The Teachings of Don Juan: The Yaqui Way of Knowledge is the first book written by Carlos Castaneda, which gave rise to a whole series (10 works in total). Published in 1968, "The Teachings of Don Juan: The Way of Knowledge of the Yaqui Indians" had a great success, as indeed all subsequent ones that became bestsellers.
The book tells about the initial period of training (from 1960 to 1965) of Carlos Castaneda with shaman don Juan Matus, an Indian from the Yaqui tribe. The author comprehends, under the supervision of don Juan, various esoteric practices, by using hallucinogenic discovers drugs new reality- leaving the body, flying, clairvoyance, etc.
From the very beginning, many critics questioned doubt described by Castaneda fantastic facts, but this did not bother the supporters. They argued that even if the story is largely the author’s invention, this in no way concerns effectiveness esoteric practices described by Castaneda.
Interestingly, the book was written as master's thesis in anthropology. This adds some complexity to its perception due to the specifics of the scientific language and form of presentation. A large volume of factual material with very detailed description practitioners, diary notes, etc. may seem redundant to some readers.
Popularity Castaneda's works are largely explained historical context, in which it was published. Sixties- the time of youth protest movements - the most famous of which were hippie("children of flowers"), blossoming drug subculture etc. The values characteristic of this time are largely correlate with the teachings of don Juan. For example, achieving a state of altered consciousness through the use of hallucinogenic drugs.
Upon closer examination, especially taking into account subsequent books about don Juan, the reader sees that don Juan’s teaching is very multifaceted - it is a whole esoteric world living by his own laws. The main emphasis is placed not so much on the use of herbal preparations, which make it possible to move into an altered state of consciousness, but on the way of man striving for knowledge. As don Juan says: " man goes to knowledge the same way he goes to war - fully awakened, full of fear, reverence and absolute determination. Any deviation from this rule is a fatal mistake, and whoever makes it will certainly live to see the day when he bitterly regrets it.”
Philosophical character alternative perception of the world, characteristic of don Juan, constantly contrasted the feeling of the environment, inherent modern a city man, whose image is reflected in Carlos. Don Juan's words: " Focusing too much on yourself creates terrible fatigue. A person in such a position is deaf and blind to everything else. This strange fatigue prevents him from seeking and seeing the miracles that were in abundance around him. Therefore, he has nothing left but problems.". "All paths are the same: they lead to nowhere. Does this path have a heart? If there is, then this good way; if not, then it is of no use. Both paths lead to nowhere, but one has a heart and the other does not. One path makes traveling along it joyful: no matter how much you wander, you and your path are inseparable. The other way will make you curse your life. One path gives you strength, the other destroys you". Don Juan places great emphasis on Carlos's warning about the enemies who await him on the way: " Man has four enemies: fear, clarity, strength and old age. Fear, clarity and strength can be conquered, but not old age. This is the most cruel enemy that cannot be defeated, you can only delay your defeat".
In addition to the natural hallucinogens that Carlos initial stage takes for his transformation, the old sorcerer especially emphasizes the importance of certain physical exercise , such as squinting the eyes for altered vision or "walking the force" to move safely through the desert at night. The result of the training was a complete transformation of the hero's personality and his entire perception of reality.
According to Castaneda, in ancient world man had knowledge of the cosmic order of things. Mexican shamans managed to translate this order of things into what is today called an energetic structure. This structure was once called the “path of the warrior.” Following this path, a person not only became mentally and physically developed, but also gained access to secret knowledge that allowed him to manage his life.
The path of the warrior, according to Castaneda, is a way of life focused on the perception and awareness of the signals that the Universe sends us. Being a complex system of practices, the warrior’s path is focused on expanding a person’s understanding of the world around him. This path is complex and difficult, and those who follow it are destined to endure much suffering. But if a person decides to take the path of a warrior, he will never be the same.
Without fear and reproach. A warrior must be flawless. It should not be affected by what happens around it. A warrior is never angry with himself, he completely accepts himself in his entirety. He doesn't put his head down for anyone, and he doesn't let anyone put his head down for him. Success on his path for a warrior depends on personal strength, and his strength depends on personal impeccability.
The main value for a warrior is his freedom. It means not only freedom from society, but also freedom from oneself. Only by moving away from self-obsession does one who follows the path of the warrior gain the opportunity to explore the levels of his inner perception. The warrior's path is sacrificing clarity in the name of uncertainty and freedom. After all, only without being absolutely sure of something can you be prepared for anything.
Death is like rebirth
Death is the only thing a warrior is completely sure of. The warrior's path is to appreciate life in all, recognizing his transience.its manifestations. Following the path of a warrior, a person gradually gets rid of his sense of self-worth: after all, death makes us all equal. Nevertheless, Toltecs do not perceive death as a point from which there is no return. For a warrior following the path, death is rather a new frontier, crossing which one can continue to live in a different form. Every person has to face death. But the outcome of this meeting can be fundamentally different: it is predetermined by how prepared the person was for it.
As for this life, the way of the warrior is to realize that here and now you have everything you need to support your own existence. And if you fully accept what happens to you during this life, then its result will not be disintegration, but liberation and rebirth in a different quality.
