Our Connection to Universal Energy

My understanding of Don Juan’s ideas on our connection to Intent or Universal Consciousness. Based on books by Carlos Castenada.

I read several books by Carlos Castenada. You may have as well.  If not, I'll just quickly sum up about what it's all about. 
Carlos who is an anthropologist wants to study plants in the Senoran Desert of Mexico and he tries to recruit Don Juan Matus an old Yaqui Sorcerer to teach him.  

But instead Don Juan has decided to teach Carlos about living with a higher purpose.  Carlos is just like other modern westerners, thinking in terms of career and materialism. He doesn't want to listen at first, but then starts to understand that his life is meaningless in the grand scheme of things and starts to adopt Don Juan`s lessons. He realizes that this new perspective is beneficial to him.

The Purpose of My Article

Although the story line of the books is entertaining and informative, I want to look at Don Juan's teachings on universal energy and our connection to it.  He calls this all encompassing energy, intent or Eagle's Emanations. 

I will try to explain his model as effectively as I can.  OK so here goes. Apparently we have an individual field of energy around us which is called the assemblage point.  It`s like a ball of light around each being. The assemblage point got its name because this is where our perceptions are put together. It converges with intent or universal energy.   The micro meeting the macro. It`s there to interpret Intent. 

Why is this important to know?  Because intent is where we come from, what we are a reflection of.  Its where our wisdom comes from. 

Our egos, our personalities are a shallow veneer that we have to work hard on to maintain.  So we use a very small part of our potential capabilities of perception.  We cling to our limited identity of who we think we are.  What our society tells us we are. Deep down we know we are broken and we know we are wasting our lives. The only time most people are pulled away from this problem, is when they have an extreme experience that shakes up their world view.  Such as a loss or even a spiritual experience.  

Don Juan even says at times Intent is waiting for us. It wants us to connect to it.  

It makes sense if you think that the universe has divine intelligence.  Is it just coincidence that everything around us exists?  Nature gives us countless benefits. If its this generous, why would it hold back and not try to show us our potential? Being a part of everything around us.   

Don Juan's teachings tell us to light up our assemblage point as much as we can. Try to expand our perception to the limit of human potential so that we merge with Universal Consciousness.  We have to clean the link with intent by breaking from the ideas and habits that are holding us back, such as or social-psychological backgrounds.  We have to break free of our stupidity. Let go of utilitarian knowledge and develop wisdom.   

You may be comfortable in your little world and not want to leave it, but you will be the one who suffers because of it. Its a trap. You will always be afraid to live, so you will be afraid to die. 

Don Juan tells us to take risks.  There are no guarantees in this life other than that we will die someday, and we should be ready for it.  Always know that every thing we do could be the last thing we do.  This will definitely loosen your attachment to the mundane world and open you to the higher vision.  

Don Juan tries to wake Carlos up to the fact that he has to change his life to develop his energy to meet the eagles emanations. He gives some practical ways of doing this.  

By erasing personal history.  You constantly tell everyone including yourself that what you are doing or have done, is who you are.  But if you drop it, you don't have to explain yourself all the time. You can do what you need to do, without worrying about other people's opinions of you.  

Next, he talks about losing self-importance. If you inflate your ego, you won't appreciate the world you live in. There will be a barrier between you and intent.

Use death as an advisor. Be aware that it is always there, waiting to take you.  If you live with this knowledge, you'll understand that inevitably you are going to run out of time and that you don't have time to be miserable. 

And he talks about making decisions and then committing to them without regrets.  

Now let's return to the idea of the assemblage point.  By moving it, you can change your perception.  By shifting it, you can perceive other different, real worlds.  Don Juan says "That's where sorcerers go to get energy or solutions."  

Just a couple notes of caution.  In his books, Carlos writes about using hallucinogenic drugs to alter the state of consciousness.  I suppose this can work if you have a shaman to work with you, but dangerous if you think that drugs can bring you to enlightenment. They could actually get you stuck in a lower state of mind or drive you crazy. Just something to think about. 

And the other thing to be careful about is moving your assemblage point continuously without fixing yourself on the new positions.  If you do that, you won`t be able to function in the world at all.  I would speculate that it would be like a new born baby that has all the input coming in, with no reference point. Completely helpless.  

The best way to describe Don Juan would be that he has a fluid perception that can move or shift, and he is able to fixate his perception anywhere in the assemblage point. He has accepted his fate and no longer struggles to be an individual separate from Intent. 

What’s the need for all this?  Why bother?  Because we can expand our  consciousness and maintain an enlightened perspective. By merging with the Universe, we can overcome the alienation so many of us are feeling because of the destruction we are seeing all around us. I think it makes us healthier and able to fight for our survival when we are not surrendering to fear which is an energetically weak position on the assemblage point.