Los Angeles - August 1995
To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Aug 1, 1995 Tensegrity workshop in LA
Carlos showed up for this first meeting. It was a surprise to everyone.
Several of the other members of his group had already been present, taking
information, checking people in, even directing traffic. But when it
was time for the Chacmools to make their entrance, Carlos lead the way.
He walked quickly up to the front of the group and introduced himself.
He was wearing brand new Levi pants, and a dress shirt with no pockets.
He explained later that his shirt had no pockets because he used to
be a smoker.
Despite previous descriptions of Carlos as short and homely, I found him
to be short and handsome. He was elderly, but in a very vigorous way.
All of his hand movements were quick and energetic, he bounced about
during his lecture, pounding his hands on the platform at key moments.
Even sounds in the room such as the slamming of doors often fell into
line with the timing of his lecture. His eyes had the difference
that a sorcerer's eyes are supposed to have. His left eye was blank
and dark and slightly crossed from the other. He had straight, relatively
short, nearly fully gray, hair. He was short, extremely slim, but
slightly more muscular in his chest area.
I sure with that Rich had been there to take notes. As it is, I'll have
to do it from memory. I was only a few feet from Carlos and he kept
up constant eye contact with the audience. Taking notes would have
been quite inappropriate. That means that my quotes will be off and my
stories not quite the same as what Carlos said. But I'll try to keep
the differences to a minimum.
Carlos started by telling us that people often ask him, "How come this
Tensegrity stuff wasn't in the books?"
Carlos answered that it was, it was all over the place. He sited the
example of don Juan cracking his bones. He told a short story of
how he enjoyed that so much that he started a conversation with don Juan
about it. Don Juan suggested that he copy him exactly and learn to do
it himself. That was the beginning of his Tensegrity training.
Carlos told us that don Juan once asked him if he didn't think it
was strange that the position of the assemblage point of the entire world
was so uniform. When Carlos said that it hadn't occurred to him, don
Juan elaborated, asking him if it wasn't a really great mystery that
with all of the places and cultures in the world that we all shared the
common fixation with I, I, I, Me, me, me.
Carlos elaborated that we aren't born with that idea, but that it is
taught to us and that we clutch the idea to the our very grave. He said
that we go to the grave thinking "me, me, me". And at no time in
our lives do we give it up.
Don Juan explained that it wasn't our fault that we were like that, that
something else was the cause. Then he described the flyers to Carlos.
He said that seers had perceived something streaking by so fast that
it was fast even to the eye of a sorcerer. These turned out to be
possessors of awareness without a physical being. The feed off our
energy, licking us until only the self-reflection energy is left.
It's their intention that we never look anywhere else. They want us
to just keep quiet and let them feed.
Carlos didn't believe in the flyers. During his lecture he emphasized how
difficult it had all been for him to believe, being an academic and
subconsciously considering himself superior to don Juan.
Carlos asked don Juan if he could see the flyers. Don Juan said, "Of course
you can see them. But not in your present condition." Carlos wanted to
know why, and don Juan told him that it was because he was "too fat."
At this point Carlos explained that he loved to eat bacon sandwiches
at that time. He would eat 17 a day, and then another 12 peanut butter
and jelly.
He also explained that for a sorcerer it wasn't appropriate to go to
Bally's health spa or to exercise in an ordinary manner. He said that
a sorcerer would only condition his body in that manner with Tensegrity.
Carlos explained the purpose of Tensegrity in the same manner as the
Chacmools: to give a flavor to our awareness that isn't palitable to
the flyers. But he also gave another explanation.
He described how some galaxies were thought to be held together
by a gigantic black hole at their center. Although no one had
proven that, it was the only thing that could explain why the planets
hadn't spiraled out of the system long ago.
He said that the same concept could be used to describe us. We were
a collection of luminious filaments with an even brighter glow of
awareness. Something kept that awareness from escaping into infinity.
It was that force that held the awareness there which Tensegrity was
directed at.
Carlos said that once asked don Juan if there was any way to know if
the Tensegrity was working for him. Don Juan said that there was a test,
but that it was too disgusting to tell him about. After being egged
on in this manner, Carlos just couldn't resist and begged don Juan to
tell him the test, even if it was offensive.
Don Juan said, "All right, but you have to promise to tell me the results,
no matter how offensive." Carlos readily agreed.
Don Juan told Carlos to go into his bathroom at home, drop his pants,
bend over and grab his ankles, and point his butt towards the east.
Then he was to fart. If the tensegrity was working, it would be
a long and volumous fart. If the Tensegrity was not working, it would
be just a little peep.
Carlos explained that don Juan was very crude, but that he (Carlos)
was guillable enough to believe the test. He actually tried it, and
reported the results back to don Juan. "I'm in really bad shape...",
he said. Don Juan turned to his associates, laughing, and repeated,
"He's in bad shape!"
Carlos explained that don Juan's payment for teaching him had been
endless hours of entertainment at Carlos' expense.
Carlos related the story of how don Juan cured him of smoking.
