Carlos Castaneda

[avaiyak]

I believe alot of what Castaneda has to offer us.  Carlos Castaneda is an author who's books are on the Yaqui Indian spirituality.  I have been reading his books for 16 years now and have found what truth lies in his teachings.

[Prof. Akers]

All true except that e admitted it was all made up!
Such a shame, I read them all- Journey to Ixlan was my fav.

[alee]

i have listened to some audio tapes of his about taking hallucinogenic payote to gain mystical experiences.

can someone tell my why his work is so significant?

[Rising_Sun]

carlos castaneda was considered a fake anthropologist

they checked the dates he reported being in mexico doing shamanic stuff against his stack requests at UCLA's library

One of the most memorable discoveries the De Mille made in his examination of the stack requests was that when Castaneda said he was participating in the traditional peyote ceremony -- the least fantastic episode of drug use -- he was not only sitting in the library, but he was reading someone else's description of their experience of the peyote ceremony.

[Prof. Akers]

Castenada came out in the 60/70s and his booke perported to be about a Mexican Apache Brujo or sorceror.
There were all these bits about taking peyoe and getting a spirit guide, pieces about meditation - staring at leaves, I sat in a wood in England for days trying to find my guide, took LSD, communed with animals all that stuff.
Then when it came out about it being faked my and a lot of other peoples world crumbled.
That's when we grew up.

[alee]

However, i really can relate to the experiences that he narrated in his books. I know a few sharmans (chinese style) who would ingest chemicals (get really pissed drunk would be one way) to alter their states of consciousness and to  commune with entities from other realms.

I have never had the guts to try this without a guide though I very much would like to. Without a proper and competent guide, we are exposing our psyche/soul to a lot of dangers.