Topic: The Predator

[TIOTIT]

Does anyone have an insight into this....

Don Juan, the Mexican Yaqui Indian shaman, tells Carlos Castaneda the following:
"We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the
rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and
master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our
protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so... I have
been beating around the bush all this time, insinuating to you that something is
holding us prisoner. Indeed we are held prisoner!
"This was an energetic fact for the sorcerers of ancient Mexico ... They took us
over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are
their sustenance. Just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, the predators rear us in
human coops, humaneros. Therefore, their food is always available to them."
"No, no, no, no," [Carlos replies] "This is absurd don Juan. What you're saying is
something monstrous. It simply can't be true, for sorcerers or for average men, or
for anyone."
"Why not?" don Juan asked calmly. "Why not? Because it infuriates you? ... You
haven't heard all the claims yet. I want to appeal to your analytical mind. Think for
a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradictions between the
intelligence of man the engineer and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs, or the
stupidity of his contradictory behaviour. Sorcerers believe that the predators have
given us our systems of belief, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They
are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success or
failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators
who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal."
'"But how can they do this, don Juan?' [Carlos] asked, somehow angered further
by what [don Juan] was saying. "Do they whisper all that in our ears while we are
asleep?"
"'No, they don't do it that way. That's idiotic!" don Juan said, smiling. "They are
infinitely more efficient and organized than that. In order to keep us obedient and
meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous manoeuvre -

stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous
manoeuvre from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind!
Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind. The
predators' mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, filled with the fear of being
discovered any minute now."
"I know that even though you have never suffered hunger... you have food
anxiety, which is none other than the anxiety of the predator who fears that any
moment now its manoeuvre is going to be uncovered and food is going to be
denied. Through the mind, which, after all, is their mind, the predators inject into
the lives of human beings whatever is convenient for them. And they ensure, in this
manner, a degree of security to act as a buffer against their fear."
"The sorcerers of ancient Mexico were quite ill at ease with the idea of when [the
predator] made its appearance on Earth. They reasoned that man must have been a
complete being at one point, with stupendous insights, feats of awareness that are
mythological legends nowadays. And then, everything seems to disappear, and we
have now a sedated man. What I'm saying is that what we have against us is not a
simple predator. It is very smart, and organized. It follows a methodical system to
render us useless. Man, the magical being that he is destined to be, is no longer
magical. He's an average piece of meat."
"There are no more dreams for man but the dreams of an animal who is being
raised to become a piece of meat: trite, conventional, imbecilic."
Castaneda, 1998

[Michael]

This has caused considerable consternation among commentators. For me, it firmed up something which I was sensing for a long time, although I have never seen those shapes he described. However I have definitely seen the effects in people, not just the emotionality he describes, but also the consequent loss of shakti. I think I have a post about this somewhere.

It is as plain as daylight how this process he describes consumes people, plus the almost impossibility of getting anyone caught to stop. Somehow people's self-image is interwoven with the validity of their anguish, worry, fear and obsession with their own and others emotional suffering. Dropping this is one of the most wonderful achievements any human can experience, but it is not easy.

Physical suffering is not always avoidable, but mental/emotional suffering is based on our wants. Mostly our desire to be seen as a worthy person in the eyes of others. I am watching this unfold in our neighbours currently, where the whole family is in melt down due to one member being accused of attempted murder. Their standing in the community is the 'want' that underpins their considerable suffering and despair. Of course, standing in the community has material payoffs - not least is money and jobs through contacts and respect, and money means the ability to avoid physical suffering. One can see who the whole circuit perpetuates itself.

Many commentators believe this is where CC began to make stuff up. There is a strong following of the view that the later books were concoctions for a gullible public. I don't hold that view myself, but then I tend to assess the material on a different basis.

[erik]

TIO, in my dream they had the form of sharks:

http://restlesssoma.com.au/soma/index.php?topic=1490.0

They are consciousness, an energy.

[erik]

Another way to see this predator:

http://krisraphael.com/2004/12/28/losing_the_human_form/

[sugilite]

Man, the magical being that he is destined to be, is no longer
magical. He's an average piece of meat."
"There are no more dreams for man but the dreams of an animal who is being
raised to become a piece of meat: trite, conventional, imbecilic."
Castaneda, 1998

I can see how this might be true for some people.  And how we need to be careful not to fall prey to this predator.  Don't you think though, that as aware magickal beings, not 'sleepers', we are pretty much safe?  I can understand why Carlos felt the need to warn us though.  Do you think the predator is an IB?