Carlos explained that he'd smoked since he was a boy, and that he used
to get out of breath very easily from exercise, so he'd catch his breath
by inhaling cigarettes. One time don Juan announced that they were going
on a little trip to the mountains for 10 days. Carlos said that the
place they were going was a place with extreme ravines and really
outstanding landscapes. Don Juan told him not to worry about bringing
anything, except maybe cigarettes since they would be gone for 10 days.
He told him to be very generous and bring 50 packs.
Don Juan told him to wrap them in foil and cloth because the coyotes
might carry them off, they just couldn't resist the intoxicating smell
of tobacco.
Carlos said that he suspected something was going to happen, so the
first day he smoked like mad. Then he went to bed, and when he woke
up in the morning the cigarettes were gone.
Don Juan wasn't worried. He told Carlos, "How far could a coyote possibly
go carrying a huge bundle of cigarettes? He's probably gotten them
stuck in a branch or in a rock crevice not 20 yards from here. All we
have to do is find the trail."
Don Juan spent the next 8 hours with Carlos trying to locate the trail.
Carlos was chuckling at this point in his story. He said that the
trail they found went up and down the most extreme ravines he had
ever seen. Eventually they followed it to a very deep and dangerous
ravine. Don Juan asked him if he really wanted to go down there after
the cigarettes. Carlos said that at that point he was so desperite for
a cigarette that he would have done anything. He went down, didn't find
the cigarettes, and got stuck.
It was nighttime by then, so don Juan told him not to worry, he'd get him
out of there in the morning. The next day don Juan found a very windy
and roundabout path that allowed him to get back up.
I can't remember how many days had elapsed by that time in the story,
but don Juan finally announced to Carlos that perhaps, if he would be
willing to smoke some local "dark" tobacco, they could find some
cigarettes in a nearby town.
Carlos said that he responded, "Of course, I'll smoke ANYTHING! I'd even
smoke YOU if I could."
Don Juan then proceeded to show him the way to a local town, but after
a while he admitted, "I'm getting old. I'm lost."
Carlos said that he was furious at that point. He confided to us that
there were many times in his association with don Juan that he would
have loved to have done harm to him, but that he was afraid of don Juan.
After a few days of being "lost", Carlos noticed that his ability to
climb up and down the ravines was outstanding. And he no longer had
any craving for cigarettes. At that point, don Juan announced that he
was tired of roaming about with Carlos, that it was time to go home.
He walked not 20 yards and pointed out that this was the road to home.
Carlos said that the road had been there all the time, but that he
hadn't a clue and actually believed they were lost.
A good portion of Carlos' lecture was aimed at dispelling the rumors
and speculation about the chacmools. Carlos stated that he had
tried to build up a base of serious practicioners on his own for years,
teaching Tensegrity among other things. But he had failed. All he
had suceeded in doing was providing lingo to unscrupulous people
who actually went out and proceeded to bury people in dirt coffins and
claimed to be able to teach them stalking and dreaming. Carlos looked
incredulous as he said, "How could they possibly teach stalking and
dreaming?"
He said that the chacmools had, in an extremely short time, succeeded
where he had failed. He said that his assemblage point was in a different
place than ours, but that the chacmools were halfway between here and
infinity.
Carlos emphasized that he would be talking to us again, many times.
He said that he would be back to answer questions when both groups (the
2 classes) were together, I guess meaning on a sunday lecture.
Then he said that we should suspend judgement because this class was very
special. It was designed to produce a specific effect on us. He looked
around and said that he was looking at our heels, that he was looking
for that "spark". He said that at the end of three weeks there would
be plenty of sparks. Then we could talk. Until then, it was just one
person talking to another, and he didn't have anything to say except,
"Let's get a hamburger" and "What's your name?" But if we made the
commitment to join in his incredible exploration, then he was bound
to do everything in his power for us. He didn't want the knowledge
to just die with him, to end there. He wanted to give it to us.
The last thing Carlos said was, "Let's Boogy!"
The Chacmools then came out to teach. There's no point to relating
the tensegrity movements they taught, except to say that I hadn't learned
them on the first tape or at any of three workshops I'd attended recently.
The teaching was very different, they were focusing in on VERY minor point.
Yet they made these seem to be extremely important. For instance,
we practiced just moving our thumb in tight to our hands, while lifting
the arm ever so slightly, and looking for a feeling in our chest and
armpits. Likewise, the horse stance used was shallower and there
was an emphasis on turning in the toes. Kylie told us to look for a feeling
of tension on the inside thigh, and also told us to practice walking
around for the next three weeks, with our toes pointed slightly inward.
They also advised us to cut out refined sugar for the three weeks, cut
back on starches, and cut back on fruit. Also, eat less salt. They
emphasized that this course was special, and was designed to produce a
very specific effect.
I asked one of the chacmools if the two course schedules, the A and B,
were going to be the same thing. She stated that it had been planned
that way, but that who knows what will happen energetically.
Well, that's all for tonight.
Dan
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