Levi Fox Page 6 03/15/00
The only kind of nagual we can know is tonal: the only kind of tonal we can act is nagual. Hence to separate the two, as Genaro does, or “split” the warrior, is the whole basis of don Juan’s knowledge. Why, on this basis, is the double deadly, and why is jumping off the cliff the culmination of teaching for the right side.
The interpenetration of the tonal and nagual is what allows us to go about our daily lives, indeed, it is what allows us to have existence, consciousness, perception, and all the other traits which make us what we are. However, this interpenetration also puts definite limits upon the extent of knowledge and understanding which we can possess. That is, the means by which we perceive and understand everything we think or encounter is the limit for us of all those things, while in actuality they may not have any limit. This is due to the interaction of the tonal and the nagual, and can best be understood using the metaphor of the tonal as the recollecting (or perhaps better put “interpreting”) self and the nagual as the acting self. For any one person, all the acting, encountering, and insight of the nagual can be only as good and as encompassing as the tonal of that person.
The root of this problem goes back to a statement made in the question; that is “the only kind of nagual we can know is tonal.” In a way this statement is completely true and is never disputed by don Juan, however, in another equally valid way several caveats are needed. For example, this statement is inherently true provided that a person’s tonal and nagual have not been separated. For them, all the actions of the nagual cannot be understood, and are not permitted to be understood by the tonal. Indeed, along with interpretation of the nagual’s knowledge “the tonal’s great art is to suppress any manifestation of nagual” (Casteneda Tales 131). But why would the tonal act in such a manner, which would appear to be the equivalent of placing an artificial and arbitrary limit upon the knowledge of a person? One way to answer this question, and perhaps even a fair way given the mind-like interpreting function of the tonal, is to understand the tonal as a sort of person. Indeed, don Juan explains the tonal to Carlos as “a guardian that most of the time turns into a guard” (Casteneda Tales 120). He says that the reason for the “narrow-minded” and “despotic” actions on the part of the tonal is the incredible responsibility of the tonal for protecting us. When the tonal works hard to prevent us from seeing the nagual it is doing so for two reasons. It is, in many ways perhaps, like a school board censorship committee. Firstly, it is positive that it knows what the person is capable of handling and understanding, and it feels that it knows what kind of information it is safe and fruitful for the person to have access to. Secondly, the tonal, like he censorship committee, is absolutely convinced that it is right, that it should be the final arbiter of the aforementioned decisions, and especially that there is no other knowledge out there that what it possesses. From the tonal’s perspective its actions are correct and just, it is only performing its responsibility, and it is willing to go to great lengths to do so. Additionally, since the tonal only understands existence within the scope of a person’s life and death, thus viewing death as the end of an existence, its reasoning for protecting the person from the nagual is even more apparent. Because the emergence of the totality of the self occurs only when the nagual is made apparent to both the tonal and the person, and because this only occurs for most people at the moment of death, the tonal would logically be constantly working to prevent such a state. It would equate the nagual with death, and would thus deem as its ultimate responsibility preventing any encounter between the nagual and the person its is responsible for. Thus, the actions of the tonal as well as the reasons for a definite limit on the knowledge of an ordinary person can be understood as a function of the tonal’s perception of its responsibilities to protect to person from the nagual, and from death.
This explanation of why most people can only know the tonal works only so long as we are dealing with most people; that is non-warriors whose tonal and nagual interpenetrate. Once the tonal and nagual are split, the nagual becomes free from the constant censorship of the tonal, and it becomes possible for the nagual of a person to “know” some things that it would not have been able to previously. The procedure for splitting the warrior, as well as what actually happens to a person when he is “split” can be useful for understanding why this action allows for a whole range of new knowledge to be understood. The procedure for splitting the warrior and separating the tonal and nagual begins by shrinking the tonal. As all of don Juan’s teachings, this is a metaphor, and can best be understood through an extension of the metaphor. As such, the shrinking of the tonal is best understood as resulting from the “scaring” of the tonal at the hands of the nagual. In order to accomplish this, don Genaro performs a number of unbelievable acts which serve to both scare the tonal and to embarrass it, since it is presented with actions that it had previously believed could not occur. As don Juan says, scaring and embarrassing the tonal are two of the most effective techniques for shrinking it. Once the tonal has been shrunk it becomes separated from the nagual and pushed to the right side of the body, which allows the nagual to occupy the left side. This becomes the basis for the difference between teachings for the left and right side. These teachings could perhaps be better described as teachings to the nagual or to the tonal.
