Jorge: Can't let that pass uncontested because I admire his work. a)Castaneda was never the darling of anthropological circles; sort of an outcast anthropologist really. b) some people have attempted to present his Don Juan series as an hoax but never proving it conclusively. c) even if it was a hoax, the man must have been a genius to imagine all that by himself. One of the best insights into sorcery (of the kind practiced by American Indians) ever written.
[Krimel] a) I was careful not to specify any degree of impact. b) I recently saw this video "Tales From The Jungle: Carlos Castaneda" which laid to rest whatever doubts I might have had. It includes interviews with former followers, and a real anthropologist who was inspired to work with the Yaquis after reading Castaneda's early work. It talks about, among other things, the disappearance and probable suicides of Carlos' five witches. The anthropologist Dr. David Shorter tracked down the "sorcerer" thought to be the model for Don Juan. He was dead but his wife remembered Carlos as being much more interested in drinking and chasing women than in studying Indians. But seriously stuff like Don Juan and Don Genaro being dead and living in an ant hill didn't give you a clue? Or the entire book of 'wisdom' received in a non-ordinary state that he just forgot but took notes written with a pencil in his pocket... Or the whole drugs were not the point when they weren't cool any more... Or sneaking past the giant soul devouring eagle to get into heaven... Or the Kirlian inspired luminous egg crap... Or Tenesgrity, the Yaqui workout plan? c) I was a real fan up through the about Tales of Power but even then had doubts. I wrote a review of ZMM about the time it came out and linked it to a kind of popular philosophy movement spearheaded by Castaneda. Even then I was doubtful about Castaneda's veracity. I've read everything he wrote through the book on silence, for fun not insight. He was and is great fiction but he says nothing useful about Indian culture or shamanism or even mysticism in general. Still, I will be forever grateful to him for helping me rationalize the use of hallucinogens in the 70's and ultimately the lesson's he taught me about the value of skeptism. As I mentioned to Dwai, there is a seeker born every minute. It is hard sometimes not to become one. Harder still to stop being one. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
