|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 04 2009 : 1:44:24 PM
|
Hi.
I want to recommend two books from this controversial author:
The best book in my opinion,very beautiful:"Travel to Itxlan".I enjoyed it very much.
Another book,and recomended for all that people in the forum who are interested in entheogens:"the teachings of d.juan".I know and im sure its very fammiliar for them,but...great book.
For other hand,i doubt very much about castaneda's stuff,but he was a great writer and he wrote about interesting things..
Other book mentined very much in the forum:a path with hearth by j.cornfield.it cleared my mind recently about spiritual path purpose.
I am that" by nissargadatta maharaj is another great book... |
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 04 2009 : 2:57:29 PM
|
I used to be very much onto all of Castanedas books, and they helped me greatly on the spiritual path. No i don't think the stories were the truth, but the connection to the truth was so close that it helped people like me who were disillusioned with religions and society.
And they were masterfully set up if you paid attention. Don juan said all that was necessary is to stop your thoughts. Then they would do all kinds of complicated rituals. Lots of idiots travelled to Mexico looking for a teacher. I thought; you didn't pay attention to the teachings in the book; it's all there.
People would say they didn't think Castaneda was a powerful sorcerer. Well, of course not! The books are about Castaneda being the bumbling idiot who didn't understand the sorcerer.
Then people would say his writings were not valid because they found inconsistencies in time and place of where Castaneda was known to be.
But Castaneda wrote of instantly travelling from one place to another place and time! So inconsistencies in time could not invalidate the writings. It was masterful. I think Castaneda was as well read as Yogani on spirituality. I think he understood it all. But he chose the dark side, to deceive people about where he got the information. Many people followed him, and some like me gained a lot from it, who would not have gained had he been truthful. So it is baffling to me how it was set up on false pretenses and yet how it worked as if it was not false. So in a way, that makes his teaching valid.
It is baffling like the illusions of Maya. Real and not real at the same time. |
 |
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 04 2009 : 3:39:07 PM
|
Yes,"stop the world",i like this sentence...really the books are very very beautiful and interesting.I enjoyed them a lot.I didnt read the last books,because they are more profound books...i could not understand very well...i got afraid,he is talking about a very, very heavy stuff,i think...
Yes,i wrote about castanedas black side,his personal life.there are lot of rumours of bad things he did,lies...its a pity...with a best image he could reach more people i think...
With castaneda its necessary to separe the grain form the waffle,its not easy,but open your mind,read the books,and its a incredible universe.
|
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 04 2009 : 3:44:56 PM
|
| Another book that i enjoyed and i think its great for awekening the witness state in daily life is EARTHWALKS FOR BODY AND SPIRIT by James Endredy.He learned a lot with toltech(toltecas) people.He explain it in the book.I think its really really interesting and pure practical book.Take a look for it in the web ayp'ers.. |
|
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 04 2009 : 11:38:27 PM
|
I'll check it out.
Separate the grain from the waffle? What does that mean? |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2009 : 04:07:22 AM
|
haha...it is an spanish expression,but it doesnt exist in english,i see ..is like saying "taking the essential (the techings) and getting the non-important out". |
|
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2009 : 1:52:31 PM
|
We have an old expression in english "separate the wheat from the chaff", that means the same, but that is actually something that is done when wheat is harvested.
How could grain get mixed up with a waffle, and why would grain be more valuable than a waffle? |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2009 : 3:30:43 PM
|
Ok ether,the expression "separte the grain..." was an failed try from me.
The spanish expresion is the so close the same as "separate the wheat from the chaff",it is done at harvest time here in spain too.
I tried to build the expresion n english,i used the dictionary and maybe waffle doesnt mean the same as chaff (wich is the right word).With grain (a seed which is the object of the harvest) i tried to say wheat...
Yes,i was trying to say the expression you wrote about.and it is very simmilar in both languages.Thanks! |
|
|
|
jillatay
USA
206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2009 : 9:24:23 PM
|
What amazes me about Casteneda, and I hope this isn't considered guru bashing, is how his story always paints himself as the same poor fool who is mr. everyman sociologist. He never mentions that he becomes one of the most successful writers of our time nor what he does with his money. He always shows up in his old beater car with a sack of groceries like he were you or me visiting an old strange man.
Then there is the story where he is told by Don Juan that being such a strong man he most likely will have to die in a car accident where in truth he wasted away from cancer. He doesn't write a word about that. He truly was a sorcerer which cast a glamour over much of this country for decades.