So long as the tonal and nagual are not separated, so long as the warrior is not split, it is only possible for him to understand teachings to the tonal. It is only when the warrior becomes split, and can go back and forth between tonal and nagual, that he becomes capable of truly understanding the knowledge of the warrior. This is why it is said that splitting the warrior is the whole basis for don Juan’s knowledge. This could perhaps be more accurately stated by saying that the whole basis of don Juan’s knowledge as a warrior and his knowledge from the left side, is based upon the splitting of the warrior. Without that split the tonal would constantly work to prevent even the acknowledgement, let alone the acquisition, of the knowledge of the nagual. Thus, don Juan or any other warrior’s knowledge of the nagual must depend upon the splitting of the warrior. The warrior’s knowledge of the left side is based upon splitting the warrior not because this technique provides the warrior with any knowledge, but because it is an absolutely necessary prerequisite to the acquisition of such knowledge.
However, with the possibility of the acquisition of great knowledge that stems from splitting the warrior and enabling the nagual to come forward comes great risk. This risk comes from the response of the tonal to the appearance of the nagual. As don Juan tells Carlos “any threat to the tonal [such as from the emergence of the nagual] always results in its death. And if the tonal dies, so does the whole man” (Casteneda Tales 160). Thus the warrior is left with a sort of Catch 22, he can only achieve knowledge of the left side shrinking the tonal, brining up the nagual, and splitting the warrior, but these actions are bound to bring about the death of a man, since his tonal would be unable to deal with the nagual. For this reason it is necessary for don Juan to be present whenever don Genaro performs his “tricks”, his displays of the nagual. Don Juan’s role at these times is one of protector of the tonal. Without don Juan’s constant attention to the security of Carlos’ tonal, he would have died early on in the teachings. This is why the question states the double is deadly, since the don Genaro that performs these life threatening tricks for Carlos is really the double. Don Genaro’s double, like that which everyone possesses, is really just the physical embodiment of his nagual. As such, it can be absolutely deadly to any unprotected tonal that it encounters. Without don Juan’s protection, Carlos’ tonal would react like any other tonal in the presence of pure nagual in the form of a double, it would panic and die. But more than being deadly to another person, ones own double can kill oneself if it is encountered in the wrong way and without a person protecting the tonal. This is why don Juan warns Carlos to avoid encountering his double in his dreams, since he would be unable to protect him in such a situation. Indeed, at least within the context of the books, Carlos’ own double would probably be the one that threatened him the most, since it would be the one he would most likely encounter outside of the presence and protection of don Juan. In a way every instance in which Carlos encounters don Genaro’s double is controlled, since don Juan is there to protect his tonal. Thus, while don Genaro’s nagual is much more powerful than Carlos’, his own nagual could be just as dangerous, since don Juan might not be protecting his tonal at the moment it emerges. It is the threat to the tonal, and the related threat to the man, that makes the double, a physical embodiment of the nagual, so deadly.
Having established that splitting the warrior, however dangerous it may be, is the key to any knowledge of the left side, we are still faced with the question of why Carlos’ jumping off of the cliff was the culmination of teaching for the right side? The answer lies in the relationship between the teachings for the right side and those for the left side. Without the right side being taught about the tonal, the nagual, and splitting the warrior it would be impossible for a person to learn any of the lessons for the left side. The teachings of the right side are in effect a key for unlocking the potential for left side learning. And since there is so much more that can be learned once the left side is unlocked, this is the primary objective of the teachings for the right side. But what does jumping off the cliff have to do with this primary objective of the teachings of the right side and how is it the culmination of those teachings? Jumping off of the cliff is the culmination of the teachings in the same way that a final exam is the culmination of the teachings of a college course that serves as a prerequisite for further study. Both are tests that must be passed in order to prove that the student is ready to move on to the next level of their education. The most important objective of the teachings of the right side, at least with regard to the continuation of Carlos education, concerns splitting the warrior and thus enabling the accessing of the nagual. Jumping off the cliff is merely a test of whether a warrior has been split, whether he can move back and forth between his right and left sides, and most importantly, whether he will now be able to learn the lessons of the left side.
In his teachings to Carlos, don Juan follows a definite plan of action that serves to shrink Carlos’ tonal, expose him to the tonal, and teach him how to move back and forth between the two. The procedure for splitting Carlos, thus freeing his nagual from the censorship of the tonal, involves shrinking his tonal by exposing it to the nagual of don Genaro. Don Juan must constantly protect Carlos’ tonal during this procedure, however, because of the threat to Carlos’ life that such an exposure of his tonal to a double, a form of pure nagual, can create. This dangerous procedure must take place in order for Carlos to proceed in his education, as he must first be split before he can learn lessons for the left side. His jumping off the cliff is his final exam for this most important teaching of the right side, and the outcome of it will both test whether he has learned his lessons well and whether he can continue on and learn a great deal from the enormous untapped lessons of the left side.