From chrysalis to butterfly
According to the Toltec teachings, man by nature is by no means the crown of creation. In its structure, it is equivalent to a cocoon, from which something larger and more perfect should hatch over time.
In order to reach another level of existence, a person must undergo a process of transformation. To do this, he should carry out a number of transformations in his “cocoon”, the result of which should ideally be energy changes on structural level the person himself. As a result of these changes, a person after death does not remain a piece of organic matter, but is transformed into energy in pure form. Perhaps the entire path of a warrior is based on gradual preparation for this transition, which is significant in its nature.
One way or another, Today, the path of the warrior has nothing to do with religion and faith. It can rather be described as a practical way to change your life. This path is followed by those people who care about their fate in this world. And today anyone can afford to follow the path of a warrior. The outcome depends on how strong his intention is and how pure his heart is.
Castaneda's source of knowledge about the Warrior's Path was nagualism.
Naugalism is a magical-religious doctrine of Central American Indian tribe Toltecs. There was almost no study of this practice until the mid-20th century, when worldwide publications appeared in print. famous works Carlos Castaneda dedicated to his training with an Indian shaman Don Juan. Until this time, the scientific community was dominated by the most general ideas about nagualism, which are fundamentally were not allocated it among similar beliefs of other peoples. It was believed that the basis of nagualism is the belief in the existence of a connection between man and the spirit of the patron animal. Nagual- this is the name of such a spirit that was called upon by the Indian to receive help in difficult situation. Finding a nagual was associated with a certain ritual of individual initiation, during which the Indian reached trance condition with the help of special spiritual practices and psychotropic substances.
Particular attention was paid to the importance of correct concentration, in also awareness illusory and subjectivity perceived peace. This is where the concepts arise tonal" — image the surrounding world, which is refracted through the matrix of human perception, and " nagual" — real world, which can only be known to a very small extent through human senses. The nagual is reality cleaned from subjective interpretation, outside of perception.
Interaction the tonal and nagual are key, with the help of which a person can transform, find magic in himself in a broad sense this word. We can draw some analogy with Western psychology if we consider the tonal as conscious, and the nagual - how unconscious. The Indians say that a person lives in the nagual, but in the tonal he only perceives, thinks and speaks. On the other hand, the nagual is more than the unconscious part of man, he is akin to broadcast, which is everywhere and interacts with everything.
Castaneda highlights another fundamental concept of nagualism - " assemblage point", which is based on the following postulates:
- The universe is made up of clusters of energy fields, which are threads of light.
- Exists single source energy fields of incomprehensible size, which the Indians call Eagle.
- People, like the universe, also consist of an infinite number thread-like energy fields.
- Energy fields have the form glowing ball, which has point of particular brightness.
- Perception occurs when fields near a given point interact With identical energy fields outside the ball. This point is called the "assemblage point".
From this follows the thesis about extreme limitations of human perception, which has access to only a small volume surrounding the assemblage point, plus distorted a huge load of concepts, templates, schemes, stereotypes, etc.
Assemblage point offset is key factor internal transformation in nagualism. This process can occur either as a result long and constant esoteric practices, or spontaneously- as a result of any serious mental shock, severe personal crisis, etc. Opposite forces preventing transformation fixing assemblage point - fear death and ego, manifested in a sense of self-importance and self-pity.
It should be noted that nagualism most effective during his practice in " natural environment", among the Toltec Indians, as Castaneda did. To the European himself difficult to perceive philosophical concepts and connections of nagualism, and even more so to practice various techniques, including those associated with the use of psychotropic substances. But knowledge of the basics of nagualism allows enrich your inner world, realize how spiritual practices are close different religions and the peoples of the earth. For practical training in nagualism, it is necessary to carry out serious work on its adaptations for other cultures, not related to the Yaqui Indians.
Value the events and facts described by Carlos is that we can look at them from his point of view- a modern young man who is a product of our world. Through his emotional experiences, catharsis, the reader gets acquainted with the living knowledge and practices of the Indians, and not with the dry anthropological conclusions of scientists who themselves have never immersed themselves in the subject of their research.
Who was Carlos Castaneda himself?
It can safely be considered one of the riddles twentieth century, since factually confirmed information about the life of this person very few. All that is known for certain about him is that he is the author of ten best-selling books and the founder of the Cleargreen company, which now owns the rights to Castaneda’s creative heritage. Everything else is nothing more than assumptions, if not speculation.
Castaneda was born in 1925- according to some sources in Brazil, according to others - in Peru. In 1951 he immigrated in the USA. There is information that here he worked as a taxi driver, wrote poetry, studied painting, and sold alcohol in a store. In 1960, an event occurred that radically changed the life of Carlos Castaneda. Castaneda, then a student University of California, who came to Mexico for “field materials” for his thesis, met Don Juan Matus. Don Juan became Castaneda's spiritual teacher and for twelve years passed on the secret knowledge of his tribe to his ward. Castaneda's literary and scientific pursuits were appreciated, and in 1973 C. Castaneda received a degree Ph.D. and became professor University of California, where he defended a dissertation in anthropology almost identical to his third book, Journey to Ixtlan (1972). Carlos died in 1998; after cremation, his ashes were sent to Mexico. According to the legend of Castaneda" seemed to disappear into thin air", although according to a more rational version the cause of death was liver cancer.
