I've always been deeply fascinated by the enigma of dreams. Some dreams seem to take the fragmented elements of one's day and transform them into a vivid, fully realized 3D technicolour movie. Others, on the other hand, appear to be imbued with profound meaning and even offer personal guidance. There are also dreams that seem to occur in familiar yet different real worlds, and some that are eerily lifelike.

I embarked on this book with high expectations, having heard the buzz over the years regarding the author's other works. Additionally, the book's jacket description, which labeled it as "A classic cornerstone of dream interpretation" and claimed that it "allows people to look within themselves for the answers that ultimately lead to a life filled with serenity," further piqued my interest.

I did find myself resonating with certain aspects of the numerous dream experiences shared in this book. For example, the experience of having a rapid-fire conversation in a dream where a wealth of information is communicated, or the sensation of floating along corridors or tunnels. However, I discovered that the story and the emphasis on the "wise but mocking" guru trope, similar to that in "Karate Kid," was somewhat annoying. Personally, I felt that the strongly implied emphasis on having the right teacher, using the right accessories, and taking the right mind-altering drugs was at odds with the idea of simply looking within oneself for the answers. These elements seemed to encourage a dependence on external factors rather than internal foci.

In conclusion, this book was not my cup of tea. It failed to meet my expectations and left me with a sense of dissatisfaction.

Not my cup of tea.

I just found out that this guy was a fraud, that he didn't know any Don Juan or anything.

So I don't see the point in continuing if I don't know which part is made-up nonsense and which part has some basis.

It's a pity.

This discovery has really disappointed me. I thought there might be some interesting stories or valuable information.

But now it seems that a lot of what he said was just fabricated.

I guess I need to be more careful in the future when listening to people's claims.

Not everything that sounds good or exciting is necessarily true.

It's important to do some research and verification to avoid being misled.

Well, at least this experience has taught me a lesson.

Livre pas fini.

It's not that it's not interesting, but it's a bit too...mystical? Perched? I don't know which word to choose - for me. At a literary level, it's poor - "he said to me then I said to him and he replied to me, then I said to him" - I'm hardly exaggerating. So it's extremely descriptive, which isn't necessarily embarrassing in itself, but when the subject is a bit too...distant from my interests, it's bound to weigh down the reading. I would have liked to get hooked, but no, failed, or at least not enough to continue reading beyond page 68.

The argument of Don Juan was that we devote the major part of our energy to maintaining our self-sufficiency. This is quite obvious, given our never-sated concern for presenting our self, and this other preoccupation of knowing whether or not we are admired, or loved, or recognized. His reasoning led him to say that if we were capable of losing even a little of this importance, two extraordinary things would occur. First, we would free our energy from the attempt to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; second, we would have this energy available to enter the second attention and take a look at the true grandeur of the universe.

I’m not a fan of how this one was marketed as a guide to lucid dreaming.

Most of the ideas presented here are extremely imaginative and far-fetched. One has to suspend a great deal of disbelief just to follow Castaneda’s narrative.

I simply can’t imagine how challenging this would be to read for someone who hasn’t read the previous books in the series.

It’s quite evident that, at this stage of Castaneda’s life, he had entirely lost his grip on reality.

And, indeed, there is a reality that serious individuals agree upon.

At the same time, there is a significant amount of potential underlying the primary theories that Castaneda presents in this book regarding the nature of dreams.

It serves as good food for thought for those who have already reached the conclusion that the reality we are sharing is the grand dream of the universe.

Perhaps there is more to our dreams and the nature of our existence than we initially thought.

Castaneda’s ideas, although outlandish at times, may prompt us to question and explore the boundaries of our understanding.

Who knows what new insights and discoveries could emerge from such exploration?

The Art of Dreaming (The Teachings of Don Juan #9), Carlos Castaneda

The Art of Dreaming, a 1993 book penned by the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda, offers a detailed account of events and techniques during the author's apprenticeship with the Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, don Juan Matus, from 1960 to 1973. This book delves into the steps required to master the control and consciousness of dreams.

The first reading date was in November 2009. The book's title in Persian is "هنر خواب بینی", the author is Carlos Castaneda, and the translator is Farzad Hemdani. It was published in Tehran in 1995 (1374 in the Persian calendar) and consists of 334 pages. The subject matter pertains to the stories of American writers in the 20th century.

