CENTRAL PRACTICES

Central to the knowledge that Carlos Castaneda imparted to his apprentices were the Energy Passes, short cuts to enhanced awareness.

Carlos studied with a group of seers who had a deep interest in perception and its manipulation to enhance their lives. The system they had inherited was a living one that changed with the needs of every generation.

 It has come to us in a modern and functional form, somewhat removed form the ritualistic and secret connotations it had held for generations.

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One of the most notable features of this band of seers was their vitality elegance and prowess in dealing with the world. Carlos inherited a whole system of philosophy that described a world richer and deeper than the one that western education has given us and practices to acquire states elucidated in their teachings.

This knowledge was deeply mystical whilst being profound and pragmatic. The system was divided into two sections for the left and right body. His teachers distinguished between the two sides of man, the abstract, the left body and the linear, the right body.


Their teachings and practices were directed at these two facets of our awareness, our linear mind, the world of our everyday life and the hidden often intuited magical nature that lies behind it, a world of feeling and direct experience.

Carlos spoke of these as two attentions, the first attention, our linear daily world and the second attention the abstract unseen but intuited world, the world of our dreams.
For the first attention their were practices called stalking, the name derived from similar behaviour they used to trap their food. Hunters examine the minutest behaviours and routines of their prey making their actions to trap the animal strategic and effective. This observation of our own routines and habits gives us the tools to trap our behaviour and open ourselves to new behaviour, conscious actions that befit conscious endeavour.
For the second attention there were Dreaming practices. These included the Energy Passes which had been discovered in heightened awareness and systematically collected. Also utilising dreams.



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These seers noted that in dreams we are much more fluid, behaviour not supported in daily reality was possible. They determined to use dreams in a pragmatic way to school and enhance awareness. To this end they mapped the dream world and developed a rich tapestry of practices to take advantage of it. Their intent was to use their individual dreams to enter into other realms, new worlds where they could find sources of knowledge of power. 
They were successful in their endeavours. The energy and focus they acquired in their nocturnal adventures gave them the prowess and fluidity to repeat many wonders of perception in daily life. They called this ability Dreaming Awake.

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A third state of being that Carlos wrote about was inner silence a deeply meditative state where new facets of our awareness appeared. This was seen as the highest accomplishment of these seers of this lineage. 
Their deeds come to us in rich tales of sorcery and shamanism.

 For us in this modern world who have a deep interest in both knowing ourself and our environs and enhancing our perception, their practices are invaluable.
These shaman seers acknowledged a conscious force that was unseen yet underlies all creation, they termed this force by its nature, Intent. A force they said that was unknowable yet directly usable by man.



Our intent is to live a full and rewarding life, to overcome our habits, that rob of us energy and divert our resources. This reclaimed energy can then be utilised to take stock of our lives, to detach ourselves from our behaviours and ascertain by examination how we spend our time and energy and whether it supports the life we dream to live.

This training of Energy Passes, Dreaming, Stalking and Inner Silence are at the heart of what we at Being Energy teach in our classes and workshops.

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