Obwohl knapp 9000 Kilometer zwischen Tokyo und Istanbul liegn, hat die Musik beider Städte durchaus Gemeinsamkeiten. Sowohl in Japan als auch in der Türkei ist das spirituelle Instrument ein Flöte. In der Türkei ist es die Ney. Sie ist das musikalische Werkzeug der Mevlevi-Derwische. In Japan ist die Shakuhachi das spirituelle Instrument der Zen-Buddhisten. Doch nicht nur die Flöte, auch die Zither wird in beiden Kulturkreisen gespielt. Im osmanisch-türkischen Raum nennt sie sich Kanun. Die japanische Zither ist unter dem Namen Koto bekannt. Wie aber klingt es, wenn die musikalischen Welten zusammenkommen? Sechs erfarhrene Virtuosen des interkulturellen Dialogs verschmlezen japanische und türkische Musiktraditionen zu etwas völlig Neuartigem.
Ney-Zen:

Kudsi Ergüner, Ney
Akikazu Nakamura, Shakuhachi
Michiyo Yagi, Koto
Maki Isogai, Koto
Hakan Güngör, Kanun
Bruno Caillat, Perkussion

Veranstalter: Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker

Längst hat es sich sogar über die Grenzen der Hauptstadt hinaus herumgesprochen, dass es im Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie in regelmäßigen Abständen Konzerte gibt, die an diesem Ort immer noch ungewöhnlich anmuten und manchem sogar als exotisch erscheinen mögen, die aber einen schillernden Mosaikstein bilden im multikulturellen Spektrum Berlins. Konzerte, in denen Musik vorgestellt wird, die im normativ bestellten Klassikbetrieb sonst nicht zu hören ist. Alla turca heißt die von den Berliner Philharmonikern initiierte Reihe, und sie verfolgt konsequent ein Ziel: den Dialog der Kulturen. In diesem Konzert tut dies der aus einer alten türkischen Musikerdynastie stammende Kudsi Erguner, einer der weltweit führenden Virtuosen auf der Ney-Flöte, dem es ein Anliegen ist, die Musik seiner Herkunft in Beziehung zu anderen Musikkulturen zu setzen. Dabei stehen ihm japanische Musiker zur Seite. So entstehen Relationen zwischen der Musik der Sufis und des Zen-Buddhismus. Wenn man so will, eine klingende Glaubenssache, die hier verhandelt wird. Aber eine, bei der es keine Sieger und keine Verlierer gibt. Sondern nur musikalische Ansichten und interessante Perspektiven für die Zuhörer.

Quelle: www.berliner-philharmoniker.de

02.12.2009, 20:00
@Berliner Philharmonie, Kammermusiksaal: Ney-Zen: Musik von Sufis und Buddhisten
Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1
10785 Berlin

Eintritt: 10-26 €

1. Am Anfang eines jeden Studiums kann der Wunsch nach Aufmerksamkeit vor anderen stehen, aber wie es immer beginnt, es sollte nicht damit enden.

2. Studiere die Annahmen, die deine Handlungen leiten. Studiere dann die Annahmen, die hinter deinen Annahmen stehen.

3. Es ist sinnvoll zu fragen: “Warum habe ich das und das getan?” Aber besser ist zu fragen: “Wie hätte ich es anders machen können?”

4. Du hast einen langen Weg hinter dir, aber du weißt es nicht. Du hast einen langen Weg vor dir, und du weißt, was das bedeutet.

5. Im Vergleich mit einigen bist du schon weit fortgeschritten. Im Vergleich zu anderen bist du noch weit zurück. Beide Beobachtungen sind gleichermaßen unnütz.

6. Wenn deine Sehnsucht nach dem “Guten” sich auf Habgier gründet, ist sie nicht gut, sondern Habgier.

7. Wenn Du Liebenswürdigkeit benutzt, um Macht auszuüben, kannst Du mehr Schaden anrichten, als wenn Du grausam bist. Beide Verhaltensweisen sind falsch.