I've read almost all his books. He rewrites history a lot. The point in the first book is about peyote and other psychotropic plants. Then it changes into being a warrior with a worthy opponent. Then a Nagual or an immortal. I believe he had read a lot of eastern mysticism and just put it into an Native American context for literary flair.
Oh yeah, and his attitude toward women really changes over time. At first they are invisible, hardly exist, then they become witches with sexual power and finally great teachers. He fails to explain to us the shift in his attitude. It is all smoke and mirrors.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Love,
Jill |
|
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2009 : 11:13:33 PM
|
yes I think it was eastern mysticism put into Native American context. In one sense smoke and mirrors, but not in other perspectives.
He tried to make himself a mystery, and succeeded. If he were truly learning from a sorcerer, it would be normal for his views and focus to change over the years. he mixed siddhis with native american culture and the outcome was very good reading.
What I would say bad about him is that some people were casualties of his creation. I have seen people who got stuck following him and put him on a pedestal, and didn't progress spiritually.
But on the good side, there are people like me who would never had gotten on a spiritual path if it wasn't for him. I could see how people were being controlled by religions and how they created God in their image and i found the whole thing disgusting.
And yet I sensed there is more to life than meets the eye. So I became totally engrossed in his works and tried to get all I could from them. Instead of trying to find a sorcerer like some, I believed that all the information was encoded in the books. They warned against looking for a teacher.
So often repeated was "stop your thoughts" or "stop the world", as being the key to sorcery.
I worked on that for thousands of hours until gradually I was able to do it. My whole world changed,
all kinds of weird things happened, and I knew life is not what we think it is.
So then I wondered, if weird, dark things can happen, maybe their is a wonderful, bright side also.
So then i figured maybe God isn't real, but people who believe in him can create a wonderful life.
Then i decided I would follow God as an experiment to explore that world.
And that's where i am now, after finding God to be very real, but not at all what those religious people told me he was. And that was the problem all along; not God but the people.
So I hope there are other people who were helped as much as me by Castaneda. I was in a dark and troubled place before i discovered his works. |
|
|
|
jillatay
USA
206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 12:34:51 AM
|
Lovely post, Ether. Thanks.
I realized after reading it that I too did enjoy one thing, the sense of mystery in ordinary things. And also he was a modern day gnostic who understood that we find the truth inside. 
Thanks again,
Jill |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 03:11:12 AM
|
| Yes,Carlos Castaneda was my first step in spiritual path too.I began doing that "magical passes" with a teacher,and other exercices...after six months i stopped doing it and tryed other things like reiki,osho... until one day i read "autobiography of a yogi"... |
Edited by - miguel on Apr 06 2009 05:48:50 AM |
|
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 07:48:25 AM
|
Me too that's why i went through Yogananda's entire course (up to Kriya yoga) then came here. However, had I seen Autobiography of a Yoga before I went through everything with Castaneda, I would have rejected it.
I thought everyone who was obsessed with God was deluding themselves. I had a feeling that there was a God, but that everything people said he was, wasn't right. I could see so many men being put on a pedestal in the name of God, and that didn't ring true for me. So i avoided any input from people who wrote about God a lot. |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 09:12:04 AM
|
"many men being put on a pedestal in the name of God"
Yes,dangerous thing...ayp has been the best choose in my opinion.Now i feel my feet on earth.
|
|
|
|
krcqimpro1
India
329 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 09:56:06 AM
|
Hi Miguel, Etherfish,
"Waffle" must be the Spanish equivalent of "chaff".
Krish |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 11:03:30 AM
|
waffle: speaking but saying nothing important at the same time.We call it "chaff" too,because its a conversation without "wheat",and wheat is the most important in harvest,not the chaffMaybe a little difficult to explain... |
|
|
|
Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2009 : 6:50:59 PM
|
OK now I know where you got waffle. The word would have been "waffling" to make it a verb, so you could separate the good words from the waffling.
Because when you say "the waffle" it refers to a breakfast food similar to a pancake. But it is rare to even use the word waffling except when talking about politicians.
Anyway, you're doing OK Miguel and we understand everything else you are saying; wish I could do as well in espanol! |
|
|
|
miguel
Spain
1197 Posts |
Posted - Apr 07 2009 : 04:41:58 AM
|
yes,politicians are usually not very good at "harvest time"...
|
Edited by - miguel on Apr 07 2009 05:14:46 AM |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
|
|
|
|
Carlos Castaneda.
