Energy,
Conservation of
We must…act like a wise
minister of finance and carefully economize our energies, yet without
sterilizing either our activity or our intelligence. On the contrary, we must
store, and as far as possible augment these forces to build up these reserves.
[…]
…strong as he is or appears
to be in exterior life, from the esoteric or objective point of view man 1,2 or 3 is weak. Everything within him is limited, beginning
with his nervous resistance…he must
as much as possible work silently so as not to draw increased attention and
pressure upon himself. Otherwise,
he will be lost as the reaction of the “World” against him will be extreme.
What he must do is to consciously master the “A”
influences of his interior world by dividing them in such a way as to
accumulate force and put it in reserve. When the prince of this world has nothing in him, then he will be able to wave
him good-bye.
[…]
The man who decides today
to enter the track in search of the Way, has, in principle
become another man; but in fact he remains as he was yesterday: weak, drowsy
and pitiful. In this state, how can he overcome the resistance of the General Law and so finally reach the Way? It is impossible.
That is why we insist on the necessity of silent progress in esoteric work
so as not to provoke greater pressure from the General Law. This would quickly
drain the new reserves of strength which had been accumulated at the price
of sustained efforts in the fight against the same law. One must therefore
gain time and as much as possible delay the reaction of the General Law.
Boris Mouravieff,
Gnosis, Vol.I, 1961/1989 Praxis Press.
The energy
body is a conglomerate of energy fields, the mirror image of the
conglomerate of energy fields that makes up the physical body when it is seen as energy that flows
in the universe. It is smaller, more compact, and of heavier appearance than
the luminous sphere of the physical body. The body and the energy body are two
conglomerates of energy fields compressed together by some strange
agglutinizing force. The force that binds that group of energy fields together
is according to the sorcerers of ancient
The physical body
and the energy body
are the only counterbalanced energy configurations in our realm as human beings.
By means of discipline it is possible for
anyone to bring the energy
body closer to the physical body. Normally, the distance between
the two is enormous. Once the energy
body is within a certain range, which varies for each of us
individually, anyone, through discipline, can forge it into the exact replica
of their physical body; that is to say, a three-dimensional, solid being. Hence
the sorcerers' idea of the other
or the double.
By the same token, through the same processes of discipline, anyone can forge
their three-dimensional, solid physical body to be a perfect replica of their energy body; that is
to say, an ethereal change of energy invisible to the human eye, as all energy
is.
Carlos
Castaneda, The Active Side of Infinity 1999
In this affair the only possible course that a warrior has is to act
consistently and without reservations. Everything we do, everything we are,
rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word uttered to us
might be sufficient to change the course of our lives. But if we don't have
enough personal power, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to
us and that revelation won't make a damned bit of difference.
[…]
We are luminous beings. And for a luminous being only personal power
matters. But if you ask me what
personal power is, I have to tell you that my explanation will not explain it.
Carlos
Castaneda, Tales of Power,1974
To perceive
energy as it flows means to see . It means that the energy body sees energy
directly as a light or as a vibrating current of sorts or as a disturbance. Or
It feels it directly as a jolt or as a sensation that can even be pain.
Since energy is its sphere, it is no problem for the energy body to use currents
of energy that exist in the universe to propel itself. All it has to do is
isolate them, and off it goes with them.
[…]
We all have a determined quantity of
basic energy. That quantity is all the energy we have, and we use all of it for
perceiving and dealing with our engulfing world. There is no more energy for us
anywhere and, since our available energy is already engaged, there is not a
single bit left in us for any extraordinary perception, such as dreaming .
That leaves us to scrounge energy for
ourselves, wherever we can find it.
Sorcerers have a scrounging method. They
intelligently redeploy their energy by cutting down anything they consider
superfluous in their lives. They call this method the sorcerers' way. In
essence, the sorcerers' way is a chain of behavioral choices for dealing with
the world, choices much more intelligent than those our progenitors taught us.
These sorcerers' choices are designed to revamp our lives by altering our basic
reactions about being alive.
Those basic reactions are the two ways of
facing our being alive. One is to surrender to it, either by acquiescing to its
demands or by fighting those demands. The other is by molding our particular
life situation to fit our own configurations.
One's particular life situation can be
molded to fit one's specifications. Dreamers do that. A wild statement? Not
really, if you consider how little we know about ourselves.