8. Der Wissende muß eine Funktion erfüllen. Der Unwissende kann nur versuchen, sich eine Funktion anzumaßen.

9. Versuche nicht bescheiden zu sein. Lerne die Bescheidenheit.

10. Nimm an, daß du zum Teil heuchlerisch und zum Teil rücksichtslos bist. Dann bist du der Wahrheit nahe.

I was thinking of not turning this blog into a broken record of constant banter about Sufism, instead I could try to seriously evaluate Sufism and some of its key concepts. One of the things which I could never get my head around is the idea of Sufis performing miracles (karamat), flying carpets, destroying armies, healing the sick, eating a chicken and then bringing it back to life by joining the bones and so on. I dismiss all of that due to lack of authenticity behind these reports as they are reported in form of folklore and tales rather than traditional Islamic method with verifiable Isnaad. These stories also contradict reality and before I am accused of heresy I would like to add that to believe in Sufis performing miracles is not part of Islamic belief (Imaan)… so rejecting these have no grave danger attached or at least not as much as believing in them.

However the question is, if they really did perform miracles what does that mean to us? It means nothing. There is some deep inner esoteric knowledge of the world which people of all religions and non-religious people are able to access allowing them to perform illusions and other paranormal acts against the universal law, which no doubt involves deception and trickery in some form or the other. I am not accusing our pious Sufis of the past of this, some of them are attributed sainthood (Wilaaya) and did great service to the Islamic cause but those who deviated from the path of Islam, neglected the Shariah and were responsible for introducing heretical practices and condemnable innovations.

As we see Sufism today promoting itself with full financial backings of various governments, we see generations being raised with a selective understanding of Islam. The great Awliya and Sufia who struggled to protect Islam as statesmen, theologians, politicians, economists, social scientists, jurists, historians and warriors are mentioned in these circles as mere Sufis with tales of their miracles and spiritual discourses glorified and turning blind eye to their great works of real significance to us.

CONSIDERAÇÕES SOBRE A ENERGIA KUNDALINI
E OS MOVIMENTOS DA DANÇA ORIENTAL

Uma experiência psicofísica: fundamentos de sua fisiologia e sintomas

Temos aqui um rápido apanhado sobre alguns aspectos comuns dos componentes fisiológicos que configuram o despertar da kundalini.

Para o Dr. Lee Sannella (1987), tais componentes desmistificam os mitos do materialismo científico.

Neste processo, a pessoa atravessa diferentes estados de consciência, que vão do normal ao psicótico, e notou-se que o desenvolvimento de aptidões especiais não estão necessariamente ligadas ao surgimento de fenômenos psíquicos.

Gopi Krishna, encarava rigorosamente este despertar: “A idéia popular de que a prática resulte simplesmente na ativação de uma nova força no corpo é falaz. Aqueles que acreditam que o despertar e o mestrado desta força pode ser ativado pelo forte desejo da pessoa, vivem no paraíso dos tolos. Propriamente falando, a posição deve ser vista por um outro ângulo”.

Segundo Gopi, tratava de uma metamorfose completa da personalidade, cujo despertar, pode ser gradual ou súbito, variando em intensidade e efeito, de acordo com o desenvolvimento, constituição, e temperamento dos diferentes indivíduos; mas que, na maioria dos casos, resultava numa grande instabilidade da natureza emocional, podendo até o indivíduo ceder a aberrações, principalmente resultando de uma contaminação hereditária, falhas no modo de conduta, ou seja, o caráter moral da pessoa é que norteia o despertar da kundalini.

Em “LIVING WITH KUNDALINI”,  Gopi Krishna relatou um fato cômico a este respeito:

“A menos que a mente tenha sido disciplinada desde a mais tenra idade, uma kundalini estimulada traz consigo um irreprimível desejo pelo oculto e o bizarro. É inacreditável o aumento das vítimas ocorrências deste desejo, podem ser enganadas pelos pseudo homens deuses, charlatões e impostores… Em minha própria vida, um destes homens deuses, residiam numa vila em Kashmir, acostumado a urinar numa vasilha de prata às vistas da multidão que vinha para visitá-lo, e então, regava o líquido sobre a audiência, ambos homens e mulheres. Dizem que seus admiradores levantavam seus rostos e descobriam seus colos para receber os santificados respingos”.

