Don Juan talks about the first natural enemy on the path to becoming a man of knowledge. “Fear! A terrible enemy—treacherous and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way, prowling, waiting. And if the man, terrified in its presence, runs away, his enemy (fear) will have put an end to his quest.” Castaneda asks him, “What will happen to the man if he runs away in fear?” Don Juan answers, “Nothing happens to him except that he will never learn. He will never become a man of knowledge. He will perhaps be a bully or a harmless, scared man; at any rate, he will be a defeated man. His first enemy will put an end to his cravings.” What is Creator’s perspective?

This is very true, that learning being essential to personal success as well as collective expansion and survival of humanity is a requisite for living, and especially gaining ground, making progress for improving things, which is an endless quest within the hearts and minds of all because it stems from an important soul characteristic. This is an outstanding agenda and characteristic of Creator, to seek an expansion of possibilities and work towards creating an environment where the initiative and creativity of individuals can flourish, and reward both individuals and all within the human family from the fruits of the productivity that is allowed and encouraged to contribute to general welfare and the enhancement of life in ways that can be shared by all. This, by definition, is a challenge and a significant one. The barriers to learning being quite real, and the way society is constructed to compare people to one another and to arbitrary standards, means people will be punished frequently along the way by being second-guessed, corrected, criticized, and ignored by those older but not necessarily wiser. Those who give in to their fear and assume it is hopeless to compete will be condemning themselves along with their tormentors and the perpetrators of negative treatment undermining them, and this will incur a karmic penalty as well. Most people harm themselves more than others in the course of their lifetime, and this is a major pitfall that engulfs many along the way—their fear caused by feeling ignorant.