Mastery of Awareness

By Bruce De Vé
February 2004

The Toltecs

Approximately 3000 years ago, a young man appeared among the Toltec people who spontaneously experienced enlightenment, a complete mastery of Self Realisation. He further demonstrated the capacity to transmit this state of being to others. The Toltecs subsequently formed themselves into a society of scientists and artists, whose purpose was to explore, conserve and transmit this wisdom to future generations.

They considered that all manifestation and spiritual realities emerged from a single source, and were subject to common laws and principles, not unlike the conclusions of other great cultures, and the modern science of quantum physics. However, the Toltec scientists took these principles a step further. They developed and refined a working system for training apprentices in the mastery of three, key fields of human optimisation: the Mastery of Awareness, the Mastery of Transformation, and the Mastery of Intent, or Will. The process involved a set of profound and very effective psychological processes, which combined to virtually wipe the mental slate of defective judgments, acquired through a lifetime of defensive adaptation to one's personal experience with the world. The effect was not unlike reformatting the hard drive of a virus-infected computer.

Philosophy

The Toltec philosophy was not just another endless rational investigation of the meaning of life. It was a set of tested, practical tools and systems, capable of raising the individual to the highest level of human performance and experience. Those tools were designed to identify and correct the faulty operation of the mind. In order to be effective, the initiates first had to really understand several key factors:

• How the mind functioned correctly,
• How it became dysfunctional,
• What were the symptoms of that dysfunction,
• What were the underlying causes,
• How to reverse the effects of those causes, and
• How to restore the human psyche to its optimal condition.

The Toltecs considered the adult human mind to be domesticated, not unlike a household pet. The original spontaneous creativity of childhood, is curbed by the stick and carrot of approval and disapproval, and effectively beaten into submission to various routines, by agreement with both cultural and self imposed belief systems. These belief systems often clash, resulting in an ongoing, but futile, inner struggle for balance. Such is the degree of conflict between these unaligned ideas, that a constant barrage of inner voices assails us. Every agreement we have ever made with someone else's statements or our own, contends for our attention. The result is the ceaseless mental noise of negative self-talk and compulsive thinking, much of it self critical, or at least self-limiting. This inner noise, is referred to by the Toltecs as the "mitote".

Our accumulated beliefs, or impressions of the past, form our inner reference, or "Book of Law", to which we constantly refer to make sense of the world and ourselves. This faulty authority, the product of self-judgment from within, and critical judgement from others, results in the creation of a victim identity. The environment seems hostile, and one's own ability to deal with it seems limited.

In order to minimise the sense of lack of control, one constantly looks for evidence to prove the verity of the ideas one already holds about self and other. The outcome is an addiction to being right about what one already believes. Any challenge to these beliefs is perceived as attack. Someone has to be wrong, and it can't be me. So progressively, through our judgments and stubbornness, we devalue both each other and ourselves. We strip our lives of spontaneity and happiness, by marching to the beat of an increasingly defensive, inflexible and conditioned inner drum.

The Toltecs referred to this combination of Judge, Victim and Law-book as "the Parasite". This unnatural trinity was recognised as an unhealthy imposition on the originally pristine mirror of the mind. Instead of reflecting what is real, the conditioned mind merely reiterates ad nauseum, its faulty evidence for what its beliefs tell it should be real. By competing for and consuming all of its host's attention and exhausting it, this parasite acts much in the same way as any other. It flourishes to the detriment of the host. The killing of such a parasite results in dramatic improvements in:

• Energy,
• Clarity,
• Personal power and
• Physical health.

In short, one recovers the ability to use one's own Will to direct one's own life, according to the directives of one's heart.

Apprenticeship

The method of dealing with the parasite and its main symptoms, the mitote and personal failure, is simple and straightforward. As in the development of any practical skill, the neophyte enters into an apprenticeship, under a recognised master of the system. The apprentice's job is to learn, and the master's job to make sure that the apprentice not only learns, but also actually masters what is really necessary, over time. The master knows what the student needs to learn. He stands on higher ground. He can clearly see areas to which the student is blinded by conditioning, ignorance, inexperience, stubbornness, self-righteousness and fear. He can pre-empt mistakes and progressively guide the student through the transformational process.

The first Mastery, the outcome of an effective apprenticeship, is the virtual death of the parasite which lives in the head, the judge, Victim and Book of Law. Cyclic, limited thinking is transcended. Awareness becomes the default state.

