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->"When a warrior has acquired patience he is on his way to will. He knows how to wait. His
death sits with him on his mat, they are friends. His death advises him, in mysterious ways,
how to choose, how to live strategically.
"And the warrior waits! I would say that the warrior learns without any hurry because he
knows he is waiting for his will; and one day he succeeds in performing something ordinarily
quite impossible to accomplish. He may not even notice his extraordinary deed.
"But as he keeps on performing impossible acts, or as impossible things keep on happening to
him, he becomes aware that a sort of power is emerging. A power that conies out of his body
as he progresses on the path of knowledge. At first it is like an itching on the belly, or a warm
spot that cannot be soothed; then it becomes a pain, a great discomfort. Sometimes the pain
and discomfort are so great that the warrior has convulsions for months, the more severe the
convulsions the better for him. A fine power is always heralded by great pain.
"When the convulsions cease the warrior notices he has strange feelings about things. He
notices that he can actually touch anything he wants with a feeling that comes out of his body
from a spot right below or right above his navel. That feeling is the will, and when he is
capable of grabbing with it, one can rightfully say that the warrior is a sorcerer, and that he
has acquired will."
Don Juan stopped talking and seemed to await my comments or questions. I had nothing to
say. I was deeply concerned with the idea that a sorcerer had to experience pain and
convulsions but I felt embarrassed about asking him if I also had to go through that. Finally,
after a long silence, I asked him, and he giggled as if he had been anticipating my question.
He said that pain was not absolutely necessary; he, for example, had never had it and will had
just happened to him.
"One day I was in the mountains," he said, "and I stumbled upon a puma, a female one; she
was big and hungry. I ran and she ran after me. I climbed a rock and she stood a few feet
away ready to jump. I threw rocks at her. She growled and began to charge me. It was then
that my will fully came out, and I stopped her with it before she jumped on me.
I caressed her with my will. I actually rubbed her tits with it. She looked at me with sleepy
eyes and lay down and I ran like a son of a bitch before she got over it."
death sits with him on his mat, they are friends. His death advises him, in mysterious ways,
how to choose, how to live strategically.
"And the warrior waits! I would say that the warrior learns without any hurry because he
knows he is waiting for his will; and one day he succeeds in performing something ordinarily
quite impossible to accomplish. He may not even notice his extraordinary deed.
"But as he keeps on performing impossible acts, or as impossible things keep on happening to
him, he becomes aware that a sort of power is emerging. A power that conies out of his body
as he progresses on the path of knowledge. At first it is like an itching on the belly, or a warm
spot that cannot be soothed; then it becomes a pain, a great discomfort. Sometimes the pain
and discomfort are so great that the warrior has convulsions for months, the more severe the
convulsions the better for him. A fine power is always heralded by great pain.
"When the convulsions cease the warrior notices he has strange feelings about things. He
notices that he can actually touch anything he wants with a feeling that comes out of his body
from a spot right below or right above his navel. That feeling is the will, and when he is
capable of grabbing with it, one can rightfully say that the warrior is a sorcerer, and that he
has acquired will."
Don Juan stopped talking and seemed to await my comments or questions. I had nothing to
say. I was deeply concerned with the idea that a sorcerer had to experience pain and
convulsions but I felt embarrassed about asking him if I also had to go through that. Finally,
after a long silence, I asked him, and he giggled as if he had been anticipating my question.
He said that pain was not absolutely necessary; he, for example, had never had it and will had
just happened to him.
"One day I was in the mountains," he said, "and I stumbled upon a puma, a female one; she
was big and hungry. I ran and she ran after me. I climbed a rock and she stood a few feet
away ready to jump. I threw rocks at her. She growled and began to charge me. It was then
that my will fully came out, and I stopped her with it before she jumped on me.
I caressed her with my will. I actually rubbed her tits with it. She looked at me with sleepy
eyes and lay down and I ran like a son of a bitch before she got over it."