The Eagle's Gift: Part SEP: Chapter SEP 6 - The Second Attention.

The Eagle's Gift. ©1982 by Carlos Castaneda.

Part S.E.P.: Chapter S.E.P. 6 - The Second Attention.

Don Juan explained to me that the examination of the second attention must begin with the realization that the force of the first ring of power, which boxes us in, is a physical, concrete edge. Seers have described it as a wall of fog; a barrier that can be systematically brought to our awareness by means of the blocking of the first ring of power. Then the barrier can be perforated by means of the warrior's training.

After perforating this wall of fog, one enters a broad intermediate state. The task of the warriors then consists in going through this barrier until they reach the next divisional line, which also must be perforated in order to enter what it is properly the other self; or the second attention.

Don Juan used to say that the two divisional lines are perfectly recognizable. When warriors perforate the wall of fog they feel that their bodies are squeezed; or they feel an intense shaking in the cavity of their bodies, generally to the right of the stomach or through the middle part, from right to left. When warriors perforate the second line, they feel an acute crack on the upper part of the body, something like the sound of a dry bough that is broken in two.

The two lines that box in both attentions, and individually seal them, are known to seers as the parallel lines. These seal both attentions by means of the fact that they extend into infinity, without ever allowing the crossing unless they are perforated.

Between both lines there exists an area of specific awareness that seers call limbo; or the world between the parallel lines. It is a real space between two huge orders of the Eagle's emanations; emanations which are within the human possibilities of awareness. One is the level which creates the self of everyday life, and the other is the level which creates the other self. Since the limbo is a transitional zone, there both fields of emanations extend one upon the other. The fraction of the level which is known to us, that extends into that area, hooks a portion of the first ring of power; and the capability of the first ring of power to build skimmings makes us perceive a series of skimmings in the limbo which are almost like those of everyday life except that they appear grotesque, uncanny and contorted. In this manner the limbo has specific features that do not change arbitrarily each time that one goes into it. There exist in it physical features which resemble the skimmings of everyday life.

Don Juan sustained that the feeling of heaviness experienced in the limbo is due to the growing burden that has been placed on the first attention. In the area located right behind the wall of fog we can still behave as we do normally. It is as if we were in a grotesque but recognizable world.

As we penetrate further into limbo beyond the wall of fog, it becomes progressively difficult to recognize the features or to behave in terms of the known self. He explained to me that it was possible then to make anything else appear instead of the wall of fog, but visualizing the wall of fog does not demand any effort, and so the seers have opted for accentuating that which consumes less energy.

What exists beyond the second divisional line is known by seers as the second attention, or the other self, or the parallel world; and the action of going through both edges is known as "crossing the parallel lines". Don Juan thought that I could assimilate this concept more firmly if he described each dominion of awareness as a specific perceptual predisposition.

He told me that in the territory of everyday awareness we are inescapably entangled into the specific perceptual predisposition of the first attention. From the moment in which the first ring of power begins to build skimmings, the way of building them becomes our normal perceptual predisposition.

Breaking the unifying force of the first attention implies to break the first divisional line. The normal perceptual predisposition passes then into the intermediate area which is between the parallel lines, and one keeps building almost normal skimmings for some time. But as one approaches what seers call the second divisional line, the perceptual predisposition of the first attention begins to recede; it loses strength. Don Juan used to say that this transition is marked by a sudden incapability of remembering or understanding what one is doing.

When one gets closer to the second divisional line, the second attention begins to act on the warriors who undertake the voyage. If they are inexperienced, their awareness gets emptied; it goes blank. Don Juan held that this occurs because they are approaching a spectrum of the Eagle's emanations which has not yet a systematized perceptual predisposition. My experiences with la Gorda and the nagual woman beyond the wall of fog were an example of this incapability. I traveled as far as the other self, but I couldn't account on what we had done for the simple reason that my second attention was still unformulated and it did not give me the opportunity of formulating all what I had perceived.

Don Juan explained to me that one begins to activate the second ring of power by forcing the second attention to wake from its slumber. The functional blocking of the first ring of power achieves this.

Then, the task of the teacher consists in recreating the condition which started the first ring of power; the condition of being saturated with intent. The first ring of power was put in motion by the force of the intent given by those who taught me how to skim. As my teacher he was giving me, then, a new intent which would create a new perceptual environment.

Don Juan said that it takes a lifetime of unceasing discipline which seers call unbending intent to prepare the second ring of power to be able to build skimmings which belong to another level of the Eagle's emanations. For the perceptual predisposition of the parallel self to dominate is a feat of peerless value which few warriors achieve. Silvio Manuel was one of those few.

Don Juan warned me, however, that one must not attempt to deliberately cause the parallel self to dominate. Achievement in the second attention must be through a natural process which unfolds itself without much effort from our part. He explained to me that the reasoning behind this needed indifference lies on the practical consideration that if the parallel self dominates, it simply becomes very difficult to break in the quest for the third attention; and the goal that warriors actively pursuit is to break both perceptual predispositions to enter the final freedom of the third attention.