When Don Juan speaks to Carlos of seeing, he means something quite different from how the word is ordinarily used. He sometimes means one thing, at other times, another, but what is constant in how he uses the word is the notion of witnessing objectively, without putting anything of oneself into it.

Once, telling Carlos of his son’s death, Don Juan said that when he looked at his son’s dying body, he cried and was sad. When, however, he saw, it was different. Then there was wonder at watching the transformation, at seeing the life force leave the body

Sometimes he seems to mean more than this, more like seeing a different reality. However, it is important to notice that Don Juan is extroverted and projects his body of knowledge out upon the outer world, as opposed to Carl Jung, the introvert, for whom there are no different realities, rather different aspects of the psyche each looking differently at the one reality.

When I am within a dream, I live through it one step at a time. I don’t know what will happen next and am only aware of the past and the present of the dream. When I awaken, however, I can look upon the whole of the dream.

Years ago, I realized that I could arrive at a similar viewpoint regarding my life, a viewpoint that transcended my current situation and allowed me to witness my life in its entirety. It was as if I were walking along a trail in the woods, and, by climbing to a higher viewpoint, I could see the entire trail. Similarly, by raising my consciousness, I can look down upon my entire life.

This point of view, I call the witness. By allowing us to objectively see our lives in their entirety, it allows us to see the Story of our lives, to see who we are and what Story we are in. It is essential to steering our lives to know where we have been and where we are going, to see what the next chapter will bring, and how the story will finally end. If we know all this, we have become masters of our fate and need have no fears.