The works of Carlos Castaneda have had great influence to many esoteric areas that received impetus for active development at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century. Castaneda's undoubted merit is that he actually was first, who discovered esotericism on a serious level for the mass reader. It is worth noting that the peculiar genre of Carlos Castaneda is diary entries dialogues between the student and the Teacher and the practices used - has become very popular among other authors writing about magic and borderline states of consciousness. An example would be the book "Shaman's Laughter" by V. Serkin, which takes place in the Magadan region. Worldwide famous writer P. Coelho often mentions Carlos and don Juan in his works. The names of the heroes of Castaneda's books became common nouns, their statements are constantly quoted, the concepts introduced by Carlos have become a universal language used in the dialogue of various esoteric schools.
Great mystics of the 20th century. Who are they - geniuses, messengers or swindlers? Lobkov Denis Valerievich
Carlos Castaneda - the teachings of Don Juan
Carlos Cesar Salvador Aranha Castaneda - American writer and anthropologist (Doctor of Philosophy and Anthropology), ethnographer, esoteric thinker and mystic, author of best-selling books on shamanism and the presentation of a worldview unusual for Western man. Castaneda himself used the term magic, however, according to him, this concept does not fully convey the essence of the teaching based on the traditions of the ancient and new “seers” - the Toltecs - “The Way of the Warrior”. Carlos Castaneda's books retained the reputation of anthropological research for some time after their publication, but are now considered fiction by the academic anthropological community.
Because Castaneda, in his own words, made it his goal to erase personal history (as part of the spiritual practice known as the "Way of the Warrior") and for many years purposefully kept many aspects of his life secret and shrouded his activities in fog, he The biography has become the subject of much speculation and conflicting versions, making it difficult to compile an accurate biography, since it is apparently impossible in this case to find a source that can be completely trusted.
There are several types of sources of information about Carlos Castaneda: firstly, the natural source is the information that Castaneda himself provided in books, articles and some interviews; secondly, this is information from books and articles in various media, the authors of which directly or indirectly stated that they obtained information from documented sources; thirdly, the documents themselves (real or fictitious); fourthly, subjective memories of those who personally knew Carlos Castaneda or who claimed to know him (such a source can be considered the book “A Magical Journey with Carlos,” written by Margaret Runyan Castaneda, who was married to him for some time, but lived with him only for first six months).
Carlos himself for many years deliberately did not react to numerous contradictory publications in the press regarding his life, activities and even supposed death. More characteristic feature, related to the erasure of personal history, is Castaneda’s prohibition on filming, taking photographs and using a voice recorder during interviews and public lectures. Castaneda explained this by the fact that, according to ethnic esotericism, a man of knowledge (that is, a warrior or magician in his terminology) cannot allow himself to be static, even in videos or photographs, since his essence is the opposite of static.
So, Castaneda himself called the village of Juchieri, near Sao Paulo in Brazil, his birthplace. His original name was Carlos Aranha, but in 1959, upon receiving American citizenship, he adopted his mother's surname - Castaneda).
The future writer was born into a wealthy family, although at the time of birth his mother was 15 years old and his father 17. Subsequently, he described the circumstances of conception as quick copulation “outside the door.” He was handed over to be raised by one of his mother's sisters. She died when he was 6 years old; Castaneda treated her like a mother. Castaneda's real mother died when he was 25. Little Carlos had an obnoxious behavior and often got into trouble.
At the age of 10, Carlos was sent to a boarding school in Buenos Aires. On his fifteenth birthday, his parents found him a host family in San Francisco and sent him to live and study in the United States. Having received a diploma of secondary education, he went to Milan to study at the Academy fine arts. However, fine art was not given to him, and soon he returned to California, having not eaten well.
Between 1955 and 1959 he took various courses in literature, journalism and psychology. At the same time, he worked as an assistant to a psychoanalyst, where his task was to organize hundreds of tape audio recordings made during therapeutic procedures. At the same time, he continued to study at the University of California.
Carlos claimed that as part of his anthropological practice at the university, he accidentally met the Yaqui Indian, the Mexican magician Juan Matus, which completely changed his life. As it turned out later, don Juan saw in him a nagual, that is, a leader magician capable of teaching and continuing the line of magicians to which don Juan belonged. According to Castaneda’s books, “magic” consisted in the ability to change one’s perception, which, according to the teaching, allows one to significantly expand and even radically change ideas about the cognizable and about life in general. That is, “magic” is not a trick involving getting “something” out of nowhere, but the practice of expanding perception beyond the boundaries of what is known to man. Also, magic does not have as its goal power over other people, interference in their fate and health. The goal is the so-called “burning in fire from the inside” - achieving a different form of existence in the “energy body”. Castaneda was dissatisfied with the term “magic”, as he considered it inaccurate, so later, in search of a more precise term, he replaced it with the word “shamanism”, which also did not quite correspond to reality, since it reflected knowledge about interaction with surrounding spirits, which was only very a small part of the teaching.