Quoting from the author's preface of this work: (I have written many books over the course of twenty years about my training with a Mexican sorcerer, in which I have explained the methods by which this sorcerer taught me sorcery. By sorcery, I do not mean the invocation of spirits or the use of supernatural forces. Sorcery was a means for...). End of the quote.

The table of contents of the book includes: "An Introduction to the Sorcerers of Ancient Times", "The First Gateway of Dreaming", "The Second Gateway of Dreaming", "Fixing the Point of Convergence", "The World of Inorganic Beings", "The World of Shadows", "The Blue Glow", "The Third Gateway of Dreaming", "The New Area of Development", "Stinging the Stingrays", "The Shelter", "The Woman Inside the Church", "Flying on the Wings of Intent".

The collection of these twelve books, in the order of their original publication date and all translated into Persian, is as follows:

1. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968)
تعلیمات دون خوان (طریقه ی معرفت نزد یاکی ها)؛ 1986 (1365 in the Persian calendar), published by Ferdows Publications - translated by Hossein Neyr

2. A Separate Reality: Further Conversation with Don Juan (1971)
حقیقتی دیگر (باز هم گفت و شنودی با دون خوان)؛ 1985 (1364 in the Persian calendar), published by Agah Publications, translated by Ebrahim Mekla

3. Journey to xtlan: Lessons of Don Juan (1972)
سفر به ایختلان (سفر به ناکجا آباد ـ درسهای دونخوان) The book was published in Iran under the title "Journey to the Other Side"

4. Tales of Power (1974)
افسانه های قدرت (نخستین حلقه ی قدرت)؛ 1984 (1363 in the Persian calendar), published by Ferdows Publications - translated by Mehran Kondori and Masoud Kazemi

5. The Second Ring of Power (1975)
دومین حلقه ی قدرت ـ First edition in 1985 (1364 in the Persian calendar), translated by Mehran Kondori and Masoud Kazemi

6. The Eagle's Gift (1981)
هدیه ی عقاب ـ 1986 (1365 in the Persian calendar), translated by Mehran Kondori and Masoud Kazemi

7. The Fire from Within (1984)
آتش درون ـ 1989 (1368 in the Persian calendar), translated by Mehran Kondori and Masoud Kazemi

8. The Power of Silence, Further Lessons of don Juan (1988)
قدرت سکوت ـ 1989 (1368 in the Persian calendar), translated by Mehran Kondori

9. The Art of Dreaming (1994)
هنر خواب بینی ـ 1995 (1374 in the Persian calendar), translated by Farzad Hemdani

10. Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico
عنوان: حرکات جادویی - خرد شمنان مکزیک کهن؛ Carlos Castaneda؛ Translated by Mehran Kondori؛ Tehran, Mitra Publications, 1998 (1377 in the Persian calendar), 330 pages, illustrated, ISBN: X-964599831

11. The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death & the Universe (The Teachings of Don Juan #11), Carlos Castaneda
عنوان: چرخ زمان : شمنان مکزیک کهن، افکار آنان در باره ی زندگی، زندگی مرگ و جهان؛ Author: Carlos Castaneda, Translated by Mehdi Kondori؛ Tehran, Mitra Publications, 1998 (1377 in the Persian calendar), 278 pages, ISBN 9645998360؛ Subject: Carlos Castaneda from 1931 to 1998, Native American shamanism, the Yaqui Indian religion, 20th-century religions and myths

12. The Active Side of Infinity (1998)
کرانه ی فعال بیکرانگی ـ 2000 (1379 in the Persian calendar), translated by Mehran Kondori

Date of dissemination: January 27, 2021 (1400 in the Persian solar calendar)؛ January 7, 2021 (1400 in the Persian solar calendar)؛ A. Sharbiani

Castaneda, an anthropologist, is indeed someone worthy of study.

This book is not on the same level as Jung and his interpretations of dreams. It is more about the "gates" of other dimensions that can be opened through dreaming. Personally, I cannot deny that there must be something existing in the realm of dreams. We spend one-third of our lives dreaming, yet we know very little about this part.

So, consider this as an effort to bring something concrete for a discussion about dreaming. Are his techniques effective? I don't know. Is the knowledge based on ancient teachings? Probably Uto-Aztecan.