Apesar da rigorosa cautela, no entanto, ele afirmou que o objetivo final de tal despertar era o auxílio à consciência humana a transcender seus limites normais, sendo esta, a fase final do impulso evolutivo presente no homem (lembrando que o conceito de evolução aqui aplicado é desenrolar-se ou desenvolver-se, e não “melhorar” no sentido do dogma do bem e do mal).

Aliás, tal cautela não foi em vão… Em sua época, e Gopi faleceu em 1986, os pesquisadores já conheciam uma lista de sintomas perturbadores advindos de tal atividade.

Itzhak Bentov

Itzhak Bentov, em seu trabalho “Micromovimento do corpo como fator do desenvolvimento do sistema nervoso”, citado por Sannella, viu o efeito da kundalini como parte do desenvolvimento do sistema nervoso. Em suas experiências, ele anotou que, ao ascender, ela produz vibrações com freqüências ressonantes que vão percorrer todo o sistema nervoso, o esqueleto, a espinha dorsal, o fluxo sangüíneo, a respiração, o crânio e o cérebro, o córtex motor e sensorial, a estrutura geral do corpo. Ele descobriu que estas vibrações, ao atingirem a cabeça, irradiam um campo magnético que atuará conjuntamente com os campos magnéticos e elétricos do ambiente.

Bentov, desenvolveu um modelo de medição da kundalini, ao utilizar um balistocardiógrafo (para medir as oscilações dos batimentos cardíacos e circulação sanguínea) e uma sonda capacitadora, adaptados em praticantes de meditação. Com isso, pôde detectar:

• uma transformação no modo de funcionamento do sistema nervoso, pois foi anotado o aparecimento de seqüências de reações corporais fortes e incomuns durante o trajeto de ascensão da energia, como movimentos involuntários em algumas partes do corpo, quando há resistência (psicológica ou emocional de causa conhecida ou não) à sua passagem;
• a exposição a certas vibrações mecânicas, ondas magnéticas e sons, também pode ativar o mesmo mecanismo;
• estímulos enviados ao córtex sensorial, provocam sensações de amortecimento ou formigamento, na área do corpo que corresponde a certos pontos do córtex;
• quando o estímulo cruza a área do centro do prazer, o praticante de meditação experimenta uma sensação de êxtase. Isso acontece com quem já possui anos de prática regrada ou espontaneamente em algumas pessoas;

Outras sensações experimentadas são:

• as palpitações e os ritmos ribombantes na região sacral e lombar, que ascende às regiões cervical e cabeça. Chegado à cabeça, as pressões podem gerar dores na parte occiptal, dores no pescoço, que em geral, são passageiras. Estas dores também podem ser sentidas em outras partes ao longo da coluna;
• modificações na respiração também podem ocorrer, tornando-a espasmódica, com expirações involuntárias, ocorrendo ao máximo, como também o ouvir de sons interiores, provocados pelas vibrações dentro da caixa craniana, e em outras partes do corpo, como o coração;
• após o período de tensão, que pode durar anos ou não, há uma liberação de energia que normaliza as funções orgânicas do corpo.

Ascensão da Kundalini

Voltar para Volume II

CONSIDERAÇÕES SOBRE A ENERGIA KUNDALINI
E OS MOVIMENTOS DA DANÇA ORIENTAL

A objetividade científica

Modelo Esotérico

Durante muito tempo, em razão das culturas orientais e tradições esotéricas terem dominado o tema, com crenças no misticismo e misturas confusas de conceitos, superstições primitivas e dogmas, a classe científica ocidental, não aceitou o processo da kundalini como um fenômeno relevante. Todavia, em meados dos anos 70, com o aumento do interesse ocidental pelas práticas orientais de autoconhecimento, e o crescente número de pessoas no Ocidente, praticantes de meditação, tendo a mesma experiência psicofísica descrita nos modelos tradicionais destas tradições, os cientistas se viram obrigados a estudar o “novo” fenômeno social.

