"The spirit is a force," he said, "and as such, it responds only to strength. You cannot indulgein its presence.""When did I indulge?""Yesterday, when you became green in the water.""I did not indulge. I thought it was a very important moment and I told you what washappening to me.""Who are you to think or decide what is important? You know nothing about the forces you'retapping. The spirit of the water hole exists out there and could have helped you; in fact it washelping you until you flubbed it. Now I don't know what will be the outcome of your doings.You have succumbed to the force of the water-hole spirit and now it can take you any time.""Was it wrong to look at myself turning green?""You abandoned yourself. You willed to abandon yourself. That was wrong. I have told youthis already and I will repeat it again. You can survive in the world of a brujo only if you are awarrior. A warrior treats every-thing with respect and does not trample on anything unless hehas to. You did not treat the water with respect yesterday. Usually you behave very well.However, yesterday you abandoned yourself to your death, like a goddamned fool. A warriordoes not abandon himself to anything, not even to his death. A warrior is not a willing partner;a warrior is not available, and if he involves him-self with something, you can be sure that heis aware of what he is doing."I did not know what to say. Don Juan was almost angry. That disturbed me. Don Juan hadrarely behaved in such a way with me. I told him that I truly had no idea I was doingsomething wrong. After some minutes of tense silence he took off his hat and smiled and toldme that I had gained control over my indulging self. He stressed that I had to avoid water andkeep it from touching the surface of my body for three or four months."I don't think I could go without taking a shower," I said.Don Juan laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks."You can't go without a shower! At times you're so weak I think you're putting me on. But itis not a joke. At times you really have no control and the forces of your life take you freely."I raised the point that it was humanly impossible to be controlled at all times. He maintainedthat for a warrior there was nothing out of control, I brought up the idea of accidents and saidthat what happened to me at the water canal could certainly be classed as an accident, since Ineither meant it nor was I aware of my improper behavior. I talked about different people whohad misfortunes that could be explained as accidents; I talked especially about Lucas, a veryfine old Yaqui man who had suffered a serious injury when the truck he was drivingoverturned.