110+ Carlos Castaneda Quotes On Death, Mystical And Shamanic

Carlos Castaneda was an American writer. He was best known for his books that describe his experiences with a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, Don Juan Matus. He wrote a total of 15 books that combined anthropology, philosophy, and spirituality. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Carlos Castaneda on death, love, mystical.

Top 10 Carlos Castaneda Quotes

1. The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
2. Self-importance requires spending most of one's life offended by something or someone.
3. The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
4. A warrior lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting.
5. Things don't change, only the way you look at them.
6. A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.
7. We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.
8. In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamens call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link.
9. As long as a man feels that he is the most important thing in the world he cannot really appreciate the world around him.
10. In a world where death is the hunter, my friend, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions.

Carlos Castaneda Image Quotes

A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. — Carlos Castaneda

We don't need more to be thankful for, we just need to be more thankful. — Carlos Castaneda

You are like you are, because you tell yourself that you are that way. — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Short Quotes

• We don't need more to be thankful for, we just need to be more thankful.
• You are like you are, because you tell yourself that you are that way.
• The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive.
• Self importance is man's greatest enemy.
• It takes all the time and all the energy we have to conquer the idiocy in us
• Forget the self and you will fear nothing, in whatever level or awareness you find yourself to be.
• Your problems is that you think you have time.
• No person is important enough to make me angry.
• Nothing in this world is a gift. Whatever must be learned must be learned the hard way.
• Nobody knows who I am or what I do. Not even I. Don Juan Matus

Carlos Castaneda Quotes About Death

A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he's clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior thinks of death when things become unclear. The idea of death is the only thing that tempers our spirit. — Carlos Castaneda

To die with elation is a crappy way of dying... A warrior dies the hard way. His death must struggle to take him. A warrior does not give himself to it. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior, or any man for that matter, cannot possibly wish he were somewhere else; a warrior because he lives by challenge, an ordinary man because he doesn't know where his death is going to find him. — Carlos Castaneda

When you need an answer, look over your left shoulder and ask your death. — Carlos Castaneda

Only the idea of death makes a warrior sufficiently detached so that he is capable of abandoning himself to anything. He knows his death is stalking him and won't give him time to cling to anything so he tries, without craving, all of everything. — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Quotes About Shamanic

Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior's indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity. — Carlos Castaneda

The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue — Carlos Castaneda

The things shamans deal with are extremely practical. They break down parameters of normal historical reality. Magical passes are just one aspect of that. — Carlos Castaneda

To compare Tensegrity with yoga or t'ai chi is not possible. It has a different origin and a different purpose. The origin is shamanic, the purpose is shamanic. — Carlos Castaneda

Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity. — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Quotes About Heart

For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length--and there I travel looking, looking breathlessly. — Carlos Castaneda

Any path is only a path, and there is no affront to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you. — Carlos Castaneda

Eventually I saw that the path of the heart requires a full gesture, a degree of abandon that can be terrifying. Only then is it possible to achieve a sparkling metamorphosis. — Carlos Castaneda

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. — Carlos Castaneda

Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior chooses a path with heart, any path with heart, and follows it; and then he rejoices and laughs. He knows because he sees that his life will be over altogether too soon. He sees that nothing is more important than anything else. — Carlos Castaneda

Before you embark on it you ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. — Carlos Castaneda

All paths are the same, leading nowhere. Therefore, pick a path with heart! — Carlos Castaneda

A man of knowledge chooses a path with a heart and follows it and then he looks and rejoices and laughs and then he sees and knows. — Carlos Castaneda

My benefactor used to say the seeds are the 'sober head' -- the only part that could fortify the heart of man. — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Quotes About Path

The path to knowledge is a forced one. In order to learn, we must be pushed. On the path of knowledge we are always fighting something, avoiding something, preparing for something; and that something is always inexplicable, greater and more powerful than us. — Carlos Castaneda

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. — Carlos Castaneda

Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow, you must not stay with it under any circumstances. — Carlos Castaneda

Intent is a force that exists in the universe. When sorcerers (those who live of the source) beckon to intent, it comes to them and sets up the path for attainment, which means that sorcerers always accomplish what they set out to do. — Carlos Castaneda

Seeing energy as it flows is an imperious need on the path of knowledge. Ultimately, all the effort of sorcerers is guided to that end. It is not enough for a warrior to know that the universe is energy; he has to verify it for himself. — Carlos Castaneda

Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge. — Carlos Castaneda

Never take a path that has no heart in it. You can't lose if your heart is in your work, but you can't win if your heart is not in it. — Carlos Castaneda

All paths lead nowhere, so it is important to choose a path that has heart. — Carlos Castaneda

Only a warrior can survive the path of knowledge because the art of the warrior is to balance the pain of being a man with the wonder of being a man. — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Quotes About Warrior

To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other. — Carlos Castaneda

Once a man worries, he clings to anything out of desperation; and once he clings he is bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whomever or whatever he is clinging to. A warrior-hunter, on the other hand, knows he will lure game into his traps over and over again, so he doesn't worry. — Carlos Castaneda

Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don't demolish them. — Carlos Castaneda

If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession. — Carlos Castaneda

Feeling important makes one heavy, clumsy and vain. To be a warrior one needs to be light and fluid. — Carlos Castaneda

The hardest thing in the world is to assume the mood of a warrior. It is of no use to be sad and complain and feel justified in doing so,believing that someone is always doing something to us. Nobody is doing anything to anybody, much less to a warrior. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior knows that he is only a man. His only regret is that his life is so short that he can't grab onto all the things he would like to. But for him, this is not an issue; it's only a pity. — Carlos Castaneda

To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warrior's spirit. It takes power to do that. — Carlos Castaneda

For a warrior, to be inaccessible means that he touches the world around him sparingly. And above all, he deliberately avoids exhausting himselfand others. He doesn't use and squeeze people until they have shriveled to nothing, especially the people he loves. — Carlos Castaneda

There is a flaw with words, they always force us to feel enlightened, but when we turn around to face the world they always fail us and we end up facing the world as we always have, without enlightenment — Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda Famous Quotes And Sayings

Discipline, as understood by a warrior, is creative, open, and produces freedom. It is the ability to face the unknown, transforming the feeling of knowing into reverent astonishment; of considering things that exceed the scope of our habits, and daring to face the only war that is worthwhile: The battle for awareness. — Carlos Castaneda

The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity. — Carlos Castaneda

A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. — Carlos Castaneda

The greatest flaw of human beings is to remain glued to the inventory of reason. Reason doesn't deal with man as energy. Reason deals with instruments that create energy, but it has never seriously occurred to reason that we are better than instruments: we are organisms that create energy. We are bubbles of energy. — Carlos Castaneda

You are like you are, because you tell yourself that you are that way. — Carlos Castaneda

Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you're about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you're wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, 'I haven't touched you yet. — Carlos Castaneda

The dying sun will glow on you without burning, as it has done today. The wind will be soft and mellow and your hilltop will tremble. As you reach the end of your dance you will look at the sun, for you will never see it again in waking or in dreaming, and then your death will point to the south. To the vastness. — Carlos Castaneda

Seek and see all the marvels around you. You will get tired of looking at yourself alone, and that fatigue will make you deaf and blind to everything else. - Don Juan — Carlos Castaneda

Do you know at this very moment you are surrounded by eternity? And do you know that you can use that eternity if you so desire? — Carlos Castaneda

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 — Carlos Castaneda

The ego is like a tired old dog. We can never kill it, so put it out on the back porch, let it rest there, and step around it. — Carlos Castaneda

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. — Carlos Castaneda

Modern man has left the realm of the unknown and the mysterious, and has settled down in the realm of the functional. He is turned is back to the world of the foreboding and the exulting and has welcomed the world of boredom. — Carlos Castaneda

To seek freedom is the only driving force I know. Freedom to fly off into that infinity out there. Freedom to dissolve; to lift off; to be like the flame of a candle, which, in spite of being up against the light of a billion stars, remains intact, because it never pretended to be more than what it is: a mere candle. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior must cultivate the feeling that he has everything needed for the extravagant journey that is his life. What counts for a warrior is being alive. Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete. Therefore, one may say without being presumptuous that the experience of experiences is being alive. — Carlos Castaneda

Think about it: what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone. — Carlos Castaneda

When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to. — Carlos Castaneda

It is important to do what you don't know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos. — Carlos Castaneda

There are lots of things a warrior can do at a certain time which he couldn't do years before. Those things themselves did not change; what changed was his idea of himself. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior doesn't know remorse for anything he has done, because to isolate one's acts as being mean, or ugly, or evil is to place an unwarranted importance on the self. — Carlos Castaneda

Nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those conditions can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to withstand the pressure of the unknowable. — Carlos Castaneda

Our normal expectations about reality are created by a social consensus. We are taught how to see and understand the world. The trick of socialization is to convince us that the descriptions we agree upon define the limits of the real world. What we call reality is only one way of seeing the world, a way that is supported by social consensus. — Carlos Castaneda

The sorcerer's description of the world is perceivable. But our insistence on holding on to our standard version of reality renders us almost deaf and blind to it. — Carlos Castaneda

A guardian is broad-minded and understanding. A guard, on the other hand, is a vigilante, narrow-minded and most of the time despotic. — Carlos Castaneda

Whenever a warrior decides to do something, he must go all the way, but he must take responsibility for what he does. No matter what he does, he must know first why he is doing it, and then he must proceed with his actions without having doubts or remorse about them. — Carlos Castaneda

Personal history must be constantly renewed by telling parents, relatives, and friends everything one does. On the other hand, for the warrior who has no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with his acts. And above all, no one pins him down with their thoughts and their expectations. — Carlos Castaneda

You say you need help. Help for what? You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life. — Carlos Castaneda

