In the books of Carlos Castaneda there is a famous story, when Carlos along with several other apprentices jumps down into a chasm located somewhere down the mountain with no parachutes or any other type of insurance. But he doesn't turn into tomato juice and neither do his mates. In fact Carlos emerges, after an unknown amount of time in his apartment in L.A. Hung over, dazed but alive and well....Only then does he realize that he had jumped into the abyss with several others. It takes him a long long time to come into grips with this, probably most irrational out of all irrational occurrences of his life. After all, no one he has heard of has been able to perform such a feat except for his own teacher and his team of practitioners.
In any case, the story is one of a kind in any kind of specialized literature, and from what I understand it has given headache to many a reader, no matter how educated or well-versed in metaphysical matters they were. "Has he really jumped? Was he dreaming when he jumped and then just woke up?" are some of the common questions asked by readers. I do not believe any one has been able to answer them to the fullest extent without confusing either themselves or others or both.
The jump is both literal and metaphorical and there are many times in our lives when we have to perform that jump. It could be something in a relationship, profession, or life in general where one does what Carlos has done, which is get all of his guts and wits together and just go for it, trusting into his or her training, and believing that it is gonna work. Of course it is much more than just believing, but let us remember that Carlos wasn't that old at the time, so there is no way that he could have believed as much as his older teachers, and that feeling actually shows in his writings....
While it is easier to look at the jump into the abyss as a purely metaphorical phenomenon, we have to remember that it wasn't meant as a metaphor. The training was directed with all its seriousness of a time-honored practice to learn how to disassemble and then reassemble perception at the time of the jump. The point of assemblage is supposed to move at that time to a different place, thus saving its bearer from human death. Then, it was suppose to reassemble itself in the place of the bearer's predilection - for Carlos it was his apartment.
So, examining the event one may notice that the depth of the matter is somewhat like an abyss itself - the further you go, the more you feel as though your perception disassembles - there is no way to understand it, and that is a peculiar trend in many of Carlos's writings. The mood of the warrior that is required to make such jump, or to even read about it is essential now that we have grasped the depth of the issue. What is the mood of the warrior? It is first of all abandon. Warrior is able to act without thinking of a result, or consequences of his actions. The preparation is all that matters, but once you have to act you do so without thinking. Then it has to be sobriety, as acting in abandon the warrior needs to have all of his or her wits together, as in the end they are the only things he can rely on. Sobriety is also a sense of clarity about the issues. Determination - the unbending intent of the warrior is what gets him there, along that line he or she must persevere, i.e. continue along the chosen path despite of or thanks to the odds. Grace. When the unbending intent is in place, still an understanding of beauty, grace is needed as that will cushion any attempts of the unknowable to sabotage one's efforts, and will make the journey pleasant, enjoyable, rather than morose. Without that profound aesthetic pleasure there is no sense in warrior's life.
To summarize, the story about the jump into an abyss is unparalleled as a teaching device, or just as a story. Its scope is ungraspable, and its consequences are incalculable. It is as multilayered as the onion, or as the grandmother's cake and I have just taken it in a very general sense, to just prove how real it is!
