|
 kratomboy
Drifter
Registered: 02/05/05
Posts: 187
Loc: Nevada
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
 Castaneda... 
#4148967 - 05/08/05 12:37 AM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I'm wrapped up in his books right now. Just finished #4. Has anyone out there actually put any of this stuff into actual use in their lives? I can't seem to decide if this is just a fictional novel or if it's actually true. I'm having a hard time believing it all, yet it's still a good read.
--------------------
 "We must see that consciousness is neither an isolated soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies which makes a nervous system possible."
|
crunchytoast
oppositional
Registered: 04/07/05
Posts: 1,133
Loc: aporia
Last seen: 16 years, 2 months
|
 Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4148996 - 05/08/05 12:51 AM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
im pretty sure it's generally regarded as a hoax castaneda pulled on his school. great reading tho- i just finished the first half of book 1- great stuff. "and the second obstacle is clariy" etc
--------------------
"consensus on the nature of equilibrium is usually established by periodic conflict." -henry kissinger
|
kratomboy
Drifter
Registered: 02/05/05
Posts: 187
Loc: Nevada
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
|
I think there's a lot of wisdom in the books... which is the only thing that makes me wonder if there's any truth in it.
--------------------
"We must see that consciousness is neither an isolated soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies which makes a nervous system possible."
|
MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida 
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4149049 - 05/08/05 01:08 AM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
Great books! And in 1972 when I read the second one - 'A Separate Reality' - the chairperson of the philosophy department exclaimed "Oh - we have a philosopher here!" and I was quite pleased with myself. My friend Kenny and I would be drunk in the woods and running stiff-legged with our fingers curled under imagining that we were doing incredible running feats with "the gait of power." We would survey a field while on acid, looking for a "power spot" on which to sit. Ah, youth! Fantasy, playfulness, childlike abandon to such wonderful stories. Alas....Don Juan Matus, Genero, the ally's and things that go bump in the chapperal at night - all fictions of a masterful story-teller, but a very dishonest academic. I'll tell you what world-renowned Egyptologist and published parapsychologist Bob Brier told me just after Halloween 1974 when he met Carlos Casteneda at the yearly meeting of occultists at Harry Houdini's grave: "There IS no Don Juan." Sorry about that bubble pardner - but it was burst for many of us long ago 
--------------------
γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
Edited by MarkostheGnostic (05/08/05 09:41 PM)
|
 Jellric
altered statesman
Registered: 11/07/98
Posts: 2,261
Loc: non-local
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4149084 - 05/08/05 01:19 AM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I was first introduced to the books when I had just begun to trip about ten years ago. They are intimately intertwined with my life at that time and I find it hard to judge them objectively for that reason. They are what they are. Take what you can from them and discard the rest as you would any other book.
But don't avoid reading them..
--------------------
I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4150474 - 05/08/05 02:13 PM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
In Journey to Ixtlan there is much useful info on what it means to take responsibility for yoursself and your actions.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4150605 - 05/08/05 03:54 PM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I read or devoured the first four books when they came out. Yes I'm that old.  I have now re read them for the 23 time, and feel it is time to start them up again.
I have used them as a guide for work on myself. Especially taking responsibility and using death as an advisor. They speak to me more than anything else I have found out there and the philosophy is good. The rest may be faked, and I care less. What a masterful forgery to fool so many for so long. And here we are still discussing them.
What is interesting to me and a few people I have met noticed it also. After the 4th book the tone changed and the style so much that I came to the conclusion that another author was responsible, or it was a plan to throw people off his trail or something. I have never been able to get into any of the other books. How werd. 
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Dark_Star
train driver pervading a desktop
Registered: 08/20/04
Posts: 31,859
Loc: Uranus
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4151311 - 05/08/05 08:35 PM (18 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
Whether they are fictional or not does not detract from the knowledge and wisdom within, after all it's all real thoughts and ideas that Casteneda had. Many authors wrap their ideas/therories in tales to make them more interesting and more palatable. If you learn from your reading that's great...and what Carlos intended, fiction or not.
--------------------
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4162794 - 05/11/05 04:48 PM (18 years, 25 days ago) |
|
|
From an interview with the infamous C.C.
If you could do it over again, would you "just say no"?