Tal evento provocou mudanças do pensamento científico, possibilitando a comparação destes modelos clássicos e dos contextos clínicos, pois a uniformidade nas descrições em ambos os processos além de evidente, facilitava o trabalho dos pesquisadores, que passaram a considerar os componentes fisiológicos dos aspectos comuns da “nova” pesquisa.

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna foi um dos grandes responsáveis pela popularização da kundalini no Ocidente, ao mostrar que tanto cristãos, como sufis e adeptos do Yoga e Meditação, passavam pelas mesmas experiências psicofísicas. Outros nomes pioneiros, cada um em sua área, também contribuíram para o aprimoramento do mapeamento da atividade energética no corpo humano, facilitando o entendimento científico sobre a kundalini, entre eles:

• Dr. Lee Sannella (psiquiatria);
• o pesquisador Itzhak Bentov (experiências com balistocardiógrafo e sonda capacitadora em praticantes de meditação);
• Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama (no desenvolvimento da AMI Machine, capaz de diagnosticar os níveis de energia nos chakras e meridianos do corpo);
• entre outros.

Carl Gustav Jung

Um outro nome, nosso conhecido, bastante mencionado no Volume III e IV deste compêndio, Carl Gustav Jung, também estava familiarizado com os estudos sobre a kundalini. Em suas correlações, Jung considerou a kundalini como sendo a força da psique, importante no processo de individuação.

Obviamente nem toda consideração junguiana é totalmente aceita pelos “praticantes da arte-ciência da kundalini”, embora encarem com respeito os esforços da visão junguiana e o motivo é bem simples: o crescimento dentro da individuação não é necessário ser acompanhado pelo “nascimento” da kundalini no sentido clássico, mesmo que ele seja rodeado por “transformações poderosas” da energia psíquica.

Mesmo assim, os praticantes de meditação têm demonstrado, dentro dos laboratórios, que condições como estados transcendentais da consciência, podem ser monitorados, através de máquinas e computadores, leitores de dados de ondas cerebrais. Então, pode ser uma simples questão de tempo, o refinamento dos nossos aparelhos de medição e programas de computador, numa combinação que nos dê um meio eficaz de “provar” os feitos da kundalini na mente e corpo humanos - para deleite dos céticos…

Apesar disso, aqueles que têm experimentado a kundalini, continuarão a falar sobre suas experiências, e isto, com o tempo, quebrará as atuais barreiras sobre o tema.

Voltar para Volume II

by Shireen Qudosi

Originally Featured on the  Green Prophet

Copyright Tawel [Flicker Creative Commons

Sufism is the undiscovered sect within Islam known only through its most famous disciple, the 13^th century philosopher poet Rumi whose work reflected strong themes pairing nature and spirituality.  Sufis, “heirs of a mystical ancient tradition”, helped propagate the faith to the height of its expansion in Islam’s coined “Golden Age”.  The then flourishing multiculturalism played a key role resulting in the large number of Muslims today, roughly 1.5 billion followers world wide. A great but under represented percentage this figure are still Sufi Muslims.

Initially rising out of a reaction to materialism and over indulgence resulting from excess wealth and power, Sufis are mystics at heart, lovers of the natural world inclined toward heterodoxy in a culture in which ego and possession is the norm. The key aim of any Sufi is to separate themselves from the material and seek enlightenment by way of serving God, achieved through an internal process that shifts perspectives away from to ego and toward the divine.

The process is usually performed through one of two ways. The less frequented approach is the view of “Signifier to signs”, in which Sufis work to look at the world through a macro to micro lens – in other words, understanding the bigger picture and then applying it to the individual instance. However, the majority of Sufis use the “signs to the Signifier” approach. The Signifier being a divine source, the analogy is similar to the process of understanding an artist through studying his creations.  In this way, many Sufis embrace the natural world, and as such it’s no surprise that Sufis are great defenders of the environment.

