Feeling important makes one heavy, clumsy and vain. To be a warrior one needs to be light and fluid.
Carlos CastanedaRead
Fright never injures anyone. What injures the spirit is having someone always on your back, beating you, telling you what to do and what not to do
Interpretation
Fear does not cause harm, but constant criticism and control can damage one's spirit.
In this quote, Carlos Castaneda emphasizes that fear itself is not harmful; rather, it is the oppressive pressure and continuous criticism from others that truly harm a person's spirit. The implication is that individuals should seek to cultivate their own paths without succumbing to the undue influence and control of others.
In practice
During a motivational speech about self-empowerment.
Feeling important makes one heavy, clumsy and vain. To be a warrior one needs to be light and fluid.
Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
It doesn't matter what one reveals or what one keeps to oneself. Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we don't have enough personal power the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and it won't make a damn bit of difference.
Beware of those who weep with realization, for they have realized nothing.
All paths lead nowhere, so it is important to choose a path that has heart.
All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. However, a path without a heart is never enjoyable. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy - it does not make a warrior work at liking it; it makes for a joyful journey; as long as a man follows it, he is one with it.
Habits are the daughters of action, but then they nurse their mother, and produce daughters after her image, but far more beautiful and prosperous.
If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.
As human beings we have unlimited potential and imagination. The worst thing you can do is be a conformist and buy into conformity. It's the worst possible thing. It's better to be outrageous. It's better to hang out with the sages, the people open to possibilities, even the psychotics. You never know where you'll find the geniuses of our society.
I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world.
This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.
To err is to wander, and wandering is the way we discover the world; and, lost in thought, it is also the way we discover ourselves. Being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static, a mere statement. Being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometimes even dangerous, but in the end it is a journey, and a story.
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