After graduating from university, Castaneda moved to don Juan to devote himself entirely to the knowledge of magic. In 1971, his apprenticeship bore fruit in the form of the book A Separate Reality, and in 1972 he published Journey to Ixtlan, for which he received his doctorate. In this work, “plant seeds” are described for the first time - the result of a long study of various properties of plants that contribute to increased awareness, the shaman’s entry into certain states that allow him to see at a distance, to see through the eyes of birds (from a bird’s eye view) and animals...
The book became a bestseller, the writer gained incredible popularity, and it was then, on the advice of don Juan, that he decided to abandon society - to reduce contacts with people to a minimum, not to appear in public, to exclude interviews and any public meetings. Also from this moment until the end of his life, he begins active magical practice, teaching new adherents the teachings of don Juan. Sometimes, however, he agrees to give lectures (for example, at the University of California), but solely for the sake of popularizing knowledge and increasing sales of his books - after all, royalties from sold copies were his only source of income.
In 1998, the last two books of Carlos Castaneda were published - “The Wheel of Time” and “Magic Passes”. The first summarizes the most important points of Don Juan's teachings in the form of aphorisms with commentaries, the latter presents a description of the system of magical passes that he said he learned during his apprenticeship with don Juan and which he designated with the borrowed term "tensegrity."
Carlos Castaneda died of liver cancer. Three weeks before his death, Castaneda invited six of his female fans-students, who not only read his books, but also led the lifestyle he taught, believed in the magic of his books, gave them parting words to carry the word of don Juan to people, bequeathed everything to them his creativity and... promised to return. He promised that as soon as he settled “in the world,” he would begin to come to one of the women (with whom he could make contact) in dreams and would control his earthly life after physical death. However, this did not happen.
Within a week of the writer's death, five women - Nuri Alexander, Florinda Donner-Grau, Taisha Abelar, Kylie Lundahl and Talia Bey - mysteriously disappear. The remains of only one of the women were found two months later in Death Valley. The suspected cause of death was suicide.
53-year-old Carol Tiggs (the only surviving student of Castaneda) became Castaneda's heir and headed the Cleargreen publishing house, which today has all the rights to publish and republish the books of the late writer.
Currently, Castaneda’s students, with the support of Cleargreen, conduct lectures and seminars on teaching tensegrity all over the world, including in Russia. However, one can come across many statements from critics who say that Castaneda was a clever hoaxer, and don Juan was just fictional character, into whose mouth Castaneda put quotes from the books of Wittgenstein, Carroll, authors of texts on anthropology and Eastern philosophy. Castaneda gathered around himself women whom he charmed and with whom he subsequently entered into intimate relationships. Still, stories related to magic are nothing more than tales to increase book sales. Many also point out the improbability of the events described by Castaneda. For example, Castaneda's Don Juan is a wise shaman, whose image does not coincide with the stereotype of an Indian sorcerer, and the knowledge he shares does not coincide with the ideas of academic science about the shamanic culture of the Indians. Historians claim that a man named Juan Matus, that same Indian magician, never existed - there is no evidence of his reality, no one has ever seen him, and, most likely, he is a figment of the writer’s imagination. An imaginary friend...
However, five of his students disappeared mysteriously and without a trace immediately after his death, and no explanation has yet been found for this...
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In the early 60s, Castaneda published the book “The Teachings of Don Juan. The Path of Knowledge of the Yaqui Indians,” in which he spoke in detail about his apprenticeship with the Mexican magician. Over the next three decades, 8 more books by Carlos Castaneda were published, as well as books by women magicians who were students of don Juan. It is interesting that the level of elaboration of information and the style and nature of writing books changes noticeably from book to book, and by the time of writing his last works, Castaneda discards youthful maximalism and excessive self-confidence, gradually turning into the leader of a group of magicians, the leader of his own organization of his followers, a cult.
Castaneda calls his teaching – “The Teaching of Don Juan” – magic, although Don Juan himself notes that this is an inaccurate name. Don Juan called himself a “seer,” “a man of knowledge,” and a “warrior of absolute freedom.” According to his teaching, the way the vast majority of people see the world is not the only way of seeing it. He writes that magicians who are “seers” can see the world around them as a set of streams of luminous energy fibers, “stretching in all conceivable and inconceivable directions from infinity to infinity.” In this picture of the universe, human beings are seen by magicians as some kind of “luminous cocoons” or a kind of eggs, passing through the energy fibers of the universe.
The central concept of the teachings of magicians is the assemblage point, which is a bright spot on the back surface of the cocoon, located at an arm's length behind the human physical body. This spot can move along the surface, inside or outside the cocoon, changing its shape. Magicians believe that the assemblage point is responsible for the perception of the world: a person perceives only those energy fibers that pass through the assemblage point.
From the point of view of don Juan and according to the teachings of Castaneda, the universe is not limited to the reality that we know, the world familiar to us. Castaneda claims that the universe consists of an infinite number of worlds, the arrangement of which relative to each other don Juan sometimes compared to the layers of an onion. When the assemblage point moves, a person perceives other fibers that are usually inaccessible to him. In this way, a person “collects worlds.”
