tonal/nagual

Sun 1.2.22

         Resolution;  New Year resolution;  the resolution to  vexing problem; take your pick.  making resolutions is serious business and should never be undertaken if not followed through.  Truly, you are worse off if you make a resolution that you don’t keep than if you didn’t make it at all.  You have to mean business with your inner self or you systematically destroy it with your bullshit.

         I make resolutions when I see the need.  Midway through the past year I  resolved . . . Let me tell you a story first, one that I’ve told you before, but it’s worth repeating.  The poet Allen Ginsberg, at the height of his fame, noted that he wasn’t getting the respect accorded to others in his field.  Allen was a Buddhist, on trip to India, and a visit to his guru, he asked this holy man about it.  The maharishi, a very wise man, had this to say about it: Wear a suit.  The solution we seek to our greatest problems oftentimes are solved by the simplest of solutions.  And it worked for Allen.  My resolution was to apply makeup every morning at start of day, which I did religiously in Manhattan.  In the city, the ego rules to such a degree that presentation is all.  One is complimented by one’s sisters, they stop you on the street and say: Those are great shoes!  Where d’you get them?  Who’s doing your hair?

         I bought some great clothes in New York.  But then you can’t lose your naked self.  Allen was still Allen underneath his suit.  In some way the suit gets to own you, though.  It has to be taken care of; there are many things you can’t do with your suit on or you would ruin your expensive garment. 

I believe we have a responsibility to our fellow human beings to make the world a more charming, attractive and interesting place to live in.  So, the makeup.  I do it religiously every morning, whether I go out or work at my computer all day.  It’s become so ingrained that I missed a day last week and felt that my day was incomplete because of it.  The  makeup completes me; it’s the frosting on the cake!  I like the frosting; it looks delicious.

I have recently made another resolution, this one has to do with meditation.  I have been meditating for many, many years.  It works on the most basic level by sitting down for 20 minutes with the eyes closed in a quiet place. It is always beneficial, especially when one is stressed.  I meditate every day, generally after my first morning’s work, so around one or two.  The method I learned was Transcendental Meditation. One seeks to quiet the mind, to bypass the ego monkey in one’s head that never shuts up.  It’s perhaps one of the hardest things to accomplish.  What invariably happens is that the mind very shortly will help with a situation you’ve been pondering, and offers up workable solutions.

That’s the problem.  Why would you want to shut off what works?  Because there’s a greater goal to be reached, which is the nagual.  One reaches beyond the tonal, the world of everyday life and experiences true awareness.  That is my resolution, to get beyond the chattering monkey, which I’ve been trying for years, and experience the nagual in a more stable and consistent manner.  Commitment is all.  Already, I have noticed its its effect on me.  So the tonal is polished up with eye shadow and make-up and the nagual’s doors open when one commits to it.

Whenever you are in the world of the tonal, you should be an impeccable tonal; no time for irrational crap.  But whenever you are in the world of the nagual, you should also be impeccable; no time for rational crap.  For the warrior intent is the gate in between.  It closes completely behind him when he goes either way.

 --- Carlos Castaneda ---

The favorite post this month has been the podcast, Monopoly Experiment