Dwelling upon the self too much produces terrible fatigue. A man in that position is deaf and blind to everything else. The fatigue itself makes him cease to see the marvels all around. — Carlos Castaneda

When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable. — Carlos Castaneda

To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics is like using science to validate sorcery. It robs the world of its magic and makes milestones out of us all. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior never worries about his fear. — Carlos Castaneda

When a warrior has put an end to his routines, when he doesn't care anymore whether he has company or is alone, because he has heard the silent whisper of the spirit; then you can say that, truly, he has died. From that point on, even the simplest things in life become extraordinary for him. — Carlos Castaneda

Within these premises, the only thing one can be is an impeccable mediator. One is not the player in this cosmic match of chess, one is simply a pawn on the chessboard. What decides everything is a conscious impersonal energy that sorcerers call intent or the Spirit. — Carlos Castaneda

I'm never angry at anybody! No human being can do anything important enough for that. You get angry at people when you feel that their acts are important. I don't feel that way any longer. — Carlos Castaneda

The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity. — Carlos Castaneda

The spirit listens only when the speaker speaks in gestures. And gestures do not mean signs or body movements, but acts of true abandon, acts of largesse, of humor. As a gesture to the spirit, warriors bring out the best of themselves and silently offer it to the abstract. — Carlos Castaneda

When nothing is for sure, we remain alert, perennially on our toes. It is more exciting not to know which bush the rabbit is hiding behind than to behave as though we knew everything. — Carlos Castaneda

It doesn't matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power. — Carlos Castaneda

There is nothing more lonely than eternity. And nothing is more cozy for us than to be a human being. This indeed is another contradiction-how can we keep the bonds of our humanness and still venture gladly and purposefully into the absolute loneliness of eternity? — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior must learn to make every act count, since he is going to be here in this world for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it. — Carlos Castaneda

It is best to erase all personal history because that would make us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people — Carlos Castaneda

To worry is to become accessible, unwittingly accessible. And once you worry you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whoever or whatever you are clinging to. — Carlos Castaneda

Challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges. — Carlos Castaneda

The only thing that is real is the being in you that is going to die. — Carlos Castaneda

Man lives only to learn. And if he learns it is because it is the nature of his lot, for good or bad. — Carlos Castaneda

A rule of thumb for a warrior is that he makes his decisions so carefully that nothing that may happen as a result of them can surprise him, much less drain his power. — Carlos Castaneda

...the spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same intensity and consistency, but only warriors are consistently attuned to such revelations. — Carlos Castaneda

The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That's the warrior's way. — Carlos Castaneda

For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here. — Carlos Castaneda

Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. — Carlos Castaneda

A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior acts as if he knows what he is doing, when in effect he knows nothing. — Carlos Castaneda

Conclusions arrived at through reasoning have very little or no influence in altering the course of our lives. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior takes his lot, whatever it may be, and accepts it in ultimate humbleness. He accepts in humbleness what he is, not as a grounds for regret but as a living challenge. — Carlos Castaneda

The third point of reference is freedom of perception; it is intent; it is spirit; the somersault of thought into the miraculous; the act of reaching beyond our boundaries and touching the inconceivable. — Carlos Castaneda

"Dreaming is the vehicle that brings dreamers to this world," the emissary said, "and everything sorcerers know about dreaming was taught to them by us. Our world is connected to yours by a door called dreams. We know how to go through that door, but men don't. They have to learn it." — Carlos Castaneda

Whenever you are in the world of the tonal, you should be an impeccable tonal; no time for irrational crap. But whenever you are in the world of the nagual, you should also be impeccable; no time for rational crap. For the warrior intent is the gate in between. It closes completely behind him when he goes either way — Carlos Castaneda

The world is incomprehensible. We won't ever understand it; we won't ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the world as it is: a sheer mystery. — Carlos Castaneda

We are men and our lot in life is to learn and to be hurled into inconceivable new worlds. — Carlos Castaneda

We chose whether to be warriors or to be ordinary. — Carlos Castaneda

What is a truthful life? A life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior, on the other hand, is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. But once his calculations are over he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. — Carlos Castaneda

You see all of us go through the same doubts. We are afraid of being mad; unfortunately for us, of course, all of us are already mad. — Carlos Castaneda

I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend. I have no thoughts, so I will see. I fear nothing, so I will remember myself. Detached and at ease, I will dart past the Eagle to be free. — Carlos Castaneda

A warrior seeks to act rather than talk. — Carlos Castaneda

Life Lessons by Carlos Castaneda

1. Carlos Castaneda teaches the importance of being present and aware of the world around us. He emphasizes the need to be mindful of our thoughts and actions and to be open to new experiences.
2. Castaneda also stresses the importance of developing a strong sense of self-awareness and understanding our own personal power. He encourages us to take responsibility for our lives and to be proactive in creating our own destiny.
3. Finally, Castaneda teaches us to be open to the wisdom of the natural world and to recognize the interconnectedness of all things. He encourages us to be humble and to learn from our mistakes.