According to the teachings of magicians, a human being, when born, receives from a faceless powerful force, which magicians call the Eagle, an “advance” - consciousness. Throughout his life, a person develops this consciousness, enriches it with his experience. When a person dies, the Eagle takes his consciousness along with his accumulated experience, impressions and experiences. As a way to avoid the Eagle’s absorption of one’s consciousness and to preserve it even after the death of the physical body, a concept called “The Way of the Warrior” is proposed.
It is said that only by radically changing your entire being can you achieve this. The entire life of a warrior must be subordinated to the main goal, so he must spend his energy optimally, because its supply is limited. Why a warrior must follow the following rules:
a warrior must re-evaluate his life interests and activities and cut off everything unnecessary, strictly selecting that. what he will spend his time and energy on; a warrior must get away from everyday hustle and bustle and aimless existence; a warrior should not torment himself with doubts or complain about fate; a warrior does not waste time on trifles and does not indulge himself in anything, he must be the master of his destiny; he should be driven by an unbending desire to achieve “absolute freedom”, impeccability and strict internal discipline - these are the qualities necessary for a warrior on his path.
Taking the path of a warrior, a person must consistently master magical arts and techniques. Magical Arts"Intentions", "stalking" and "dreaming" consist of the ability to move one's assemblage point and keep it in a new position. The art of stalking consists in the fact that a warrior consciously goes beyond his characteristic image, habitual forms of behavior and remains beyond them. The art of dreaming is that a warrior develops the ability to control his own dreams, communicating through them with beings from other worlds or even moving to these other worlds.
Objectively, the “Teachings of Don Juan”, set forth by Castaneda, is an ancient magical tradition, dating back to the teachings and practices of the Toltec Indians.
Castaneda's works ("The Teachings of Don Juan", "Journey to Ixtlan", etc.) contain extensive material on the use of drugs for ritual cult purposes. Castaneda describes how the Indian Don Juan taught him to comprehend “unusual reality” and achieve “power with the help of hallucinogenic plants: peyote, datura, and mushroom.” After the first try of a plant containing mescaline, the author admitted: “I forgot, that I am a human being!” Later, in an interview, Castaneda explained: “I never used LSD, but from studying with don Juan I learned that psychotropic drugs are used only to stop the flow of ordinary interpretations, to overcome contradictions and shake the usual confidence in the adequacy of perceptions."
Carlos Castaneda is one of the greatest mysteries XX century. All that can be said with certainty about him is that he is the author of ten unique books, each of which became a bestseller, as well as the founder of the publishing company Cleargreen Inc., which currently owns the rights to his entire creative legacy. Any other information is just speculation, riddles and assumptions.
Mysteries of Castaneda's biography
Throughout almost my entire life Carlos Castaneda hid his "personal history", categorically forbade taking photographs of himself (although there are still several photos of Castaneda) and gave only a few interviews throughout his life. In addition, he denied that he had ever been married. But Margaret Renyan, in her book “A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda,” which presents her memories of life with Castaneda, claims that they were married.
Carlos Castaneda was a master of hoaxes- speaking about himself, he is with everyone opportunity he kept coming up with a new place of birth, a new father and mother, a new “legend”. In most cases, Castaneda claimed that he was born in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo in 1935 on Christmas Day into a highly respected family, and his father was an academician. In some of his conversations, Carlos implied that one of the famous people of that time - revolutionary and diplomat Osvaldo Arana was his uncle. Among other “popular” versions of Castaneda was that he was born not in 1935, but in 1931, and that his homeland was the Peruvian city of Cajamarca. In other words, Castaneda's true biography went to the grave (was it to the grave?) with him.
But one of the most accurate versions of the biography of the hero of our article was published by Time magazine in 1973. Below we present it to your attention.
Biography of Castaenda according to the magazine “Time»
Carlos Castaneda(full name: Carlos Cesar Arana Castaneda) born in Sao Paulo(Brazil) December 25, 1925. His father, Cesar Arana Castaneda Burugnari, was a watchmaker, and nothing is known about his mother, Susanna Castaneda Novoa, except that she was an elegant, fragile girl with very poor health. At the time of Carlos's birth, his father was only seventeen and his mother sixteen years old. When Carlos was 24 years old, his mother died.
Carlos's fictional and true stories about his life often also include references to his grandparents, with whom he lived as a child. The grandmother had foreign roots, most likely Turkish, and was not very beautiful, rather large, but a very kind woman. Carlos loved her very much.
But Castaneda's grandfather was a very peculiar person. He had Italian origin, was red-haired and blue-eyed. He constantly spoiled Carlos with various tales and stories, and also invented all sorts of gizmos, which from time to time he presented to all members of the family.
Later, when Castaneda met a Mexican magician named don Juan Matus, his mentor insisted that Carlos say goodbye to his grandfather forever. However, even the death of his grandfather had no effect on don Juan’s ward - the influence of his grandfather on Castaneda’s life remained for many years. Carlos recalled that saying goodbye to his grandfather was the most difficult event in his life. Saying goodbye to his grandfather, he introduced him in as much detail as possible and told him: “Goodbye.”
