Brian Johnson reflects on a passage from Carlos Castaneda about choosing life paths that "have a heart." He quotes Castaneda’s warning that remaining on a heartless path can be destructive and urges deliberate, courage-based reassessment to remain on an authentic path. The piece closes with a call to trust oneself and recommit to a path aligned with one’s heart.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another optimize +1. In our last +1, we spent some time with Carlos Castaneda in his Toltec Warrior. Today we're going to spend a little more time with this eccentric teacher. I've always found one passage of his to be particularly powerful. This one, he tells us, and I quote, anything, is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path if he feels that he should not follow it. He must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There's a question that a warrior has to ask. Does this path have a heart? Does this path have a heart? Well, that's a powerful question. Eh, how do we possibly answer that one? Enter some more Castaneda wisdom, he tells us. But how will I know for sure whether a path has a heart or not? Anybody would know that. The trouble is, nobody asks the question. And when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point, very few men can stop to deliberate and leave the path. Yikes. And ha. That's today's confronting. Plus one. Does your path have a heart? Of course, there will always be times when a path with heart doesn't feel quite as heart centered as it could. Those times often require some re energizing and micro adjustments and recommitting and all that. And there are other times when we're just not on the right path. Those times may require some zero based thinking and deep work to figure out what path is the right one for us in all situations. I believe this is why Ralph Waldo Emerson said, trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string. Here's to courageously walking our paths with heart with deeper and deeper authenticity Today.
