The Art Of Stalking

In The Eagle's Gift, Castaneda is training in stalking by a warrior named Florinda. This is where we receive the most specific details on the art of stalking.

There are 7 principles:

1) The warrior always chooses her battleground.
2) A warrior discards everything that is unnecessary (fear, ego, self-importance, possessions).
3) A warrior must be ready and willing to make her last stand her and now. Treat each decision, each moment, as if it were the last decision of your life.
4) Abandon yourself and fear nothing.
5) When faced with odds that cannot be dealt with, warriors retreat for a moment.
6) Warriors use time wisely.
7) Warriors use controlled folly once they have mastered the other principles.

There are 3 precepts of the Rule:

1) Everything that surrounds us is an unfathomable mystery.
2) We mut try to unravel these mysteries, but without ever hoping to accomplish this.
3) A warrior, aware of the unfathomable mystery that surrounds her and aware of her duty to try to unravel it, takes her rightful place among mysteries and regards herself as one.

Florinda lays out the precepts, though I think we actually learn more about stalking from some of Castaneda's other book when we see it in action. Even then, it still requires the use of intuition to understand what stalking is and how to use it in a practical way.

As an example, I have stated that I want to conquer all my fears, and also that I want to be more sociable and gregarious. So one of the things I decided to do was join a few meetup groups in London. Yesterday I attended a tarot group meeting.

Now for some people who are naturally extroverted this would be nothing. But for me, one who is introverted, I really have to push myself to be more out-going. I could very easily say to myself, I can't be bothered. But the whole point is to push myself out of my comfort zones. Enjoying my own company is easy and comfortable for me.

Going to the effort of joining a group, buying a deck of tarot cards, and showing up at the meeting in order to socialize with women I will probably only meet one time... it would be easy not to bother, but I know that's just my own fear and laziness and I can always find excuses not to be sociable. What I need to do is push myself to do the opposite of what comes naturally so as to expand my options.

One can see this as a practical example of stalking. I've chosen my battleground. I'll let go of what's unnecessary (fear, expectations, laziness, critical and judmental thoughts), and I will enter the mysterious unknown. What actually comes of it is less important than the simple fact that I made the effort.

Each time I make the effort, it will become easier and more natural to me. In that way, I can balance the introvert and extrovert within me so that they serve me rather than hinder me. That's an example of stalking.

In fact, coming to London in the first place was an example of stalking. There were many reasons why I wanted to come here, but one of them was because I was afraid of it.

In the summer of 1996, I actually had a ticket to fly to London from France. I was expecting Marian to be with me, but she canceled her trip to Europe. Instead of traveling by myself, I returned to the ticket for a refund and flew back to Denver. That was pure fear in the driver's seat.

For years I wanted to visit England and I waited patiently for Tom to invite me. Now I look at that and wonder why I put him in charge.

Answer: Fear.

Finally I reached a threshold in my lfie over the past year and I realized that putting fear in the driver's seat is counter-productive. So I resolved that 2009 would be the year of no fear. I wanted to see what life would be like if I lived without fear.

Choosing the warrior-goddess archetype to guide me and form the mythology of my life is an example of stalking and controlled folly. On the one hand it's very serious. There is no doubt it will change my life, but on the other hand, it's pure playfulness. There is a strategy behind the playfulness. That is controlled folly.