In 1951, Castaneda emigrated to the USA. And in 1960, an event occurs that radically changes the life of Carlos and a huge number of people who will subsequently become acquainted with his books. While a student at the University of California at Los Angeles at the time, he went to Mexico to collect the “field material” he needed for his thesis at the Greyhound bus station in the Mexican town of Nogales on the border of the US state of California and mexican state Sonora, Carlos meets an Indian shaman from the Yaqui tribe - the magician Don Juan Matus. In the future, don Juan will become Castaneda's spiritual mentor, and for twelve years he will initiate him into the wisdom of magic, giving him secret knowledge inherited from the ancient Toltecs - the people of Knowledge. Credibility further developments It is impossible to establish with 100% certainty, but they are all described in detail in Castaneda’s books.
At this point, we can finish talking about the biography of Carlos Castaneda and move on to a brief description of the process of Carlos's training with don Juan and the birth of Castaneda's first works.
Beginning of training with don Juan
Don Juan Matus's first and main task was to destroy the familiar and established picture of the world in Castaneda's mind. He taught Carlos how to see new aspects of reality and perceive the diversity of the world in which we live. In the process of learning, don Juan resorted to many different methods and techniques, which is also mentioned in the books, but initially, given the “ossified” worldview of his student, don Juan used the most severe teaching methods, namely: he used psychotropic drugs, such as the sacred peyote cactus for American Indians (Lophophora williamsii), the hallucinogenic Mexican psilocybin mushroom (Psilocybe mexicana )
and a special smoking mixture based on Datura (Datura inoxia). It is for this reason that Castaneda's future opponents began to accuse him of promoting drug use.
However, later, weighty counterarguments were presented to all these accusations. It should also be said that psychotropic substances are discussed only in the first two books of Castaneda. The rest of his works present completely different ways of changing consciousness and understanding the secret aspects of human existence. These include stalking, lucid dreaming, erasing personal history, stopping internal dialogue, contemplation and many others.
Castaneda's work
At the beginning of his training with the Mexican magician, Carlos asked him for permission to record their conversations. Thus, Carlos’s first sensational book, “The Teachings of Don Juan: The Way of Knowledge of the Yaqui Indians,” was born. In the blink of an eye, this book became a bestseller and sold out in huge numbers. Then the next nine books repeated her fate. They all talk about how Carlos first studied with don Juan, learned the secrets of magical teaching and interacted with other people; how he himself then taught a group of magicians, after don Juan left our world in 1973, “burned in fire from the inside”; and also about how he tried to clarify for himself the essence of all the events that happened to him in the previous years.
Since the appearance of Castaneda's first book to this day, people have debated whether Don Juan even existed. real person or the fictional Carlos collectively. For example, the above-mentioned Margaret Renyan Castaneda in her book says that the name Juan Matus is found in Mexico as often as Pyotr Ivanov in Russia, and also that initially in his field notes Carlos simply spoke about an elderly Indian who began to teach him - the name Juan Matus appeared a little later. In addition, "Matus", according to Margaret, is the name of the red wine that she and Carlos liked to drink when they were young.
If you believe the words of the author himself famous works, don Juan was a real person very modest by nature, but, in fact, a real shaman, a powerful brujo, the last representative of a centuries-old line of Toltec magicians. He began to teach Carlos because The Spirit pointed him to Carlos, and that he discovered in Castaneda an energetic configuration suitable for the neophyte to become the new leader of the next line of sorcerers, called the Nagual party.
As it were, people familiar with the work of the great hoaxer are divided into two camps- these are those who completely take on faith everything that is said in the books, and those who strive with all their might to refute the reliability of the information presented and debunk the myths about Castaneda, don Juan and his teachings.
Castaneda's secret identity
As is known, Carlos Castaneda sought to shroud his personality in fog and everything connected with his life. This desire to elude human gaze and avoid any certainty stems from the main requirement that is presented to the magicians of the line of don Juan - to always remain flexible, elusive, not limited by any framework, stereotypes and opinions of people, and also to avoid any behavioral patterns and reactions. In the terminology of Toltec magicians, this is called “erasing personal history”. Based on this basic premise, it is certain that humanity will never know all the details of the life of Carlos Castaneda and whether don Juan really existed.
Even if Carlos managed to effectively erase his personal history, don Juan did it simply flawlessly (by the way, the concept of impeccability is one of the central in the teachings of don Juan), without leaving any traces behind, leaving this world “along with the shoes.”
According to Carlos Castaneda, his teacher don Juan managed to fulfill the main task of his entire life - “to burn in fire from the inside”, having achieved maximum awareness and finally developed your energy body, thereby moving to new level perception. However, regarding your own death, Carlos had no doubt that he would not be able to achieve such a result. Many of Castaneda's supporters are confident that, despite everything, he managed to achieve what he strived for, i.e. left the world in the same way as don Juan. But the realist audience (as well as the official obituary) agrees that Carlos Castaneda died of liver cancer. This happened on April 27, 1998, Castaneda’s body was cremated, and the ashes were transported to Mexico.