Relevance of Sufism within the Arab World

Sufism emphasizes “eco-spirituality” – the fundamental belief in the sacredness of nature. Since Gnostic teachings, the Kabalah, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc, all hold this as a key truth, it’s easy to see how Sufism has the capacity to bridge perceived divides between Islam and other faith groups.

According to Sufi expert and director at the Moroccan Ministry of Religious Affairs in Rabat, Ahmad Kostas, “Progress and change are basic tenets of Sufi philosophy.”  With this in mind, and with the premise of mutual appreciation for environmental initiatives, the common interest in eco-spirituality is a potential conduit for possible future partnerships between Mid East nations and their neighbors.

A Green Middle East

With the reasoning that a physical environment is reflective of a moral and cultural environment, proactive Sufi efforts to protect the environment can be seen in Morocco, where local Sufi youth gather regularly to “debate timely topics of social and political importance, ranging from the protection of the environment and social charity to the war on drugs and the threat of terrorism.”

It’s no wonder that this esoteric branch of Islam is now not only gaining increased worldwide attention as a possible solution to prevailing conflicts, but is also helping pave the way for a greener Mid East.

A green Mid East is slow in the making – mostly because as Karin Kloosterman points out, “environmental education is seriously lacking.” And while Sufis make up about 1/3 of all Muslims, unfortunately their reach and global presence is still limited.

It’s Saudi Arabia that’s still the front runner role when it comes to Islam and Mid East issues. If there’s to be a trickle down effect of green Muslims in the region, then Saudi Arabia is a good place to start.

Es begegneten sich einmal der Sufi Abu Said und der im Westen als Avicenna bekannte Philosoph Ibn Sina.

Als sie auseinander gingen, sagte der Sufi: “Was ich sehe, weiß er”.

Der Philosoph sagte: “Was ich weiß, sieht er”.

The household still figures in a meaningful way in modern statistical measurement (e.g., household income, number of households, etc.), but it has never carried any kind of spiritual connotation. Not so in the East. In Sufi circles, for one, at least in the tradition that I know a little something about, the Naqshbandi, to be a householder is deemed to be the minimum qualification for higher learning, thus for the spiritual path.

This stands in contrast to the Western and some Eastern traditions where higher forms of dedication appear to demand that the seeker abandon the usual life occupations, take up a celibate or ascetic style of living, and devote him- or herself entirely to the pursuit of God. The life of the artist, similarly, is viewed in the same way. Above all, as an artist, do not be bourgeois, for God’s sake! You must pursue a life in garrets, unattached, eccentric, and unpredictable. The nine-to-five is a definite No-No. I’ve always found this amusing in that—as secularization has spread like a brushfire over the last couple of completed centuries—the scribbler, painter, sculptor, musician, dancer, or actor have been required, in an odd sort of way, at least outwardly, to imitate the saint. Only sexual freedom—but to be enjoyed strictly outside the constrictions of marriage—has been granted these not-quite-volunteers to be the secular saints of the West.

When I came across the householder dictum in the writings of Idries Shah—and his writings are, above all, traditional Sufi teachings presented in varied and carefully selected assemblages to the modern Western reader—I felt a sense of confirmation. I’ve always subscribed to idea that hierarchies exist, but never to the notion that you could join them by merely conforming your behavior to some set pattern. Similarly I’ve considered the notion that the artist may be (or to be genuine even must be) an unreliable, unpredictable, irresponsible, and destructive rebel simply ridiculous: as if there is something magical in poems, novels, paintings, etc. that balances out a man fertilizing women at a whim, abandoning them and their children when another whim arises, and his body to alcohol and drugs because spontaneity trumps everything else. Pure, ignorant baloney.

I have always had difficulties with priesthoods—and this despite the fact that I believe in real hierarchies among the living and beyond. Priesthoods are the institutionalization, in effect the reification, of something much more dynamic and mysterious. Priesthoods have a certain functional role to play, alas. This comes home to me looking at the Muslim world. There the Prophet expressly forbade the forming of a priesthood, yet ranks upon ranks of lawyers came to represent that functions, and we have a priesthood there, too, in all but name. I bow to necessity. I’ve no objection to priests as functionaries. I oppose priesthood as the presupposition that it has a higher status than, say, a carpenter.

