Carlos Castaneda (December 25, 1925[nb 1]âApril 27, 1998) was an American author.
Free download or read online A Separate Reality pdf (ePUB) (The Teachings of Don Juan Series) book. The first edition of this novel was published in 1968, and was written by Carlos Castaneda. The book was published in multiple languages including language, consists of 263 pages and is available in Paperback format. The main characters of this spirituality, philosophy story are Don Juan,. I had not seen don Juan for several months. It was the autumn of 1971. I had the certainty that he was at don Genaro's house in central Mexico and made the necessary preparations for a six- or seven-day drive to visit him. On the second day of my journey, however, on an impulse, I stopped at don Juan's place in Sonora in the midafternoon.
Starting with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that describe his training in shamanism, particularly with a group whose lineage descended from the Toltecs. The books, narrated in the first person, relate his experiences under the tutelage of a man that Castaneda claimed was a Yaqui 'Man of Knowledge' named donJuan Matus. His 12 books have sold more than 28 million copies in 17 languages. Critics have suggested that they are works of fiction; supporters claim the books are either true or at least valuable works of philosophy.
In the course of his general teachings, don Juan thoroughly explained to me the principles, rationales, and practices of the art of dreaming. His instruction was divided into two parts. One was about dreaming procedures, the other about the purely abstract explanations of these procedures. His teaching method was an interplay between enticing. Forty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. History of this Carlos Castaneda compilation and my thoughts on the work of Carlos Castaneda. I was first introduced to Carlos Castaneda when there was just one Castaneda book: The Teachings of Don Juan. It was the fall of 1968. That book was assigned reading for an English class I was taking.
Castaneda withdrew from public view in 1973, living in a large house in Westwood, California from 1973 until his death in 1998, with three colleagues whom he called 'Fellow Travellers of Awareness.' He founded Cleargreen, an organization that promotes 'Tensegrity', which Castaneda described as the modern version of the 'magical passes' of the shamans of ancient Mexico.
Early life
Castaneda moved to the United States in the early 1950s and became a naturalized citizen on June 21, 1957.[6]
He received his B.A. from UCLA in 1962, and Ph.D. in anthropology in 1973.[7]
Castaneda married Margaret Runyan in Mexico in 1960, according to Runyan's memoirs.[8] Castaneda is listed on the birth certificate of Runyan's son C.J. Castaneda as his father even though his biological father was a different man.[8]
It is unclear whether Carlos and Margaret were divorced in 1960, 1973, or not at all, and his death certificate even stated he had never been married.[8]
Career
Castaneda's first three books â The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge; A Separate Reality; and Journey to Ixtlan â were written while he was an anthropology student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He wrote these books as his research log describing his apprenticeship with a traditional 'Man of Knowledge' identified as don Juan Matus, allegedly a Yaqui Indian from northern Mexico. Castaneda was awarded his bachelor's and doctoral degrees based on the work described in these books.
In 1974 his fourth book, Tales of Power, was published and chronicled the end of his apprenticeship under the tutelage of Matus. Castaneda continued to be popular with the reading public with subsequent publications that unfolded further aspects of his training with don Juan.
Castaneda wrote that don Juan recognized him as the new nagual, or leader of a party of seers of his lineage. Matus also used the term nagual to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of the unknown yet still reachable by man, implying that, for his own party of seers, Matus was a connection to that unknown. Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as 'nonordinary reality.'
The term nagual has been used by anthropologists to mean a shaman or sorcerer who claims to be able to change into an animal form, or to metaphorically 'shift' into another form through magic rituals, shamanism and experiences with psychoactive drugs (e.g. peyote and jimson weed).[9]
While Castaneda was a well-known cultural figure, he rarely appeared in public forums. He was the subject of a cover article in the March 5, 1973 issue of Time which described him as 'an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a tortilla'. There was controversy when it was revealed that Castaneda may have used a surrogate for his cover portrait. When confronted by correspondent Sandra Burton about discrepancies in his personal history, Castaneda responded: 'To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics .. is like using science to validate sorcery.' Following that interview, Castaneda completely retired from public view.[1]
Don Juan Matus
Scholars have debated 'whether Castaneda actually served as an apprentice to the alleged Yaqui sorcerer don Juan Matus or if he invented the whole odyssey.'[10] Castaneda's books are classified as non-fiction although they have been criticized as fictional.[11][12] In two books, Castaneda's Journey: The Power and the Allegory (Capra Press, 1976) and The Don Juan Papers (Ross-Erickson, 1981), author and Castaneda critic Richard de Mille intimated that Don Juan was imaginary,[13] although de Mille's critiques have also been questioned.[14][15][16] Walter Shelburne contends that 'the Don Juan chronicle cannot be a literally true account.'[17]
Tensegrity
In the 1990s, Castaneda once again began appearing in public to promote Tensegrity, which was described in promotional materials as 'the modernized version of some movements called magical passes developed by Indian shamans who lived in Mexico in times prior to the Spanish conquest.' [18][19]
Castaneda, along with Carol Tiggs, Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar, created Cleargreen Incorporated in 1995. The organization's stated purpose is 'carrying out the instruction and publication of Tensegrity'. Tensegrity seminars, books, and other merchandise were sold through Cleargreen.[20]
Death
Castaneda died on April 27, 1998[3] in Los Angeles due to complications from hepatocellular cancer. There was no public service; Castaneda was cremated and the ashes were sent to Mexico. His death was unknown to the outside world until nearly two months later, on 19 June 1998, when an obituary entitled 'A Hushed Death for Mystic Author Carlos Castaneda' by staff writer J. R. Moehringer appeared in the Los Angeles Times.[21]
Four months after Castaneda's death, C. J. Castaneda, also known as Adrian Vashon, whose birth certificate shows Carlos Castaneda as his father, challenged Castaneda's will in probate court. C.J. challenged its authenticity. The challenge was ultimately unsuccessful[3]. Carlos' death certificate states metabolic encephalopathy for 72hours prior to his death, yet the will was purportedly signed 48hours before Castaneda's death[22].
