A Vagabond in Mexico, by S. Guzman-C., is an autobiographical novel concerning a man's travels to Mexico in search of a new life. As his search progresses he becomes more a participant than a spectator through his interactions in the Mexican culture. With his finances dwindling, he is drawn deeper into the oppressed world of the underpaid worker finally taking his place. Oppressed by poverty he eventually must leave the country. As his novel develops, we see that his journey is both outward and inward.
When Nomads Press originally published my book "A Vagabond in Mexico" some of my reviewers were somewhat disappointed at the lack of information concerning myself. And they had their reasons; this was my biographical entry for the back cover:
"About himself, S. Guzman-C. allows little to be said for the moment; it would be redundant. As you read on you will get to know him some, for he actually was...a vagabond in Mexico."
Upon reading such a short entry they thought that perhaps I was trying to create mystery to sell the book. And in their opinion the opposite was true; more information about the author would have been a boost. They wanted more. And perhaps they were right. Our conditioned mind always wants to know the why. Why did I become a vagabond in Mexico? So perhaps they will be pleased with my new book, "The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda." It explains, to a great extent, why I became a wanderer. This is the foreword:
"In days long past (not quite fully aware of what I was doing, I must confess) I left everything behind in search of "The Eye of the Dragon." At the beginning of my journey, I came across the teachings of the ancient Toltecs of Mexico through the works of Carlos Castaneda. The wisdom of don Juan, a Mexican Yaqui Indian shaman, was a beacon, but in 2001, I came across derogatory information about Castaneda, which cast a shadow on his credibility and proved conclusively that many of his claims (and to a great extent his work with don Juan) were fraudulent. At the time, I had verified that much of what he had written about was true, so the new and discrediting facts greatly puzzled me. They also forced me to question my findings and convictions, and to look in other directions to take new bearings.
Furthermore, it had been claimed that Castaneda had left this world in full consciousness taking his body with him, and the turmoil and utter disappointment that Castaneda's ordinary death (due to cancer of the liver) caused in many of his closest followers, made me realize how blind human beings can be and how ready we are to miss a point and become either judges or victims. I am writing these notes with a double purpose: to help me get a better perspective and a new direction, and to maybe help a few others do the same."
So who is S (Rio) Guzman? Are these notes throwing some light? According to what I have found there is not much of an "I" anywhere. This "I" that we put so much stock on is not the same from day to day, or from moment to moment. As an example, being a businessman is quite an accident for me; life has strange twists, doesn't it? Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? But then again, everything is interconnected. Every being in this planet has a path to follow, which is interwoven with all other paths. Are there any "wrong" turns?
I have verified that nothing in this world is actually explainable; it is all energy in motion. When the Buddha says, "Regard this fleeting world as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream," he can't be more explicit. You see, magic is afoot, although we have the uncanny ability to ignore it completely. We live in a daze; we live in confusion, a confusion caused precisely by our undiciplined ego, our self-absorption. But who is this "I" anyway? Who are we really? I leave you with the question; for it behooves all of us to do our homework, our due diligence.