My path has been my path. Don Juan always told me, "Make a gesture." A gesture is nothing more than a deliberate act undertaken for the power that comes from making a decision. Ultimately, the value of entering a nonordinary state, as you do with peyote or other psychotropic plants, is to exact what you need in order to embrace the stupendous character of ordinary reality. You see, the path of the heart is not a road of incessant introspection or mystical flight, but a way of engaging the joys and sorrows of the world. This world, where each one of us is related at molecular levels to every other wondrous and dynamic manifestation of being -- this world is the warrior's true hunting ground.
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
egghead1
Nakedly Open
Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 931
Loc: The Womb of Love
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Icelander]
#4162809 - 05/11/05 04:54 PM (18 years, 25 days ago) |
|
|
Thats truly excellent
I loved the casteneda books
They all seemed mystically vague to me, but entertaining with interesting spiritual messages interwoven into the fabric. 
--------------------
All you need is Love! Really thats it! Infinite Unconditional Love! Just develop that and all else will fall into place perfectly!
|
Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: egghead1]
#4164221 - 05/11/05 10:15 PM (18 years, 25 days ago) |
|
|
I am in a wheelchair for life after jumping off a cliff as outlined in the books.
I can hardly wait to try Jimson Weed next...
--------------------
The proof is in the pudding.
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4164229 - 05/11/05 10:16 PM (18 years, 25 days ago) |
|
|
If you followed the guidelines in Tales of Power you would not have survived...2000ft or so. My oldest brother did the Jimson weed thing. He weirded out and I ended up babysitting...and I MEAN babysitting for the next 12 hours.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
Nomad
Mad Robot
Registered: 04/30/02
Posts: 422
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4165229 - 05/12/05 02:40 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
The first book is real, and all others are fake. I know that, even though I didn't even read anything except the first book and the first half of the second book. 
The style of the second book seems to be much more commercial than that of the first. The first book is also internally consistent. For example, it is made clear in the first book that the mushroom ingredient in the mixture is not to be smoked, but the powder goes through the pipe into your mouth, without being actually burned. As far as I remember, the second book then claims that it is actually smoked (and in the second book, Castaneda is also certain that it is a psilocybin mushroom - that is left as an open issue in the first book). Ever tried smoking psilocybin? What a waste of time.
Great books from a buddhist point of view, regardless of authenticity.
|
emptywisdom
simple being oflight
Registered: 03/29/05
Posts: 2,107
Loc: Lemuria
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
|
 Re: Castaneda... [Re: Nomad]
#4165271 - 05/12/05 03:33 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
If those books are fake then Castaneda deserves credit for being the single greatest mind of all time in the history of fictional writing.
Simply put, If he just "made all that shit up" then he displayed the single greatest imagination and cohesive direction in the history of fiction.
I don't find this to be likely.
Even though it is common to believe these are fiction, primarily because of the scope of what they are about, it's harder for me to believe that anyone, Castaneda himself especially, is a great enough literary mind to make this shit up. Not that the idea itself is to hard to manifest, but the details and wisdom that are presented throughout the books....No way in fucking hell he made that up from the top of his head. No average Joe Like Castaneda has that kind of wisdom and knowledge.
Alot of the stuff from those books are quite applicable to daily life, whether you decide to go head deep and dissolve your personal history or not (I have and still am considering doing this).
I have taken alot from these books. And yes, I do apply much of this wisdom to my everyday life and the direction I choose to send it in.
No way could this have been absolute fiction.
If Carlos himself came out and said he made every bit of this stuff up, I would not believe him, simply because the depth and scope of all of this is too much for any writer to create. This wisdom, even for an incredibly knowledgeable anthropologist, which he was not, is too much to make up.
--------------------
|
emptywisdom
simple being oflight
Registered: 03/29/05
Posts: 2,107
Loc: Lemuria
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Nomad]
#4165274 - 05/12/05 03:40 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Nomad said:
The first book is real, and all others are fake. I know that, even though I didn't even read anything except the first book and the first half of the second book. .
What a bunch of ridiculous shit. Please.
More commercial? maybe you should actually read them before making this distinction. Because it's quite ludicrous, actually.
Oh, and for swami, I've done a fuck load of datura. I've ate it, smoked it, made tea with it, even snorted the crushed dried flower. I've done alot with this plant. It's never pleasant, but it can be done and can yield positive effects. I'm not dead, obviously. I do not suggest it to anyone, but it's beneficial use is not out of the realms of possibility.
