Yes, there does seem a dog eat dog, ruthless theme that comes through Castaneda’s work. This is poles apart from my own disposition, but I enjoyed the weaving of an entirely consistent alternate world.

I think Gurdjieff was pointing to the machine-like quality of thought and deed. This is to do with habitual thoughts and actions that proceed automatically; One thing following from another thing in a predictable way. This seems reminiscent of Castaneda’s section on ‘hunting’ and the importance of being aware of the ‘prey’s’ routines; Contrasted with the difficulty of hunting a magical beast, which has no routine.

There is a temporal natural ‘justice’; The rule of three, the principle of karma and the like, which seems like a form of blind responsibility. I imagine that there is a different level of responsibility for someone who is dreaming, as opposed to someone who is dreaming lucidly. I’m not sure what this ‘responsibility’ means, but intuit that it entails an ‘upping of the ante’; That there is more at stake.

There is still scope for forgiveness when acting automatically and not being fully aware of what you are doing.

The best stories are those with many angles of approach. As you say, it is funny how we each latch on to a different theme from these things. Right and wrong doesn’t come in to it. Reality is multifaceted and a good deal of it appears to be a reflection of ourselves.