Don Juan/Carlos Castenada

Are any of our members here readers of the Don Juan Teachings by Carlos Castenada?

I always though they were interesting and would like to have sort of a Q&A or discussion on the merits of his work.

A few questions I would ask might be:

1. Do you believe the books to be 100% non-fiction?

2. Do you have any outside info on Carlos as professor at university?

3. Has anyone ever seen Carlos in person?

4. What eventually happened to Carlos?


(Just for starters

Toltec, should be able to gave you the answers if he sees this.

1] the books are certainly allegory and dramatized accounts of actual events. There are places in the books where he was simply wrong about basic geography and science, leading me to think that at least parts were made up. Not to say that he didn't have something important to tell us.
2] Castenada was reputedly a tricky, complicated, reclusive type that was notoriously unreliable and flaky in real life. He apparently did some sort of teaching for a while.
3] Photos of Castenada are supposedly very rare. He maintained his secrecy, and was even rumoured to not exist.
4] He influenced the thinking of thousands. A couple years ago I read his obituary in Fortean Times[cancer, I think].

I believe that this is generally the truth. Someone here can probably correct me in my details.

i enjoyed the several books...a lot

of course that was in the late 80s (i'm forever behind the culture/popularity curve)

no, have not been interested enough to follow up or research the author....maybe the consumer-disposable mindset has sublimely corroded my psyche?
the reads were nice, but like an umbrella, i shake it off, fold it up, take it out when needed!!

heck, i'm only now, seeing re-runs of Seinfeld, for the first time...didn't have time when working
Friends, is also amusing, started last month tuning in.

do you recall the Beatniks? the Beat Generation? 1950s

Carlos, i believe was nurtured by that climate, & enthogens & ethnogens...

www.jamesarthur.yage.net...

deoxy.org...

www.shamanshop.net...

drive responsibly...not intended for unlawful use...

good books. just recently finished The Second Ring Of Power and am now starting on Journey To Ixtalan. These books are obviously allegory, but if you expend too much thought on pondering why, you'll have missed the entire meaning and hidden message.

I was into them for quite awhile, but rather began to doubt that they were real after reading more about Castaneda. However, some of the material appears to be authentic.

I'm in the moderately skeptical category here, but I do think they have some value.

"moderately skeptical but with some value"

that's a good attitude to have about Castenada, IMO

Its just that there is so little said about him even after his death. He obviously sold a lot of books. I thought his death was perhaps a hoax when I read it in the LA Times. I don't believe anything I read in that rag.

His last two full books on Don Juan were interesting in that they were full of anecdotes.

"The Art Of Dreaming" and "The Active Side of Infinity"
were quite different and had some insight on his personal life.

I think I read one commentary from his ex-wife a while back. She seemed to be keeping a tight lip herself.

The silence on Don Juan is deafening.

You think that Art Bell/George Noory wouldbe all over it the way they go on about less convincing issues.

I have read three Don Jaun teachings and believed most of it true when I read them. A couple months ago I found out that in all of the Yaqui Indian tribe there is and never was a Don Jaun registered. So now I have been forced to rethink every teaching and lesson Don gave. It's up to you to belive them but I know I can't read them anymore.

Castaneda's books are excellent; I read each when it came out, and re-read the whole series every decade or so (no, don't ask my age).

1. Yes, of course it's 100% fiction.
2. The first book (first two I believe) were dissertations while he was a student at UCLA. He lived in Westwood Village then, as I did.
3. Nope, never saw him. Damn! He was known locally though, certain restaurants he went to, etc.
4. He died about 6 years ago.

There are some good books about him. The biggest 'errors' are along the lines of "he COULDN'T have walked 5 hours straight like he said because the Sonoran desert is so hot you have to take some rests". Little crap. But it's all a terrific allegory, that all fit together very well and have influenced many lives.

Originally posted by MichiKami
Castaneda's books are excellent; I read each when it came out, and re-read the whole series every decade or so (no, don't ask my age).

1. Yes, of course it's 100% fiction.
2. The first book (first two I believe) were dissertations while he was a student at UCLA. He lived in Westwood Village then, as I did.
3. Nope, never saw him. Damn! He was known locally though, certain restaurants he went to, etc.
4. He died about 6 years ago.

There are some good books about him. The biggest 'errors' are along the lines of "he COULDN'T have walked 5 hours straight like he said because the Sonoran desert is so hot you have to take some rests". Little crap. But it's all a terrific allegory, that all fit together very well and have influenced many lives.

Could you name some of those titles about Castaneda to me?

Certainly, there are some contextual errors. Time and geography being somewhat elusive under heavy drugs.

But lets remember not all of Castanedas
trips were drug-induced. Some distortions of time and place could easily be attributed to extreme exhaustion!

Some other issues I think are relevant to the discussion is that- I always thought
Carlos would stage an event like death in order to "disappear."

He apparently even had little contact with publishers.

But there must be some photos someone could post links to.

I believe there was also a charcoal drawing of Don Juan half wiped away by Carlos himself.

..............................................................
another part of me thought it was some CIA mind control plot, though I've never voiced it until now
...............................................................

I have read the books several times over,
and one thing is for sure, Carlos was impeccable in his writing style and his command of dialogue, and building tension in the script. A master storyteller
indeed.



[Edited on 27-10-2003 by darkwraith]

[Edited on 27-10-2003 by darkwraith]