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| People
with a profound interest in their dreams are
drawn to the writings of mystic author Carlos
Castaneda. Castaneda claimed that dreams are a
gateway into a magical realm of separate
realities, otherworldly beings and sorcery. He
was hailed as a hero of the New Age and vilified
as an absolute charlatan who craftily engineered
a monumental literary hoax. Was his work fact or
fiction? Could he project his astral body,
contact others in their dreams, discover ancient
secrets from sorcerers who died hundreds and
thousands of years ago? |
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| Reading his books one is
puzzled by the odd combination of apparent wisdom
and apparent nonsense. I've used his technique of
looking at my hands in a dream when I knew I was
dreaming (a lucid dream) as a way of maintaining
my lucidity, but can one "burn from
within" and become pure awareness, thereby
avoiding old age, illness, and death? If
Castaneda was wise, why would he fool us? If he
was a fraud, why do his teachings so often ring
true? |
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| I was fortunate in 1988 to hear
Castaneda lecture and answer questions on three
separate occasions to small groups of invitees in
the basement of the Phoenix bookstore in Santa
Monica, California. A small, intense man in his
sixties at the time, the author insisted that his
writings were factual and honest. He pointed out
that he had nothing to gain from fabricating
lies. He wasn't interested in followers, fame or
fortune. He'd devoted his life to trying to
understand certain mysteries and he'd committed
himself to the "warrior's path." It
meant for him a life of total self-discipline and
extreme austerity: no wife, no family, no
high-profile academic career, no celebrity status
as a best-selling author. Wouldn't he have to be
a madman or a fool to give up all life's perks
and pleasures just to deceive an indifferent
public that hardly knew his name and had never
seen his picture? |
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| He seemed absolutely sincere
and passionately committed, but from time to time
I thought he was lying. Someone asked if he'd met
any of the other (reputedly) enlightened figures
of the era. He said he'd taken a year off and
traveled around the world to meet and compare
notes with the world's celebrated gurus and
avatars - and found everyone of them to be a
raving egomaniac. He said one Buddhist master he
went to visit became so upset when told that
Carlos Castaneda was at the door that he tripped
on his sandals coming down the stairs, struck his
head on the marble floor of the foyer, and died
on the spot. I thought, "That didn't happen.
Castaneda's putting us on. Why?" |
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| I believe the answer is that
deception is part of the tradition of sorcery
practiced by Carlos Castaneda and the members of
his group (Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar
have also written books about the teachings of
don Juan Matus). It's an aspect of stalking,
as described in Castaneda's The Fire From
Within. The attitude is that it's better to
get something worthwhile done using deception
than to fail to get something worthwhile done
using truth. This would also account for all the
questionable "facts" put forth in his
writings. Furthermore, this practice of deception
frees sorcerers from their own conditioning and
personal history, considered vitally important to
the attainment of their goals. |
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| I also came away from those
lectures feeling that Carlos Castaneda's
passionate quest for magical powers and
transcendence was a vanity, little different from
the far more common quest, the pursuit of riches
and fame. He seemed quite frustrated, unhappy,
and full of cravings, though his cravings were
for otherworldly rewards rather than worldly
ones. |
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| When asked by his disciples
about the metaphysical realities, the Buddha
replied that it was like a man who had been
struck by a poison arrow wanting to know who made
the arrow, when was it made, where was it made,
what kind of wood was it made of, what kind of
feathers were used, etc., before allowing anyone
to remove the arrow. |
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| Perhaps dreams can be used for
learning how to achieve astral projection. But
far more urgent is the need for a life that is
emotionally satisfying. According to some
teachings, the ultimate goal for the human spirit
is a state of oneness with the cosmos and
detachment. But even those teachings say that the
path to enlightenment is the development of
healthy, fulfilling attachments, the practice of
love and kindness, an attitude of humility, and a
deep inner commitment to truth. |
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| Reading Castaneda's books can
be provocative and fascinating. The Art of
Dreaming, published in 1993, is among his
best. If you would like to learn more
about Carlos Castaneda and his teachings, an
organization called Cleargreen offers books,
videos and workshops. Their address on the web is
www.Cleargreen.com. |
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