Focus, Equilibrium and Fluidity

The Nawatilli step has to do with the obligations and conventions of the individual’s life within the social order. This second step connects to the Will chakra, the Pantli, at our navel.

*NOTE on chakras: Each of the seven steps corresponds to one of the seven chakras – seven wheels of power running from the base of your spine to the crown of your head. Their “power” comes in how you direct your energies to the world. Not wanting to quote any single chakra instruction, here’s a link to a Web MD article. Should the subject, rather the dynamic of the subject, interest you, there’s a lot out there.

Shiktli, Kinam and Nawa

Once the student knows a reasonable amount of step one, Toltecayotl, things of the toltecs, the warrior looks at where/how she fits in society, in the Nawatilli, the Order of the times.

Talking about the toltec way, many times, sounds like history – the way we used to do it, the ways of our ancestors, and so forth. That’s natural since it’s such an old culture, however, the raw power and efficacy of the toltec function in any context, in any time and place, wherever the warrior’s birth and his choices may take him, a major attraction of the path.  

The warrior’s first decision is to live as a toltec, a warrior artist. Action must follow a warrior’s decision, and she first acts to understand the Toltecayotl, and now in the Nawatilli she acts to be the warrior artist who walks among the rest of society. While living well with others is critical, and a step on the path, the focus is upon the highest performance of each individual toltec.    

Walking in the harmony with the Nawatilli includes:

·  Living the Five Principles: Emancipation, Equilibrium, Experience, Death and Ancestors

·  Mastering the Seven Steps: Toltecayotl, Nawatilli, Teochiwa, Chipawa, Teomania, Nawallotl and Yekoatl

·  Living the Three Commandments of Ketsalkoatl:

Love the Creator, God, with all your soul

Live in peace, as hard as that is, and

Don’t waste time, you don’t have much

Some would say those 15 topics I listed are a philosopher’s stone to the toltec way, a blueprint. Once warriors accept the challenge, we strive for shiktli, kinam and nawa – focus, equilibrium and fluidity in the Nawatilli step.  We focus, center, on what we’re doing in the moment, with a solid internal equilibrium and a strong ability to move in any direction, as necessary.

Of course, toltecs will have to do some type of hunting and gathering, perhaps as plumbers, lawyers, spiritual leaders, police officers, and any one of the thousands of occupations society has to fill. Don’t forget raising children or paying taxes.

All of that sounds very ordinary, and well, it is, but when you approach an ordinary life as a toltec warrior-artist, things get very interesting, very fast. And there, Dear Readers, is one of the secrets of making art in a toltec manner.

MAKE ART