Our fellow men are black magicians. And whoever is with them is a black magician on the spot. Think for a moment. Can you deviate from the path that your fellow men have lined up for you? And if you remain with them, your thoughts and your actions are fixed forever in their terms. That is slavery. The warrior, on the other hand, is free from all that. Freedom is expensive, but the price is not impossible to pay. So, fear your captors, your masters. Don't waste your time and your power fearing freedom. - Don Juan Castaneda

How does one embrace such freedom?

Rejecting the narrative of society, I expect. The quote names something most feel but rarely say out loud: that the world we are born into is a kind of spell, a collective incantation and most people are magicians who no longer know they are casting it because they are unconscious of their power to create. But who could create capitalism and racism except you? Who can end the spell, except you?

The "black magic" is not literal sorcery. It’s the creation of consensus reality, the invisible architecture of thought, behaviour, identity, and expectation that society demands we inhabit. Taken together, this architecture has all the hallmarks of enchantment. And to remain within this enchantment, unquestioning, is to be a magician in service of that spell.

To be free, then, is to break that spell. To walk away from the script. Not physically, necessarily, but in consciousness. That’s what Castaneda’s “warrior” is. One who chooses awareness over agreement. One who sees the enchantment, and chooses to live lucidly.

There are not many warriors among us. Yet.