The nagual Elias used to tell me that the whole of humanity has moved away from the abstract, although at one time we must have been close to it. It must have been our sustaining force. And then something happened and pulled us away from the abstract. Now we can’t get back to it. He used to say that it takes years for an apprentice to be able to go back to the abstract, that is, to know that knowledge and language can exist independent of each other. ~ Don Juan, The Power of Silence

Don Juan goes on to tell Carlos, knowledge and language are separate; for a sorcerer an abstract is something with no parallel in the human condition. Sorcerers meet the abstract without thinking about it or seeing it or touching it or feeling its presence.

This is what I refer to as aligning with intent; merging with the abstract and no words to explain it. It’s like being a witness, an observer, to an unfolding of abstractions of incomparable proportion. To attempt to find words to describe that which cannot be described would be to attempt to reason something out instead of just accepting it for what it is. That’s why it is referred to as being in the abstract, it exists without reference to a specific thing or instance. To try to define the abstract minimizes and greatly diminishes that which is purely magical and sublime.

Like everything else, when one who has experienced the abstract attempts to define it for another by putting it into words, they have no choice but to compare it to events or instances from a state of reason. Someone who is receiving this information then endeavors to understand it and make sense of it by formulating a perceptual base through their own filters and obviously their own different experiences which immediately diminishes the initial experience and removes it from the abstract thereby placing the experience into a quasi-definable distinction in an attempt to give form or meaning to it.

The person who is now attempting to understand the abstract experience of another may even go as far as trying to duplicate and encounter the exact same experience (impossible!) and will either fail which may cause them to waste precious energy by attempting to experience something they cannot; or, they may assert to have achieved their goal in claiming to have had the exact same experience. They have taken that which came from emptiness and gave it form. Now others may attempt to reach the goal of experiencing this particular “abstract” through the definitions and the methodologies provided; and thus, a new myth is born.

The abstract is abstract and is unique to the perception of each individual. It’s an awesome thing to witness the abstract unfolding. There is no guide-book, no how-to guide. Carlos presented concepts, abstract cores, and philosophies for the path of freedom but those who attempt to hold you accountable to any path by imposing their will upon you have yet to experience the silent knowledge that resides in the abstract. Don Juan didn’t tell Carlos that he had to move towards freedom through reason, protocols or dogma. He instructed Carlos on what he needed to remove from his “inventory” so he could become empty and connected with the power of silence. No two journeys for a warrior of freedom will ever be the same, cannot be the same.

The bottom line is and personal power and the resulting usable energy. Power is and power moves.

Keep dancing!