11-25-2011, 12:00 AM
Diamond Unicorn wrote:
It wouldn't invalidate your experiences but it would change your view of the 'knowledge' in Castaneda's books, and depending how much one based their world-view paradigm on those books, it could matter a lot.
I just read Dan Milman of the Peaceful Warrior series admitted that his 'teacher' Socrates was not real, but was a composite of teachers and wisdom he had read and learned, Socrates did not really jump to the top of the roof, or do other magical things that Dan wrote about.
How would that make you feel if you believed and trusted that Dan was telling the truth and you based some of your life on what was written in his books? Would you feel a little cheated or betrayed?
It could potentially change drastically how you look at those 'teachings' depending how 'into' them you were ...
I think you're missing my point entirely. If you (anyone) have done the work of "spiritual evolution" (call it whatever you like) for yourself, then it really makes NO difference what ANYONE else says in a book.
If Castaneda lied, how does that POSSIBLY invalidate my own experience, or how I view the Knowledge? Knowledge itself can ONLY be gained through direct personal experience - meaning that if you (anyone) are depending on what you read in books, that is only INFORMATION (to you) even though it may very well be Knowledge to the person who wrote the book. Did CC really jump off a cliff in Mexico and end up in Los Angeles? Probably not, but who's to say? Does it matter?
Re your question about Dan Millman... Same thing. Most mystical Knowledge really cannot be explained or even talked about in words alone, so it is couched in allegory or parable form. Like the Bible, for example. Do you REALLY think Jesus walked on water or fed a mob from a picnic basket or rose from the dead? And even if you DO believe any of these things empirically, it is essentially worthless INFORMATION until you yourself have done the work FOR yourself. Should you go jump off a cliff or get yourself crucified? No, don't try this at home, boys & girls. THINK for yourself. That's the problem some of CC's followers obviously suffered from: a complete and total inability or unwillingness to forward-think - which leaves one wide open to the consequences of blind belief. Come to think of it, it's the same problem inherent with any "religion". Follow the shoe! Follow the gourd! Follow the holy rabbit of Antioch! "Belief" is probably the biggest stumbling block to spiritual evolution.
ANY "teachings" are only guidelines, an instruction manual at best. Believing that "Jesus saves" or "Don Juan lives" or "Castaneda lied"... all these things are irrelevant, BECAUSE they are only beliefs - and in the big picture, "belief" is as worthless as tits on a bull.
Knowledge comes from experience. Experience comes from manifested Intent and quantifiable Do-ing.
That's not what I believe. It's what I know. For that reason alone, my "faith" cannot be destroyed if I learn someone else lied, because I have no "faith" to begin with. As my own teacher once said: The destruction of faith is the beginning of evolution.
It wouldn't invalidate your experiences but it would change your view of the 'knowledge' in Castaneda's books, and depending how much one based their world-view paradigm on those books, it could matter a lot.
I just read Dan Milman of the Peaceful Warrior series admitted that his 'teacher' Socrates was not real, but was a composite of teachers and wisdom he had read and learned, Socrates did not really jump to the top of the roof, or do other magical things that Dan wrote about.
How would that make you feel if you believed and trusted that Dan was telling the truth and you based some of your life on what was written in his books? Would you feel a little cheated or betrayed?
It could potentially change drastically how you look at those 'teachings' depending how 'into' them you were ...
I think you're missing my point entirely. If you (anyone) have done the work of "spiritual evolution" (call it whatever you like) for yourself, then it really makes NO difference what ANYONE else says in a book.
If Castaneda lied, how does that POSSIBLY invalidate my own experience, or how I view the Knowledge? Knowledge itself can ONLY be gained through direct personal experience - meaning that if you (anyone) are depending on what you read in books, that is only INFORMATION (to you) even though it may very well be Knowledge to the person who wrote the book. Did CC really jump off a cliff in Mexico and end up in Los Angeles? Probably not, but who's to say? Does it matter?
Re your question about Dan Millman... Same thing. Most mystical Knowledge really cannot be explained or even talked about in words alone, so it is couched in allegory or parable form. Like the Bible, for example. Do you REALLY think Jesus walked on water or fed a mob from a picnic basket or rose from the dead? And even if you DO believe any of these things empirically, it is essentially worthless INFORMATION until you yourself have done the work FOR yourself. Should you go jump off a cliff or get yourself crucified? No, don't try this at home, boys & girls. THINK for yourself. That's the problem some of CC's followers obviously suffered from: a complete and total inability or unwillingness to forward-think - which leaves one wide open to the consequences of blind belief. Come to think of it, it's the same problem inherent with any "religion". Follow the shoe! Follow the gourd! Follow the holy rabbit of Antioch! "Belief" is probably the biggest stumbling block to spiritual evolution.
ANY "teachings" are only guidelines, an instruction manual at best. Believing that "Jesus saves" or "Don Juan lives" or "Castaneda lied"... all these things are irrelevant, BECAUSE they are only beliefs - and in the big picture, "belief" is as worthless as tits on a bull.
Knowledge comes from experience. Experience comes from manifested Intent and quantifiable Do-ing.
That's not what I believe. It's what I know. For that reason alone, my "faith" cannot be destroyed if I learn someone else lied, because I have no "faith" to begin with. As my own teacher once said: The destruction of faith is the beginning of evolution.