I told him that sometimes I thought I knew, but that most of the time I had no self-confidence.
"I'm afraid that you are confusing issues," he said. "The self-confidence of the warrior is not
the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the
onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and
calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked
only to himself. Perhaps you are chasing rainbows. You're after the self-confidence of the
average man, when you should be after the humbleness of a warrior. The difference between the
two is remarkable. Self-confidence entails knowing something for sure; humbleness entails being
impeccable in one's actions and feelings."
"I've been trying to live in accordance with your suggestions," I said. "I may not be the best,
but I'm the best of myself. Is that impeccability?"
"No. You must do better than that. You must push yourself beyond your limits, all the time."
"But that would be insane, don Juan. No one can do that."
"There are lots of things that you do now which would have seemed insane to you ten years
ago. Those things themselves did not change, but your idea of yourself changed; what was
impossible before is perfectly possible now and perhaps your total success in changing yourself
is only a matter of time. In this affair the only possible course that a warrior has is to act
consistently and without reservations. You know enough of the warrior's way to act accordingly,
but your old habits and routines stand in your way."
"I'm going to utter perhaps the greatest piece of knowledge anyone can voice," he said. "Let
me see what you can do with it.
"Do you know that at this very moment you are surrounded by eternity? And do you know
that you can use that eternity, if you so desire?"
happy end of the world
natta
