Tonal (Mythology)

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In the specific context of Carlos Castaneda, the tonal is what makes the world. Don Juan asserts that we all sense the Tonal/Nagual pair but the Tonal, as we grow, tries to hide the Nagual. But it can't hide the fact there's a true pair, so it "cheats" and we end believing in God/devil, body/soul, mind/spirit, good/evil - that are fake pairs, 100% tonal.

Consider this way: If you think of the concept it's Tonal. Of course, there's the question: "If I can think of the Nagual, that doesn't make it a part of the Tonal?", but the answer is that Tonal/Nagual are a true pair and that you can't "think of" about the Nagual, you can only feel it's effect.

There's also the concept of a personal Tonal that starts with the birth and end in the death, and the "Tonal of the Times" that spans an entire age. Castaneda describes the personal Tonal and the Nagual as an island or a bubble, that has to be re-organized moving all items from the left (Nagual) to the right (Tonal), preparing the person for the opening of the bubble/wings of perception, the sourcerer's explanation and the "division of the person".

The Tonal also represents the world of order and unified perception, the Nagual on the other side represents the "chaos" and not unified perception - as each cell of you body could sense the world by itself and only have a particular loyalty to each other during your lifetime.