Questions and Answers at the Los Angeles Workshop 1997

Notes by Vincent Sargenti and Randy Stark

Los Angeles Workshop, August 23 to 27, 1997

Florinda and Taisha walked out to enthusiastic applause on the morning of the fifth and final day. They told attendees that they were there to answer questions. Two chairs had been placed on either side of the podium. Taisha sat in the one stage right as Florinda stood behind the podium and fielded the first question.

"Is the glow of awareness on the inside or the outside of the cocoon?"

Florinda became animated and began to speak very rapidly, driving the translators crazy. She repeated how don Juan called the glow of awareness El Condoncito and described it as a tight covering over the luminous cocoon.

She made a few more comments, then said, "Let me answer the question with another question. Do you guys wear your condoms on the inside or the outside of your penis?"

"What is the difference between energy and awareness?"

"Awareness is conscious of itself," Florinda explained. "Energy is simply present everywhere and is not necessarily conscious. Sorcerers do not want to get involved in taxonomizing. They work their tails off to be free of the forces that draw us into categorizing and taxonomizing everything in the first place. When you can enter into silent knowledge your questions will answer themselves."

"What made it possible for you to go public?"

Florinda responded that they did not want to keep secrets that didn't even belong to them. Their going public had to do with the return of Carol Tiggs. That event had made energy available to them that would not have been otherwise. They decided, based on seeing energy as it flows in the universe, that they would make the passes available to anyone who wanted to learn them. In order to accomplish this, they distilled the passes down into a form that made them readily useable by anyone of any body type or energetic configuration.

"How should we do the passes; how much and when?"

"You don't want to go from one obsession in daily life to another obsession," Florinda replied. "You don't want to replace your usual set of obsessive behaviors by obsessively practicing Tensegrity. That would run counter to the purpose of Tensegrity. The passes interrupt the flow of the ME."

"Could you define the difference between the Dark Sea of Awareness and Intent?"

Taisha described both as 'energetic facts' that were discovered by the ancient seers. The Dark Sea of Awareness is something that we are connected to, something that surrounds us and affects us. It is something that everything we see emerges out of, and at the same time we are a part of. She also called it 'spirit'. She said that intent is more abstract, but that it is present in everything. It is something that directs the flow of events and works on us in inconceivable ways. It is the inconceivable force that guides our lives, yet to a certain degree we can learn to direct or beckon it.

"The humanero," Taisha said, "is the wall of socialization. When we lose the human form, it is the same as breaking the bonds of socialization."

Florinda continued on the subject by talking about the manner in which babies learn. Babies mold themselves energetically to their models. She referred again to the cloning of sheep discussion in her previous lecture, then went into an uncanny explanation of how socialization is initialized in infants. She explained it from the ground up, saying that infants learn by mimicking their energetic models.

"Okay, now where is that assemblage point?" they ask. Then, "Okay, there it is," and try to imitate it from shortly after birth until the time they are completely socialized.

"But you don't have to stay there," she went on. "We weren't there when that agreement was made. [The agreement that this one assemblage point position has to be the dominating position of our lives.] So, we don't have to adhere to it."

"From the assemblage point," Florinda said later, "there is a beam that goes straight down to the place between the toes. We are trying to move that beam. What not-doing gives is a choice not to go into our social patterns."

There was another question or two, then Taisha came back to the subject of childhood socialization.

"It takes us six years, basically, as children to become socialized," she said. "Kindergarten kids are still fairly uninhibited and free. Bobby has not really gotten a hold of them," Taisha said, smiling (her smile gave the feel of a light, open, childlike mood). "Their socialization has not really taken hold."

She described the process from the first and second grades, and how children are still fairly free of socialization. She said they start to show a thin veil of adult-like concerns, but not a lot.

"It's a thin veil," she smiled. "But by the third and fourth grades they are little adults, and you can see the shift. They have adult concerns for the self, having succumbed by that age to socialization."

"Nowadays it seems," Taisha noted in a serious tone, "they are succumbing earlier and earlier. Second graders are now getting the mask of socialization, and by the time they are in the third and fourth grades, whew boy, they are completely caught up in it."

There was a question concerning the passes for Not-Doing.

Florinda responded that one should keep practice on a not-doing level. Incorporate the passes into one's inventory very carefully, realizing that there is something outside of our cognitive system at work.