Why the focus on the householder in Sufism? In functional terms the householder is a responsible person who has managed the basic adaptations to the world and to society. One thing at a time. Before a person aspires to a higher level, she or he ought to be mistress or master of the fundamentals. This is very good doctrine, it seems to me, and equally pertinent to the would-be artist.

FRANCISCANS DISCOVER HOPKINS
1. SHOULD FRANCISCANS BE INTERESTED IN POETRY?

• St Francis was influenced by the troubadours. His interest in troubadours probably started on journeys to France as a child.
The troubadours:
o Sang in Italian or Provençal (French) and not Latin.
o Broke convention by singing love songs to ladies beyond their status.
o Used popular harmonies and rhythms.
St Francis wanted to be able to sing love songs to God with the same language of intimacy. He liked the fact that ordinary people could enjoy popular song styles and understand both words and music. Churchy Latin was remote.
Brother William SSF (Can it be True) was a modern Franciscan troubadour. In the late 60s and early 70s in Queensland William wrote ballads and songs and performed them at rallies with thousands of young people.
• Saint Francis was influenced by Sufi poetry. He wanted to travel to Morocco, Spain, and he succeeded in travelling to Damietta, all centres of Sufi poetry.
The Sufis:
o Wrote love poetry to God.
o The “whirling dervishes” got themselves into an ecstatic meditative state.
o Lived in covenanted communities.
Saint Francis asked Leo to whirl to determine which way to proceed at a crossroads. He was intrigued by ecstatic prayer, and he wanted to know more. Some scholars like Idres Shah believe that he came away from his meeting with the Sultan in Damietta having quizzed the sufis there.
Poetry expresses deep insights about God. The best theology is poetry. Good poetry is theology.
It is often difficult to discern the boundary between hymns and poetry. The poet-priest, George Herbert wrote Let All the World in Every Corner Sing, as a poem, but it makes a great hymn.

Sufis

Bahaudin Naqshband von Buchara: „Du magst den Weg vergessen haben: Aber die, die vor dir kamen, haben dich nicht vergessen“.

The real beauty of Sindh is not in its forests, fields, rivers and oceans, but in the tolerance, peace and harmony that was spread of by the Sindhi Sufis, the world’s original hippies. There message was love.. and this what marks Sindh as special no matter ethnic groups struggle over their position in it. Sindh has been alive for over 10,000 years, it has home to people from east and west, north and south. Sindh will go on long after all us are in our graves.. If there’s one thing we should teach our children before we go, it’s this. Sindh is not just a state, it’s a state of mind. And we can make it a state of grace, if we so choose. – Bina Shah

Poker Without Cards. A Consciousness Thriller.

I have made numerous attempts to write a review of Poker Without Cards and have come to the conclusion that it is a task much harder than I first anticipated. I will, however, make another attempt in the hope that this will do it justice as I feel that anyone who reads it will benefit greatly! But please don’t take my word for it!

A Joseph Matheny (Is he real?) has written the intro to Poker Without Cards and is of a different opinion to quote the final line of the introduction: “Since you have gotten this far I suppose you are going to read the transcript. Far be it from me to try and stop you.”

I failed to follow his advice and did read it. In fact, I have so far read it 4 times and always found it difficult to let go of it. Have I been infected?

The first time I read it I was somewhat bewildered and baffled at what this particular transcript was all about and yet I found it difficult not to carry on!

The format of Poker Without Cards is a transcript of the recording of a conversation beteween a Dr William Fink and a Howard Campbell, which takes place during 7 sessions in which Dr Fink is trying to understand what led his patient, Richard Wilson (Bucky) to be admitted to his mental hospital!

Well, that is the very basic of it and is really nothing more than the sceleton. It is the content of the conversation that takes you on what I can only describe as a “Mind Journey” and if you manage to read the whole book without giving in to the urge of googling certain stuff then you have done far better than me, who failed that part miserably. To take that a step further, I have compiled a reading list based on the stuff referenced in Poker Without Cards (Call me insane!)………..

