The Greatest Lesson I Learned

Saturday Stories

December 1, 2018

I

Sometimes, the people you meet when you were young are the ones who change you forever. I first met Don Juan Matus, the Yacqui Indian sorcerer, through Journey To Ixtlan by Carlos Castañeda when I was a kid. In the early 2000s, when I began to get published in national magazines, Don Juan was a star in one of my feature articles, "My Most Unforgettable Literary Characters," along with many others including a seagull named Jonathan. In a way, he was my first mentor. He was my first guide to a place that most people have forgotten, and some don't even believe is real – the world of the mystic.

II

Don Juan appeared again towards the end of 2014 with impeccable timing. It was during a major turning point in my life, which I've put down in words in a memoir I called "A State of Grace." I wrote – "I shivered as chills ran down my chakra points when I saw a rare copy of Tales of Power where the author, the anthropologist Carlos Castañeda, shares more stories about being a sorcerer's apprentice to Don Juan Matus whom I just happened to be thinking about earlier. I first encountered Don Juan when I somehow came across Castañeda's Journey To Ixtlan when I was fourteen and it expanded my young mind decades after it was published in the sixties, not knowing our paths would cross again that fateful day."

III

The greatest lesson I learned from Don Juan is the greatest lesson I have learned in life – assume responsibility for my actions. I'm interested in the question – "Why do some people survive hardships while others give up and blame God?" Why do some people who had nothing were able to make something of themselves, while some who had everything have chosen instead to self-destruct then blame others? Then I realized – why do we need someone or something to "blame" in the first place? If we assume responsibility for what we do or don't do, then why does the outcome have to be either "right" or "wrong"? I also understand that there are people who see themselves as "victims" of Fate, and they want others to feel bad for them. They love the drama. And that's fine – to each his own.

IV

His teaching are cryptic and subtle. What he says about self-importance has nuances that words cannot show. I understand that a lot of people think they are so important, which makes them feel superior (or less inferior). They want to be the center of attention because they think the world agrees. Again, I make no judgment, but it is fascinating to study human behavior. And after all these years, I thought about Don Juan again last week. Then, out of the blue, I got another copy of Journey To Ixtlan – and Tales of Power and The Art of Dreaming and Power of Silence and Las Enseñanzas De Don Juan. The world "is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable," says the sorcerer. "Make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it."

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