[erik]

We are not safe from our own pretense and from lies we tell ourselves.

[sugilite]

We are not safe from our own pretense and from lies we tell ourselves.

You are right!  We are never safe from that.  Until we no longer need to do so.

[erik]

Until we no longer need to do so.

That is we do not need to lie to ourselves? These lies are not 'ours', but of our parasite who makes us do things that make us leak energy that it feeds upon.

[sugilite]

That is we do not need to lie to ourselves? These lies are not 'ours', but of our parasite who makes us do things that make us leak energy that it feeds upon.

Yes.  So eventually as we evolve, parasite does not feed on us. We do not need to feed it.
We grow, learn, expand.
And parasite is no longer able to use us.
Yay!

[erik]

Yes.  So eventually as we evolve, parasite does not feed on us. We do not need to feed it.
We grow, learn, expand.
And parasite is no longer able to use us.
Yay!

But until then...we're not out of the woods.

[sugilite]

Yes.  So, as always, it is important to be aware of such things.   

[TIOTIT]

We all have our unique perspective on how things function and interact within the wholeness of being.
each of us has a story and a diologue which we use in an attempt to explore,interpretand and understand
our condition.The story never ends and new experience will always arise this being the function and nature
of creation...duality being unavoidable and thus presenting a canvas on which we paint our story....

Is it possible that mind is the parasite....TIO

I do not know who I am...I am the astounded lucid confusion...Rumi

[erik]

I do not know who I am...I am the astounded lucid confusion...Rumi

Well, yes...it sounds like a lost battle already, for how could we fight our own mind? It surely cannot be done with mind?

I see the answer in question.

Right, if my mind is susceptible to predator or part of it actually IS the predator, there must be other part of me that cannot be deceived by anything. The part that always knows what is the right thing to do. That always recognises the lie. It's my heart. That's the fortress these parasites can never take. The winning strategy is to always listen and live by heart. The predator doesn't like ignoring.

But, damn, it is not easy as the habit of living by mind and desirous attachment is sooooooooooo strong!!! And the predator knows it only too well!

[Jahn]

It is a mirror game, because when you start to try to get out of the human (parasite) prison you make a move and that move reflects back and the ego makes a move too.

The favorite place for the parasite is in the mental body but it feeds best on the emotional body. There is no idea to debate the label parasite or what it is energetically as FW wanted to to back at TNF. The only thing we need to know is that the human form, the parasite that thrives on our energy is not us.

We can never get rid of the parasite by being clever because it is as clever as us. Therefore we must use diligent exercises as trying to impeccable, doing not-doings, overcome resitances, change lifestyles, move to another place, take up studies, use advanced processes or whatever it takes to trick the ego that says that it is us but aren't us.

I used the point of no pity to get a advantage. That vibe it doesn't like.

[Jahn]

""I've taught you all kinds of things in order to trap your attention," he said. "You'll swear, though, that that teaching has been the important part. It hasn't. There is very little value in instruction. Sorcerers maintain that moving the assemblage point is all that matters. And that movement, as you well know, depends on increased energy and not on instruction."



He then made an incongruous [* incongruous- lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness] statement. He said that any human being who would follow a specific and simple sequence of actions can learn to move his assemblage point.

I pointed out that he was contradicting himself. To me, a sequence of actions meant instructions; it meant procedures.

"In the sorcerers' world there are only contradictions of terms," he replied. "In practice there are no contradictions. The sequence of actions I am talking about is one that stems from being aware. To become aware of this sequence you need a nagual. This is why I've said that the nagual provides a minimal chance, but that minimal chance is not instruction, like the instruction you need to learn to operate a machine. The minimal chance consists of being made aware of the spirit."

He explained that the specific sequence he had in mind called for being aware that self-importance is the force which keeps the assemblage point fixed. When self-importance is curtailed, the energy it requires is no longer expended. That increased energy then serves as the springboard that launches the assemblage point- automatically and without premeditation- into an inconceivable journey.

Once the assemblage point has moved, the movement itself entails moving from self-reflection, and this, in turn, assures a clear connecting link with the spirit. He commented that, after all, it was self-reflection that had disconnected man from the spirit in the first place.

"As I have already said to you," don Juan went on, "sorcery is a journey of return. We return victorious to the spirit, having descended into hell. And from hell we bring trophies. Understanding is one of our trophies."

Carlos Castaneda
The Power of Silence