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Summary: Simply, has to be read
Review: This book is the single most important book I ever read in my life. This book affects almost everyone who reads it. Some people have set off looking for brujos in Mexico.Other people have given up their entire ways of life. Some thought of it as fantastical fiction and still had to read the rest. Others set off on life missions to prove Carlos Castaneda wrong, to show him to be a liar. A small number of people find this book hard to take, demanding more science from the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. These people are those who have to be able to meticulously explain everything. Maybe they don't realise that Carlos Castaneda was himself one of these people until meeting Don Juan. What about me? Well after reading this book I was left with a profound sense of having drifted nowhere, my whole life. The most important thing I had missed were "paths with heart" - failing to even recognise them let alone follow them. Read the book, I'm sure you'll understand what I mean, and I'm sure "the teachings of Don Juan" will help all who read it.
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Summary: a sad day in anthropology....
Review: ....when such outlandish claims are taken for some kind of highly evolved truth. I have nothing against writing about mystical, magical experiences so long as the author makes plain that they are offered in a spirit of "take it or leave it." But to lay them out as objective, empirical, SCIENTIFIC fieldwork without providing some kind of corroboration is scientifically dishonest. Maybe the miracles in Castaneda's books really happened. But he should not be in the position of expecting us to believe them without proof. It doesn't surprise me that he hid from the public. He'd have been asked embarrassing questions like: why all the inconsistencies throughout your books, some of them really rather flagrant? Are your writings scholarship or fiction? Why have you not informed the reader of the genre in which you believe you work? Why did you play such a dumb Watson to don Juan's Sherlock Holmes of the spirit? Where is your field documentation? When seers in good faith offer descriptions of their unusual journeyings, we all benefit. But when authors so conceal themselves that we aren't even sure when they were born, then proceed to pass off supposedly nonordinary happenings as scientifically objective, we're obliged to suspect salesmanship.
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Summary: Not For Everyone--PLEASE Handle With Care
Review: If you have a field of devilweed (datura) growing behind your house, don't get down on all fours and start grazing. Don Juan is not about teaching US this "Yaqui Way of Knowledge", but rather the unique story between a sorcerer-teacher and an eager student. Ladies and gentlemen, I for one know with a preternatural certainty that Don Juan is not fiction. Let me say the shamanic experiences described herein ring true to me in recollection of my own visions and travels, and let's leave it at that. Carlos Castaneda was a brilliant man. This is most obvious in his writing. After all, this is not the simplest topic in the world to write about, and yet Castaneda did so with wit, verve, and style. I especially appreciate how Don Juan is divided into two parts, experiential and academic (Castaneda was a graduate student at the time). Someone said to me that Castaneda was "trite" compared to authors like Depak Chopra (cough cough). I'd believe that this person simply was unable to "get" Castaneda--maybe Don Juan was too intense and too earthy. Draw your own conclusions.
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Summary: Lessons for all Westerners, believers and skeptics alike
Review: There is a story that several philosophers once met to discuss the nature of reality: whether or not it existed as our senses told us it did, or if it was in fact completely subjective and perhaps even subject to our will in some way. At the end of the discussion, which took place on the top floor of a tall building, the participants all filed out the door, at which point one of the more conservative members of the meeting remarked, "I notice that no one is leaving by the window." Carlos Castaneda has taught us that we can indeed, under the right circumstances, leave through the window. Castaneda, during his course of study with don Juan Matus, Yaqui man of knowledge, learned to move into nonordinary reality, and experience not only magical events, but also that the ways of knowledge and power are difficult and dangerous. This alone would make him a controversial character, but there are other matters that have drawn fire. Some have criticized Castaneda for his use of drugs to obtain states of nonordinary reality: I myself contend that Western conceptions of reality have such a grip on our minds that it is sometimes necessary to use drugs to free ourselves of our preconceptions. Furthermore, cultures across the world have discovered many different ways to move out of ordinary reality into the spirit plane, and in some cultures, drugs are used. It is a mere matter of cultural evolution, according to environment. And Castaneda was not, during his course of study, interested in converting anyone to the way of power or knowledge; rather, he was documenting the use of drugs as a means to access nonordinary reality, and showing us that reality is not what it seems. That he published at a time when drug use was coming into fashion was, for him, a happy coincidence, but in this work at least he doesn't advocate drug use in this cause or any other. His work here is merely to document his experience of the teachings of don Juan. Castaneda has also been attacked by skeptics, who hold that his works are outright lies. Whether or not Castaneda's works are fiction or fact or some blend of the two is irrelevant, since one cannot see the realities he describes unless one already accepts the premise that reality is fluid and malleable by those with the proper training. For skeptics, the works are mere fiction, while for those who believe, there exists a continuum of possible interpretations, ranging from the idea that the works are allegories that illuminate the nature of reality, to being actual reports of reality shifts. Certainly Castaneda has given ammunition to the skeptics, by stating during interviews that he would give false information about himself. This is perhaps merely a way for Castaneda to remind us that Western methodologies are not the only way to know, and that one must look beneath the words and facts to find the truth. In the foreword, Walter Goldschmidt declares that this book is both ethnography and allegory. The part of the allegory that interests me is the tension between Western science and other ways of knowing. Castaneda came to don Juan, prideful and arrogant, and learned from him a modicum of humility and respect. These lessons are of value to most Westerners. For example, one of the lessons that Castaneda learns in this book is the difference between a "power" and an "ally." Most individuals can become sorcerers by using a power, but to gain an ally, which is much more potent, one must work with the forces of nature, and learn the ways of knowledge, following only the way of the heart. It is of prime importance for the planet that Westerners follow the way that has heart, turning toward the universe with respect. As it stands, most of us treat the earth as a natural resource only, to be exploited and discarded. Such actions and attitudes may give one temporary power, but at great expense to oneself and one's habitat. Time and again, Don Juan's lessons remind us that we are not as powerful as we think that we are. His lessons lead Castaneda into situations in which the anthropologist acts like a fool: rolling around on the ground for hours; playing with a dog, even letting the creature urinate on him; clapping his thighs and assuming a "fighting form" for hours to regain his lost soul. I do not mean to be critical of others' customs; these actions are an integral part of Yaqui culture, but to Westerners they look foolish, especially when performed by a supposedly "enlightened" and "objective" student of anthropology. Castaneda, in his search for power, must become, at least for a while, a fool. Dignity is a small price to pay for don Juan's reminder that we are out of balance with the universe. And that is a lesson that we can all learn. Castaneda, the uptight, ambitious, pretentious scholar, comes to learn from don Juan, and time and again performs actions which to most Westerners would appear to be those of a madman or idiot. I cannot say what was in don Juan's heart when he took on Castaneda as a student, but to my eyes he seems to be reminding the Westerner that the lessons taught by the West are incomplete. This book falls flat as narrative, but given the source, an anthropological study of plant use in indigenous cultures, it is perhaps inevitable that it be a bit methodical and digressive. It is nonetheless recommended for those interested in counterculture movements of the 1960s to the present, mysticism, philosophical discussions of reality, drugs, and native American anthropology. In the larger sense, its lessons are of value for all Westerners: it is a subtle reminder of our temporary place in the universe, and of the costs of the way of power and knowledge.
