Even as 'fiction' they're a great read.
I'll read them all again someday.
The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
21–30 of 63 posts
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#22I read most of Castaneda's books as a teenager (early 90's) and loved them. However this is honestly the first time I've heard of anybody considering them anything other than allegorical fiction, modern mythology and philosophy. The idea that they where supposed to be read as non-fiction had honestly never crossed my mind
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#23For more info on the legacy and body of Castaneda work see Sustained Action:
http://www.sustainedaction.org/ http://sustainedreaction.yuku.com/
I always wondered if the scifi author Peter Hamilton was inspired by Castaneda's Flyer predator when writing about the Starflyer (as he was inspired by hippy culture in general when describing the Star People and hippy bus in The Night's Dawn) http://peterfhamilton.wikia.com/wiki/Starflyer
https://www.metahistory.org/gnostique/gnosticastaneda/CCgnos...
This is perhaps getting into twilight zone territory, but in 2001 there were a series of slightly changed intruiging spam messages clearly referring to Castaneda's Flyer (called the Entity) and a prophecy coming true 'later this year' a month before 11 september 2001. I think I tracked it down to some vague viral marketing for a B movie on alternate realities in Australia, but sometimes I still wonder about the coincidence... a real world 'man in the high castle'? http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18796
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#24Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics -…
Exactly, good advice and that's why I'm a proud discordian, next to a faithful roman catholic etc. Or was Illuminatus a subset of discordia? can't remember...
If you like Illuminatus, you also might like this: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/bb/
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#25Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics -…
Exactly, good advice and that's why I'm a proud discordian, next to a faithful roman catholic etc. Or was Illuminatus a subset of discordia? can't remember... If you like Illuminatus, you also might like this: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/bb/
I forget which came first, but I was once deeply annoyed to have an expensive mail-order copy of Principia confiscated by a schoolteacher on suspicion of Satanism, until much later I realized how perfectly apropos that was in every possible way.
It wasn't until a couple of years after, or maybe before, that, that I finally laid hands on Illuminatus!. Only book I ever stole from a library, if you want to call it "stealing" - it'd been there over a decade, never once checked out, and wasn't even in the electronic card catalog; I felt sorry for the poor thing, which seemed desperately lonely, and gave it a good home in place of a neglectful one. Still have it, in fact. Probably still have a copy of Principia, too, but if so, I don't know where in my shelves it is, which should tell you all you need to know about which comes first in my estimation.
(On reflection, I suspect I first found an electronic copy of Principia, rather lacking in illustration being the plain text file it was, then discovered the existence of Illuminatus! and found my copy, and finally sent off for a paper Principia which by that point was amusing but somewhat supernumerary. Do you really call yourself a Discordian in public? Why?)
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#26A bit odd the author of this article published a novel called "A Separate Reality". He could have at least tried to think of an original title. A Separate Reality - the original Castaneda novel is a lot of fun. Painfully obvious it's fiction, almost fairytale-like, but highly entertaining. Not to mention the wisdom for a twenty-something receptive to any "grounded" life-hack and spiritual skills that aren't delivered…
> how to walk properly
How does one walk properly? I'm genuinely curious.
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#27Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics -…
> fewer than Heinlein!
L Ron Hubbard?
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#28Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics -…
> fewer than Heinlein! L Ron Hubbard?
Everybody knows Hubbard started a cult. But I'm talking about the "Church of All Worlds", which found its foundation myth in one of Heinlein's rather less good novels that was nonetheless all the rage for a while in the sixties - while it's no longer easily to hand, I have seen a photo of a couple of hippies at Woodstock, one holding a copy of the novel and expounding to the other. (Possibly expounding; they may just both be really high.)
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#29Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics -…
I think our current political culture would be immeasurably improved by everyone reading Illuminatus! and Foucault's Pendulum.
Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)
#30Castaneda being a fraud and a liar who's teachings damaged at least some people and caused at least some problems puts him in company with any number of highly respected religious figures and prophets.
Which, if you say anything about those it's in bad taste at minimum or possibly even a capital crime.