chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
2.0
Despite being fictions, Castaneda's works captivated many and brought him fame. A unique story.
peej_'s review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
It's long been debated whether or not this actually happened. Whether Carlos Castañeda learned the things he said he did from the man he said he met. In my opinion, however, that makes this read better.
The material itself is esoteric and vague. The main characters are somewhere in the desert, master and apprentice, one learning from the other a way to become part of a world he cannot understand. the pacing is slow at times. It feels like you picked up this dusty journal in an old bookstore that didn't look like anything else in the shop and what's inside is the account of a guy who definitely went somewhere and saw something with someone, but it's hard to tell exactly when or where.
The whole book feels bizarre. It doesn't make sense. It defies all that is sensible and real in favor of a haze. of glimpses into a relationship that might have never happened. A highly logical person would dismiss it as the writings of a grad student on a deadline who did some ayahuasca in a national park and decided to make it his thesis. However, I believe that would be a poor assessment of the work. The writing is incredibly sincere and thought out; the author's life is as much a mystery as the story itself. The elements are aligned enough to make it plausible that, at the minimum, Castañeda believes in what he wrote beyond the scribblings of some tripped-out 20-something in the 60s.
In the end, Journey to Ixtlan will leave you with a profound sense of mysticism* and wonder, questioning what parts of this world are real, and what are simply ghosts.
ps-- I can't believe this guy got his PhD off these books. that is wild.
*not necessarily in the context of the Yaqui people, however. It must be noted that most of the specifics aren't in line with the standard understanding of the beliefs of the Yaqui.
The material itself is esoteric and vague. The main characters are somewhere in the desert, master and apprentice, one learning from the other a way to become part of a world he cannot understand. the pacing is slow at times. It feels like you picked up this dusty journal in an old bookstore that didn't look like anything else in the shop and what's inside is the account of a guy who definitely went somewhere and saw something with someone, but it's hard to tell exactly when or where.
The whole book feels bizarre. It doesn't make sense. It defies all that is sensible and real in favor of a haze. of glimpses into a relationship that might have never happened. A highly logical person would dismiss it as the writings of a grad student on a deadline who did some ayahuasca in a national park and decided to make it his thesis. However, I believe that would be a poor assessment of the work. The writing is incredibly sincere and thought out; the author's life is as much a mystery as the story itself. The elements are aligned enough to make it plausible that, at the minimum, Castañeda believes in what he wrote beyond the scribblings of some tripped-out 20-something in the 60s.
In the end, Journey to Ixtlan will leave you with a profound sense of mysticism* and wonder, questioning what parts of this world are real, and what are simply ghosts.
ps-- I can't believe this guy got his PhD off these books. that is wild.
*not necessarily in the context of the Yaqui people, however. It must be noted that most of the specifics aren't in line with the standard understanding of the beliefs of the Yaqui.
themoonkestrel's review
4.0
Until now, it seems like his best book. He finally shows you things the way the happened in a more personal way instead of a "I don't believe this! Be rational, isn't this silly?" way. He explains more things, most of them which he hadn't even mentioned or explained before that suddenly make everything else make more sense.
I underlined a lot and there are a lot of notes on this book, quite a few things to consider, food for thought.
I underlined a lot and there are a lot of notes on this book, quite a few things to consider, food for thought.
but_itsnotme's review
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
This is the story of a man's search for spiritual healing and self-discovery in the far-off and mystical mountains of... Arizona.
For starters, I am not an avid reader of self-help books so I came in to this book with one hurdle to jump already. I found the whole premise quite ridiculous and honestly did not understand most of the points of the teachings (for instance the whole episode with hiring someone to beat up your child while you watch to teach them to "stop the world" and appreciate life more, I guess? Honestly, this just seems like a fast track toward traumatizing your child, but hey I'm no expert!). Most of the lessons that the alleged Don Juan is teaching seem either to swing from the utterly bizarre (run across the desert at midnight without stopping) to the same old tripe we've heard and seen everywhere (unlock the warrior within).
The book is also very incoherent as there are huge time lapses that are never explained. I expected that there would be a few important pieces of information missing since this is the third book in the series. However I was surprised that the book does not seem internally coherent either. Near the end this got wildly out of control with new important characters and people being introduced out of the blue a few chapters before the ending and then disappearing completely. This detracted from the overall experience since you felt like you were very much out of the loop the whole time.