My interest, as a teacher, is to get you
thoroughly involved with the themes of life and being alive; that is to say,
with the difference between life, as a consequence of biological forces, and
the act of being alive, as a matter of cognition.
When sorcerers talk about molding one's
life situation they mean molding the awareness
of being alive. Through molding this awareness, we can get enough energy to
reach and sustain the energy body, and with it we can certainly mold the total
direction and consequences of our lives.
Carlos Castaneda, The
Art of Dreaming 1993
Human beings are
also composed of an incalculable number of the same threadlike energy fields.
These Indescribable Force 's
emanations form an encased agglomeration that manifests itself as a ball of
light the size of the person's body with the arms extended laterally, like a
giant luminous egg.
Carlos Castaneda, The Power of Silence ,1987
Human beings are
born with a finite amount of energy, an energy that is systematically deployed,
beginning at the moment of birth, in order that it may be used most advantageously
by the modality of the time.
The modality of the
time is the precise bundle of energy fields being perceived. I believe man's
perception has changed through the ages. The actual time decides the mode; the
time decides which precise bundle of energy fields, out of an incalculable
number, are to be used. And handling the modality of the time--those few,
selected energy fields--takes all our available energy, leaving us nothing that
would help us use any of the other energy fields.
The average man, if
he uses only the energy he has, can't perceive the worlds sorcerers do. To
perceive them, sorcerers need to use a cluster of energy fields not ordinarily
used. Naturally, if the average man is to perceive those worlds and understand
sorcerers' perception he must use the same cluster they have used. And this is
just not possible, because all his energy is already deployed.
Think of it this
way. It isn't that as time goes by you're learning sorcery; rather, what you're
learning is to save energy. And this energy will enable you to handle some of
the energy fields which are inaccessible to you now. And that is sorcery: the
ability to use energy fields that are not employed in perceiving the ordinary
world we know. Sorcery is a state of awareness. Sorcery is the ability to
perceive something which ordinary perception cannot.
Everything a teacher
puts his apprentice through, each of the things he shows him is only a device
to convince him that there's more to us than meets the eye.
We don't need anyone
to teach us sorcery, because there is really nothing to learn. What we need
is a teacher to convince us that there is incalculable power at our fingertips.
What a strange paradox! Every warrior on the path of knowledge
thinks, at one time or another, that he's learning sorcery, but all he's doing
is allowing himself to be convinced of the power hidden in his being, and
that he can reach it.
I'm trying to convince
you that you can reach that power. I went through the same thing. And I was
as hard to convince as you are. Once we have reached it, it will, by itself,
make use of energy fields which are available to us but inaccessible. And
that, as I have said, is sorcery. We begin then to see
--that is, to perceive--something else; not as imagination, but as real and
concrete. And then we begin to know without having to use words. And what
any of us does with that increased perception, with that silent knowledge,
depends on our own temperament.
Carlos
Castaneda, The Power of Silence, 1987
The energy of our
world wavers. It scintillates. Not only living beings but everything in our
world glimmers with an inner light of its own. The energy of our world consists
of layers of shimmering hues. The top layer is whitish; another, immediately
adjacent to it, is chartreuse; and another one, more distant yet, is amber. You
will see glimmers of them whenever items that you encounter in your dreamlike
states change shapes. However, a whitish glow is always the initial impact of
seeing anything that generates energy.
There is an endless
number of different hues, but for the purposes of a beginning order, you should
be concerned with those three. Later on, you can get as sophisticated as you
want and isolate dozens of hues, if you are able to do it.
The whitish layer is
the hue of the present position of mankind's assemblage point. Let's say that
it is a modern hue. Sorcerers believe that everything man does nowadays is tinted
with that whitish glow. At another time, more distant yet, it made it amber.
The color of sorcerers' energy is amber, which means that they are
energetically associated with the men who existed in a distant past.
The present whitish
hue may change someday if man is capable of evolving. The grand task of
sorcerers is to bring forth the idea that, in order to evolve, man must first
free his awareness from its bindings to the social order. Once awareness is
free, intent will redirect it into a new evolutionary path.
Sorcerers have
succeeded in that task. They themselves are the proof. To convince others of
the value and import of evolving is another matter.
Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power, 1974
We as average men do
not know, nor will we ever know, that it is something utterly real and functional--our
connecting link with intent --which gives us our hereditary preoccupation
with fate. During our active lives we never have the chance to go beyond the
level of mere preoccupation, because since time immemorial the lull of daily
affairs has made us drowsy. It is only when our lives are nearly over that
our hereditary preoccupation with fate begins to take on a different character.
It begins to make us see through the fog of daily affairs. Unfortunately,
this awakening always comes hand in hand with loss of energy caused by aging,
when we have no more strength left to turn our preoccupation into a pragmatic
and positive discovery. At this point, all there is left is an amorphous,
piercing anguish, a longing for something indescribable, and simple anger
at having missed out.
Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power, 1974
Normal perception occurs when intent , which is pure energy,
lights up a portion of the luminous filaments inside our cocoon, and at the
same time brightens a long extension of the same luminous filaments extending
into infinity outside our cocoon. Extraordinary perception, seeing , occurs when by the
force of intent
, a different cluster of energy fields energizes and lights up. When
a crucial number of energy fields are lit up inside the luminous cocoon, a
sorcerer is able to see
the energy fields themselves.
Awareness takes place when the energy fields
inside our luminous cocoon are aligned
with the same energy fields outside.
Only a very small portion of the total number
of luminous filaments inside the cocoon are energized while the rest remain
unaltered. The filaments do not need to be aligned to be lit up, because the ones inside
our cocoon are the same as those outside. Whatever energizes them is definitely
an independent force. We can't call it awareness because awareness is the
glow of the energy fields being lit up. The force that lites up the fields
is named will .
Carlos Castaneda, The Power of Silence, 1987
In
the spirit world, there is a "single overview" of all of the
circumstances at once, without any limitation in terms of time or space. The overview of the soul does not follow a
succession of steps but is, instead, simultaneous because object, effect and
consequence are a whole.
There
are Energies, Effects, and Consequences.
Everything that exists consists of these ingredients. Energy gives birth
to Effect and Effect gives birth to Consequences. Any power or energy contains infinite
Effects, and every effect has infinite Consequences.
Energies
and Effects are not bound by necessity, but necessity is only relative. Consequences, however, are absolutely
necessary because they are born of Effects. The power, the Energy, lies in the
Whole. Every Effect is IN the Energy, and
every Consequence is in the Effect.
Free
Will is contained in these principles.
The
Vital ENERGY of Human Beings contains the greatest and most powerful of all
treasures in its EFFECTS and CONSEQUENCES.
This is, of course, by degrees.
The difference is due to the amount of Vital Energy, and that causes
the
levels of intelligence by degrees. The
more active these Vital Forces are in the human being, the closer to
perfection
that being is.
The
Cause of that Vital Energy is what we call Spirit - Soul.
The
Soul of the Human Being is the "child" of God as Spirit. To become "alike" - to model its
behavior on its parent - to "grow up to be like" the Father - is the
goal of the Soul.
The
occupation of God as Spirit is perpetual Creation.
This
is the goal of the Soul.
Von Eckartshausen, Higher Knowledge.
We always use more energy than is necessary, by using unnecessary muscles,
by allowing thoughts to revolve and reacting too much with feelings. Relax
muscles, use only those necessary, store thoughts and don’t express feelings
unless you wish. Don’t be affected by externals as they are harmless in
themselves; we allow ourselves to be hurt.
G.I. Gurdjieff, “Views
from the Real World.”
Hard work is an
investment of energy with a good return. Conscious use of energy is a paying
investment; automatic use is a wasteful expenditure.
G.I. Gurdjieff, Prieuré
What we intend to do [the work] requires a great deal of energy and much
effort. And effort requires much energy. With the kind of efforts we make now,
with such lavish expenditure of energy, it is impossible to do what we are now
planning to do in our minds. As we have seen, on the one hand we require a
great deal of energy, ando n the other our machine is so constructed that it
cannot produce more. Where is a way out of this situation? The only way out and
the only method and possibility is to economize the energy we have. Therefore if we wish to have a lot of energy
when we need it, we must learn to practice economy whenever we can.
One thing is definitely known: one of the chief leakages of energy is due
to our involuntary tension. We have many other leakages, but they are all
more difficult to repair than the first. So, we shall begin with the easiest:
to get rid of this leakage and to learn to be able to deal with the others.
G.I. Gurdjieff, Prieuré