04-17-2003, 12:00 AM
FROM A HOWARD LEE INTERVIEW:
http://www.thelightoflife.com/eng/inter ... mitri.html
"My nature is such that I do not really like to pursue people's private business other than what they are willing to tell me, so I never knew who he was in terms of the person who wrote those famous books until many years later, when he acknowledged my help in the book Fire from Within. Even then, it was a year after that book was published before I found out about the book and the acknowledgment. Subsequently, he brought me all of his books and I read them. They have profound value in terms of the teaching.
Remembering Castaneda's school days, was he a good pupil?
Carlos was always very respectful. He was very attentive. He was very diligent in terms of his practice in the Kung Fu class and he always tried hard. He had some limitations in terms of coordination, but so do other people. He was more than just a student, he was a friend.
Some years after he first came to me, he told me that he had known about me before he came for help. Someone had told him that there was some guy in L.A. teaching Kung Fu who talked like Don Juan, for whatever that's worth (laughing).
He mainly studied martial arts with me, and among other things informally some healing and stuff. But he never did learn the Light of Life procedures, because he was gone before I remembered how to induct others into the Light of Life energy."
MY COMMENTARY:
We are left to speculate as to whether or not "gone" in this sense means stopped learning from Howard or "gone" as in dead. Still, I may be wrong in my assumptions in this matter. I do not pretend to be infallible.
From what I remember reading about Howard Lee in the SA information (I believe) Mr Lee had trouble with people associated with Carlos who were coming to his classes energetically damaged from their personal associations with Carlos Castaneda. Of course, Howard would say nothing bad about Castaneda on his website. Howard is obviously not a ((((CORPSE KICKER)))). Besides, why should he make enemies of Castaneda fans? After-all, having Castaneda as his student was eventually a good way to attract more students. By sharing his admiration for H.Y.L with all his fans Carlos was effectively sending them all to a greater virtual don Juan than he obviously was.
It can be easy
for cowards to kick corpses
as corpses cannot effectively kick back
Putting all things together it becomes quite clear that don Juan's lessons must be supplemented in order to bring peace and well-being to those who would apply them to their lives.
Reading the gist of what Howard Lee believes and the gist of what I believe I find that we are not so very different. In juxtaposing the best of what don Juan had to teach with what Howard Lee is teaching I sense that if there were no parallels of overlapping importance Carlos Castaneda would not have remained a student of Mr Lees for so many years. Ten years is a long time to be a student of anyone and Howards influence inspired, what I feel are, Carlos greatest books to supplement his earlier works. Namely: The Fire From Within and The Power Of Silence. From that point on he went downhill as a person for The Art Of Dreaming and The Active Side Of Infinity are two of my least favorite Carlos Castaneda books. So since Howard Lee says that he did not know about the dedication for a year after the book was published I feel it is safe to assume that Carlos was well into writing The Power of Silence before he stopped being a student of Howard Lee. I feel that by the time Carlos began writing The Art Of Dreaming he was no longer a student of Howard Lee.
My writings in these posting forums are quite different from most who frequent them. People are usually in these various forums either to kill time or show off what they know. I am here to find all the weakest aspects of my beliefs in order to strengthen and amplify the usefulness and three-dimensional functionality of what I believe. I am not here attempting to be anyones teacher or savior in any sense of the word. If counterpoint commentary reveals a weakness in my beliefs or an out and out falsehood I will be extremely grateful and publicly acknowledge the correction to my beliefs and a congratulations to anyone who has been of assistance in helping me to correct and adjust those beliefs.
************************************
To once again countermand the slanderous author DeMille, who wrote and effectively destroyed Castanedas credibility with the academic community, it must be remembered that Carlos first book was his master thesis in college (I believe). All the rest of Castanedas books were not directly written to pacify the academic community so much as to sell books. THAT IS A BIG DIFFERENCE! Castaneda cannot be blamed for taking liberties and augmenting the interesting aspects of don Juans teachings by making the reality surrounding the teachings more interesting. There is quite a bit of evidence that the Biblical teachings of Jesus were augmented by people who took liberties with reality in order to make those teachings more appealing to the reader. Ive not met a person yet who can indisputably prove that Jesus actually walked on water. Yet, how many people use that wild story as proof that the lessons of Jesus are useless? Just as the best of don Juan, the best of the lessons of Jesus prove themselves through direct application in moment-by-moment living.