Castaneda's Associates
After Castaneda stepped away from public view in 1973, he bought a large multi-dwelling property in Los Angeles which he shared with some of his followers. Among those who lived there were Taisha Abelar (formerly Maryann Simko) and Florinda Donner-Grau (formerly Regine Thal). Like Castaneda, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau were students of anthropology at UCLA. Each went on to write books that explored the experience of being followers of Castaneda's teachings from a feminist perspective. Cf. 'Related Authors'
Around the time Castaneda died in April 1998, his companions Donner-Grau, Abelar and Patricia Partin informed friends they were leaving on a long journey. Amalia Marquez (also known as Talia Bey) and Tensegrity instructor Kylie Lundahl also left Los Angeles. Weeks later, Partin's red Ford Escort was found abandoned in Death Valley.[citation needed]
Luis Marquez, the brother of Talia Bey, went to police in 1999 over his sister's disappearance, but was unable to convince them that it merited investigation.[citation needed]
In 2006, Partin's sun-bleached skeleton was discovered by a pair of hikers in Death Valley's Panamint Dunes area and was identified by DNA testing. The investigating authorities ruled Partin's death as undetermined.[23][24]
Since his death, Carol Tiggs, a colleague of Castaneda, has spoken at workshops throughout the world, including at Ontario, California in 1998, Sochi, Russia in 2015 and Merida, Yucatan in 2016. Tiggs had the longest association with Castaneda and is written about in some of his books. Today, she serves as a consultant for Cleargreen.
Reception
Although Castaneda's accounts of the Teaching of Don Juan were initially well-received as non-fiction works of ethnography, the books are now widely regarded as works of fiction.[23]
At first, and with the backing of academic qualifications and the UCLA anthropological department, Castaneda's work was mostly praised by reviewers. Edmund Leach praised the book.[25] Anthropologist E. H. Spicer offered a somewhat mixed review of The Teachings of Don Juan, highlighting Castaneda's expressive prose and his vivid depiction of his relationship with Don Juan. However, Spicer noted that the events described in the book were not consistent with other ethnographic accounts of Yaqui cultural practices, concluding it was unlikely that Don Juan had ever participated in Yaqui group life. Spicer also stated: '[It is] wholly gratuitous to emphasize, as the subtitle does, any connection between the subject matter of the book and the cultural traditions of the Yaquis.'[26]
In a series of articles, R. Gordon Wasson, the ethnobotanist who made psychoactive mushrooms famous, similarly praised Castaneda's work, while expressing doubts regarding the accuracy of some of the claims.[27]An early unpublished review by anthropologist Weston La Barre was more critical. La Barre questioned the book's accuracy, calling it a 'pseudo-profound deeply vulgar pseudo-ethnography.' The review, initially commissioned by The New York Times Review of Books, was rejected and replaced by a more positive review from a different anthropologist.[23]
Later reviews were more critical, with several critics positing that the books were fabrications. Beginning in 1976, Richard de Mille published a series of criticisms that uncovered inconsistencies in Castaneda's field notes, as well as several instances of apparent plagiarism.[23] Later, anthropologists specializing in Yaqui Indian culture, such as Jane Holden Kelley, questioned the accuracy of Castaneda's work.[28] Other criticisms of Castaneda's work include the total lack of Yaqui vocabulary or terms for any of his experiences, and his refusal to defend himself against the accusation that he received his PhD from UCLA through deception.[29] Stephen C. Thomas notes[30] that Muriel Thayer Painter, in her book With Good Heart: Yaqui Beliefs and Ceremonies in Pascua Village, gives examples of Yaqui vocabulary associated with spirituality: 'morea', an equivalent to the Spanish brujo; 'saurino', used to describe persons with the gift of divination; and 'seataka', or spiritual power, a word which is 'fundamental to Yaqui thought and life.'[31] Thomas further states:
It is hard to believe that Castaneda's benefactor, a self-professed Yaqui, would fail to employ these native expressions throughout the apprenticeship. In omitting such intrinsically relevant terms from his ethnography, Castaneda critically undermines his portrait of Don Juan as a bona fide Yaqui sorcerer.
