The Tonal

Every human being has two sides, two separate entities, two counterparts which become operative at the time of birth: one is called “Tonal” and the other “Nagual.” The sorcerers have a particular and unique interest in this knowledge. I would say that Tonal and Nagual are within the exclusive mastery of the Men of Knowledge.

The Tonal is the social person. The Tonal is, rightfully so, a protector, a guardian, a guardian who generally turns into a guard. The Tonal is the organizer of the world. Maybe the best way to describe its monumental work is to say that on its shoulders rests the task of setting the chaos of the world in order. It is not farfetched to affirm that, as the sorcerers say, everything we know and do as men and women is due to the work of the Tonal.

At this moment, for instance, it is your Tonal that is engaged in making sense of this conversation: without it there would just be weird sounds and grimaces and you would not understand a thing of what I’m saying. I would say then that the Tonal is a guardian that protects something very precious, our very being. Therefore, an inherent quality of the tonal is to be cagey and zealous of its doings. And since its doings are by far the most important part of our lives, it’s no wonder that it eventually changes, in each and every one of us, from a guardian into a guard.

A guardian is broad-minded and understanding. A guard, on the other hand, is vigilant, narrow-minded and most of the time despotic. I say then, that the Tonal in all of us has been made into a petty and despotic guard when it should be a broad-minded guardian.

The Tonal is everything and anything we are. Anything we have a word for is the tonal. Since Tonal is its own doings, then everything, obviously, has to fall under its domain. The tonal is everything that we know, that is known to us and it includes not only us as persons, but everything in our world. It can be said that the Tonal is everything that meets the eye. We begin to groom it at the moment of birth. The moment when we take our first gasp of air we also breathe in the power of the Tonal. So, it is proper to say that the tonal of a human being is intimately tied to his birth, you must remember this point.

It is of great importance to understand all of this. The Tonal begins at birth and ends at death. The Tonal is what makes the world, but only in a manner of speaking. It cannot create or change anything and yet it makes the world because it witnesses and assesses it according to Tonal rules. In a very strange manner, the tonal is a creator that doesn’t create a thing. In other words, the Tonal makes up the rules by which it apprehends the world. So, in a certain way, it creates the world.

The Tonal is an island. A better way to describe it is to say that the tonal is like a table top in a restaurant dining hall. On this island we have everything. This island is in fact the world. There exists a personal Tonal for every one of us and there is a collective one for all of us at any given time, which we can call the Tonal of all times. Look, all the rows of tables in the dining hall have the same format. Certain items are present on all of them. They are, however, individually different from each other; some tables are more crowded than others; they have different food on them, different atmosphere, although you have to admit that all the tables are very alike. The same thing happens with the Tonal. We can day that the Tonal of all times is what makes us alike in the same way that it makes all the tables in a restaurant alike. Each table nevertheless, separately is an individual case, just like the personal tonal of each of us. But the important factor to keep in mind is that everything we know about ourselves and about our world is on the island of the Tonal.

Generally speaking, there are two aspects to each Tonal. One is the external, the fringe, the surface of the island. This is the part that relates to action and to act, the rugged side. The other part is the decision and the judgment, the inner Tonal, softer, more delicate and more complex. The proper Tonal is a Tonal where the two levels are in perfect harmony and balance.