot of people do stop reading in the early books, or I have heard people say that the later books are "way too out there". I like them all and feel like there is something to be gained from Don Juan's words, if nothing else, inspiration. I like Journey to Ixtlan because Don Juan teaches Carlos about erasing personal history, losing self importance, disrupting routines. These practices can make a person less heavy and enjoy the experience of living, as opposed to "living through the ego".
13 Comments
Poignant. From one of my bookmarked/subscribed YouTube channels, All Things Perceptual.
Just speculating, but since it looks like the last post you made on the subreddit was from over two years ago, before u/danl999 started posting, you must have seen Reddit mentioned in the news about the GameStop stocks thing, remember that you still had a Reddit account, and decided to make a new vid?
You also duplicated the post on r/videos, a sub with over 24 million people. 😬.
Edit: No worries. Looks like the feed jumps from 3 hours ago to 1 hour ago and your vid made 2 hours ago isn't represented in there. Maybe it was too long for them?
Confirmed. A search for "loneliness" on r/videos turns up the most recent vid as being posted 7 days ago. Your vid is good, but we don't need that much attention.
24 million would destroy this place.
We'd have to go into hiding, like the new seers did.
In sorcery, history (intent) repeats itself.
But it's too soon for the spanish invaders!
Agreed. Radio silence is necessary unfortunately.
We're up to 1 nasty attack a week now.
Used to be 3 weeks.
That sort of thing killed Carlos.
I'm thinking I'll have to resume the ban on private chat, except for people who've been around to prove they aren't nuts or on a giant pretending trip.
Or find a replacement for myself, who the newbies will focus on as the guy to get attention from.
Any volunteers for "leader"???
Here's a new rule of thumb:
Someone wants to be leader: They have absolutely no sorcery knowledge.
Not me!!! 🤮 Though I do enjoy the busy-work, in moderation. Refining and improving.
And maybe a little cajoling and big-picture strategizing.
Besides, that's why Reddit is setup to work best with multiple moderators to shoulder the burden. Democracy vs. Monarchy.
Backing everything up to Archive.org is my latest project.
I know why you like that...
Intent rewards it.
You become "teacher's pet" with intent being the teacher.
It's a lot like being the helpful student in the 5th grade who learns to run the mimeograph machine.
Mostly so he can inhale the vapors and get high.
If that happened we could just make the subreddit private for a while, and then make it public again after things settled down. Anyone that was already joined wouldn't be at all affected.
I have the option to allow posts on the subreddit to show up in the main feed r/all seen by everybody on Reddit disabled. It's designed to specifically help smaller subreddits from being overwhelmed with an influx of people.
But I have the option to allow Reddit's algorithm to recommend the subreddit to people with similar interests turned on. Discovery is also turned on.
I hear reddit actually advertised on the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, there are even more deeply hidden things going on, with the digital coin network.
Casinos, where people can chat while gambling or earning Ethereum or bitcoin.
The Taiwanese bosses' son is experimenting in there, with that method of earning digital coins.
The experiences he has chatting with people, at his "roulette wheel" ($8000 each), are remarkably similar to the bad players who visit here.
Thank you for commenting. I have been preparing to make a new video since I have finished dealing with the petty tyrant who has been occupying all of my attention the past 2 years. Posts in r/videos usually get buried but I thought I would give it a shot.
I hear ya! And things have really changed in this subreddit since you last visited.
I am seeing that as I look around. I like the new mood here
I always worry a bit when people like the early books.
Just keep in mind, for your own learning safety, that's a training in how the old seers viewed the world.
Not how we should behave or understand things.
It came about because of the period. The 60s.
Before power plants were taboo, when Einstein died with traces of LSD in his brain (yea, they kept his darned brain in a jar), and somewhere just before Timothy Leary told the hippies, "Never trust anyone over 30".
Back then, anthropologists would do anything to be the first to study the use of power plants among Indians.
Approaching don Juan like that, it was only natural don Juan used that to distract him, while they pushed him into heightened awareness when he wasn't looking, and did the real teaching.
You cannot teach individuals! But, you can keep them preoccupied with something they want, while doing the teaching in secret. Especially if you have an entire lineage behind you, including a double being.
In my opinion (blasphemy?) the secret training was done at the same time.
Meaning, he didn't lose weeks of time when they did that.
He didn't lose any time. In fact, he gained time. He was in the double.
When the double fully comes out, it doesn't necessarily even know it's the double. Especially if it's interacting with people it knows.
Perhaps that part was just too nutty for Carlos to write about.
Nyei hinted at it in a recent interview.
But you even start to encounter it yourself as you learn.
One aspect of the first books puzzles me a bit.
Those first books are where don Juan tried to teach Carlos the world view of a "Man of Knowledge".
Or, a sorcerer. I can't recall exactly what was said.
But the point was, with 2 views of the world you can sneak through the middle and find the seers view.
Which by the way, you can also do to some extent by living somewhere else and getting to learn that culture in great detail. The more different, the better.
At one point in perhaps later books, don Juan explains how the Men of Knowledge were merely "sorcery guild" members (perhaps in the Olmec empire) who handled ceremonial aspects of that culture.
Baking, mask making, medicine.
Baking, think Easter cookies to understand how that could be sorcery. Or "moon cakes" in Taiwan. Both are likely religious symbols thousands of years old if you study history.
Or at least, Easter Cookies come from Ishtar cakes in the bible.
But, the "Men of Knowledge" could not see. They were ritual controllers.
And yet, in the early books, especially when you read what don Juan said later, he was teaching the old seers ways in order to connect Carlos to the "Intent of the Sorcerer's of Ancient Mexico".
And those sorcerers could in fact see!
So were they men of knowledge who never actually learned to see, and were basically inventory experts who REALLY understood their inventory.
Meaning, they could do cool stuff with it.
Or were they the same as the "old seers".
Or were both groups present?
Maybe the "old seers" are from 10,000 years ago, and Men of Knowledge are from when the Olmecs formed the first government. That would be a 9000 year distance between them.
And a simpler question, how come part of the Castaneda community obsesses over the idea of becoming a "Man of Knowledge"?
When, that's not a very desirable thing to be.
Do people stop reading with this very book you've shown?
I think a lot of people do stop reading in the early books, or I have heard people say that the later books are "way too out there". I like them all and feel like there is something to be gained from Don Juan's words, if nothing else, inspiration. I like Journey to Ixtlan because Don Juan teaches Carlos about erasing personal history, losing self importance, disrupting routines. These practices can make a person less heavy and enjoy the experience of living, as opposed to "living through the ego".