She commented on the fact that women have an innate link to the Dark Sea of Awareness, but because of their inherent lack of sobriety they don't give a damn. She said the nagual, because he is male, and because of his discipline, has the sobriety and energy to deal with not-doing and to enter the Dark Sea of Awareness. His sobriety helps to keep them focused.

"Where's Carlos?" a man shouted from the back of the audience.

Taisha and Florinda did not respond to his inquiry at first, but it was a burning question for many attendees. The man shouted the question till they answered him. Taisha and Florinda appeared to be baffled and unsure of how to respond. The question had been voiced very aggressively.

"His energy and awareness are out there," Taisha said. "He is the reason why we are all here."

"We're trying to pull him back," Florinda said quietly.

Taisha began to talk about grasping knowledge directly. She was speaking in reference to bringing the energy body back. She said that there must be a line of intent that goes from us to our energy body.

"Discipline brings the energy body closer," she stated. "Discipline and intent are what attract the energy body back to us. Calling the energy body back can only be accomplished by intending it through discipline. If we want our energy body to come back, we must call it. And the only way we can call it is through discipline."

Questions were coming in like a flood on little white pieces of paper that were handed forward till they reached the stage. Florinda and Taisha would open the papers and decide which ones they wanted to address.

"Do you have sex?" was one.

Florinda seemed slightly perturbed by the sheer audacity of it. "I don't know, I guess it's just the way I was raised," she said sternly. "Two things you never ask a lady. One, never ask a lady what her age is, and two, never ask a lady if she is having sex. These are very personal issues. I will respond to this simply by saying that we use sexual energy to navigate infinity."

Eventually they returned to the subject of child rearing.

"Children learn from our actions," Florinda said, "whatever we do they imitate. We have to teach them by example or they will be just like us regardless. So example is the only way to teach them. We teach them by example whether we like it or not. We can tell them things until we are blue in the face but all we will do is set up a conflict between our words and our actions, and in the end set ourselves up for a loss of respect. Children don't really listen to what we say to them as much as they model themselves after us energetically. So the only way we guide them is by our example, be that good or bad."

"How do we change?"

"Choose not to go into your usual patterns of behavior," Florinda replied.

"Can the magical passes cure disease?"

"Yes," Taisha said, "the passes remove encrusted energy and redistribute it back to the vital centers. The encrustation is like a bark on the outer portion of the inside of our luminous cocoon. The passes bring oxygen and blood flow to the vital organs and energetic centers. That actually helps to regenerate the vital organs and bring vitality and vigor to the body. This in itself is enough to help dispel disease. Do the passes everyday," she said. "ME is a set of concerns that gives us an overabundance of worry, tension and concern. All of this combines, and with the years sets us up to fall prey to disease."

(She stressed 'disease' as two words: dis-ease.)

Florinda at one point, talking about her father the General and about her German heritage, joked that if she were taller and had balls she'd have a whip right now and would be a commander. But since she was a 'mushroom' she'd ended up on the sorcerers' path, which in the end was very fortunate for her.

Florinda introduced some of the sixteen people who formed the 'shamanistic unit', primarily the Elements since they were the ones in the audience at the time. As she introduced each by name and they stood up, she made reference to their academic credentials and respective professional fields. It seemed that she did this in order to evoke a sense that within the social order these people were tremendously accomplished and disciplined individuals. She apparently wanted us to know that we were not dealing with a bunch of high school kids.

The six Elements: Miles is an MD. Brandon has a masters degree in psychology and is a practicing psychologist specializing in domestic violence. Gavin has two Ph.D.s -- one in biology, and one in the Earth sciences. Fabrizio is an investment banker/consultant. Lorenzo is a writer/producer, and Julius is a producer/director.

The ten Energy Trackers: The Alexanders are Nuri (Blue Scout), Zaia (photographer) -- both currently pursuing Ph.D.s -- and Nyei. Reni and Nyei Murez, the cousins, are English teachers. Reni is finishing law school, Nyei is pursuing a career in editing. Talia Bey is the president of Cleargreen. And last but not least, the current pursuits of Kylie, Erin, Darien and the newest Energy Tracker, Haley, were not mentioned.

(Some of the above information may not be entirely accurate. Not all of it was derived from Florinda's comments.)

After Florinda and Taisha's Q/A period, and a short break, the Elements quickly reviewed the Unbending Purpose and The Legs Rule Vitality series. The Energy Trackers then came out and quickly reviewed, On the Run and The Wheel of Time.

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