--------------------
|
Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
|
|
I don't find this to be likely.
Let's look at this objectively. There are several hundred thousand works of fiction. Some will have to better than the rest. True so far?
People being in two places at once? None verified.
People jumping off high cliffs onto land uninjured without equipment? None verified.
People turning into crows? None verified.
People teleporting? None verified.
And so on. How can you come to the conclusion that putting imaginative ideas on paper is less likely? I guess the Illiad must be true also because it was too cool a story. 
Note: time for another course on basic logic, folks.
--------------------
The proof is in the pudding.
|
Nomad
Mad Robot
Registered: 04/30/02
Posts: 422
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
|
maybe you should actually read them before making this distinction.
Um, yeah, I guess I should do that. I was impressed with the first book and could not imagine that that was a hoax. The first part of the second book was a little disappointing, but I am obviously jumping to conclusions.
Oh, and for swami, I've done a fuck load of datura. I've ate it, smoked it, made tea with it, even snorted the crushed dried flower. I've done alot with this plant.
Did you smoke psilocybin?
|
Nomad
Mad Robot
Registered: 04/30/02
Posts: 422
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4165399 - 05/12/05 06:25 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
People being in two places at once? None verified.
People jumping off high cliffs onto land uninjured without equipment? None verified.
People turning into crows? None verified.
People teleporting? None verified.
At least in the first book, the ontological status of these experiences is left open. Neither Castaneda nor Don Juan claim that turning into a crow occurs within the consensus reality, that this can be watched by other people. The conclusion in the first book seems to be that these incidents take place neither in objective reality (as you claim), nor are purely subjective (as in a dream), but on some undefined third level.
|
kratomboy
Drifter
Registered: 02/05/05
Posts: 187
Loc: Nevada
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Nomad]
#4165443 - 05/12/05 06:50 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
Although it is left quite vague, my impression is that it was the double, the "other", the light body, etc. that was doing most of the extraordinary acts.
Also, I think I remember hearing somewhere that there is a way to smoke mushrooms. (a trip reports on erowid if I remember correctly). Also, it should be taken into consideration that there are other species of mushrooms that are psychotropic and from what I remember reading, it was more of a guess that the plants were from the PC family.
--------------------
"We must see that consciousness is neither an isolated soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies which makes a nervous system possible."
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
|
Quote:
emptywisdom said:
If those books are fake then Castaneda deserves credit for being the single greatest mind of all time in the history of fictional writing.
Simply put, If he just "made all that shit up" then he displayed the single greatest imagination and cohesive direction in the history of fiction.
I don't find this to be likely.
Even though it is common to believe these are fiction, primarily because of the scope of what they are about, it's harder for me to believe that anyone, Castaneda himself especially, is a great enough literary mind to make this shit up. Not that the idea itself is to hard to manifest, but the details and wisdom that are presented throughout the books....No way in fucking hell he made that up from the top of his head. No average Joe Like Castaneda has that kind of wisdom and knowledge.
Alot of the stuff from those books are quite applicable to daily life, whether you decide to go head deep and dissolve your personal history or not (I have and still am considering doing this).
I have taken alot from these books. And yes, I do apply much of this wisdom to my everyday life and the direction I choose to send it in.
No way could this have been absolute fiction.
If Carlos himself came out and said he made every bit of this stuff up, I would not believe him, simply because the depth and scope of all of this is too much for any writer to create. This wisdom, even for an incredibly knowledgeable anthropologist, which he was not, is too much to make up.
I think you are right here. I think the concepts are good and many of them work. I use many of them. All the rest are tales of power to me, and I have no way of judging them. I don't know what sorcerers are capable of, not being one. He could have made most of that up to get his philosopical ideas across, which are sound in my book.
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4165738 - 05/12/05 09:00 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Swami said:
I am in a wheelchair for life after jumping off a cliff as outlined in the books.
I can hardly wait to try Jimson Weed next...
You are a failure as a sorcerer!  Ha I make that jump all the time. And you call yourself a warrior. Not likely.   
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Phluck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/10/99
Posts: 11,394
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 1 month, 24 days
|
|
Simply put, If he just "made all that shit up" then he displayed the single greatest imagination and cohesive direction in the history of fiction.
That's an entirely subjective viewpoint, being used to justify a concrete fact.
Why are the books too fantastic to be made up?
