Which is the most influential book to you and why (by Carlos)

We've already done the work on that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/castaneda/wiki/reputation

I was there.

Carlos "sort of" assigned me to this task on reddit.

And forced Cholita into it. She isn't happy about that.

Went somewhere else to escape.

I don't think of it in terms of individual books, but rather the whole of it as a cohesive unit; along with all the extra workshop notes, interviews, and articles; which I am currently working at making more accessible (searchable).

That daunting task has been a long time coming.

But if pressed I'd have to say that 'A Separate Reality' is my jam.

I’m not too sure about the ‘me’ you referring to

Yes. "ME" is a position between the toes. The beam of awareness points there, fueling obsessive fantasizing about your relation to the world. Here's a picture. Lower left:

If you move the assemblage point, that's not precisely the same as moving the beam of awareness. We have a certain "range" at any position. If you can eliminate thoughts containing yourself as the object of the discussion, that's nearly as good as eliminating the internal dialogue.

It is in fact a VERY important topic, but it didn't get into the books. At workshops and in private classes, it came up often.

Of course, sorcery is not based on theories. You can visually see the "Me spot". Mashing energy is the best technique for that.

AUSTRALIA??!!!!

Learn to "See Energy", then scan the ground with that whitish light. It's what one of the Genaros used to find that old Toltec artifact, which caused La Gorda to be chased by phantoms.

I have a theory you could see gold nuggets under the ground using that.

Just don't tell anyone.

I'm already worried what's happened to Cholita, because I blabbed about her powers.

Wow.

Some nights I get an "off topic" experience, and just ignore it.

But the next day, someone mentions it. As if I got a "heads up" from the phantom subreddit.

The story telling topic from the books is much more important than any of us realize.

I saw it last night. A tunnel formed in the north east corner of my room, stretching out millions of miles into space.

I was thinking, "How did that form??? Just because I was thinking of an alternative to something? Or was it perceiving the abstract? Is there any use to this?"

I concluded, women could really use that well.

Here's the quote, but you'll get to see this yourself at some point.

And it makes you think, "What the hell????? Do I live in a virtual reality?"

***

"I'm going to tell you something fundamental about sorcerers and their acts of sorcery," he went on. "Something about the somersault of their thought into the inconceivable."

He said that some sorcerers were storytellers. Storytelling for them was not only the advance runner that probed their perceptual limits, but also their path to perfection; to power; to the spirit.

He was quiet for a moment, obviously searching for an appropriate example. Then he reminded me that the Yaqui Indians had a collection of historical events they called 'the memorable dates'.

I knew that the memorable dates were oral accounts of their history as a nation when they waged war against the invaders of their homeland: the Spaniards first; the Mexicans later. Don Juan, a Yaqui himself, stated emphatically that the memorable dates were accounts of their defeats and disintegration.

He asked me, "So, what would you say- since you are a learned man- about a sorcerer storyteller's taking an account from the memorable dates- let's say, for example, the story of Calixto Muni- and changing the ending so that instead of describing how Calixto Muni was drawn and quartered by the Spanish executioners, which is what happened; he tells a story of Calixto Muni the victorious rebel who succeeded in liberating his people?"

I knew the story of Calixto Muni. He was a Yaqui Indian who, according to the memorable dates, served for many years on a buccaneer ship in the Caribbean in order to learn war strategy. Then he returned to his native Sonora, managed to start an uprising against the Spaniards, and declared a war of independence; only to be betrayed, captured, and executed.

Don Juan coaxed me to comment. I told him I would have to assume that changing the factual account in the manner he was describing would be a psychological device; a sort of wishful thinking on the sorcerer storyteller's part. Or perhaps it would be a personal, idiosyncratic [* idiosyncratic- peculiar to the individual] way of alleviating frustration. I added that I would even call such a sorcerer storyteller a patriot because he was unable to accept bitter defeat.

Don Juan laughed until he was choking.

"But it's not a matter of one sorcerer storyteller," he argued. "They all do that."

"Then it's a socially sanctioned device to express the wishful thinking of a whole society," I retorted. "A socially accepted way of releasing psychological stress collectively."

"Your argument is glib and convincing and reasonable," he commented. "But because your spirit is dead, you can't see the flaw in your argument."

He eyed me as if coaxing me to understand what he was saying. I had no comment, and anything I might have said would have made me sound peevish.

"The sorcerer storyteller who changes the ending of the 'factual' account," he said, "does it at the direction and under the auspices [* auspices- kindly endorsement and guidance] of the spirit. Because he can manipulate his elusive connection with intent, he can actually change things. The sorcerer storyteller signals that he has intended it by taking off his hat, putting it on the ground, and turning it a full three hundred and sixty degrees counterclockwise. Under the auspices of the spirit, that simple act plunges him into the spirit itself. He has let his thought somersault into the inconceivable."

Don Juan lifted his arm above his head and pointed for an instant to the sky above the horizon.

"Because his pure understanding is an advance runner probing that immensity out there," don Juan went on, "the sorcerer storyteller knows without a shadow of doubt that somewhere, somehow, in that infinity, at this very moment the spirit has descended. Calixto Muni is victorious. He has delivered his people. His goal has transcended his person."