Castaneda is more famous for teaching the masses about psychedelic recipes used by Native Americans. Many of these have caused deaths and are more like cult practices than something serious. Castaneda, with his books, just provided the right "excuses" for those who want to try a "trip". Surely, the experience gave them something, but the dangers of these practices are real.

The only conclusion is that there is indeed something very similar to Sufism in his teachings, even though the two cultures are separated by thousands of miles.

I really wanted to like this particular piece. However, the writing is highly formulaic and not well-executed at all.

The author continuously presents these artificial conversations where it goes like "are you saying that dreaming is like...", and then Don Juan replies "No! I am not saying that. What I am saying is...". Literally, there are hundreds of pages of just telling rather than showing.

The concept itself is quite interesting. But the discussions about dreams are so extremely abstract that I simply lost interest. It's almost like sitting there and hearing a friend tell you about their dream for a solid 6 hours.

It's a real pity because with a better writing style and more concrete examples to illustrate the ideas, this could have been a much more engaging and enjoyable read. As it stands now, it fails to hold the reader's attention and falls short of its potential.

This book delves into the mystical aspect of lucid dreaming. It posits that dreaming serves as a portal to a distinct realm of existence, where individuals can encounter inorganic beings (IOBs). It chronicles Castaneda's journey along the path of sorcery, as handed down in don Juan's (his mentor) lineage. However, it doesn't offer in-depth guidance on enhancing lucid dreaming, beyond the fundamental first step of achieving lucidity in a dream.

The initial 60 - 70% of the book was relatively straightforward for me to understand. Nevertheless, as it progresses and becomes more intricate, especially when Castaneda meets the death defier and explores the differentiation of various realities, the concepts of intending, the second attention, creating a whole world using energy, and the distinction between a phantom projection (typical dreams) and actually being in a different real world composed of energy, it becomes rather confusing.

This book is无疑 something that merits a re-read after some time. I firmly believe that reading it multiple times would facilitate better comprehension. This would enable one to capture all the subtleties and pearls of wisdom that don Juan impart to Carlos Castaneda.

I highly recommend this book as it addresses a much-overlooked aspect of human existence - dreams. We often assume that dreams are merely random occurrences in our brains during sleep and hold no significance. But through my own real-life experiences (even before reading this book), I have come to realize that our dreams can reveal a great deal about ourselves if we learn to listen.

Moreover, this book elevates dreamwork to an entirely new dimension. It explores foreign, alien-like entities, the idea of making "deals" with these entities, and the perils of traversing another plane of existence (a non-bodily, energy-based one). It is a must-read for those eager to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of dreams.

Don Juan has repeatedly emphasized that everything he teaches me was conceptualized and clarified by those people he called the sorcerers of ancient times.

He precisely stated, with determination, that there is a great difference between those ancient sorcerers and the sorcerers of the present era. He described the ancient sorcerers as people who lived in Mexico, probably thousands of years before it was conquered by the Spaniards, and whose major achievement was to construct the structures of sorcery, highlighting its practical and concrete nature. He depicted them as extraordinary people, but lacking in discernment.

In contrast, he described the contemporary sorcerers as people famous for their solid logical thinking and the ability to modify - when they consider it necessary - the way of operating of sorcery.

Don Juan explained to me that the relevant sorcerer's premises of the vision had been naturally provided and created by the sorcerers of ancient times. Since these premises are essential in the explanation and understanding of the vision, it is absolutely necessary to write about them again, discussing them. Therefore, most of this book is a reintroduction and development of what I presented in my previous works.

During one of our discussions, Don Juan declared that in order to be able to appreciate the status of the vision and those who practice it, it is necessary to understand the contemporary sorcerers' striving to direct sorcery towards the abstract, moving it away from the concrete.

I truly loved Castaneda's experiences and educational history at my alma mater.

It was a very interesting book that I used to write, titled “Latinx Spirituality in the Dream World: An Analysis of Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection Among the Ancient Mexicans.”

This book was highly informational and it opened my eyes to the truth of dreaming.

It revealed the truth that the conquistadors suppressed from our indigenous ancestors.

Castaneda's work provided valuable insights into the spiritual and cultural aspects of the ancient Mexicans.

His exploration of lucid dreaming and astral projection was both fascinating and thought-provoking.

It made me realize the importance of preserving and understanding our ancestral knowledge.

The book also shed light on the power and significance of dreams in different cultures.

