Overcoming the Four Enemies

One of the most influential writers to stir me in examining life more closely may, in fact, have been a complete fraud. Who knows? Were the stories of Carlos Castaneda completely made up, in whole or in part, or were they based upon genuine experiences with a group of sorcerers in Mexico more than a half a century ago? I like to think they are based upon real events, but am not really sure they are even of this reality... but then again, it doesn't matter to me, as his works have been so impactive as to have altered the course of my thinking and life in general these many long years.

Castaneda’s philosophy offers a powerful perspective for those seeking an engaged, meaningful and happy life. While Castaneda held an esteemed doctorate in anthropology from UCLA, his unbelievable experiences with a Yaqui Indian shaman teacher Don Juan Matus may have stretched his credibility, but his stories have continued to grip the imagination and awaken the souls of millions of readers for more than a generation.

While chastised by his academic peers for attempting to pass off a fictional account as a remarkable anthropological narrative of real-life events, one must stop short of discounting his work because, even if it is a fraud, Castaneda has synthesized something quite profound from esoteric occult traditions and created a rich and complex philosophy worthy of consideration, nonetheless.

One has to, at the least, admire the audacity of his madness - legitimizing his own invented new age philosophy by submitting a fictionalized account that formed the basis of his Ph.D. thesis. When confronted with holes in his stories by his wife and others, he would calmly explain his magical double body was involved in the mix-up.

Mad? I think not. The mythos he created, even if it was completely imaginary, offers readers a very practical set of guidelines for living an examined and full life. Castaneda introduced the concept of a “man of knowledge” - a person who lives an examined life and progresses through stages of awareness, connection, and ego dissolution. His teacher, Don Juan, explains that a man of knowledge must overcome four sequential challenges.

The first obstacle that a man of knowledge must overcome is fear, which Don Juan described as a natural response to real learning. Significant learning challenges our existing beliefs and understanding. Meaningful learning changes our knowledge of our self and our objectives. Imagine realizing you are not who you thought you are and you don’t want what you thought you wanted! So what then?

When you define it that way, learning something important is existentially terrifying, by which we mean to say: It threatens the very existence of “you” as you conceive yourself. Conquering your first enemy is a simple, one-step process. Don’t be afraid to learn and grow. That’s good advice whether or not you get it from a strange Indian shaman who gives you mushrooms and turns into a crow.

Once you are no longer afraid, you achieve clarity. Sounds like a good thing, but Don Juan said clarity holds you back from becoming a man of knowledge. Clarity can make you rash and overconfident. You may feel like your fearlessness has guided you to full self-development and you may be sure you are learning the right thing, but perhaps you are on a dead-end path when you should be exploring. To avoid this pitfall, Castaneda explained “He must.. wait patiently and measure carefully before taking new steps; he must think, above all, that his clarity is almost a mistake.” So, don’t get cocky. How many of us could have used this advice around the middle of our careers?

Once you overcome fear and see through the irony of clarity, you can achieve power. A person who learns the secrets of power knows when to take risks and knows how to make rules. Their invincibility can make them cruel and capricious, a slave to their own power which insists it must grow. Castaneda reports that Don Juan told him how to surmount this obstacle to complete the journey of a man of knowledge. “He has to defy it, deliberately. He has to come to realize the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his. He must keep himself in line at all times, handling carefully and faithfully all that he has learned. If he can see that clarity and power, without his control over himself, are worse than mistakes, he will reach a point where everything is held in check. He will know then when and how to use his power. And thus he will have defeated his third enemy.”

In the end, we must all face old age, the final and cruelest enemy, the one over whom we can never ultimately triumph, said Castaneda. Our one hope for glory, our chance to manifest completeness in the journey of a man of knowledge, is to push on through old age and resist the temptation to rest. Having fought through fear, seen through clarity, and learned how to wield power, we may feel we have achieved everything and choose merely to rest and retreat. Here it is most important when we are most self-actualized to continue to remain passionately engaged with life.

As Buddhists say, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” This, for Carlos Castaneda, is the crowning achievement and the moment of peace and fulfillment in the life of a man of knowledge. And it’s also pretty much what we know about happiness and longevity from studying places where lots of people live to be over 100 years old.

As an old warrior, I look back (but not for very long), knowing that I conquered fear early on and achieved a satisfying degree of clarity and direction while still a young man chasing his dreams. For awhile I was king of the world, and everything around me turned around. It was very satisfying to wield power, with care not to abuse it, all the while knowing that it was only mine for awhile before I needed to pass the baton to the next champion. So, now I am old, but not down for the count. As a fulfilled man of knowledge, I continue to do what got me to this point. There is no time for rest. So much to do. So many dreams yet to chase, but I do so now with a used up old man's body... but forever with a young man's heart, forever grateful for the lessons and guidance of a mysterious writer named Carlos and the counsel of his Indian shaman sorcerer, Don Juan.

Adapted from an article by Rascal Voyages on May 16, 2018, on medium.com