What follows is a diary entry of mine from a while back. I thought it might be of some interest here. At the end I’ll enlarge on the initial reference, which I expect is obscure for most who haven’t read, or no longer remember, the book.

I found today the chapter in which a mountain lion plays a role in Carlos Castaneda’s Journey to Ixtlan; reading it I was reminded again of the mastery of the author. His knowledge is very advanced—and these days I’m experienced enough to recognize that. Therefore the various scholarly critical dismissals of his work, not least that he was simply writing fiction, thus imagining the content, I reject. No doubt the presentation is fictionalized; no doubt a good deal of his knowledge was acquired from books, but I am fairly sure that he was in touch with a living shaman tradition. Oddly enough  my conviction arises because I see so very many similarities with Sufi traditions, most pointedly the one that Gurdjieff had tapped into and exploited and Ouspensky “took to market,” as it were.

All harsh forms of mysticism seem derived from a cosmology in which the divine is conceived as indifferent to—but not unaware of—individual entities. These tend to be pantheisms. The discovery prized by their devotees is a kind of crystallization that takes place under extreme conditions of inner training. Castaneda’s cosmology fits into this class. There is no love relationship between creator and creature. The survival of death, in my definition of it anyway (as holding on to memories and to identity) is denied to all but the tiny minority of sorcerers.

The cosmology doesn’t interest me. What strikes me forcefully, however—and much more now than it did when I read Castaneda more than thirty years ago—is the force and correctness of the methods used and the accuracy of the psychological descriptions. Castaneda’s vantage point—from what he claims is a “primitive” position, pre-Christian, unaware of Judaism, blind to Islam, ignorant of Hinduism, and so on and so forth—is now, and has always been, for me, very original and refreshing. The motivation for action is direct and entirely free of the vast overhang of cultural forms, rituals, traditions, dogma, and unsavory history that, in truth, completely suffocate spirituality in the West. Here you find the hard basics—and find it easy to ignore the primitive framework, anchored in nature, which is the teaching’s outward support. This sort of thing attracts the adventurer, the solitary, the “I-want-to-do-it-my-way” personality.

Much of this originality really comes from having different names for everything—while the relationship of concepts to real life remain the same. The authenticity of this teaching shines through, however. This is not just a verbal exercise. Castaneda’s stuff comes from people who got there the hard way, by doing, experiencing, and thinking things through in an environment quite different, back when their patterns were laid down, than that of any other tradition on earth. 

The mountain-lion episode appears in Chapter 11 of Ixtlan,  entitled “The Mood of the Warrior.” This mood is composed of contradictories, iron control and total abandon. Castaneda’s guide into sorcery, don Juan, arranges an experience in which Castaneda encounters a mountain lion by night. Moved by fear, he acts with a great deal of skill and yet with total abandon, and this don Juan later explains is the warrior’s mood. It can be invoked at will—not merely by fright.

Other aspects of this story left an impression on me. Don Juan reminds Castaneda that his disciple simply acted, did what was necessary to escape the mountain lion. He treated the mountain lion without unnecessary, extraneous judgments—such as hating it, or imputing all sorts of fancy motives to the animal. At the time I read the story, it suddenly struck me that in most cases, dealing with individuals and with institutions, it is indeed very wise to regard them simply as natural phenomena without wasting time on all kinds of secondary interpretations of their motives. That view has served me very well. I remembered that a while back and went back to reread the account, hence that entry in my diary. The last paragraph of that chapter is interesting too:

I know, I know,” don Juan said patiently. “To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of the warrior’s spirit. It takes power to do that.”

Now the mention of two names, G.I. Gurdieff and P.D. Ouspensky. Both were Russian émigrés, Gurdieff the leader of a self-development system which has earmarks of having been derived from Sufism. Ouspensky became its chief advocate. The essentials of the teaching are in the latter’s book, The Fourth Way.

