Fear, Clarity, Power, & Old Age: THESE ARE THE FOUR NATURAL ENEMIES OF A PERSON OF KNOWLEDGE

The context of this blog comes from the book written by Carlos Castaneda.  I find it intriguing and powerfully accurate.  It has answered many of the frustrations and "unasked" questions in my life.    Much has been eliminated in respect for time, but the power of it is in tact.  For those of us who live on the battlefield of learning, strive to grow, and is ever seeking to make a difference, you will be inspired.  Enjoy--Ivory

 "When a person starts to learn, he is never clear about his objectives.  His purpose is faulty; his intent is vague.  He hopes for rewards that will never materialize for he knows nothing of the hardships of learning.  He slowly begins to learn—bit by bit at first, then in big chunks.  His thoughts soon clash.  What he learns is never what he pictured, or imagined, and so he begins to be afraid.  Learning is never what one expects.  Every step of learning is a new task, and the fear the man experiences begins to mount mercilessly, unyieldingly.  His purpose becomes a battlefield.

 His four natural enemies shows up:

Enemy #1 is fear--

Enemy #2 is clarity--

Enemy #3 is power--I delved into this enemy for clarity

Enemy #4 is old age--I also delved into this enemy for clarity and closure

 Defeat by any of the enemies precludes the emergence into the full recognition of “A Person of Knowledge.

 To me, the most damaging enemy is ENEMY #3, POWER, as it is an enemy of the soul.  It is the strongest of all enemies.  It means the person is invincible.  He commands; he begins in taking calculated risks, and ends in making rules, because he is a master.  A man at this stage hardly notices his third enemy closing in on him.  And suddenly, without knowing, he will certainly have lost the battle.  His enemy will have turned him into a cruel, capricious man.

 Will he lose his power? No.  He will never lose his power or his clarity.  What distinguishes him from a man of knowledge is his inability in knowing how to handle it.  A man who is defeated by power dies without really knowing how to handle it.  Power is only a burden upon his fate.  Such a man has no command over himself, and cannot tell when or how to use his power….

 He can only defeat this enemy if he defies it deliberately.  He has to come to the realization that the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality, not really his….(there is much more I will not cover.)

 Enemy #4, Old age, is the cruelest of all, the one he won’t be able to defeat completely; but only fight away.  This is a time when a man has no more fears, no more impatient clarity of mind—a time when all his power is in check, but also a time when he has an unyielding desire to rest. 

If he gives in totally to his desire to lie down and forget, if he soothes himself in tiredness, he will have lost his last round, and his enemy will cut him down into a feeble old creature.  His desire to retreat will overrule all his clarity, his power, and his knowledge.

 But if a mans sloths off his tiredness, and lives his fate through, he can then be called a man of knowledge, if only for the brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last, invincible enemy.  That moment of clarity, power, and knowledge is enough.

To me, this is the essence of life, when "enough" is truly, "enough."  WOW!! the journey continues....stay tuned.

 Remember, while slight variations are mine; the crux of this content is from the book:  The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda...