A book that tells the experience of Carlos Castaneda with Don Juan Matus, a self-proclaimed sorcerer whom Carlos describes as a shaman. Mostly, they are narrative events without logical explanations. However, they are full of mysticism and magic in Carlos' eagerness to learn from psychedelic plants.

So from page one hundred, I find some interesting conversations that both hold. There is a stoic essence on the part of Don Juan in most of the teachings he tries to convey to Carlos, only mentioning twice the ingestion of peyote by Carlos Castaneda.

Quite entertaining stories, wild and full of natural environments in the deserts and mountains of Sonora and Arizona, ranging from a face-to-face encounter with a coyote to one with a lurking puma.

Ok, I'm a boomer and I went through my own period of reading and living with Carlos Castaneda, his teacher Don Juan, and their world of indigenous Mexican shamanism. This and its follow-up book Tales of Power changed my life when I read them in my mid-20s. These books were like a guiding light for me. They helped me forge a new identity as an adult, as a warrior with an awareness of personal power. The lessons I learned from them are still with me, even after all these years.

If you are open to the teachings in these books, they can truly be powerful and life-changing. As for me, living far away from home as I was in my mid-20s in Finland, I was captivated by Don Juan's teachings. Since I had traveled a lot with my family in Mexico and the American Southwest as a youth, I could easily visualize the landscapes and culture they were part of, even from Finland.

Anyway, this book goes into my all-time favorites list because of how its teachings so shaped who I became as an adult. It's truly powerful stuff that has had a profound impact on my life. I highly recommend it to anyone who is seeking personal growth and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.

The book is interesting, and it says things that are not of my world. Maybe I still don't have the experience of a rough life. Anyway, what is written, in the most beautiful state, if it is true, is not something that you can get by reading.

This book seems to open a door to a completely different realm. The words within its pages carry a certain charm that both attracts and confounds me. It's as if the author is speaking a language that I'm not fully familiar with.

Although I find the content captivating, I can't help but feel a sense of distance. Perhaps it's because my own life experiences have not yet exposed me to the kind of situations or emotions described in the book.

Nonetheless, I continue to read, hoping to gain some understanding and perhaps even a hint of the truth that lies beneath the words. Maybe one day, as I grow and encounter more of life's challenges, I will be able to fully appreciate and connect with the essence of what this book has to offer.

The first 16 chapters serve as a review of books #1 and #2. After that, Castaneda ventures into uncharted territory. I highly recommend his works to anyone who was of an age to have experienced the "turn on, tune in and drop out" 1960s.

If you are unable to locate his books in the Fiction section of your local library, it would be advisable to check out the "Anthropology" titles. This is because Carlos initiated this series as a thesis for his Masters degree.

Peace and Love.

His works offer a unique perspective that combines elements of anthropology and personal exploration. They take the reader on a journey that challenges conventional thinking and invites them to consider new ways of seeing the world.

Whether you are interested in the counterculture of the 1960s or simply looking for a thought-provoking read, Castaneda's books are well worth exploring.

So, don't hesitate to pick up one of his works and discover the fascinating world that he has created.

The question presented to the reader in this book is straightforward: How can we halt reality - not through chemicals but with the guidance of a teacher? After all, there are moments when all of us desire to hit the Pause Button on our hectic and stressful lives.

Recall that classic Broadway hit, "Stop the World - I Want to Get Off." Well, in the workplace, I devised rigid methods to achieve just that. As the stress reached its peak, I worked even harder at it.

But it didn't work.

Guess what? When an unstoppable force encounters an immovable object, something has to give. Like your health. (In my case, I completely collapsed into severe burnout!)

Now that I'm eligible for a pension, I simply quit. Which indicates that Someone Upstairs was still looking out for me, and...

That led me to something significant.

Stopping the world.

Impossible, you might say?

NEVER utter the word "Impossible" within God's hearing.

For He then revealed to me a way to do it without relying on drugs or alcohol. And He was eager to teach me how to stop the world and find peace. So, the eternal Teacher showed me the way.

As I mentioned, I was extremely burned out.

However, I was free, as my better half was out shopping most of the time. All I had to do was pick her up with our shopping cart after doing whatever I pleased, just trying to stay happy.

So, I began watching TV to unwind. At first, it was mindless channel surfing, but one afternoon, I discovered it - my ticket to entertainment and peace. And it stopped the nagging within my heart and the world itself.

The program I found that day was a Canadian aboriginal show.

It included in-depth interviews with natives who had been forcibly removed from their safe homes and subjected to a form of slavery (and sometimes brutal liquidation) in the可怕的 Canadian Residential Schools over a half-century period.

Well, I watched that, and suddenly, everything came back to haunt me.

I realized that religion - and indeed the morality of the workplace - is a fraud without practical and incisive ethical discrimination.

For without it, marginalized Aspies like me are callously drugged and isolated.

And then I remembered the story told by the great modern writer, George Bernard Shaw...

Who said that the only well-lived life is an honest, stripped-down life (like an Aspie's) -

In which we must strive with all our might, day in and day out, to make the world around us a better place -

And, when the final evening arrives, throw ourselves on the dust heap,

And sleep forever:

An ultimate sleep of personal fulfillment.

And simply seeing the truth of that strategy stopped the world for me:

For silencing our hopes and fears is to stop time.

These books were published as if they were factual,

but in reality, they were pure fiction.

As the years have elapsed,

it has become evident that the fiction within these books holds a certain allure and charm that might even surpass the dryness of the facts.

Fiction has the power to transport readers to different worlds,

evoke emotions, and stimulate the imagination in ways that real facts sometimes struggle to achieve.

It allows for a creative exploration of ideas and possibilities that can be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Perhaps it is this ability of fiction to offer a unique perspective and a break from the ordinary that makes it, in some cases, more appealing than the unadorned truth.

Even though the initial intention might have been to present a fictional account,

over time, the value and significance of these fictional works have come to light,

showcasing the enduring魅力 of the written word and the magic that can be created through the art of storytelling.

Only a warrior can survive on the path of knowledge because the art of war is to balance between the horror of being human and the wonder of being human.

When you suddenly dare to say that you like Castaneda's books, you always risk running into either Castaneda-skeptics who will melt you down from the perspective of materialists or stubborn anthropologists, or, God forbid, Castaneda-worshippers who are so indoctrinated (underlined: enlightened) that their mouths can't be shut. I'm somewhere in the middle. Castaneda came to me several years after my psychedelic experiences and explained a lot.

"Journey to Ixtlan" is key in the entire series of Castaneda's works. Over 10 years, the hero (whether fictional or not) but finally woke up and realized that wallowing in drugs was not the main goal. Unlike the first books "The Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality", where the main instrument of "stopping the world" was the use of psychoactive plants, in the third part Castaneda rethinks his approach and the focus shifts to the practices of inner transformation. The book is kind of a manifesto about freedom from the limitations of social constructs if you want.

There are critics who call Castaneda's story a fiction and Don Juan an archetype, not a real person. The scientific community is skeptical of the author's works, especially due to the lack of independent confirmations of the events. However, even if we assume that this is a work of fiction, it doesn't, in my opinion, diminish its value. It's a cool philosophical manifesto about strength and solitude.

Pragmatismo literario y literatura pragmática son conceptos que han tenido una influencia significativa en el mundo de la literatura.

El pragmatismo literario se centra en la función y el efecto práctico de la literatura. Se preocupa por cómo la literatura puede impactar en la vida real de los lectores, cómo puede ofrecer soluciones a problemas o cómo puede provocar cambios en la sociedad.

Por otro lado, la literatura pragmática se refiere a aquellas obras literarias que tienen un enfoque práctico y que están orientadas a resolver problemas o a ofrecer consejos. Estas obras pueden ser de diferentes géneros, como la novela, el ensayo, el relato o el poema.

Ambos conceptos han sido objeto de debate y discusión entre los críticos literarios y los académicos. Algunos argumentan que el pragmatismo literario y la literatura pragmática pueden limitar la creatividad y la libertad artística, mientras que otros creen que pueden enriquecer la literatura y hacerla más relevante para la sociedad.

En resumen, el pragmatismo literario y la literatura pragmática son conceptos que ofrecen una perspectiva diferente sobre la literatura y su función en la sociedad. Aunque no sean ampliamente aceptados por todos, siguen siendo un tema de interés y discusión en el mundo de la literatura.

This Book saved my life in some ways. I take my copy to wherever I travel, and when I feel like a complete mess, I open it and I read and I sink into it. It just makes me feel fine again, pragmatic and put together.

