“We are men and our lot in life is to learn and to be hurled into inconceivable new worlds.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“To be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully so, keenly aware of his own death. But to be concerned with death would force any one of us to focus on the self and that would be debilitating. So the next thing one needs to be a warrior is detachment. The idea of imminent death, instead of becoming an obsession, becomes an indifference.
Now you must detach yourself; detach yourself from everything. Only the idea of death makes a man sufficiently detached so he is incapable of abandoning himself to anything. Only the idea of death makes a man sufficiently detached so he can't deny himself anything. A man of that sort, however, does not crave, for he has acquired a silent lust for life and for all things of life. He knows his death is stalking him and won't give him time to cling to anything, so he tries, without craving, all of everything.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Once you decide something put all your petty fears away. Your decision should vanquish them. I will tell you time and time again, the most effective way to live is as a warrior. Worry and think before you make any decision, but once you make it, be on your way free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting you. That's the warrior's way.
A warrior thinks of his death when things become unclear. The idea of death is the only thing that tempers our spirit.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“For instance, we need to look with our eyes to laugh,” he said, “because only when we look at things can we catch the funny edge of the world. On the other hand, when our eyes see, everything is so equal that nothing is funny.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“The indulgence of denying is by far the worst; it forces us to believe we are doing great things, when in effect we are only fixed within ourselves. To”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Upon learning to see a man becomes everything by becoming nothing. He,”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Upon learning to see a man becomes everything by becoming nothing. He, so to speak, vanishes and yet he’s there. I would say that this is the time when a man can be or can get anything he desires. But he desires nothing, and instead of playing with his fellow men like they were toys, he meets them in the midst of their folly. The only difference between them is that a man who sees controls his folly, while his fellow men can’t. A man who sees has no longer an active interest in his fellow men. Seeing has already detached him from absolutely everything he knew before.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Those fibers join a man to his surroundings;”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“a man of knowledge has no honor, no dignity, no family, no name, no country, but only life to be lived, and under these circumstances his only tie to his fellow men is his controlled folly. Thus”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Our will operates in spite of our indulgence. For example, your will is already opening your gap, little by little.” “What gap are you talking about?” “There is a gap in us; like the soft spot on the head of a child which closes with age, this gap opens as one develops one’s will.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“perceiving the world” entails a process of apprehending whatever presents itself to us. This particular “perceiving” is done with our senses and with our will.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Everything is filled to the brim,” he repeated, “and everything is equal. I’m not like your friend who just grew old. When I tell you that nothing matters I don’t mean it the way he does. For him, his struggle was not worth his while, because he was defeated; for me there is no victory, or defeat, or emptiness. Everything is filled to the brim and everything is equal and my struggle was worth my while.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“He explained that the leaf had fallen over and over from that same tree so I would stop trying to understand.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
Carlos Castaneda
Born place: in Cajamarca, Peru
Born date December 25, 1925
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“Tell people the hammered truth, and it will ring like steel against an anvil.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island
“Case in point: On one of their first dates, he brought her a box of Ivory Flakes soap. Who needs flowers? Roses fade, but flaky soap available from the PX lasted months. Having Ivory Flakes was a rarity in itself, and also saved her valuable time—one less line to stand in, only to find that the grocer was out. Again. That was romance, as far as Colleen was concerned. Maybe this guy was a keeper after all.”
― Denise Kiernan, quote from The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
“You and I? It may end badly. I may get hurt. But guess what? I don’t care! I’ve never had my heart broken. Maybe I’m fine with risking it, because it’s better than being afraid and going through life bored.”
― Jasinda Wilder, quote from Falling Under
“I think we all make choices in our lives that set us down the road to happiness or disappointment. It’s just that we can’t always see where the road is leading us until we’re halfway there.”
― Susanna Kearsley, quote from The Splendour Falls
“Cuando el gobierno de Francia decidió, en mayo del 98, reducir la semana laboral de 39 a 35 horas, dando así una elemental lección de cordura, la medida desató clamores de protesta entre empresarios, políticos y tecnócratas. En Suiza, que no tiene problemas de desempleo, me tocó asistir, hace algún tiempo, a un acontecimiento que me dejó turulato. Un plebiscito propuso trabajar menos horas sin disminuir los salarios, y los suizos votaron en contra. Recuerdo que no lo entendí, confieso que sigo sin entenderlo todavía. El trabajo es una obligación universal desde que Dios condenó a Adán a ganarse el pan con el sudor de su frente, pero no hay por qué tomarse tan a pecho la voluntad divina. Sospecho que este fervor laboral tiene mucho que ver con el terror al desempleo, aunque en el caso de Suiza el desempleo sea una amenaza borrosa y lejana, y con el pánico al tiempo libre. Ser es ser útil, para ser hay que ser vendible. El tiempo que no se traduce en dinero, tiempo libre, tiempo de vida vivida por el placer de vivir y no por el deber de producir, genera miedo. Al fin y al cabo, eso nada tiene de nuevo. El miedo ha sido siempre, junto con la codicia, uno de los dos motores más activos del sistema que otrora se llamaba capitalismo.”
― Eduardo Galeano, quote from Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World
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