And I’ve been reading it. Seems to be better than the first 2
Check out this chapter I think it can help us SZ folk. Easier said than done but something I need to work on.
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Is it ‘Journey to Ixtlan’? Is meant to be the best.
i kind of get a bit put off by the 60’s/70’s counter/pop culture stuff. Every generation/age seems to have it’s flavour.
i received a book by Szasz today (Insanity - the ideas & it’s consequences, which is meant to be his best one), had a skim, but i have some fundamental disagreements with him - he does make some good points, but other stuff i think is well off the mark.
Have also ordered part 2 of Faust.
Yeah it’s journey to ixlan. I read the first two and loved them.
I’m 24 so everything 60’s and 70’s is awesome to me. It wasn’t that way when I was younger but now I love the past because I hate the current times pop culture stuff. Doesn’t seem like pop culture to me.
I like how this one is less about drugs and rituals and more about philosophy and way of life. Even though it was drugs that appealed me to it in the first place.
It’s cool reading multiple books by one author.
Reading is good.
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Carlos Castenada is a controversial character to say the least.
Although the correlation between schizophrenia and shamanism is well documented (see the links I will give at the end of this post) Castenada has been proven to be more a sham than a shaman apprentice. The BBC did a documentary on him. They tracked down the people that he interacted with in Mexico and the effect castenada had on their culture, as well as the stories the people tell of castenada, are eye opening … to say the least.
Castenada does deserve credit to a certain extent for opening up the eyes of the mainstream to Shamanic practice, but others have done much better (and more respectful work), namely Sandra Ingerman and Michael Harner.
Additonally, some research has been done and some theories floated about the links between shamanism and schizophrenia. Joseph Polimeni has a great book called “Shamans Among Us”, a genetic picture of the phenomena. Although polimeni is a psychiatrist, atheist and reductionist, he has done some very good work in developing a theory for the genetic idea of religion and shamanism. His video on the subject is a great introduction to the topic.
Additionally, the book “Spiritual Emergency: When personal transformation becomes a crisis” edited by Stan and Christina Grof, contains a wealth of information on the spiritual dimensions and differences and involvement of spiritual aspects in the human struggle to evolve consciousness.
What is clear is that definition of what a schizophrenic is, is completely muddled and shaped by a culture that is arrogant enough to reduce human experience to diseased states, for which anything but a profitable ($$$) widget in the form of a pilll, is anathema.
Dive a little deeper in the rabbit hole, just don’t put any Illegal drugs in your system and think you are taking medicine. This line of inquiry has dangers. Don’t swallow anyone or anything you will regret later.
I have flirted with shamanism for about 5 years, made inquiries with Native American (first nation people) of my area, mostly about fauna and flora. I was called to it at the start of my adolesence, in a shamanic sickness. I had a very intuitive sense about the natural and spiritual world as a child and adolescent. It was not until recently that I have had the opportunity to come under the tutelage of a shamanic practitioner. His derivation is of Nordic and German shamanism (my ball park) but I consider anyone that heals others a shaman. I am not a shaman; one is not until you do verifiable healing of another person. A medical doctor, in that respect COULD be a shaman, if he or she heals another person.
The spiritual and material practice is as ancient as man. Going back at least 40,000 years, and if some archaeological evidence is considered, 70,000 years. The oldest spiritual practice and the most universally recognized (same practices can be found with isolated peoples the world over).
It’s not all wine and roses, its work.
Watch this trailer for an upcoming documentary from Phil Borges. Might make you heart smile a little bit, it did mine.
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I find Castenadas writings to be very enjoyable. I will definitely look into other authors after I’m finished with Castenada. I started The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner but it was most practical, I like Castenadas fictitiousness and character development along with his philosophies. I hope to read it one day though. I find native american shamanism to be my “religion of choice”, albeit not a religion. I prefer it over anything western and even buddhism or taoism or hinduism. My psychedelic drug days are behind me so don’t worry. I’ve done Acid, shrooms, mescaline and DMT and although I can’t regret it because I enjoyed the majority of my trips, it definitely aided in the development of my schizophrenia (although helped me in other regards too). I had my final trip (.7 grams of penis envy mushrooms) 3 weeks ago after a year of not tripping and realized I can’t do it anymore. Because even .7 upset my anxiety greatly. It didn’t make me as paranoid as weed…it really doesn’t make me paranoid, shrooms that is…moreso uncomfortable. Although I’ve been paranoid on acid and DMT. I like to think about those experiences still though and integrate them into my life. The anxiety is more than a deterrent for me to do them again. Thank you for your post, I will definitely take into account everything you’re saying, although for now I’m going to enjoy Castenada as much as I can and plan on reading all 14 books of his because I breeze through them and learn from them. George Carlin said “Don’t teach your children just to read, but to question what they read.” I don’t take it all literal but I take what I can. I know Don Juan is fake but love his character so will continue to read. Thanks that’s all.
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Yeah you started your trip with chemicals and you will end it hatting them to death.
Lets have a song, let me see, this one