Topic: Evolution of awareness

[erik]

We see that although the individual is moving forward from day to day, and from experience to experience, he nonetheless brings all his day’s experiences, and ultimately the whole of his life’s experiences, into one coherent whole. In other words, regardless of whether man is aware of it or not, his life is not merely a string of separate and unrelated events, but is instead the product of bringing all his past experiences to bear upon the present, and in this manner he is constantly ‘knitting together’ the fragments of his life. This ‘knitting together’ quite automatically deepens, or intensifies, the man’s sense of awareness, in that his awareness becomes keener and sharper.

This fact is particularly interesting when we look at instances in which a man’s view of the world becomes smaller as he shortens the radius of his perception. Whenever this happens, the man in effect intensifies his evolving awareness considerably through concentrating it within a much smaller area of perception. The reason for this is that the man, at that moment in time, is incapable of coping with bigger view of the world, and therefore his experiences are not having the impact upon him as they should be. Not having enough impact, the experiences of such a man can be shrugged off as not being of any real significance, and consequently, if the man did not concentrate his awareness, he would simply continue indulging in all manner of pursuits and actions which drain him of his personal power. Therefore, in all such cases it is in fact a saving grace that the man’s awareness becomes concentrated, for in this way he has a better chance to achieve the depth of vision he will need in order to make the necessary adjustments to his perception.

However, if such a man stubbornly refuses to use this intensification of awareness wisely, and continues to indulge in those habits which brought about the intensification in the first place, then without even realising what is taking place, the man’s view of the world will once again diminish in order to achieve an even greater intensification. If this process is allowed to continue, such a man ends up with a view of the world which is so small, and a level of awareness which by now is so very intense, that his perception of life will inevitably become self-destructive. This is analogous to focusing a beam of sunlight through a magnifying glass. Once that focus reaches a critical intensity, the sunlight will begin to burn whatever happens to be on the other side of the magnifying glass.

Theun Mares, 'Cry of the Eagle'

[Zamurito]

Good stuff, Juhani.

Here's a post created years ago, that to me, relate to your quote.

The Strategist

The warrior's strategy is to become a strategist.

This may sound truly idiotic, but in its simplicity lies the key that opens all doors.

The social order's continuity, based upon five measuring units, creates a concrete world. In fact, concreteness could be defined as all those phenomena that deal with this type of continuity.

On the other hand, the Here/Now continuity that defines a warrior, or a sorcerer, or whatever we want to call a complete human being, has to do with the abstract. Again, the abstract could be defined as all those phenomena that deal with a Here/Now continuity.

So, in short, a warrior is an abstractionist. S/he reduces every single little event of his/her life to the last possible reduction. And, at this point, we always find one thing: energy.

We live in a universe of energy, a universe that, first and last, is based upon an abstract continuity.

Sobriety is, to a warrior, the exercise of abstracting. And when a warrior is confronted with the results of his abstractions, an infinite feeling of awe immediately replaces the remaining of the old continuity.

The way we deal with our world in the social order could be defined as a circular, inefficient attempt of strategy. The highest peak of this attempt to deal with a concrete world is always the same: defeat.

We appear to follow three basic steps in our interactions with the world as social beings. First, we plan; second, we fight for victory; third, whether we win or loose, we loose.

The problem with this pattern of behavior is that none of its three elements bear a shred of efficiency for a being who's going to die. All they succeed in creating is an insurmountable feeling of boredom. This boredom reaches such levels, in time, that it has to come out in the form of absurd violence, which we exert upon our whole environment and ourselves.

And the failure, as it was explained, has to do with leaving out essential elements of our existence, such as death.

To a being who is going to die concrete victories have no value whatsoever. Not in themselves, at least, for he knows that death will take all that is concrete away, dissolving it into utter nothingness. This is why, being our goal as concretely biased beings the concrete victory, we are ultimately losers.

The social order is defeat.

The Here/Now continuity that defines a warrior is a quite different affair. First of all, a warrior includes abstract issues every time. One of these abstract elements is the awareness of death.

As a being who's going to die, a warrior simply cannot seek concrete gaining. From the start, he aims at something else. The only issue of interest to a sorcerer, is awareness. From awareness stems everything else.

Therefore, since our awareness is intimately related to the feeling of abstract awe, a warrior aims at awe, and at the feeling of impeccability and elegance that also comes with it.

This derives into a very peculiar inversion of things in the warrior's strategy. It turns out that, to a warrior, victory comes first. In other words, a being who is going to die has nothing to loose. Thus, whatever he does, victory is ensured even before the fight begins.

Impeccability, within an everyday context, means exactly what don Juan said: doing everything the best you can, no matter what.

Here/Now.

Stalking is the other side of the coin to being impeccable. An impeccable behavior, for some mysterious reason, liberates streams of awareness that fixate our perception of the world, providing clarity and efficiency. And this is precisely what is called "Stalking", to fixate our perception of the world in order to emulate the universe's perception of itself, which is clear and efficient beyond imagination.

Then, after victory, comes the strategy. A warrior, through his impeccable behavior, stalks his whole world, starting with himself. He does this in order to recognize himself on the abstract mirror of Intent, which is the first stalker. In doing this, he finds the essential nature of his being.

And finally, after victory and strategy, a warrior finds knowledge and awe.

It could be said, therefore, that the only active part of a warrior's life is his impeccability. The strategy is to become a strategist, to be impeccable.

Victory cannot be taken away from a warrior, since he simply cannot loose as a being who is going to die. And the reverent awe that knowledge brings to a warrior has to do with the interaction of the universe at large with his/her individual awareness.

The warrior's discipline is, then, impeccability.

Zamurito

[Jennifer-]

Both great posts, thanks guys!