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Summary: Strange and fascinating!
Review: I've never read a book like this before. This is some funky stuff! It's so unusual. I've heard it's a pretty famous book, a classic, and I wish I had read it a long time ago. A Native American sorcerer, Don Juan, tries to teach Carlos how to become a "man of knowledge". One step at a time, he guides him how to acquire the ability to perceive the world beyond our so-called "reality". With the help of some particular herbs, Carlos does start to see the world in a strange way, and he is shocked by these unusual experiences, which he cannot make sense of by ordinary common sense. Don Juan tells him that there are four inner obstacles he must overcome in the long process ahead, the first one being "fear". Carlos stumbles at the first obstacle. If you were glued to this book, you will probably want to move on to read the sequels, (the second one is "A Separate Reality") because in this first book, Carlos doesn't "get it" yet. And if HE doesn't get it, WE won't get it either. This report is about the process of his first struggle, which is only the beginning of a long journey that continues on to his other 7 or 8 books. It's non-fiction, but it's stranger that fiction.
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Summary: new knowledge
Review: i am convinced that if human society continues to push itself away from nature these three books(Teachings, A Seperate Reality, and Journey to Ixtlan) will be of incredible worth. these are, to me, the definitive books of starting to comprehend what "truth" really is.
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Summary: mirando, sin aliento
Review: Para mi solo recorrer los caminos que tienen corazon, cualquier camino que tenga corazon. Por ahi yo recorro, y la unica prueba que vale es atravesar todo su largo. Y por ahi yo recorro mirando, mirando, sin aliento.
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Summary: Shamans Consciousness
Review: This Book allow you to connect to an ancient Indian Shaman collection of 'extreme knowledge into nature'a captivating and enthraling reading. You will walk through the writer's experiences of altered realities, and other dimentions, a confrontational, sometimes frightful journey. Through The writer Carlos learns to be masterful and have "intention" in all he does in his life. When he comes back to California he cannot leave his Shaman life behind. I unintentionally found this book to be psycologically powerful for me. My life has changed by not acepting less than full intention in all that I do. I own a metaphysical healing store in La Habra and bring the power of Carlos Castanada writings here every day. The story goes something like this: A young student Carlos Costanada, goes to Mexico to meet an old Indian man who knows about medicinal & hallucinogenic plants. Carols doesen't really like him at first. Their relationship develops into Shaman and apprentice. Carlos doesn't choose to be Don Yuan's apprentice. He is there to take notes, and to study all he can for his degree. For aproximently 10 years Carlos unites with The Shaman and goes through intrepid and exhilarating experiences, beyond his scholarly responsibilities. A brimming study of What it means to be on the path of a Shamans apprentice. Is it true? Carlos says it is. First you must read all the books. The first one, is the only one where there are drug induced rituals. Don Yuan explains this is needed for Carlos because of his 'limited western mind's ability to see another reality'. This is one of the controversies about the book. Perfectly written.
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Summary: A Book For Atheists and Pantheists
Review: Many New Age books today, including this book, are based on a philosophy of freedom in which human freedom is assumed to be absolute. This assumption is false if God is the only absolutely free being. To maintain this assumption, many authors destroy God and promote pantheism, which places God into the universe in all creatures, as the author does. Castaneda also seemed to be unaware of a major discovery in the 1920s -- that most empirical data are symbolic. This means that our symbolic languages, and thus our knowledge, can never be completed. We are here forever. That energy facts guide humans to a perfect human consciousness and a perfectly free life in some heaven is like believing in Santa Claus. This is a fiction book by a drug user and clever storyteller.
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Summary: Unreality or lies?
Review: Current scholarly research has put to test the validity of Castaneda's claims that his experiences are true in this very enlightening tale of meso-american shamanism. Please realize that Castaneda's works may better serve as a metaphor for traditional culture versus modernism that actual truth. If anyone has further information or opinions, I would very much like to hear them. Please contact me via may published e-mail address.
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