Overall, it was a remarkable piece of literature that enhanced my understanding of Latinx spirituality and the hidden history of our people.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about these topics.

Koop is a very interesting and unique name. It could potentially refer to a person, a place, or even an object.

Perhaps there is a person named Koop who has a great story to tell. Maybe they have accomplished something remarkable or have an interesting personality.

Or perhaps Koop is the name of a small town or village. It could have a rich history and culture, with unique traditions and landmarks.

Alternatively, Koop could be the name of a particular object, such as a brand of product or a type of vehicle.

No matter what Koop represents, it is a name that catches the attention and makes people wonder. It has an air of mystery and intrigue that makes it stand out from other names.

Whether you encounter Koop in a book, a movie, or in real life, it is sure to leave an impression.

Though I have loved all Castaneda’s books so far, I have a predilection for this one. This is because I have a particular interest in dreaming, and “dreaming” (the kind of dreaming Don Juan teaches about).

Don Juan said “Through ‘dreaming’ we can perceive other worlds … we can feel how ‘dreaming’ opens up those other realms”. He calls “dreaming” the “gateway to infinity”. “Dreaming” is the sorcerers’ practical way of putting ordinary dreams to use.

We learn that the whole universe is energy. Don Juan taught his apprentices to perceive energy directly.

Human beings are luminous balls and the crucial feature of the luminous ball is a spot of intense brilliance on a place at the height of the shoulder blades, at an arm’s length from the person’s body, which is termed the assemblage point. This enables us to perceive, and when the assemblage point dislodges itself from its usual spot, our usual behaviour, awareness and perception are changed.

Much of the book deals with changing the assemblage point and the consequences of this. Don Juan can make Carlos’ assemblage point shift to another position to enable him to reach a heightened state of awareness, otherwise termed the “second attention”.

There are seven entrances, perceived as obstacles, called the seven gates of dreaming. We reach the first gate when we become aware that we’re falling asleep. This is achieved by intending it – “to wish without wishing, to do without doing”.

Carlos reached the first gate of dreaming but by another way, by having “a gigantically real dream” – he wanders though a city until he becomes completely exhausted.

When dreaming you must focus your gaze on anything of your choice as the starting point, for example, your hands. Then shift your gaze to other items and look at them in brief glances. Then go back to the item you started with.

Carlos practices focusing and holding his dreaming attention on the items of his dreams. He learns that he must “redeploy” his energy by losing self-importance. Self-importance is “not only the sorcerers’ supreme enemy but the nemesis of mankind”.

The city he visited in his dream, where he got exhausted, was “out of this world”. Don Juan was with him, but he “saw” the city not as a city but as energy.

You reach the second gate of dreaming when you wake from a dream into another dream. Carlos reaches this second gate, but again he does it in another manner, by “changing dreams in an orderly and precise manner”. He used the items of a dream to trigger another dream.

We’re introduced to the inorganic beings, and their world, the most fascinating aspect of this book. Two inorganic beings begin to appear in Carlos’ dreams. They just stand there and stare at him. One day when in the hills with Don Juan, Carlos wrestles with one of them. By the ensuing energy exchange Carlos creates a lasting attachment to the being, which he later encounters again in the inorganic beings’ world.

To cut a long story short, Carlos continues to journey into this world in his dreams, and becomes practically addicted to doing so, though warned by Don Juan that it is dangerous. He encounters a scout disguised as a little girl who is trapped there, merges with her in an attempt to save her but loses all his energy. He is rescued by the combined efforts of Don Juan and anther sorcerer called Carol Tiggs, who travel into this world physically.

An interesting feature of Carlos’ sojourns in the inorganic beings’ world is the disembodied voice of the dream emissary, which provides him with useful information. The voice always speaks the truth, so he can trust the information given. But the inorganic beings as such are not really to be trusted, because they want Carlos’ energy and are eager for him to stay in their world forever.

In one of the final chapters Carlos has an exciting but dangerous adventure with Carol Tiggs in another world. Finally, he is introduced to the “death defier”, one of the old sorcerers, and is gone for nine days. He is also fortunate to survive this sojourn.

I found this book to be fascinating, engrossing and exciting, in fact unputdownable. I found the material presented therein to be extremely edifying but challenging.

I highly recommend that you read the book. I will miss reading it, but now will tackle some of Castaneda’s previous books, which I have not yet read.