In order to adopt any process or path it is entirely necessary to define four aspects. Why should I have an interest? What,exactly is it? How can I apply this to my world and life? And finally, Where will this take me?
Starting with the first; there are many propositions for life, yet most people end up with the position that life is something one ultimately survives. Toltec provides a set of tools that once applied adjust the viewpoint to approach life as a wondrous sequence of events that arise from the moment of birth, through an experiential phase to the moment of closure. Toltec allows a person to move from simply existing to fully living.
So what is this Toltec we are describing? Toltec is a set of principles that can trace its origins into deepest antiquity, apparently to the Atlantean races, yet given this, it is of no importance at all. The principles, however, are married to activities that provide experiential certitude to the principles. Toltec then is not a book of information but a series of experiments that converts the information into knowledge. No description would be complete without noting that it is also a path; a path with two end-points, one is freedom, and the other is total awareness.
The how to apply this is a little more difficult to explain. Like many similar systems it is of the utmost simplicity, yet never easy to action. An apprentice begins the journey under the umbrella wing of an activated leader, and whatever aspirants have already joined the party or the unit. The unit is not hierarchical in design, but a true unit in which all members are accruing power. The power is that which they have wasted or lost during the course of their lives, so in a more realistic description they are simply regaining that which originally was theirs in the first place. In the process of regaining this power they eliminate the ideas and attitudes that wasted it in the first place. The ultimate result of regaining power is they become the author, and more properly, the authority of their own experience, and thus gain freedom and awareness.
The final question for consideration is where else does the attainment of Toltec Wisdom and Authority take me? On first glance Toltec seems to be a philosophical approach to living, in the same vein perhaps as Buddhism, Mystical Christianity, Sufism, or a host of New Age theosophies. While Toltec shares many of the conceptual basics (as must anything based on fundamental truths) Toltec deals with living in a different way. The results of applying its principles is that most, if not all, of fixed ideas you have entertained about the world are stripped away. There is no particular way that is prescribed that must be adhered to, and so life becomes a fluid, responsive, and creative activity. The stories that you surround yourself with, have no need to explain your past as you have continuously done, and as a result you do not have to conform to their destiny. The final result of this is that you can never be defined by anybody else, and attain ultimate freedom to define yourself.
What are the Benefits of Joining a Toltec Party?
There are a number of excellent Toltec books, and the number is growing. Many of you reading this have already experienced my online 28-day Toltec Challenge, yet there is a component missing when you do something on your own, or with someone else who has not had the advantage of guidance with an experienced nagual. A Toltec Party or Unit, is a group or team of dedicated warriors exploring, maturing and unfolding into masters of living. It would be inconceivable to suggest that someone could not do this by themselves, and at the same time I can say with surety that they will not attain the same degrees of power. The Toltec Party is not a container in which to mature, it is a living vessel that grows as a whole.
This is a container in which you surrender individuality and gain autonomy. You surrender existence and gain personal power to be absolutely alive. As you can see from the last two sentences words cannot accurately describe the shift in consciousness that is possible. Toltec then is not a practice, it is a way of living. It requires a willingness to challenge everything you have accepted as “the way things are; what is real; what is true; everything.”
The outcomes for the Toltec way are total awareness, and freedom. The real benefits are that right from the start one starts to become aware of gaining freedom. The old identities, habits, behaviours and addictions start rubbing off as if they are simple madnesses that you no longer ascribe to. You no longer have to prove, or survive, or protect or endure, or feel guilt, or shame, or distrust. The further down the path you get the greater the awareness gets and with it increased knowledge of freedom. You begin to understand how first attention differs from second attention, and that from third attention and finally total awareness.
The Toltec Party accepts a novice as a Stalker exploring the first attention of the right side. Once you have a grasp of what this means and how to manage it, you move into the realm of the second attention and the art of the Dreamer. In this state you are beginning to operate within the existing fields of experience, and as such ready to speak to and invite in new Stalkers. After training as a Dreamer, you activate a new skill as a Person of Knowledge. Knowledge is the skill needed to put what you know, or information into practice by deliberately influencing the fields of activity. Finally you become ready to excite and inspire your own Party as its leader or Nagual. The shift between Person of Knowledge and Nagual is extremely subtle, and certainly beyond description. However, it is as palpable as either of the other shifts in attention.
What is the Overall Vision?
The concept that structures these specific Toltec Parties is three-fold. Firstly, the plan is to offer a series of exercises, techniques and perspectives that build confidence and attitudes to better manage the world. The second aspect of the vision is to create a system that is self-perpetuating through the willingness for participants to continue and be richly compensated for their efforts. The third purpose, and as equally important, is to significantly shift all human consciousness to a higher state of awareness.
We realise this is a magnificent mission, and one that might initially seem overly ambitious. The very first Party might have to overcome some initial inertia and friction, but once it achieves its momentum it must snowball with the mount of enthusiasm and excitement it generates. There is no power greater than a movement whose time has come.
Invitation to the Challenge