26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Either Way You Win, April 19, 2007
This review is from: The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, The Original Teachings in a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
The basics of this book are simple and by now legendary: In the 1960s, a UCLA anthropologist with a rather plodding intellect and disposition meets a mercurial Yaqui Indian sorcerer who astounds him, baffles him, terrifies him, and ultimately -- over the course of many books -- transforms him. The whole story is presented as the unvarnished truth. But is it a true tale or is it a tall tale? There's the rub.
This was the first book in the series, and in many ways, the best. Castaneda was to Don Juan what Boswell was to Johnson, which leaves Don Juan free to do things that absolutely defy physics and rational thought. In the end, the old Yaqui Indian must be either one of the most remarkable people who ever lived, or one of the most vivid characters ever to appear in a work of fiction. But can you trust the author? Unfortunately, Castaneda is dead, so he can no longer be consulted, but this reviewer had a chance once to hear him speak.
Shortly after the publication of The Teachings of Don Juan, Castaneda went on a brief promotional tour. I happened to be attending one of the campuses where he made an appearance. It was around 11 AM and I was drinking a cup of coffee over the student newspaper when I read the notice that Carlos Castaneda would be appearing at noon. I dropped what I was doing and ran over to the auditorium. Though I was a half an hour early, the seats were already almost gone.
Like everyone else, I had read The Teachings of Don Juan, and was hoping for some further mind-bending tales, as well as a chance to "feel the vibe" of this sorcerer's apprentice. Unfortunately, Castaneda turned out to be a far better writer than he was a speaker. As a sorcerer's apprentice, he was most unlikely and unconvincing. Pudgy, soft-spoken, looking stiff and sweaty in a suit and tie, he droned on and on about the "structure" of Don Juan's teachings. In essence, he confined his lecture to the latter third of the book, the part that was most like an academic thesis. From the beginning he gave us precious little that was new or even interesting about Don Juan. There was no chink in the academic armor through which to glimpse the lurking truth.
Since he was still defining himself as an anthropologist at the time, Castaneda might have felt obliged to talk like a professor, or, if you're a skeptic, perhaps he had other motivations, such as pressing the hoax further. It's impossible to say. Most of the audience had met the hookah-smoking caterpillar in person, and were eager to hear something, anything that would enlighten them about Don Juan. A half an hour into the lecture, I was unable to suppress a yawn.
The hall continued to fill during the talk, overflowing into the aisles, and Castaneda called upon everyone to migrate to the lawn behind the University Center. Much to my regret, I took advantage of the opportunity to bow out. If I had known that this was to be one of the only public appearances that Castaneda would ever make, I would have followed the Pied Piper, and perhaps I would be able to recall one word that would help me to settle the question that has gone on nagging me and millions of other people ever since.
In the intervening years I have read all the discussion of Castaneda, pro and con, and now, as I reread The Teachings, I find that I am no closer to an answer. However, I have come to a decision: Since it is impossible to do more than speculate, I have decided to abandon the quest. My enjoyment of the book has expanded as a result. Whether it is a work of imagination or a journal of real-life events, it is a success. To quote one of my professors, "Books are not life, but then what is?" If Don Juan is fictional, he is still real enough. Throughout this book and the others, his persona and behavior are remarkably consistent, and consistently wise and startling. It seems to me that this argues for his reality, though it doesn't rise to the level of a proof.
If you have ever been out in the Southwestern desert at twilight -- what Don Juan called the crack between the worlds -- and felt the awesome silence, then you know that while implausible, the fantastic glimpses of an alternate reality that Castaneda describes can't be dismissed out of hand. The droll manner in which he narrates the incredible encounters with Don Juan and various transcendental, terrifying beings only amplifies their intensity. The effect is enough to pull a grown-up, habitually skeptical Westerner right through the Looking Glass. That is the worth of the Teachings of Don Juan: it reawakens a sense of wonder at the mystery of creation. It breathes new life into Shakespeare's often-quoted, but timeless line that there are things in heaven and earth undreamt of in our philosophy. If Castaneda was telling the truth, then the strangeness is even stranger, but either way, Teachings of Don Juan succeeds. That is why I say that true or false, this book is a five-star experience.
The drama of The Teachings is the confrontation between scientific rationality and the unfathomable mystery of Creation. Perhaps the two are irreconcilable, or perhaps scientific inquiry begins with a sense of wonder, and therein lies synthesis and reconciliation. This is a book that can take you to the brink of the ultimate mystery in an armchair -- without datura, without psilocybin, without peyote. It's mind-altering, and it's safe.
That's a unique achievement, and well worth the trip, if you'll excuse the expression.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There need to be more books like this!, October 26, 1999
This review is from: The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, The Original Teachings in a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
Carlos Castaneda shows us that there is an entire world right before our eyes, yet we have mastered the art of looking only at what is easily tangible, and easy to accept. However, he shows anyone who reads it that whatever one doesn't have to squint to see, is indeed meaningless compared to the deeper truths that we must dig for. All in all, a fascinating, great book, which has whetted my appetite for his books. Currently I am reading The Fire from Within.
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