09-07-2011, 12:01 AM
I was recently curious about Carlos Castaneda's Ph. D that he earned at UCLA. I did a bit of research and found that his third book Journey To Ixtlan earned Castaneda his Ph. D. If this is true then he was not a "fraud". Castaneda actually earned a Ph. D and he actually was a New York Times bestselling author. From the same website I found a section that tells about Castaneda before he met don Juan. It has been my belief that Castaneda absolutely had to be totally honest in how he portrayed himself in his early books or he would have been called a fraud from his very first book. So, what was Castaneda? A person who could NEVER come up with the don Juan philosophy on his own. That's who Castaneda was when he first met don Juan and even his ex-wife, who dumped on him in her book, says that he was taking field trips during the times when he was purportedly meeting don Juan.
"Castaneda was totally fascinated by the story of Sri Ramana and the Peruvian couple, especially the space-time part, and wanted to know both the name of the author and the name of the book the story came from. I told him I couldn't recall at the moment, but at the next get together I would bring the information. The next time I saw him I gave him a note with all the info on it he requested. He thanked me and except for a brief interlude a year or so later when I saw him from the distance across the seating area at the Nogales Greyhound Bus Station on the exact same day and time he alludes to of having met Don Juan Matus for the very first time, that was the last I ever saw him.
The interesting part of it all is those artist get togethers happened over a period of time before Castaneda, to my knowledge, ever thought of Don Juan Matus.
I say so because IF Castaneda was working on the development of the Don Juan character at any time before he purportedly met him at the bus station in Nogales he never said anything about it. I would think our artist discussions after work would have been the perfect forum to bring him up --- yet he didn't. Why? Castaneda just didn't seem to know about such things. If Don Juan Matus was a total made up work of fiction it seems to me, since the timing was perfect, some rudimentary form of Don Juan would have come up in our discussions --- and it was a perfect place to do so as nobody in the group leaned toward the literary side of things so there was no chance any idea Castaneda may have had or presented would have been appropriated or stolen. Even if Castaneda carried a staunch predilection toward holding his cards close to his vest during those early years of our discussions, you would think by now at least, some sort of rough drafts of primitive Don Juans' and his beliefs would have surfaced if he was indeed working on any pre-Don Juan ideas. Additionally, although Castaneda's wife Margaret Runyan confirms that her husband made frequent field trips to Mexico in the time he was supposedly apprenticed to Don Juan --- and while she has publicly dumped on him pretty hard in many areas, she has NEVER reported that Castaneda was working on the Don Juan idea or talking Don Juan philosophy before the Nogales meeting. To my knowledge nobody has come forward to state equivocally that Castaneda was expounding a proto Don Juan philosophy anytime before he supposedly met the Shaman."
http://wanderling.tripod.com/castaneda_donjuan.html
MY COMMENT:
I've read Castaneda so much in the past and personally verified most of what don Juan taught dealing directly with nature that I consider myself a Castaneda scholar. I find it easy to imagine that if don Juan was told Castaneda had set himself up as a guru in Los Angeles he and Genaro would probably have laughed themselves into unconsciousness. That anyone would be dumb enough to take Castaneda as a guru says a lot about the desperation of the human race, in general. Then, after Juan and Genaro regained consciousness and were told that Castaneda demanded the members of his cult suspend their sense of logic and reason and that anyone who asked too many uncomfortable questions was expelled from the group they probably would have laughed themselves into unconsciousness again that people could actually be dumb enough to join such a cult. Of course, they would have to wonder about the people who remained in Castaneda's cult under such conditions. Must be pretty desperate people alright. Of course, such desperate people would NOT want to take responsibility for their decision to stay. Of course, when they eventually had their lives torn apart by a knucklehead pretending to be a don Juan they would be determined to blame Castaneda for their own bad decisions. Of course they would!*
*Any resemblance to those who had joined the Castaneda cult and are posting in this forum is not coincidental
So Jeremy. Do you take responsibility for remaining in Castaneda's cult or are all the miseries you sustained from being in the cult all Castaneda's fault? Think before you answer!
"Castaneda was totally fascinated by the story of Sri Ramana and the Peruvian couple, especially the space-time part, and wanted to know both the name of the author and the name of the book the story came from. I told him I couldn't recall at the moment, but at the next get together I would bring the information. The next time I saw him I gave him a note with all the info on it he requested. He thanked me and except for a brief interlude a year or so later when I saw him from the distance across the seating area at the Nogales Greyhound Bus Station on the exact same day and time he alludes to of having met Don Juan Matus for the very first time, that was the last I ever saw him.
The interesting part of it all is those artist get togethers happened over a period of time before Castaneda, to my knowledge, ever thought of Don Juan Matus.
I say so because IF Castaneda was working on the development of the Don Juan character at any time before he purportedly met him at the bus station in Nogales he never said anything about it. I would think our artist discussions after work would have been the perfect forum to bring him up --- yet he didn't. Why? Castaneda just didn't seem to know about such things. If Don Juan Matus was a total made up work of fiction it seems to me, since the timing was perfect, some rudimentary form of Don Juan would have come up in our discussions --- and it was a perfect place to do so as nobody in the group leaned toward the literary side of things so there was no chance any idea Castaneda may have had or presented would have been appropriated or stolen. Even if Castaneda carried a staunch predilection toward holding his cards close to his vest during those early years of our discussions, you would think by now at least, some sort of rough drafts of primitive Don Juans' and his beliefs would have surfaced if he was indeed working on any pre-Don Juan ideas. Additionally, although Castaneda's wife Margaret Runyan confirms that her husband made frequent field trips to Mexico in the time he was supposedly apprenticed to Don Juan --- and while she has publicly dumped on him pretty hard in many areas, she has NEVER reported that Castaneda was working on the Don Juan idea or talking Don Juan philosophy before the Nogales meeting. To my knowledge nobody has come forward to state equivocally that Castaneda was expounding a proto Don Juan philosophy anytime before he supposedly met the Shaman."
http://wanderling.tripod.com/castaneda_donjuan.html
MY COMMENT:
I've read Castaneda so much in the past and personally verified most of what don Juan taught dealing directly with nature that I consider myself a Castaneda scholar. I find it easy to imagine that if don Juan was told Castaneda had set himself up as a guru in Los Angeles he and Genaro would probably have laughed themselves into unconsciousness. That anyone would be dumb enough to take Castaneda as a guru says a lot about the desperation of the human race, in general. Then, after Juan and Genaro regained consciousness and were told that Castaneda demanded the members of his cult suspend their sense of logic and reason and that anyone who asked too many uncomfortable questions was expelled from the group they probably would have laughed themselves into unconsciousness again that people could actually be dumb enough to join such a cult. Of course, they would have to wonder about the people who remained in Castaneda's cult under such conditions. Must be pretty desperate people alright. Of course, such desperate people would NOT want to take responsibility for their decision to stay. Of course, when they eventually had their lives torn apart by a knucklehead pretending to be a don Juan they would be determined to blame Castaneda for their own bad decisions. Of course they would!*
*Any resemblance to those who had joined the Castaneda cult and are posting in this forum is not coincidental
So Jeremy. Do you take responsibility for remaining in Castaneda's cult or are all the miseries you sustained from being in the cult all Castaneda's fault? Think before you answer!