From wikipedia:
Quote:
In the late seventies, investigative journalist Richard de Mille played detective, and traced Casteneda's activities. He gained access to the stack requests of the UCLA library, and was able to determine that, at the times Casteneda claimed he was in the field, studying under Don Juan, he was actually in the University's Library. Further, the books and articles that Casteneda was requesting made clear that when Casteneda claimed he was participating in traditional activities, like the traditional peyote ceremony, he was actually just reading about the traditional peyote ceremony.
These revelations did not serve to reduce Castaneda's popularity, perhaps because if the books were created by Castaneda, rather than autobiographical, then they suggest to his readers that he was more talented and spiritually aware, not less.
--------------------
"I have no valid complaint against hustlers. No rational bitch. But the act of selling is repulsive to me. I harbor a secret urge to whack a salesman in the face, crack his teeth and put red bumps around his eyes." -Hunter S Thompson
http://phluck.is-after.us
|
Nomad
Mad Robot
Registered: 04/30/02
Posts: 422
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Phluck]
#4165925 - 05/12/05 10:07 AM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
So we know that, at the very least, Castaneda did a lot of research on the topic he wrote about. That speaks in favor of him.
|
Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Nomad]
#4166424 - 05/12/05 01:16 PM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
We also know that the Mexican Federalis killed off most of the Yaquis in the late 1800s and early 1900s and totally disrupted their way of life and that no sorcerers protected the tribes.
So much for POWER...
--------------------
The proof is in the pudding.
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4166924 - 05/12/05 03:01 PM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
You fail to understand that that a book can be compelling fiction, and still have much to say about life and culture? These books were not meant to be taken totally literal. Use some analytical skill in appraising them...after reading them of course.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
|
|
We have had the exact same conversation about five times now! 
--------------------
The proof is in the pudding.
|
gettinjiggywithit
jiggy
Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4167031 - 05/12/05 03:33 PM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
How bout it!
I think it's been all in the last 5 months too.
--------------------
Ahuwale ka nane huna.
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Swami]
#4167070 - 05/12/05 03:39 PM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
You keep saying the same thing about it...so I do as well. I must support my position...after all I'm right.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Icelander]
#4167079 - 05/12/05 03:41 PM (18 years, 24 days ago) |
|
|
In the early 1970's, the series of books (Vol. 1-24, the 1st book was free) entitled Man, Myth and Magic came out, edited by occult-writer Richard Cavendish and contributing editors such as the great historian of religion Mircea Eliade (I own a set). One can find such obscure things as the conical witch's hat, originating in Mexico. Casteneda said in one of the books that this is what an 'ally' looked like to a crow when it (or a sorcerer who has become a crow) 'saw' with one's luminous body - a sort of witch's hat suspended in the air, not a humanoid. I am certain that Casteneda familiarized himself with these volumes.
Want to find out about the 'luminous egg' (albeit, minus the "gap" and 'fibers of will')? Pick up an early 20th century copy of The Astral Plane by C.W. Leadbeater. The 'gap' seems like the Manipura Chakra (in the astral sheath or body) with psychophysical embellishments.
Want a demonic twist? Look how Casteneda reduced a mystico-religious experience to something called "The Mold of Man," essentially demonstrating contempt for Catholic mystics throughout the ages and reducing the experience to an ego-manipulated technique devoid of any higher implications.
Elements of fakirism from India, European witchcraft (re: the Devils's Weed, Jimson Weed), Peyotism, MesoAmerican mushroom use, 19th century occultism, Toltec fabrications (like 'The Eagle' - a god which 'eats' one's 'spark of awareness' - a sort of gnostic return of the spark to the Pleroma), and a purely sci-fi mentality (e.g., "Inorganic Beings"), just to cite a few notable elements were clearly NOT "from the top of his head." He pilfered numerous and sundry sources, reduced the particularities to concepts and wove them together into some ancient Toltec-named fantasy. Hell, even the film 'Altered States' was supposed to have drawn its mystery psychedelic from a Toltec (obviously Casteneda-influenced) tradition.
I've been studying occult traditions since 1972, and looking back over the Casteneda series, it was fun to discern from which sources he drew certain things from.