Castaneda's Legacy
From the moment the world learned of the existence of Carlos Castaneda and don Juan until now, The teachings of Toltec magicians are gaining more and more adherents around the world. Many people regard Castaneda's books as more than just works of art, but also how practical guides to action. These people follow the “Way of the Warrior,” the foundations of which are described in Castaneda’s books. They strive to understand the mysteries of existence, personal transformation, increased awareness, development of their maximum potential as human beings, and the transition to a different way of perception and level of being. Some followers even managed to join the training conducted by Castaneda himself and his associates - Taisha Abelar, Florinda Donner-Grau and Carol Tiggs in the 90s of the last century, and is now carried out by their closest students and the corporation Cleargreen Inc..
The books of Carlos Castaneda excited a whole generation, gave birth to new wave movements in the culture of worldview and even the world of music ( the musical direction “New Age” appeared at that time), forced humanity, if not to see the world in a new way, then at least to try to do it; became the starting point on the journey of spiritual seekers around the world.
To date, our work on similar topics are represented by such authors as Armando Torres, Norbert Klassen, Victor Sanchez, Alexey Ksendzyuk and some others. The very teachings of don Juan continue to be practiced a huge amount people.
Below you can see the list of books by Carlos Castaneda. And you can read them simply by purchasing them in a bookstore or downloading them on the Internet.
Bibliography of Castaneda
The article is a theoretical review of nagualism (that’s what Castaneda’s Don Juan called his system of knowledge).
We will plunge into the cosmos of new seers, consider the differences between Castaneda’s teachings and Eastern and Western concepts.
The facts of Castaneda's biography and the features of his worldview will not be considered in the article. The material is intended for a prepared reader.
Nagualism - Toltec cosmos
Let's dot the i's right away. I hope that a savvy and searching reader is interested in the article, so I will not pour water, which is already full on the Internet.
Nagualism is not a religion and has nothing to do with religion or spirituality of any kind. Only a term can be considered general. Nagual or nagual is a word meaning "Spirit".
The concept of Spirit in various faiths is very human, hence their popularity. Something abstract and cruel in its incomprehensibility cannot warm the hearts of people for thousands of years. Therefore, nagualism or the teachings of Castaneda cannot be popular for a long time. This will pass. Unless it is profane, reducing it to the level of esotericism for petes.
Judging by the number of books by “magicians” who continue, this is exactly what is happening now.
The word "Toltec" is used in the Castaneda sense. The Toltecs are a group of magicians who adhere to a tradition that is about 3000 years old. The new seers are the Toltecs who decided to change the tradition. The split occurred at the end of the 19th century. The meaning of the change is the rejection of the utilitarian use of the power of this system.
The new goal of the Toltecs is the transformation of the physical body and human psyche into an energetic form of existence. Indestructible and capable of perceiving a wide range of information and energy interactions. They call it achieving freedom.
Could Castaneda have made it all up?
With all due respect to the talent of the writer-anthropologist, I can boldly say that he could not have come up with such a deep and verified system of views and practical recommendations. This is far from Timothy Leary, Ram Das, John Lily, Osho, transurfing, simoron and hundreds of other compilations of Western and Eastern knowledge.
I am not saying that the teachings mentioned are inferior or bad. They are just artificial, there is no tradition behind them. I believe that my reader has outgrown youthful maximalism and games of emotional comparison. Analytical review– this is not a soap opera.
If you are interested in my personal attitude towards the path of new seers, it seems chilly to me in its icy superhumanity and uncompromisingness. My heart doesn't belong to him.
Those who claim that the teachings of Don Juan are an invention of Carlos, who mixed Eastern esotericism and existentialism, completely miss the point. Their level of understanding of what Castaneda presented is equal to the understanding of first-graders leafing through notes on the mathematical apparatus of modern physics. Otherwise - zero.
Criteria for evaluating Castaneda's teachings
Those seeking support for Castaneda's teachings in the sources of Western and Eastern philosophical and mystical thought walk in front of the door through which Juan and Genaro entered and opened it for Europeans. Zen had just reached this door, looking at the panorama behind it through the keyhole. There were and are no analogues to the path of new seers. Or we don't know anything about him.
The path of the new seers is not magic, for the latter sets very practical goals.
“...vision, in its essence, is the opposite of magic, because it shows the unimportance of all this.
- Doesn't matter what, don Juan?
- The unimportance of everything.
That's the end of the conversation."
Judging the Toltec system from the point of view of any religion is an attempt to squeeze into the Procrustean bed of attitudinal assessments something that initially does not have them. I regard such opuses as attempts by their authors to make money by capitalizing on Carlos’s fame.
The world through the eyes of Don Juan Matus
It is difficult to talk about the picture of reality of the new seers if this very concept within the framework of their system is speculative. It is important to get the point across right away. Without understanding this the most important moment It is impossible to understand what Castaneda’s teachings are.
The world is chaos, consisting of countless emanations of a certain force, conventionally called the Eagle. Heterogeneous flows of this force intersect and resonate, creating ordered areas at the junction points. Each such area is countless worlds of perception. In the words of don Juan, “worlds within worlds.”
Perceiving subjects are fields of awareness that resonate with a limited number of streams. The number of streams and their configuration at the focal point is what we call the objective Universe. The focal point is called the assemblage point. The area surrounding it is a bubble of perception.
The perception bubble is an ordered region of data flows. Node in the flow of information. The properties of a node are determined by a system of signal processing filters. One of these filters is called world description.
