Customer Reviews

Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As an undergraduate I was heavily influenced by the books of Carlos Castaneda. After I began learning first-hand from Huichol healers and singers, the problems with Castaneda's version of American Indian spirituality became evident. I was amazed at the amount of indifference and hostility I encountered among academic anthropologists as I did my investigative research. Some professors threatened me with lawsuits. My first publisher, Madison Books, abandoned publication of this book because of threats of litigation. When I and two other Huichol scholars sent complaints about the professor who made those threats the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association did nothing. In fact, the Ethics Committee is now defunct and there are no professional standards enforced among American anthropologists. I guess that means academic freedom is unlimited. Although I did more than 20 radio interviews nationwide, Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties has been curiously neglected by the mainstream print journalists. I deduce from this that debunking sensational and misleading accounts of American Indian shamans and ceremonies is less "sexy" than publishing them was almost 30 years ago. I am convinced that eventually the truth about authentic Indian shamans will be more widely disseminated. The net is a great way to bypass the academic censors and official reviewers. I apologize to readers for the technical elements in my book. I look forward to doing another edition of this book.It will include the failure to deal with ethical issues within the profession of anthropology. This must be seen as an important public issue. My ability to write clearly for a general audience has improved since I wrote Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties. My latest book, Reuben Snake, Your Humble Serpent, is written for a non-academic audience. It is the biography of one of America's greatest contemporary spiritual and political leaders.

Yes, Castaneda's mystical system works for many people. However, I think it is important for people to realize the inconsistencies in his system and what actual Native American shamanic systems are. I do not believe this book was meant to denounce people who follow Castenada's mystical system, instead it was meant to denounce his unprofessional academic behaviour. It is important for scientists to report the truth about their research, and this book goes into how Castaneda was dishonest with the academic community. The people giving this book one star remind me of the fundamentalist types who denounce anyone who says that the history in the bible isn't 100% accurate.

Firstly, since Castenada's first book was an academic thesis (not a private, commercial publication), and given that academic degrees are not usually (in the field of the social sciences) awarded for works of fiction, it must be relevant to ask whether "Don Juan..." was a genuine anthropological study or complete invention. It follows, then, that this book fulfils a useful purpose - academically speaking.

Its second, less obvious but far more profound value lies in its ability to show whether the reader (if they have read Castenada's work at all) has understood the essential message that Castenada brought back from Don Juan, Don Genaro et al.

The simple fact is that books like Castenada's, if they have any worthwhile effect at all, do not "teach" in the sense of pouring information into our empty heads. Rather they draw out the ideas, wisdom and understanding that we already possess.
Mr Fikes, in writing this book, provides an excellent example of a tool to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. Those fans of Castenada's work who can read this book with equanimity have indeed understood an important part of what they were reading.
Those who find it necessary to revile Mr Fikes and his work are clearly still caught up in illusory hero worship. How wonderful that they can still look forward to meet the true Man of Knowledge.

You know what? I am kind of mad here. I am a skeptic who has read all sorts of books regarding spirituality and religion and was honestly looking for some sort of legitimate counter point to Casteneda's works. I can't help but notice that the author of this books is expressing some sort of Christian based fear that he is trying to quell by attacking Carlos. It was not so blatant in the book itself but as I began reading the reviews of people who gave this book a five star rating I noticed strong religious apprehension (See: Billy Bardo - "Valley of the Shadow of Death" is a straight up quote from Jesus, and he has a comment from someone claiming to be Fikes himself). Obviously Christian based analyses. I have read Carlos Casteneda and his ideas definitely conflict with the idea of heaven and hell and even the idea of God as a being who cares about people. If you are a Christian, or some other type of religio-phile who has strong convictions then Carlos Casteneda is definitely not for you. And maybe if you are religious and need to discount the Casteneda that you have already read, this book may be just what you are looking for.

This is an attempt to address an interesting socio-spiritual phenomenon that raised its rainbow head in the late 60ies - Carlos Castaneda's 'Yaqui mysticism' and use of hallucinogenics as an aid to spiritual growth. Fikes claims that Castaneda, together with a couple of other UCLA antropologists (Barbara Myerhoff and Peter Furst) unscrupulously took advantage of the yearning in the popular culture by basically delivering a product designed to sell.

