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Linguistic Relativity and Implicit Knowledge
Experiences
One thing that I think is poorly discussed or understood is how understanding (or lack of awareness) of
Linguistic Relativity
and
Implicit Knowledge
can impede one's understanding with Castaneda's works. More so with his work being abstract in nature.
Linguistic Relativity
Linguistic relativity is basically a hypothesis that suggests one's own language (e.g. English, Spanish, Japanese, etc.) influences your worldview or cognition, therefore it changes your perceptions are relative to your spoken/native language. As someone who is bilingual, I know first hand how words in one language to describe either something physical or abstract(intangible) don't exist(translate) in the other language.
For instance Japanese have words such as
Yugen
which roughly translates to s
omething too deep and mysterious to describe
or the word
Komorebi
which means
sunlight that filters through the leaves of a tree
. If you look at Chinese language in regards to their numbering system, it's way easier to comprehend. Hence why Chinese-Americans are better at math in grade school than those of non-chinese descent (an actual study was done on that by the way). Russians on the other hand make distinctions for different shades of blue in their language, so they can call those off quicker than non-Russians.
So you see how language can influence your understanding or perception of something, you can even look at it with English in the form of a thought-experiment on time travel. How would someone who speaks English and was alive 150 years ago and glimpsed into the future, properly describe a car, a computer, the internet? They would describe it with the words that they have in their vocabulary. Which wouldn't make sense to someone in this age reading that from our perspective.
So when you're reading into CC, know that what he is describing already jumped three different languages, from Yaqui to Spanish and then English (and yes of course his translated works).
With that said, I think parts of the challenges is words like
intent
the way is used is outside of our English perception. Creating new words can and would make things complicated, but it's important to have this understand of linguistic relativity in the back of your mind when reading CC's works and being self-aware of it.
Explicit Knowledge vs Implicit Knowledge
The other factor affecting understanding is being aware of implicit(tacit) knowledge. Which is basically knowledge that's gained through incidental activities and without awareness that learning is occurring. It's like someone that learns to ride a bike or drive a car, if you ask those people how to do those activities, they would all tell it to you a different way and would even say "I don't know how to explain it, it just comes naturally", like once you know how to drive a car, you don't think about how to drive a car while driving, it just comes instinctually.
The opposite of that would be explicit knowledge which is codified instructions, such as algebraic operations in mathematics that have logic and step-by-step rules that almost anyone can follow.
So in conjunction with linguistic relativity, keep in mind that when reading CC's books we're reading how best CC describes it in his own words (and Don Juan's words as well), which may possibly not make sense to you.
I am getting the hang of it.
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Which brings you back to learning-by-doing.
... hence implicit knowledge which I mentioned as part of this.
You're just scratching the surface in pointing those facts out and it's actually much worse than that.
One can't learn the sorcerers' feats of perception and cognition through understanding, or talking ... at all!
That's why doing the practices and practical real-life experience is emphasized by sorcerers in the books and here in this sub.
Trust me, I know.
... which is why I mentioned implicit knowledge, in relation to codified knowledge which maybe useless without doing first hand experience. Maybe I should've talked about implicit knowledge first.
Respectfully… why bother to engage in lengthy exploration about the mechanics of syntax, when we working hard to GTF out of syntax?
The magic here is beyond syntax.
I get it if you ‘need’ that exercise, but, i am asking for a friend…
Here’s a positive blog post, a rarity in the mainstream internet:
https://stevenjayfogel.com/what-carlos-castaneda-taught-me-about-how-to-live-a-more-effective-life/
https://web.archive.org/web/20220321143523/https://stevenjayfogel.com/what-carlos-castaneda-taught-me-about-how-to-live-a-more-effective-life/
Maybe learn to move your assemblage point, and then come back and tell us if this is relevant.
But keep in mind, our reality is a collection of all the emanations which have awareness glowing in them. To change it, you have to "de-activate" the ones at the current level, and find some new ones to make glow.
We use the puffs for that, but other methods are possible. Such as "stalking", which involves using your behavior to accomplish this. Which includes your "interests" too.
