Carlos Castaneda – Quotes by Master Don Juan Matus – Part 2

Much light is as much shadow: it blocks the view.

Take a good and deliberate look at each path. Experiment them as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself only one question: does this path have a heart? If it does then it is a good path, if not then it’s of no use.

The key to all of these mysteries of impeccability is the meaning of not having time. As a rule, when you feel and act as an immortal being who has all the time in the world, you are not impeccable; in this case, you should step back and look around you and then comprehend that your impression of having time is quite idiotic. There are no survivors in such a world! You should act even if you don’t believe, without expecting rewards, act for the sake of acting.

Power is in the kind of knowledge that you have. What good does it do you to know useless things? They will not prepare us for the inevitable encounter with the unknown.

It doesn’t occur to us that we can cut off anything in our lives, at any time, in the blink of an eye.

There are many things that a warrior can do at any given time that could not have been done years before. These things don’t change; what has changed is the warrior’s conception of himself.

The path of the warrior offers men a new life, and this life has to be completely new. He cannot bring into this new life his old and terrible habits.

All of the faculties, possibilities and feats of xamanism, from the most simple to the most awe inspiring, are held within the human body.

There is no reality without sadness and longing, for without them there is no sobriety, nor goodness. Wisdom without goodness and knowledge without sobriety are useless.

Do not disdain the mystery of man within you, feeling sorry for yourself or trying to rationalize it. Disdain the stupidity of man in you, comprehending it. But do not apologize for either of them, for both are necessary.

The possibilities of man are so vast and mysterious that the warriors, instead of thinking about them, chose to explore them, without hoping to ever come to understand them.