The hunter never plunders his world, but takes from it only what he truly needs, whilst tending to it with warmth and caring for it with love — irrespective of whether his world consists of people, animals, plants, possessions or power. In this respect the hunter is intimately familiar with his world, yet he also remains detached from it. Being detached from his world, the hunters remains inaccessible to that world, and does not distort it by manhandling it. The hunter touches his world lightly, enjoys it for as long as he needs to, and then withdraws, leaving barely anything disturbed.
Strength and warriorship are synonymous. To have strength you must practise not-doing. Every battle is an exercise in not-doing.
The term ‘strength’, as used by Toltecs, is defined as an inner conviction arrived at through experience, and acted upon with a firmness and a confidence that is completely persuasive. Strength is closely allied to sobriety, in that strength can be acquired only when warriors are acting from the point where there is no doubt in their mind. To have such clarity demands that warriors have been utterly truthful and unbiased in assessing any given situation, and can therefore proceed with the full conviction that their decisions and acts are free from prejudice.
However, the easiest way in which to achieve a fluid assemblage point is to learn to stalk our perception, and the best way in which to do this is to learn to read the tensions inherent within daily life, for these tensions are but the product of intensity. Once we can read these tensions, we can begin to change our level of perception and our intensity simply by using the warrior’s shield and by practising not-doing. In other words, if we strive to read the tensions in our daily life, instead of getting caught up in the face value of events, then we automatically begin to accept without accepting, and we start to believe without believing and, as a result, our perception is no longer fixed by obsession, and the assemblage point is free to move.
It is not egotism that is the culprit, and neither is it the island of the tonal. It is man’s identification with the egotism inherent within the tonal that is the cause of man’s evil doings. The warrior knows this and therefore, instead of trying to escape the island of the tonal, he learns to use it and its inherent qualities in order to bring about its needed transformation.
With an acute awareness of his death, with his detachment, and with the power of his decisions, the warrior sets up his life in the most strategic manner he can. The knowledge that his death is stalking him guides his every action and gives him his great lust for life. The power of his irrevocable decisions enables him to choose without regrets, and what he chooses is always the most impeccable course of action. As a result, the warrior always enacts everything he has to do with ardent zeal and utter efficiency. When someone behaves in this manner, he can rightfully be called a warrior, for he has acquired the greatest of all attributes; namely, patience.