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The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

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Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Ex-CAW member here; have been out of it for more than a decade. Posting anonymously for professional reasons, but I used to be personally well-acquainted with both the founders of Church of All Worlds and Robert Anton Wilson.) Church of all world still nominally exists, and has been through several incarnations during the 60s. Although its foundational premise was indeed deeply silly, it was self-consciously so: an…

You're not wrong, of course; my use of "cult" here was mainly just a cheesy potshot because I think it's silly and I don't think it thinks it is, at least not the way you describe - but perhaps that's only because I've never seen it save from the outside. ("Nature is Good" strikes me as lacking nuance, though. I see what you're going for, but toothache is natural, too.) Judging by his written works, Wilson seems like…

I agree with you re: the "Nature is Good" dogma. In spirit, it was meant to convey respect for the cycle of life, diversity of the biosphere, etc. Gets seriously problematic if extended to, I dunno, the Polio virus and asteroid impacts. In any case, that particular dogma dates to the the 1960s, when nuance wasn't exactly the flavor of the decade. And arguing about stuff is good, too!

And yep, Wilson was the real deal. His work had also been a huge influence on me at the time that I met him. I still evangelize Quantum Psychology to anyone who I think can handle it.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong, of course; my use of "cult" here was mainly just a cheesy potshot because I think it's silly and I don't think it thinks it is, at least not the way you describe - but perhaps that's only because I've never seen it save from the outside. ("Nature is Good" strikes me as lacking nuance, though. I see what you're going for, but toothache is natural, too.) Judging by his written works, Wilson seems like…

I agree with you re: the "Nature is Good" dogma. In spirit, it was meant to convey respect for the cycle of life, diversity of the biosphere, etc. Gets seriously problematic if extended to, I dunno, the Polio virus and asteroid impacts. In any case, that particular dogma dates to the the 1960s, when nuance wasn't exactly the flavor of the decade. And arguing about stuff is good, too! And yep, Wilson was the real deal…

Thanks for reminding me of that one! I need to dig it out of my bookshelf and read it again - it's been years.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think our current political culture would be immeasurably improved by everyone reading Illuminatus! and Foucault's Pendulum.

I'll be reading Illuminatus! since you've related it to Pendulum. I came to Pendulum after seeing it related to Labyrinths ( https://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths-Directions-Paperbook-Jorge... ) if by any chance you haven't read that you should check it out.

I already added Pendulum to my list based on empath75's mention of it; thanks for mentioning Labyrinths, and I've added that, too.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#54
post #34

At least his lucid dreams techniques are not that difficult to reproduce. I stopped them many years ago after I had strange experience of waking up for several times in a row. I woke up, went to a next room and, all of a sudden, I realised that it was still a dream. After short panic I woked up again only to repeat the story. And so on, actually I'm not sure if I've really woked up that day or I'm still in that dream…

For some reason, I've always suspected that this life might all be a dream and one day I will wake up as a 7-year old boy just starting school. And I always wonder - if that happens - what should I do ? (provided that all the 'truths' I've learned while dreaming are still true).. Should I buy Apple stock ? Should I write a search engine ? How would I convince my parents to buy me a new PC ? How should I talk to my te…

I really enjoy reading books about re-living your life, I think the best two I have read are Replay by Ken Grimwood and the first fifteen lives of Harry August by Claire North, very recommended.

In terms of movies also About time incidentally explored some of the same concepts.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#55
I like Don Juan's explanation for our lizard brain in "Active side of infinity"

[Long ago, the native sorcerer/shamans of Mexico] discovered that we have a companion for life," he said, as clearly as he could. "We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos, and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile; helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so.

They took over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. Just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, gallineros, the predators rear us in human coops, humaneros. Therefore, their food is always available to them.

Think for a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradiction between the intelligence of man the engineer, and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs; or the stupidity of his contradictory behavior. Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of beliefs; our ideas of good and evil; our social mores. The predators are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations, and dreams of success or failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal

They gave us their mind! Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind which becomes our mind. The predators' mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, and filled with the fear of being discovered any minute now

The more I thought about it, and the more I talked to and observed myself, and my fellow men, the more intense the conviction that something was rendering us incapable of any activity or any interaction or any thought that didn't have the self as its focal point.

