Creativity & Imagination
In light of recent conversations, it occurs to me yet again that there are seemingly many different paths that lead to the same destination - or at least address the same goal. We cannot really know where our path leads until we reach the destination - and as I've come to see over the years, the journey really isn't about the destination at all, but the way in which we travel.
Awhile back, I wrote a bit called "The Toltec Religion" which has definite relevance to what I'm going to say here. Bottom line being... I don't believe that ANY path has ALL the answers, and that includes Toltec. Because I have used a lot of the Toltec terminology in the past, people assume I adhere strictly to some sort of Castaneda-esque journey. Not so. I have simply found that the Toltec terminology allows for a syntax which many can relate to, and so it has been a convenient tool for me in the past, though I've been moving away from that terminology in favor of "a new syntax" - which has also come close to resulting in some witch burning along the way. *LOL*
Thing is... as our experiences grow and evolve, it becomes necessary for our language to grow and evolve as well. That's not really the point of this ramble, but knowing it may shed some light on where I'm coming from.
In the Toltec practices, we hear a lot about detachment, unconcern, etc., and pretty soon those terms can get stuck in broad misconceptions. One person starts to belive that "unconcern" means thus-and-so, and the word unconcern becomes synonymous with "detachment" and pretty soon WAY too many people are hearing the word "blue" but seeing the color purple without ever stopping to ask if that was the original intent of the speaker (in this case, don Juan), or if it it just the meaning they themselves have attached to the word as a result of hearing it for so long. Any doubt of this, think of the word "tree" and what comes to mind? Chances are, it is a standard, almost cartoon-like idea of a tree bearing little or no resemblance to any real tree whatsoever. It is your own IDEA about the tree, but to what extent is it actually a tree at all?
So, my point here is that sometimes of late I have started to feel that the whole Toltec "syntax" may be running the high risk of turning into just "IDEAS" about a concept, with little or no resemblance to the thing the idea is attempting to describe. We say the word "dreaming" and though we all know what it MEANS, those who have been hearing it for years probably instantly form a mental picture of what dreaming is, but have little or no meta-physical reaction at all. And, frankly, I'm not sure that's a good thing. Not sure it's a bad thing either. But when we begin to lose touch with the POWER of the thing, we may run the risk of losing touch with the MAGIC of the thing as well.
Now, there are plenty of more traditional Toltecs who would say that we need to dispense with magic altogether. We need to be only rational, straightforward thinkers. Some have even gone so far as to say Dreaming itself is a waste of time, and Stalking is the only real tool for a warrior's arsenal. Rest assured, I'm not one of them. Nor would I want to be.
Sometimes I've wondered if the difference may be a gender thaaang. Most of the hard-core intellectual stalkers I know are male. Most of the witchy dreamers are female. Both would call themselves "Toltec", yet their approach to the path is virtually night and day. I'm not going to label it as a gender issue, however, because there is plenty of crossover.
In a recent conversation with a friend, I was asked to define what I would consider to be the most important aspect of (so-called) "spiritual teaching". After a bit of thought, I said that the most important thing to ME about teaching is finding something that INSPIRES someone to rise up and meet their own path head-on. I can talk all day about recapitulation and stalking and dreaming and losing self importance and stopping the internal dialogue, but if the person isn't INSPIRED, I'd might as well be whistling Dixie in Atlanta. In one ear and out the other. Old hat. Who cares?
Creativity and imagination. I realize these concepts have been frowned upon by a lot of "hard-core Toltecs", but it seems to me that they are part of our humanness, and to dismiss them as "fanciful" or "playthings of the unreal" is rather like cutting off our ability to forward think. Creativity and imagination are part of us for a reason - and after about 8 years now of functioning in the capacity of (so-called) "teacher", I have to say that the people I have seen make the greatest leaps in awareness and really come into their own authenticity are those who aren't afraid to engage creativity, imagination, even outright fantasy from time to time. It INSPIRES the spirit at a level which (in my opinion) intellectual comprehension alone simply cannot do.
Now, with that said, please don't say, "Della said imagination & creativity are better than intellect." No, Della didn't say that. What she did say is that it takes a bit of all three to really come into alignment with what I PERSONALLY believe DJM meant when he spoke of "the path with heart." That's where the wonder comes from - when we can allow ourselves to imagine, to dream-awake, to step outside of our ideas about things and experience the thing itself - even if only in our imagination. If it weren't for creative thinking, we'd all be tilling the fields with wooden hoes, never having invented the wheel.
Point being - I think it's when we are using ALL of the tools at our disposal that we are most likely to create or unearth our personal "path with heart". DJM wasn't talking about some flowery, frilly, sunshine and rainbows walk through the woods. He was talking about finding the thing that inspires you, the thing that moves you to your limit, the thing that causes you to rush out into the night, shake your fist at the sky, and say to the universe, "I am alive, and I am a magical being, and I am going to travel beyond the limitations of my humanness!" No one can tell you what that path is going to look like, because it's yours to create, yours to imagine, and - also - yours to understand at an intellectual level as well as a fanciful level.
That's why I chose the name "quantum shaman" for my website - because it speaks to the shamanic side (the magical side) as well as to the more rational/scientific side (the quantum). For me, frilly little spells of magic are little more than rituals to entertain the mind. But the REAL magic is when we can push the envelope of our human understanding (go beyond the limits "nature" set for us), and really start to comprehend at a quantum level how our shamanic abilities function. Don Juan said it was impossible to reason out the double, for example, but I have not found that to be true. The double CAN be understood if one is willing to delve even slightly into the quantum nature of this energetic universe. Through quantum IMAGINATION, we begin to see that our energy bodies are truly infinite, and so terms such as "the superposition of the assemblage point" arise as a means to express a broader/quantum understanding of our shamanic experience. To me, THAT is when it all starts to make a tremendous kind of sense - when we can look at he magic, see it working in a quantum state as well as in a shamanic state. Very empowering! Life-altering!
The thing is... we have to give ourselves permission to go beyond our paradigms, beyond even what we think of as "toltec" or "buddhism" or whatever system we have wrapped around ourselves. We have to be willing to use ALL of our tools - creativity, imagination, intellect, intuition, seeing - to create a TAPESTRY of experience, rather than just settling for a linear plodding along a well-worn trail.
The path isn't about doing what someone else did, no matter how well they did it. Castaneda's path was HIS path. He left us with a map of sorts and a syntax that has been very beneficial, but we cannot really follow his path (or anyone else's) if we want to achieve the totality of ourselves. So, for what it's worth, I'm finding that moving beyond some of the toltec terminology is ultimately freeing, and precisely what is required for moving beyond the limits of any "system".
So, even though creativity and imagination are not often spoken of in Toltec circles, I just felt it important to remind myself that when this becomes some sterile path of following the rules & regs of "toltec", I'm outta here, and on the first train to freedom. Even if I have to imagine the train and create the tracks.
Come to think of it... maybe I'll just walk. Otherwise, too easy for those tracks to become... well... tracks. Here's to getting OFF the tracks and into the heart of whatever inspires us toward our totality.
No rules. No regs.
Just open road.
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