Undo the World

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"First of all you must use your ears to take some of the burden from your eyes. We have been using our eyes to judge the world since the time we were born. We talk to others and to ourselves mainly about what we see. A warrior is aware of that and listens to the world; he listens to the sounds of the world."
I put my notes away. Don Juan laughed and said that he did not mean I should force the issue, that listening to the sounds of the world had to be done harmoniously and with great patience.
 "A warrior is aware that the world will change as soon as he stops talking to himself", he said, "and he must be prepared for that monumental jolt".
"What do you mean, don Juan?"
"The world is such-and-such or so-and-so only because we tell ourselves that that is the way it is. If we stop telling ourselves that the world is so-and-so, the world will stop being so-and-so. At this moment I don't think you're ready for such a momentous blow, therefore you must start slowly to undo the world."

*******
Carlos Castaneda (Cajamarca, Perú, December 25, 1925 ~ Los Angeles, California, April 27, 1998). A Separate Reality: Further conversations with Don Juan.
◙ Cornelis Saftleven

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