You've added this topic to the emanations you have glowing, so in order to move your assemblage point you have to stop those from glowing. And as you make progress, you may refer back to this understanding you believe is helpful, in which case it will become a pull on your assemblage point, instead of a detached intellectual idea. That idea will "pull" you back to the blue line, if you believe it's going to help you, once the assemblage point starts moving.
It's not something a person who hasn't seen it with their own eyes can understand.
It becomes most important when you are almost perfectly silent, and trying to move that last inch on the J curve. To Silent Knowledge.
Out there, even a "tiny" interaction at other positions, is enough to stop you from "crossing over".
SK is essentially "free flowing" reskimming of emanations. You shut off ALL influences, except the topic of interest.
Even an "interest" during the day, can prevent reaching that final SK state.
Or any obsession, even if mild.
Which is why sorcerers make up lives and personalities for themselves.
Complete fabrications, like Pablito being the son of Soledad, who wanted to kill him.
Was that the two? Could be La Catalina and another.
Either way, it was complete nonsense.
But it added a level of "isolation" to their interactions in the normal position of the assemblage point, so they accumulated less obsessions.
Sorcerers even engage in "not-doings" such as walking backwards, using a rear view mirror on their hat.
Of they have the breakfast they hate, instead of the one they like.
Each of those is actually associated with filaments of light, something like, "super strings", glowing. But they're "superstrings of a single idea".
Each one gives off a tiny, quantum sized particle of feeling.
Perhaps they only glow, because that "feeling" is currently active.
What does this mean?
You can't divide reality at the level of this philosophy. Even the philosophy is merely a part of that "Island of the Tonal", which we seek to escape.
Anything that can reduce the emanations glowing that are difficult to quiet down under normal circumstances, is a great help. And "understanding" is merely a specific batch of emanations glowing. You can't make them stop glowing, by "understanding" them. That's what makes them glow in the first place!
Most people who try J curving and give up, have simply too many emanations glowing at this Blue station on the curve, which can't be stopped. So they can't get their assemblage point to move.
Recap is what they need, but that's a too big of a hurdle for most.
So don't "embrace" outside concepts to understand this.
You may doom yourself. Certainly, no one in those philosophical systems can do any of what we do, and wouldn't believe it if we explained.
Those glowing emanations, which "contain" those systems, are not a path to moving the assemblage point.
On the other hand, Carlos loved the whole intellectual analysis thing, and even encouraged it at times. Made the witches finish college too.
How to tell what's ok?
Don Juan was Yaqui.
So according to the "rule" (the eagle's commands regarding learning sorcery), each lineage of sorcerers is supposed to be interested in what their nagual leader is interested in.
The Nagual leader picks up those interests before he's a sorcerer, but they tend to remain.
And so by being interested in what interests him, the other members make those emanations glow in themselves, but without heavy attachment.
It's sort of like changing your name to Grau, or Matus. Seems silly, but in fact anything that can help move the assemblage point those last few inches, is worth more than one of those gold bricks at Fort Knox to a sorcerer.
So the very act of believing or being interested in what their leader is interested in, helps move their assemblage points the way their leader can.
Or to put it another way, don't load your homemade go-cart up with your favorite books, before the boy scout race. Maybe put those down, finish the race, and then enjoy them after it's over. And maybe don't give out free copies of your favorite book, and insist the other racers stick it in their go carts as you have?
It's a complicated topic... What's helpful, and what's harmful.
Bottom line: Interests you believe will help you, can harm you. Even if they make sense.
"Recommending them" to others, creates an obligation on your part, if the recommendation was harmful instead of helpful.
If you look carefully inside yourself, you'll feel that obligation you just created for yourself.
It may come back to bite you, further on in the J curve.
But lets look at the real problem here.
Why would you want to share that? What motivates you?
Attention seeking?
You have to look at ALL of your behavior, not just the cardboard cutout you put up to present a "face" to others.
Of course, anyone who posts has to ask themselves that question too, including me.
What's the reason to post that?
Best is, if you were having a hard time moving the assemblage point, and then succeeded based on an idea you can pass on to others.
Did you move yours using this idea?
If not, you're on thin ice here.