Castaneda: Real or Fake

[enlimm]

Hey all..

I am a fan of the works of Castaneda. I haven't read all the works yet, but what I read I took as true. I have read that Castaneda is a fiction writer who concocted the stories in his books. I didn't entertain the thought at first until I checked out one of the sites purported to show where he is a fake.

http://www.sustainedaction.org

Of particular interest to me is the breakdown of the different takes of the ‘supposed’ first meeting between Castaneda and don Juan. It can be argued that one would remember the first meeting with one's teacher of such marvelous things, and not miss simple details such as whether initially don Juan was sitting down and Castaneda walked in, or if Castaneda was sitting and don Juan walked in. Or, whether don Juan was sitting by a window or in a corner when Castaneda and a friend walked in.

Please adherents and skeptics alike share your impressions of the works of Castaneda and your thoughts on whether the books recount fact or elucidate fiction, and why?

[Quantitativefool]

-A Yaqui Way of Knowledge-

I found this book to be greatly informational. I'm not sure as to fake or not but there are indeed alot of truths within this book. I'm also curious as to if some of those herbal concouctions do actually work. Well... that's my opinion in a nutshell.

Best wishes,
-Stu

[Kuang Mu tian]

of course "He is real".

He wrote that books of him.

As a matter of fact, he used drugs. I'd say that fact makes the question whether he's real or not almost irrelevant. In order to benefit most you got to pull his work thru your filters and suck out what is useful to ya, no?

[enlimm]

of course "He is real".

He wrote that books of him.

As a matter of fact, he used drugs. I'd say that fact makes the question whether he's real or not almost irrelevant. In order to benefit most you got to pull his work thru your filters and suck out what is useful to ya, no?

Hey. To be more clear, if he is 'real or fake' refers specifically to are his books recounting of actual factual events meeting actual people (don Juan for instance) and seeing actual beings and entities (whether physical or nonphysical, organic or inorganic), or is it fiction, make-believe, and made to look like it is factual, i.e., fake.

And thank you for your tip on how to utilize his work. This can go for anyone's work, aye?

Thank you.

Thank you and everyone for replying and voting. Please continue.

[Kalonek]

There is a lot of controversy around his books, but what I think is important to point is that Castaneda explains itself a number of times that he doesn't understand really well what Don Juan is telling him on many subjects, the antique wisdom he is sharing with him. Therefore Castaneda's analysis of Don Juan's teachings must be taken with precaution in any case, be it real or fake, for one canno't explain well in a book what he has not understand himself clearly.

[Mr. Burns]

For a long time in my twenties I poured over the Castaneda books searcing for the keys to nonordinary reality. I read the detractors, but their arguments of logic against Castaneda's work seemed uncompelling and a bit vengeful, as if a crusade to catch him in a falsehood or grab a media spotlight. I brushed their statements aside because the narrative presented by Castaneda had a logic of its own as well, one which I found intriguing and similar to limited experiences I'd had with lucid dreams and OOBEs. Then I came upon Amy Wallace's book Sorcerer's Apprentice my life with Carlos Castaneda. It provided a detailed, coherent examination of the Nagual and his cohorts from someone who knew them all as an insider. Her ultimate conclusions were a gentle let down for me, as she showed the dangers of guru worship and the need for self-actualization yet allowed for the philosophy of the mastery of awareness to stand as an intriging avenue for human perception. This tale of Carlos to me is bit of "don't let the messenger destroy the message" and "dont let the message destroy the recipient." All things are possible in nonordinary reality including the bizarre experiences of Castaneda, but what lies behind the Faery Glamoury no one can tell another. As for practicing anything from the books as a personal endeavor, keep searching other places. As they say, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

[CFTraveler]

Awesomely good advice, Mr. Burns.

[kmD]

i feel you have to read the entire series to comment on it, either positively or negatively. For example, someone mentioned his use of drugs in a negative connatation. If you have read "Tales of Power", you would see that Don Juan explains to Carlos the only reason he had him use peyote was because he's not sensitive to energy. Don Juan goes on to say that others have no need to use peyote because of their level of sensitivity.

Personally, I have benefitted greatly from Castenada and his writings. Specifically, "Tales of Power" has been invaluable to me. The concepts of the fear we create to safe-guard our ego, imho, can benefit all potiential projectors.

The point is to use these writings for what they are worth to you. I would say the same of the Bible. Theres a message there that can help people, but in the end its just a book.

John Lennon said it best, "I dont believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me."

[Mr. Burns]

I've been thinking over the last few days about my response to this topic and felt like I had to add some things. I read every book on through to the greatest hits book Wheel of Time (or Wheel of Money) that was published shortly before his death. It is true that his writings contain wisdom and insight (if they really are his writings, rumors are they were heavily edited which may explain why a lot of people search for inconsistencies and often find them). I particulary liked the luminous egg/assemblege point metaphor, brilliant. But I gotta say, read Amy Wallace's book when your done. I let Carlos off easy in my post. If what she says about him is true, David Koresh was an amateur. I feel sorry for those who wrapped themselves around his Cleargreen/Magical Passes company. I was almost one of them. My living in the midwest and not LA was all that separated me from a hard lesson. I must have read every half baked interview and personal anecdote written. I sold all the books and burned the internet stuff after her book. Strangely, I'm not really bitter about it though, I learned a lot without getting in too far and it led me to many alternative sources for the info I desired. Plus it made me very skeptical. It'll be much harder to have the wool pulled over my eyes, not a bad trait if you can avoid getting jaded. Many things in his books allude to real and wonderful practices from around the world,
but the cohesive system is a dead end, with no support structure to help you when the going gets rough. One could potenially create a valid system from the whole of it, but you would have to fill in a lot of blanks and altar a lot to round it off. My suggestion is to leave it alone as just an interesting literary work, and find someone who really knows what they're talking about.

A few questions for those of you who are most familair with castenada:

1) how many books has he written on the "Don Juan" subject?

2) How much of his writings is actuall directions on how to do things and how much only gives you hints?

3) How Bluntly does he put things?

I ask these because I have been suggested them by several people and beings.