The second Mastery is that of Transformation, the practical application of those processes, which can dig out the roots of redundant, limiting conditioning.

The final outcome is the removal of the old, broken, hardened heart, and re-kindling in its place, of the flame of spontaneous joy, love and limitless creativity. The old man is put off and the new man put on. This is the mastery of Intent, the recovery of the Will, and with it the recovery of Love. Once this flame is alight, the scales fall off the eyes and the same flame becomes visible and apparent in all things. It was always there, but previously unnoticed. This merging of our inner light, with the light of the totality of all Life, is commonly referred to in diverse traditions as enlightenment. It is our birthright, our true and natural state of being.

Unlike many other personal development methodologies of both historical and modern times, the Toltec system sets out to achieve measurable gains in reasonable time. The outcome of the Toltec apprenticeship was and still is, the efficient production of a Self Realised human being, capable of living a full and optimal life, and having the ability to transmit the skills necessary for such an outcome to others. Such a transformation requires the awareness, commitment and courage to face oneself over time. The payoff comes with the changing of one's personal view of hell in this life, to one of heaven.

Politics

Centuries ago, the practitioners of the Toltec training system were obliged to take a low profile, due to early political developments in central America.

It is of no little significance that the Aztec civilisation arose out of the Toltec system of living. While proud, warlike and aggressive, the Aztecs continued to practise many of the aspects of self-mastery, in the training of their young men and leaders. Thus they rose to prominence in the region of what is now Mexico.

Hernán Cortés and his followers discovered the Aztec empire in 1519. For some time, mistaken for Gods, the conquistadors lived in the magnificent Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán. It was situated just a short distance from the ancient capital of the Toltecs, Teotihuacán, which had already fallen into disuse since its abandonment in the twelfth century. While the Aztec culture was significantly influenced by the Toltecs, it had lost the spiritual significance of the older symbolism.

The Europeans infiltrated the Aztec community, studying its culture and religion, with the intention of eventually capturing the territory, plundering its immense wealth and converting the inhabitants to Christianity. The European scholars were quite taken aback by the degree of advancement of the civilisation. Cortés said of Tenochtitlán: "The city is so big and so remarkable.much larger than Granada and very much stronger, with as good buildings and many more people than Granada had when it was taken." Tenochtitlán's systems of urban planning, city hygiene, and general public health, were superior to anything in the known world at the time.

Being superbly well nourished, educated and trained in personal development and personal responsibility, the Aztecs were intelligent, skilful, and superior in the principal arts of civilisation, politics and warfare to any of their neighbours. They sustained an immense empire, despite serious difficulties with communications imposed by the climate and terrain. However, they eventually succumbed to the treachery of the Europeans living in their midst, and their entire civilisation was decimated.

Continuing dangers from the new elite, forced the remaining Toltec practitioners to remain hidden, and it is only quite recently that they have chosen to re-emerge and offer their remarkable system of personal training openly.

Luis Molinar

Luis Molinar is a highly respected nagual, or master of the Toltec system. He apprenticed under Don Miguel Ruiz, author of "The Four Agreements", (one of the most profound texts on the principles of self mastery currently in existence). As well as his teaching and personal mentoring, Luis works extensively with men's groups around the world, helping men to recover a real awareness of their creative, emotional natures. It is rare good fortune to have access to someone of his standing.

Teotihuacán

In October 2003, Luis will be leading a group to Teotihuacán in Mexico, for the Initiation of the Dead power journey, held on the same ground that the ancient Toltecs used for millennia. The expected outcome of this process, is a major step towards the elimination of the parasite, the mitote, and the effective resurrection of the true human being.

The process runs from 26 October - 4 November, 2003. For more information, go to: www.toltecheartwisdom.com

Bookings may be arranged by contacting: info@ToltecHeartWisdom.com

Personal Note from Bruce W. Du Vé

I was first introduced to the work of Don Miguel Ruiz (Luis's mentor), by John Martin, ex CEO of General Electric in Asia. The effective, scientific Toltec methods are respected in the higher levels of international corporate management, as well as in diverse personal growth and spiritual organisations.

I had the good fortune to meet Luis recently, and consider it a privilege to have been exposed to him and his work. I was introduced to him by Anne Garvey, a remarkable lady who is actively involved in development education and cross border, peace and reconciliation programs in Ireland. She recently organised a very successful series of workshops and talks with Luis in Dublin.

I am going to participate in the forthcoming journey to Teotihuacán with him next month. I hope that you too may be drawn to avail of the opportunity to seek his guidance.