Everything that is ordered in the bubble of perception is tonal. Everything that is disordered and goes beyond its limits is a nagual. In this case, the term means “indescribable.” The tonal and the nagual are called the true couple. All other binary oppositions or, more simply, dualities are a way of filtering tonal data.
Unordered data is on the left side of the bubble, ordered data is on the right. The warrior's goal is to sweep away all the rubbish of the mind's speculations on the right side and open the dividing line. This will lead to the restoration of human nature.
It is impossible to bypass the border in a normal state of consciousness. Those who follow the path of the Toltecs - warriors - must do this in a special state of consciousness. A special state of clarity and mobility of the mind is called second attention.
It turns out that in the world of Don Juan Matus there is no good and bad, good and evil. He got rid of the semantic filter - lost his human form. In this world there is no certainty and certainty. There is no cause-and-effect mechanism in it, because it is built on binary oppositions. The mind is no longer able to impose its reality on him, and will helps him not to get lost in chaos. She is the core of this world.
Next. Toltecs believe that the world of everyday life is an artificial world created by changing human nature from the outside. The purpose of the change is to feed the energy of people’s awareness with certain entities called flyers.
This was written long before The Matrix and other works that explored different facets of this idea.
It turns out that the goal of the Toltecs is to achieve freedom by leaving this world. The question remains about the price and who is leaving. After all, the price of the ticket includes the rejection of the usual nature with all that it entails. A magician who has received immortality is no longer a person, even in his mental organization.
Moreover, he ceases to be one on the way to this state. So there can be no talk of gaining immortality. A person “dies” during the period of apprenticeship, the magician passes into another form of existence with different perceptions and imperatives.
This is far from the tragedy of Cyros. He chose his habitat in both cases, relying on an unchanging basis of feelings, memory and worldview. Neo remains himself, regardless of whether he dreams in the Matrix or lives in Zion. Human nature immediately changes, and these are irreversible changes.
The difference between the teachings of don Juan and the positions of the Eastern and Western esoteric corps
To understand Castaneda's teachings, one must see the differences from all known sources of philosophical and metaphysical thought. Look at the diagram. This is a representation of Hinduism and its derivatives.
There is a certain source - the “Dreamer”, this is the mind that resides in itself. He dreams, differentiating himself into various hypostases - Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva and others. Each hypostasis is a reflection of one of the archetypes of his essence. This is the first layer of reflections. It is already binary because it has the unity and opposition of the energies of shakti and tamas.
The play of these personified energies—lila—creates a level 2 reflection. The so-called subtle planes or higher worlds. There, the personifications of the “Dreamer” gain independence and act as independent entities. There they play - they create worlds with their countless inhabitants through the emanations of Shakti - Fohat - that structure the chaos.
The Material Universe is their creation – a reflection of the 3rd level. They play in it, penetrating there with part of their essence - an avatar.
The creators of Vedanta, without any technology, anticipated Nirvana, Existence, 13th Floor, and The Matrix. Source – “The Dreamer” is absolute reality, everything else is only different levels his dreams.
Derivations of Hinduism give different names and hierarchies, leaving the same scheme.
Taoism and Zen remove the personified mind from the center, replacing it with active emptiness. In Taoism, the transition between the source and reflection of level 1 is called Tao (Path).
Chan or Zen call the center Emptiness and refuse to give it any definition. At the level of reflections, form and the law of interaction of forms - dharma - are created. Creatures who think of themselves as separate entities, independent of the general entity, are considered to be captivated by avidya (translated as “ignorance”) - filters of the mind).
Metaphysics of Castaneda
Eastern doctrines say that everything is within. As the yogis say, “everything is mind, and nothing but mind.” Castaneda's teaching says the opposite - everything is outside. We are just a focus, a node in the flow of Eagle signals.
The world we have constructed is a reflection of the turbulence of the knot on the walls of the bubble of perception. But this does not mean that the world is an illusion. It is quite real and objective, just one of many. The movement of the assemblage point will give you countless possibilities of perception - many worlds.
The diagram above shows the essence of the Toltec approach. Important aspect– concept of assemblage point.
Look at the diagram. You see the position of the cocoon - the field shell of a person within the framework of objective perception.
At the level of his shoulder blades, behind him there will be a glowing area the size of a tennis ball. Fibers of light - streams that enter this area glow more intensely. These are what the “constructor of our world” assembles.
The assemblage point can move both inside the human shell and beyond it, changing our nature. According to Castaneda, the ancient Toltec magicians thus gained an unlimited life span. Their luminosity was invulnerable to flyers and the "toppler". We'll talk about this more in future posts on this topic.
Even small fluctuations in the assemblage point change a person’s behavior, temperament and worldview. The art of controlling the position of the assemblage point is called stalking. Otherwise, hunting or tracking. The student tracks himself in various, often borderline situations and hunts for power.
I’ll wrap it up here, there’s enough food for thought for a start. If you are interested in the topic, leave a comment. I plan to examine the concept of power, techniques such as stalking and recapitulation. Talk about the possibility that both Don Juan and Castaneda are alive and well.
Let's not get lost. Best regards, Vladimir Darov.