Chapter TWO is my fav. In it, he said, "I don't have any personal history." I didn't quite understand what he meant. I felt ill at ease and threatened. I reminded him that he had assured me it was okay to ask questions. He reiterated that he didn't mind. I asked how one could drop one's personal history. He said one must first have the desire and then proceed to chop it off little by little. I exclaimed why anyone would have such a desire. I had a strong attachment to my personal history. I insisted I must not have understood. I said, "Take you for instance. You are a Yaqui. You can't change that." He asked, "Am I? How do you know that?" I said, "True! I can't know for sure, but you know it and that's what counts." I felt I had made a good point. But he replied that the fact he knew didn't make it personal history. Only when someone else knew did it become so. He said it was best to erase all personal history to be free from others' encumbering thoughts. I was confused. He must have seen my turmoil and used it. He said, "Take yourself. Right now you don't know whether you are coming or going because I have erased my personal history. I have created a fog around me and my life. Now nobody knows for sure who I am or what I do." I interjected, "But you yourself know who you are, don't you?" He said, "You bet I... don't," and laughed at my surprised look. He said nobody knew his personal history, not even him. He told me to create a fog around myself, erase everything until nothing was for sure or real. I asked how. He said to start with simple things like not revealing what I really do and leave those who know me well. I protested that it was absurd. He said it was because once people knew me, I was taken for granted and couldn't break the tie of their thoughts. I said it would be lying. He said he wasn't concerned with lies or truths. Lies were only lies if one had personal history. He said I had to explain everything compulsively and then lied to keep the excitement. He said from now on, I must show people what I cared to show but never tell exactly how I did it. I exclaimed that I couldn't keep secrets. He said, "Then change!" with a fierce glint in his eyes.

I read this a long time ago and it was my favorite of the bunch.

The aspect that I remember the most vividly was Don Gennaro sharing with Carlos his attempt to go back to Ixtlan.

He emphasized the arduous struggle he faced, which was closely related to the poem The Definitive Journey by Juan Ramon Jimenez.

I've never been able to forget that moment, and whenever I think about it, it still manages to evoke the exact same mood as it did when I first read it.

I truly enjoyed the concept that, despite the fact that Ixtlan remained in existence, Gennero could never make his way back because he had become a completely different person from the one who had originally left Ixtlan.

This idea really stuck with me and made me reflect on how much we change over time and how that can impact our relationships with the places and people from our past.

It was a powerful and thought-provoking read that has stayed with me throughout the years.

I took this book out of the library on a whim, simply because I have a penchant for exploring different points of view.

This book is presented as fact, yet many individuals are of the opinion that it is fiction. It was penned during the 1970s when the author was an anthropology student at UCLA in California. He embarked on a study and ultimately found himself on a series of extraordinary journeys with don Juan Matus, a sorcerer or shaman, and the student became his apprentice.

The book is replete with incomprehensible statements and alternative ways of perceiving reality, which are extremely challenging to fathom - at least that was my personal experience. On the flip side, it did offer me an insight into how certain people envision alternate realities and how they view ordinary cause and effect in a vastly different light. For instance, a heightened sense of awareness can be induced by silence, or observation, or exertion, or by observing nature such as a sunrise, sunset, thunderstorm, or the night time in a wilderness setting.

In a sense, the book appeared to be centered around a sense of personal power and confidence. If that is the case, then perhaps some individuals who are seeking to gain confidence in themselves might find the alternate perspectives presented in this book to be thought-provoking.

This author has written other similar books; however, for me, one was more than sufficient.

I truly wanted to have a liking for this book. As it was my very first read by Castaneda, I had high expectations and anticipated deriving a great deal from it. However, I found myself having to force myself to read it in an irregular and断断续续 manner. It ended up taking me the better part of a month to get through it. I simply couldn't bring myself to believe in the whole concept that shamanistic wind, shadows, and night are sentient entities, and that one should look to the left and ask death.

I think we all have this inclination to believe that ancient primitive cultures possess a deep "knowing" that we have forgotten in our so-called "civilized ways," and that tapping into that can be a profound and life-changing experience. Many authors, religious authorities, and messianic "teachers" have capitalized on our need to be part of something greater and have enriched themselves in the process. And in the end, that's precisely how Castaneda's work struck me. It just didn't resonate with me on a personal level.

I offer my apologies to all the Castaneda fans out there. But in my opinion, if you have an interest in this type of reading material, I believe Paulo Coelho is a better choice.

Don R. Spears