The flyers are an essential part of the universe, and they must be taken as what they really are; awesome, monstrous. They are the means by which the universe tests us. We are energetic probes created by the universe and it's because we are possessors of energy that has awareness that we are the means by which the universe becomes aware of itself.

The flyers are the implacable challengers. They cannot be taken as anything else. If we succeed in doing that, the universe allows us to continue

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#56
post #45
post #34

At least his lucid dreams techniques are not that difficult to reproduce. I stopped them many years ago after I had strange experience of waking up for several times in a row. I woke up, went to a next room and, all of a sudden, I realised that it was still a dream. After short panic I woked up again only to repeat the story. And so on, actually I'm not sure if I've really woked up that day or I'm still in that dream…

That's such a profound experience! Do you have a reference for learning those techniques?

You can find the techniques in his book "The Art of Dreaming"

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Dreaming-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/0060...

The first one is to try to see your hands in the dream.

You can also read about Dream yoga https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Yoga-Illuminating-Through-Dream...

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#57
post #34

At least his lucid dreams techniques are not that difficult to reproduce. I stopped them many years ago after I had strange experience of waking up for several times in a row. I woke up, went to a next room and, all of a sudden, I realised that it was still a dream. After short panic I woked up again only to repeat the story. And so on, actually I'm not sure if I've really woked up that day or I'm still in that dream…

For some reason, I've always suspected that this life might all be a dream and one day I will wake up as a 7-year old boy just starting school. And I always wonder - if that happens - what should I do ? (provided that all the 'truths' I've learned while dreaming are still true).. Should I buy Apple stock ? Should I write a search engine ? How would I convince my parents to buy me a new PC ? How should I talk to my te…

This is the main belief of hinduism, buddhism and many other cultures, they call it reincarnation.

Tibetans have techniques called dream yoga so that you can learn to know in your dream that you are dreaming, and they call life a longer dream and the waking from this dream, ultimate liberation.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#58
post #34

At least his lucid dreams techniques are not that difficult to reproduce. I stopped them many years ago after I had strange experience of waking up for several times in a row. I woke up, went to a next room and, all of a sudden, I realised that it was still a dream. After short panic I woked up again only to repeat the story. And so on, actually I'm not sure if I've really woked up that day or I'm still in that dream…

For some reason, I've always suspected that this life might all be a dream and one day I will wake up as a 7-year old boy just starting school. And I always wonder - if that happens - what should I do ? (provided that all the 'truths' I've learned while dreaming are still true).. Should I buy Apple stock ? Should I write a search engine ? How would I convince my parents to buy me a new PC ? How should I talk to my te…

On the other hand if you knew that everything is in fact the illusion, why would you need money and girls? And is there an evidence that other people are real, or are they just parts of the illusion? To write a search engine in the illusion - is there more strange thing? :)

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#59
post #45
post #34

At least his lucid dreams techniques are not that difficult to reproduce. I stopped them many years ago after I had strange experience of waking up for several times in a row. I woke up, went to a next room and, all of a sudden, I realised that it was still a dream. After short panic I woked up again only to repeat the story. And so on, actually I'm not sure if I've really woked up that day or I'm still in that dream…

That's such a profound experience! Do you have a reference for learning those techniques?

Yes, a rule of thumb is to remember to look at your hands in a dream. You even may look at them in reality (or "reality") to get a habit. After you look at hands in a dream you remember that you in a dream. Next difficult thing is to be able not to ruin a dream and to try to explore it. I constantly tried to go through walls in my room or to fly - no success :) Also it is possible to keep attention at the period when you're go from reality to a dream. It feels like your body made of a stone and you can't move and then you're in a dream.

Re: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda (2007)

#60
post #39

I took Castaneda's experiences as reflecting his impressions of reality under the influence of both a powerful personality (Don Juan) and drugs not as a description of scientific reality itself. His books offered considerable philosophical truth as well an understanding of how others might experience reality. I consider them worth reading.

I'm considering picking one up. Which one would you recommend out of all of them?

Start with the first one: Don Juan, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.
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