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John Dedrick, a Protestant missionary who lived among the Yaqui Indians of Vicam, Sonora, from 1940 to 1979, stated in his letter of May 23, 1989 that:
I've only read 'The Teachings of Don Juan', and before I got to the third part of the book I knew that he [Castaneda] did know of the Yaquis and thathe had not been to the Rio Yaqui river, or that there is no terminology in the Yaqui language for any of the instructions and explanations that 'Don Juan' was giving it to him [Castaneda][32].
Clement Meighan and Stephen C. Thomas,[30] point out that the books largely, and for the most part, do not describe Yaqui culture at all with its emphasis on Catholic upbringing and conflict with the Federal State of Mexico, but rather focus on the international movements and life of Don Juan who was described in the books as traveling and having many connections, and abodes, in the Southwestern United States (Arizona), Northern Mexico, and Oaxaca. Don Juan was described in the books as a shaman steeped in a mostly lost Toltec philosophy and decidedly anti-Catholic.
A March 5, 1973 Time article by Sandra Burton, looking at both sides of the controversy, stated:
.. the more worldly claim to importance of Castaneda's books: to wit, that they are anthropology, a specific and truthful account of an aspect of Mexican Indian culture as shown by the speech and actions of one person, a shaman named Juan Matus. That proof hinges on the credibility of Don Juan as a being and Carlos Castaneda as a witness. Yet there is no corroboration beyond Castaneda's writings that Don Juan did what he is said to have done, and very little that he exists at all.
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A strong case can be made that the Don Juan books are of a different order of truthfulness from Castaneda's pre-Don Juan past. Where, for example, was the motive for an elaborate scholarly put-on? The Teachings were submitted to a university press, an unlikely prospect for best-sellerdom. Besides, getting an anthropology degree from U.C.L.A. is not so difficult that a candidate would employ so vast a confabulation just to avoid research. A little fudging perhaps, but not a whole system in the manner of The Teachings, written by an unknown student with, at the outset, no hope of commercial success.[1]
David Silverman sees value in the work even while considering it fictional. In Reading Castaneda he describes the apparent deception as a critique of anthropology field work in general â a field that relies heavily on personal experience, and necessarily views other cultures through a lens. According to Silverman, not only the descriptions of peyote trips but also the fictional nature of the work are meant to place doubt on other works of anthropology.[33]
Donald Wieve cites Castaneda to explain the insider/outsider problem as it relates to mystical experiences, while acknowledging the fictional nature of Castaneda's work.[34]
Related and associated authors
Bibliography
See alsoNotes
FootnotesCarlos Castaneda Teachings Of Don Juan Pdf Gratis
References
Further reading
External links
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carlos_Castaneda&oldid=915867512'
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge was published by the University of California Press in 1968 as a work of anthropology, though many critics contend that it is a work of fiction.[1] It was written by Carlos Castaneda and submitted as his Master's thesis in the school of Anthropology. It purports to document the events that took place during an apprenticeship with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, don Juan Matus from Sonora, Mexico between 1960 and 1965.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section, The Teachings, is a first-person narrative that documents Castaneda's initial interactions with don Juan. He speaks of his encounters with Mescalito (a teaching spirit inhabiting all peyote plants), divination with lizards and flying using the 'yerba del diablo' (lit. 'Devil's Weed'; Jimson weed), and turning into a blackbird using 'humito' (lit. 'little smoke'; a smoked powder containing Psilocybe mexicana). The second, A Structural Analysis, is an attempt, Castaneda says, at 'disclos[ing] the internal cohesion and the cogency of don Juanâs Teachings.'[2]
The 30th-anniversary edition, published by the University of California Press in 1998, contains commentary by Castaneda not present in the original edition. He writes of a general discouragement from the project by his professors (besides Clement Woodward Meighan, a professor who supported the project early in its conception. In the foreword, Castaneda gives 'full credit' for the approval of his dissertation to Meighan). He offers a new thesis on a mind-state he calls 'total freedom' and claims that he used the teachings of his Yaqui shaman as 'springboards into new horizons of cognition'.[3] In addition, it contains a foreword by anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt, who was a professor of anthropology at UCLA during the time the books were written, and an introduction by the author. A 40th anniversary edition was published by the University of California Press in 2008.
The book was a New York Times best-seller, and it - along with its sequels - sold over 10 million copies in the Unites States.[4]
The Teachings is referenced in the 2013 film A Case of You, in which the protagonist reads the book to impress his dream girl.
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Carlos Castaneda Teachings Of Don Juan Pdf Online
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