שטויות.
זה אחד הקטעים מסיפורי עוצמה :
 
The tonal is everything we are," he proceeded. "Name it! Anything we have a word for is the
tonal. And since the tonal is its own doings, then everything, obviously, has to fall under its
domain."
I reminded him that he had said that the tonal was the social person, a term which I myself had
used with him to mean a human being as the end result of socialization processes. I pointed out
that if the tonal was that product, it could not be everything, as he had said, because the world
around us was not the product of socialization.
Don Juan reminded me that my argument had no basis for him, and that, long before, he had
already made the point that there was no world at large but only a description of the world which
we had learned to visualize and take for granted.
"The tonal is everything we know," he said. "I think this in itself is enough reason for the
tonal to be such an overpowering affair."
He paused for a moment. He seemed to be definitely waiting for comments or questions, but I
had none. Yet I felt obligated to voice a question and struggled to formulate an appropriate one. I
failed. I felt that the admonitions with which he had opened our conversation had perhaps served
as a deterrent to any inquiry on my part. I felt strangely numb. I could not concentrate and order
my thoughts. In fact I felt and knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that I was incapable of
thinking and yet I knew this without thinking, if that were at all possible.
I looked at don Juan. He was staring at the middle part of my body. He lifted his eyes and my
clarity of mind returned instantly.
"The tonal is everything we know," he repeated slowly. "And that includes not only us, as
persons, but everything in our world. It can be said that the tonal is everything that meets the eye.
"We begin to groom it at the moment of birth. The moment we take the first gasp of air we
also breathe in power for the tonal. So, it is proper to say that the tonal of a human being is
intimately tied to his birth.
"You must remember this point. It is of great importance in understanding all this. The tonal
begins at birth and ends at death."
I wanted to recapitulate all the points that he had made. I went as far as opening my mouth to
ask him to repeat the salient points of our conversation, but to my amazement I could not vocalize
my words. I was experiencing a most curious incapacity, my words were heavy and I had no
control over that sensation.
I looked at don Juan to signal him that I could not talk. He was again staring at the area
around my stomach.
He lifted his eyes and asked me how I felt. Words poured out of me as if I had been
unplugged. I told him that I had been having the peculiar sensation of not being able to talk or
think and yet my thoughts had been crystal clear.
"Your thoughts have been crystal clear?" he asked.
I realized then that the clarity had not pertained to my thoughts, but to my perception of the
world.
"Are you doing something to me, don Juan?" I asked.
"I am trying to convince you that your comments are not necessary," he said and laughed.
"You mean you don't want me to ask questions?"
"No, no. Ask anything you want, but don't let your attention waver."
I had to admit that I had been distracted by the immensity of the topic.
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"I still cannot understand, don Juan, what you mean by the statement that the tonal is
everything," I said after a moment's pause.
"The tonal is what makes the world."
"Is the tonal the creator of the world?"
Don Juan scratched his temples.
"The tonal makes the world only in a manner of speaking. It can not create or change
anything, and yet it makes the world because its function is to judge, and assess, and witness. I
say that the tonal makes the world because it witnesses and assesses it according to tonal rules. In
a very strange manner the tonal is a creator that doesn't create a thing. In other words, the tonal
makes up the rules by which it apprehends the world. So, in a manner of speaking, it creates the
world."
He hummed a popular tune, beating the rhythm with his fingers on the side of his chair. His
eyes were shining; they seemed to sparkle. He chuckled, shaking his head.
"You're not following me," he said, smiling.
"I am. I have no problems," I said, but I did not sound very convincing.
"The tonal is an island," he explained. "The best way of describing it is to say that the tonal is
this."
He ran his hand over the table top.
"We can say that the tonal is like the top of this table. An island. And on this island we have
everything. This island is, in fact, the world.
"There is a personal tonal for every one of us, and there is a collective one for all of us at any
given time, which we can call the tonal of the times."
He pointed to the rows of tables in the restaurant.
"Look! Every table has the same configuration. Certain items are present on all of them. They
are, however, individually different from each other; some tables are more crowded than others;
they have different food on them, different plates, different atmosphere, yet we have to admit that
all the tables in this restaurant are very alike. The same thing happens with the tonal. We can say
that the tonal of the times is what makes us alike, in the same way it makes all the tables in this
restaurant alike. Each table separately, nevertheless, is an individual case, just like the personal
tonal of each of us. But the important factor to keep in mind is that everything we know about
ourselves and about our world is on the island of the tonal. See what I mean?"
"If the tonal is everything we know about ourselves and our world, what, then, is the nagual?"
"The nagual is the part of us which we do not deal with at all."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The nagual is the part of us for which there is no description - no words, no names, no
feelings, no knowledge."
"That's a contradiction, don Juan. In my opinion if it can't be felt or described or named, it
cannot exist."
"It's a contradiction only in your opinion. I warned you before, don't knock yourself out trying
to understand this."
"Would you say that the nagual is the mind?"
"No. The mind is an item on the table. The mind is part of the tonal. Let's say that the mind is
the chili sauce."
He took a bottle of sauce and placed it in front of me.
"Is the nagual the soul?"
"No. The soul is also on the table. Let's say that the soul is the ashtray."
"Is it the thoughts of men?"
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"No. Thoughts are also on the table. Thoughts are like