One of the main claims in the book is that Castaneda's Yaqui sorcerer was mirrored on Ramos Medina-Silva, a Huichol would-be shaman; secondly, Fikes believes that anthropologists studying Huichols in the 50-60ies misrepresented H. culture and Huichol shamanism in order to fill in the gaps created by Castaneda books. However, the fact that Furst and Myerhoff refused to share field notes with Fikes is not especially surprising, given Fikes' obsessiveness, belligerence and misanthropy exhibited on the pages of "Academic Opportunism". Specifically, his contention that Castaneda modeled his don Juan upon Medina Silva appears spurious and contrived. Much is made of the information that Castaneda (along with dozens of other anthropologists) met Medina-Silva, yet there is little evidence for (and lots of evidence against) the idea that Huichols were any inspiration for Castaneda at all. Well, we don;t even know if it was Carlos who wrote those books in the first place.

Fikes' book has other weaknesses. First, it is badly written. There is little editing - the same two points are recycled over and over, literally dozens of times, sometimes even with same wording. Personal attacks on Furst and Myerhoff become, to someone not involved in the controversy, wearisome. Not only has Fikes' personal vendetta overshadowed an interesting conundrum involving CCs oeuvre... it also sparked an academic equivalent of a shamanic fight, which Fikes lost. As a result, he became virtually unemployable in the US and now teaches English in Istanbul.

I suppose this is in part because of the inadequacies in this book. Unlike Furst and Myerhoff, who spent decades with Huichols and other Indian tribes and had extensive familiarity with the peyote cult, Fikes himself only spent 15 months in the field. He is an amateur. His treatment of Castaneda is cavalier, as Fikes shows no familiarity with, or interest in, Peruvian shamanism or proto-Aztec nagualism that seem to have influenced Castanedas work. There are no references to Northern Coastal or Qero curanderism, folk nagualism beliefs and witchcraft, Zapotec/Mixtec/Mayan beliefs etc. Although Fikes mentions 'wolf nahualism' among the Huichols, he shows no inclination to study it, even though this aspect of Huichol shamanism may be the most relevant to his central thesis. I don't know if I am more disturbed by Fikes' disregard for scholarship, his pigheaded agressiveness or his lack of self-reflection.

In short, this work is not about scholarship but rather about Fikes personal gripes about his fellow academics. As such, it may hold some interest to people interested in revisiting Castaneda and the sixties.

Anthropologist Jay Fikes adds his voice to those exposing the deceptions of Carlos Castaneda, such as Richard deMille.Castaneda has played a big role in the packaging of the shaman and selling him to those New Agers who seek exotic experience.Any real insights of "Don Juan" have been taken from esoteric and occult tradition.Only the neophyte would find Don Juan to be original or profound.Castaneda, among others, is in the business of turning shamanic experience into a consumer product to be sold in the market place.The true shaman works for the benefit of his people.He does not seek kicks or strange experiences for their own sake, as do would-be Anglo "shamans".Fikes is concerned that people like Castaneda who distort Native cultures cause harm to those cultures.In their misguided attempts to experience Native ways, some New Agers have disrupted Native people and put in jeopardy their traditional values and way of life.Fikes calls for New Agers to respect Native people.Unlike Castaneda, Fikes has done genuine fieldwork among the Huichol people in Mexico, and he presents some of his findings, particularly in relation to the peyote hunt.The lesson of Castaneda is that you can't base truth on half truths and deception, no matter how appealing it is on a superficial level.