Oh, this DeMille character did indeed make money brainwashing people like Corey Donovan into his view that literary characters must be real in order for the lessons imparted to be truly useful. Corey/Jeremy Donovan and their types come into this forum caring nothing about what is useful. Slander is all they are interested in. People like this are among the doomed and the damned.
http://www.thelightoflife.com/eng/inter ... mitri.html
"My nature is such that I do not really like to pursue people's private business other than what they are willing to tell me, so I never knew who he was in terms of the person who wrote those famous books until many years later, when he acknowledged my help in the book Fire from Within. Even then, it was a year after that book was published before I found out about the book and the acknowledgment. Subsequently, he brought me all of his books and I read them. They have profound value in terms of the teaching.
Remembering Castaneda's school days, was he a good pupil?
Carlos was always very respectful. He was very attentive. He was very diligent in terms of his practice in the Kung Fu class and he always tried hard. He had some limitations in terms of coordination, but so do other people. He was more than just a student, he was a friend.
Some years after he first came to me, he told me that he had known about me before he came for help. Someone had told him that there was some guy in L.A. teaching Kung Fu who talked like Don Juan, for whatever that's worth (laughing).
He mainly studied martial arts with me, and among other things informally some healing and stuff. But he never did learn the Light of Life procedures, because he was gone before I remembered how to induct others into the Light of Life energy."
MY COMMENTARY:
We are left to speculate as to whether or not "gone" in this sense means stopped learning from Howard or "gone" as in dead. Still, I may be wrong in my assumptions in this matter. I do not pretend to be infallible.
From what I remember reading about Howard Lee in the SA information (I believe) Mr Lee had trouble with people associated with Carlos who were coming to his classes energetically damaged from their personal associations with Carlos Castaneda. Of course, Howard would say nothing bad about Castaneda on his website. Howard is obviously not a ((((CORPSE KICKER)))). Besides, why should he make enemies of Castaneda fans? After-all, having Castaneda as his student was eventually a good way to attract more students. By sharing his admiration for H.Y.L with all his fans Carlos was effectively sending them all to a greater virtual don Juan than he obviously was.
It can be easy
for cowards to kick corpses
as corpses cannot effectively kick back
Putting all things together it becomes quite clear that don Juan's lessons must be supplemented in order to bring peace and well-being to those who would apply them to their lives.
Reading the gist of what Howard Lee believes and the gist of what I believe I find that we are not so very different. In juxtaposing the best of what don Juan had to teach with what Howard Lee is teaching I sense that if there were no parallels of overlapping importance Carlos Castaneda would not have remained a student of Mr Lees for so many years. Ten years is a long time to be a student of anyone and Howards influence inspired, what I feel are, Carlos greatest books to supplement his earlier works. Namely: The Fire From Within and The Power Of Silence. From that point on he went downhill as a person for The Art Of Dreaming and The Active Side Of Infinity are two of my least favorite Carlos Castaneda books. So since Howard Lee says that he did not know about the dedication for a year after the book was published I feel it is safe to assume that Carlos was well into writing The Power of Silence before he stopped being a student of Howard Lee. I feel that by the time Carlos began writing The Art Of Dreaming he was no longer a student of Howard Lee.
My writings in these posting forums are quite different from most who frequent them. People are usually in these various forums either to kill time or show off what they know. I am here to find all the weakest aspects of my beliefs in order to strengthen and amplify the usefulness and three-dimensional functionality of what I believe. I am not here attempting to be anyones teacher or savior in any sense of the word. If counterpoint commentary reveals a weakness in my beliefs or an out and out falsehood I will be extremely grateful and publicly acknowledge the correction to my beliefs and a congratulations to anyone who has been of assistance in helping me to correct and adjust those beliefs.
************************************
To once again countermand the slanderous author DeMille, who wrote and effectively destroyed Castanedas credibility with the academic community, it must be remembered that Carlos first book was his master thesis in college (I believe). All the rest of Castanedas books were not directly written to pacify the academic community so much as to sell books. THAT IS A BIG DIFFERENCE! Castaneda cannot be blamed for taking liberties and augmenting the interesting aspects of don Juans teachings by making the reality surrounding the teachings more interesting. There is quite a bit of evidence that the Biblical teachings of Jesus were augmented by people who took liberties with reality in order to make those teachings more appealing to the reader. Ive not met a person yet who can indisputably prove that Jesus actually walked on water. Yet, how many people use that wild story as proof that the lessons of Jesus are useless? Just as the best of don Juan, the best of the lessons of Jesus prove themselves through direct application in moment-by-moment living.
Oh, this DeMille character did indeed make money brainwashing people like Corey Donovan into his view that literary characters must be real in order for the lessons imparted to be truly useful. Corey/Jeremy Donovan and their types come into this forum caring nothing about what is useful. Slander is all they are interested in. People like this are among the doomed and the damned.