The other day I mentioned the Venerable Solanus Casey, a man on his way to sainthood; I know of him because he’d spent many years in Detroit. At that time, looking back over his history, I was reminded of the fact that Casey had been ordained a “simplex” priest, meaning that he could celebrate mass but was prohibited from hearing confessions or giving homilies. Why? His superiors in the Capuchin order thought that he lacked the intellectual capacity. Perhaps. But his saintly powers, not least to heal the sick, those soon began to manifest…

This reminded me of a Sufi story called “The Man Who Walked on Water,” found in Idries Shah’s volume titled Tales of the Dervishes. The story, on page 84, goes like this in summary:

A dervish who belonged to a conventional sort of community was walking along a river and meditating on moralistic and scholastic problems; such problems formed the core teaching of his group. As he walked he was suddenly startled to hear an outcry coming from the island in the water. Someone was intoning the dervish call, YA HU but doing it all wrong; the man over there was saying U YA HU. Our dervish decided that the ignoramus on the island needed instruction. He hired a rowboat and got over there. He found a man dressed in a dervish robe, stopped by him, and carefully instructed the unfortunate.

Our man then left the island again, satisfied; he’d done a good deed. Rowing back he reflected on this sacred formula. It was said that anyone who could repeat it properly could even learn to walk on water, something our man had always hoped to do—but had always failed to achieve. Now he listened, but no sounds came. He had reached the middle of the water when he heard a halting start coming from over there, the ignorant dervish starting out with U YA again. Our man shook his head. Perverse humanity, persistent in error. Then he suddenly beheld a strange sight. The dervish from over there was walking on water, coming out toward the boat. Our man stopped rowing in astonishment. The dervish arrived. “Sorry to trouble you,” he said, standing on the river. “My memory is weak. I’ve already forgotten how to say it right. Could you help me again…?”

11. Die Nachahmung der Tugenden anderer ist mehr Nachahmung als Tugend. Versuche herauszufinden, worauf diese Tugenden beruhen.

12. In der Isolation gibt es keine Praxis.

13. Wenn du einen Lehrer suchst, versuche ein wirklicher Schüler zu werden. Wenn du ein Schüler sein möchtest, versuche einen wirklichen Lehrer zu finden.

14. Je öfter du etwas tust, desto öfter wirst du es wiedertun. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit ist groß, daß Wiederholung nichts bewirkt – als weitere Wiederholung.

15. Zuerst bist du der Gewänder und der Gerätschaften der Sufis nicht würdig. Später brauchst du sie nicht mehr. Zuletzt brauchst du sie vielleicht um der anderen willen.

16. Wenn du nicht oft und echt lachen kannst, hast du keine Seele.

17. Wenn dir ein Glaube mehr bedeutet als ein Instrument, dann bist du verloren. Du bleibst so lange verloren, bis du begreifst, wozu ein “Glaube” eigentlich da ist.

18. Wenn ein Derwisch an deinem materiellen Wohlergehen interessiert ist, kannst du dich darüber freuen. Aber meist geschieht das nur, weil du auf etwas anderes noch nicht vorbereitet bist.

19. Wenn dich jemand um Hilfe fragt, glaubst du, er tut es, weil er allein nicht zurecht kommt? Vielleicht ist es ein Sufi, der dich mit seiner Aufgabe nur bekanntmacht, um dir zu helfen.

20. Wenn du faul bist, freu dich, wenn dich einer darauf aufmerksam macht. Er gibt dir eine Chance. Faulheit ist immer ein Fehler. Sie ist das Zeichen dafür, daß ein Mensch zu lange nutzlos dahingelebt hat.

> Diese 20 Sätze zielen auf die Überlistung des falschen Selbst, (vgl. die 3 Teile von Charles Tart) das kleinere Befriedigungen braucht. Dem Sufi geht es um Fana (das Verschwinden des falschen Selbst) und Baqa (das Bleiben des Wahren). Hinter dem vermeintlichen “Ich”, das vergänglich ist, liegt das wahre Ich, das charakterisiert ist durch das Bewußtsein der Wahrheit, der Wirklichkeit.