A lot of con artists are brilliant. A lot of professional Magicians are gifted con artists. After all, a con artist is striving to persuade you to suspend your disbelief, so that they may profit by it. But what do YOU get out of it? A con artist like Carlos Castaneda is the lowest of the low. He harnasses the energy of real spiritual curiosity and sends it down a worthless, blind, dead end road. If you buy into a fraction of his nonsense, you will have ever so much more difficulty climbing your way back out and regaining your discriminitive perception. Castaneda was a dangerous liar and fraud. Read his works as cautionary tales--but they offer no spiritual insights of any validity. There are other true, real, and authentic spiritual traditions that you may study if you are a serious student of Wisdom. Of course, there is simply no denying anything to people who want to believe. For your own sake--become sceptical. Don't be a victim. Why would you seek POWER in the first place. Most spiritual traditions teach self knowledge, divine reality, compassion, wisdom, personal transformation and spiritual fulfillment. Are those goals not infinitley more worthy than POWER? Power to do: what, exactly? Fly? Move between dimensions? Turn into an animal. Amaze your family and fool your friends? These things are more meaningful than loving, caring relationships with other people--and peace with yourself? Was Castenada a loving, caring person? Ask those associates that were closest to him. I am trying to be a good shepherd here, for all you little lambs that have wandered into the valley of the shadow of Death. Believe me when I tell you: there are wolves who want to devour you.

I could sum up this book as an attemp to accuse Carlos Castaneda of doing something he himself warned us he would be accused of: He knew he was not doing anthropology, he knew he was not reporting the doings of a particular social group, he knew he was not shedding a light in the mysteries of pre-colombian civilizations, he knew and he told us, and yet one cannot stop finding yet another "exposure" of his -so called- lies, of which this is not the first and probably will not be the last.

I can't believe they passed a bill to "protect" native Americans based on this book... when Castaneda is not at all about native Americans!

I would recommend anyone starting to read Castaneda not to think that it is about yaquis, mazatecs, hallucinogenics, sorcery... even if those are the most common words they will find: Castaneda is an alternate answer to the questions every rational being has asked herself. The indians and stuff in Castaneda are the swords in Shakespeare, the ray guns in Sci-fi, the wigs in France's Louises, the poison in Agatha Christie, etc.

And of course I would discourage anyone trying to understand Castaneda from reading this book for it would be like trying to learn to drive a car from a recipe book.

The authors main objection to Castaneda's works is that they somehow have something to do with Native Americans. They don't. Early on, Don Juan corrected Carlos' assumption. The Don Juan paradigm, was formed by mostly non-native practitioners, receiving their training orally, in a way similar to the shamanic tradition, but with no connection. Don Juan is not shamanic or religious--he is mystical--having to do with knowing the way the physical universe is put together, and thereby gaining mastery over it, and finally able to leave it "shoes, hat, and all". Don Juan is not shamanic, mythic, or Native American, and states so many times. The author's either are unable to assimilate Castaneda, or they have a hidden agenda--such as making a name for themselves by riding on the coat tails of the successes of the philosopher Carlos Castaneda.

The author fails miserably to understand that it does not matter at all what is true and authentic and what is not. Who cares if Shakespeare, or Goethe, or the bible are all authentic ? That's for stamp collectors. It's all been written, true or false is only a nicompoops' charade, a papparazzi's come on stunt often overly used only to make a quick buck, a car saleman's cheap trick, seemingly western man's inteligence limit. Is there anything of value in what anyone has written ? That is the simple most important question. And in his writtings the author writes nothing of value. He sets off on a senseless, inquisition style, idiotic drive to debunk something that cannot possibly be debunked. How can you debunk 'death is an adviser, always sitting to your left, at an arm's length' ? How can anyone debunk 'nothing that humans can possibly do has any importance, we are beings that are going to die' ? How can anyone debunk 'the world is not the actions of man' ? How can you debunk 'in a world where death is the hunter, you must follow the path with a heart' ? It's the ages old question of finding the easy flaw with your neighbour, other than to admit to your very own faked orgasms. In a final analysis, the author is only struggling, venting off his own frustration of complete and utter impotence, ignorance. Don't quit your day job as yet. Don't expect me to buy any of his books either. Completely worthless prose, not worth the beautiful trees that died. As of this day, Castaneda has unveiled the most important writtings ever in the history of mankind. How does anyone debunk that ? Not likely, you'd need to challenge death herself. Not recommended, unless you're really craving for a few sick laughs.