Note: After researching and finding this old post, I ordered Thought Forms, a book by C.W. Leadbeater & Annie Besant, which is apparently the original source of the clairvoyant perception of a departed spirit of a spiritual (vs. materialistic) being who dies. This material ended up in Cavendish's series as well as in Gettings' Secret Symbolism in Occult Art which I serendipitously rediscovered tis evening. I am certain that the late Carlos Casteñeda appropriated Leadbeater's work for his book A Separate Reality, page 41, re: that an ally looked like a witch's hat, or a dripping piece of cloth in that shape. This addenda is being made on 08/10/2016 at 2:48 a.m..
Edited by MarkostheGnostic (09/10/16 12:52 AM)
|
Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
|
|
There was a book a few years ago called "Emissary of Light" about the Bosnian war, a musician, prayer and spiritually advanced "lightworkers" presented as non-fiction. The author later admitted that he changed and embellished.
If the main thrust of the book (You too can be a powerful sorcerer; or you too can channel light energy and perform miracles through meditation) is bullshit, I find it hard to learn much. Metaphor is metaphor and lies are lies.
Would you buy a book, "How to Achieve Physical Perfection" by a chain-smoking, obese sloth, even though there may be a kernel or two of "truth" in the book?
--------------------
The proof is in the pudding.
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
|
"it was fun to discern from which sources he drew certain things from."
The diversity of influence is what gave them their flavor and depth.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
|
|
Perhaps, but I despise deception. I for one, believed Casteneda was relating true events, howsoever subjective they became. I got sucked in like the rest. Shame on me.
--------------------
γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
|
Ever heard of allegory? Most of those books were marketed as fiction. Anyone should be able to check the spine. All of my copies from "Tales of Power" on are clearly marked fiction. (I don't know about Magical Passes since I do not own it) Since his death the publisher has remarked some as non-fiction. To buy into any philosophy hook, line, and sinker is foolishness. To buy into a philosophy that accounts for 2000 foot cliff jumps is insane. One should always consider the source of information and exercise their ability to discern truth. Deception or not, Castaneda's work was responsible for a surge of interest in Native American culture and religion. This in turn has brought these people into the world consciousness as a respected culture by inspiring a generation of social scientists. I, for one, was intrigued enough with his work to go on and explore the shamanic traditions and philosophies of a variety of native cultures. This has led to many interesting experiences, meeting interesting people, and transformed my views on nearly every issue that I held opinions on. I do not feel deceived by Castaneda, but that in the philosophies and fantasies he wove together a door opened for me to explore many interesting things I had never considered. I have never held Castaneda's work to be absolute spiritual truth, but it kindled within me the desire to seek for it.
Edited by Huehuecoyotl (05/12/05 09:52 PM)
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
|
This came from another forum I belong to. I want to share it because it says it the best I have ever heard it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ultimately, the value of entering a nonordinary state, as you do with peyote or other psychotropic plants, is to exact what you need in order to embrace the stupendous character of ordinary reality."
This kind of insight, and experience, is what makes Castaneda's writings valuable, in my opinion. He can't really teach us much directly, in terms of methods and practices.
With the character of Don Juan, we enter the domain of the mythic. What we can take from it is an attitude - an intangible, partly emotional, partly intellectual, "frame-of-mind" that can inspire your own personal, mythic and rational mode of self transformation.
And for this to be "real", it has to be brought into our "ordinary" life.
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
kratomboy
Drifter
Registered: 02/05/05
Posts: 187
Loc: Nevada
Last seen: 17 years, 10 months
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: kratomboy]
#4172713 - 05/13/05 08:53 PM (18 years, 23 days ago) |
|
|
I've always thought castaneda's books would make for really cool anime. Done in the right style of course.
--------------------
"We must see that consciousness is neither an isolated soul nor the mere function of a single nervous system, but of that totality of interrelated stars and galaxies which makes a nervous system possible."
|
Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,679
Loc: On the Border
|
Re: Castaneda... [Re: Icelander]
#4172837 - 05/13/05 09:38 PM (18 years, 23 days ago) |
|
|
Good quote. Joseph Campbell believed that the foundation of our psyche is rooted in myth...I concur.
--------------------
"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Buy Bali Kratom Powder 
Mono Tub Substrate 
Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds 
Red Vein Kratom 
Buy Kratom Extract 
Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order 
Edit 
Reply 
1 2 3 all )
Cosmic_Monkey
Traveller
Huehuecoyotl
Swami
starptv23
Sporetacus