As for the positives, I read this book in Spanish and was enjoying how descriptive the text was and I won't lie that learning that the book was a translation and originally written in English was another tick off the mark for me, as it made the whole thing seem less genuine. The author's repeated insistence that he was writing everything down and taking time to transcribe everything the very real, totally not made up Don Juan was saying also reeked of "the lady doth protest".
In the end I enjoyed that I practiced reading in Spanish but this was a miss for me.
For starters, I am not an avid reader of self-help books so I came in to this book with one hurdle to jump already. I found the whole premise quite ridiculous and honestly did not understand most of the points of the teachings (for instance the whole episode with hiring someone to beat up your child while you watch to teach them to "stop the world" and appreciate life more, I guess? Honestly, this just seems like a fast track toward traumatizing your child, but hey I'm no expert!). Most of the lessons that the alleged Don Juan is teaching seem either to swing from the utterly bizarre (run across the desert at midnight without stopping) to the same old tripe we've heard and seen everywhere (unlock the warrior within).
The book is also very incoherent as there are huge time lapses that are never explained. I expected that there would be a few important pieces of information missing since this is the third book in the series. However I was surprised that the book does not seem internally coherent either. Near the end this got wildly out of control with new important characters and people being introduced out of the blue a few chapters before the ending and then disappearing completely. This detracted from the overall experience since you felt like you were very much out of the loop the whole time.
As for the positives, I read this book in Spanish and was enjoying how descriptive the text was and I won't lie that learning that the book was a translation and originally written in English was another tick off the mark for me, as it made the whole thing seem less genuine. The author's repeated insistence that he was writing everything down and taking time to transcribe everything the very real, totally not made up Don Juan was saying also reeked of "the lady doth protest".
In the end I enjoyed that I practiced reading in Spanish but this was a miss for me.
cannot_cross_water's review
4.0
So yeah, there is a pretty good chance that this is essentially a young US collage student in the late 60s making up his renderings of how an ancient sorcery might look like. Yet, none of the books ever offended me in any way. It contains some wise, grounding words and we all could use a bit of a warrior mood in our daily struggles.
epictetsocrate's review against another edition
3.0
Sâmbătă, 22 mai 1971, am plecat la Sonora, în Mexic, să mă întâlnesc cu don Juan Matus, un vrăjitor indian Yaqui, pe care îl cunoşteam din 1961. Mi-am spus că vizita din ziua aceea nu avea să se deosebească în vreun fel de nenumăratele dăţi în care mă dusesem să-l văd în cei zece ani de când îi eram ucenic. Evenimentele care au avut loc în acea zi şi în cele următoare au fost totuşi importante pentru mine. Ucenicia mea a luat sfârşit cu acea ocazie. Nu a fost vorba de o retragere arbitrară din partea mea, ci de o încheiere hotărâtă cu bună ştiinţă.
Am prezentat deja experienţa uceniciei mele în două lucrări precedente: Învăţăturile lui don Juan şi Cealaltă realitate.
Ideea de bază în ambele cărţi era aceea că în deprinderea tainelor vrăjitoriei elementele-cheie sunt stările de realitate neobişnuită produse prin ingestia unor plante psihotrope.
În această privinţă, don Juan era un expert în utilizarea a trei asemenea plante: Datura inoxia, îndeobşte cunoscută sub denumirea de buruiana jimpson, Lophorphora williamsii cunoscută ca peiotă, şi o ciupercă halucinogenă din specia Psilocybe.
Modul în care am perceput lumea ca efect al acestor plante psihotrope a fost atât de ciudat şi de impresionant, încât m-am văzut nevoit să presupun că aceste stări reprezintă singura cale de comunicare şi învăţare a lucrurilor pe care încerca să mi le spună.
Această presupunere era greşită.
Am prezentat deja experienţa uceniciei mele în două lucrări precedente: Învăţăturile lui don Juan şi Cealaltă realitate.
Ideea de bază în ambele cărţi era aceea că în deprinderea tainelor vrăjitoriei elementele-cheie sunt stările de realitate neobişnuită produse prin ingestia unor plante psihotrope.
În această privinţă, don Juan era un expert în utilizarea a trei asemenea plante: Datura inoxia, îndeobşte cunoscută sub denumirea de buruiana jimpson, Lophorphora williamsii cunoscută ca peiotă, şi o ciupercă halucinogenă din specia Psilocybe.
Modul în care am perceput lumea ca efect al acestor plante psihotrope a fost atât de ciudat şi de impresionant, încât m-am văzut nevoit să presupun că aceste stări reprezintă singura cale de comunicare şi învăţare a lucrurilor pe care încerca să mi le spună.
Această presupunere era greşită.