Don Juan or the X-Files?

I have a friend who thoroughly enjoyed The Teachings of Don Juan. If you look at my left margin, you will see that that is the book I'm currently reading.

He enjoyed Don Juan. Currently, however - I am not. "Not enjoying" is probably not the most accurate way to describe my feelings about the book. I am about 3/4 the way through the book. I'm almost done with his accounts of his first years with Don Juan, and I have the analysis left to read.

It's not like I'm not enjoying the book. There are moments of the book that I enjoy more than others.

What I Enjoy: Don Juan's views about enemies of man and his responses to Castaneda's questions.

Don Juan talks about how there are four enemies of man - Fear, Clarity, Power, and Old Age. These all make very good sense to me and I think they are relatively accurate. We fear things, but once we get over that fear, we have a sudden sense of clarity. We realize that our fear is not one that should control our lives, and the fear comes from uncertainty. But once that clarity is attained, we get the false sense that we are powerful, thus the third enemy of man. We feel that we've conquered fear, and attained a sense of clarity, but then with clarity we don't know what to do with it. Too much clarity will have the opposite effect, so we must overcome it and become powerful. But what none of us can ever escape is Old Age. To overcome old age? I don't know. Become wise?

I also like Don Juan's answers to Castaneda's questions. They usually involve silnce with a pensive look, laughing at him his eyes ask Castenda "what the fuck are you talking about?" and actual answers.

What I Have a Hard Time With: Castaneda's questions and the X-File, Drug-enhanced hallucinations.

I realize that Castaneda is asking questions because he's an academic and wants to 'understand' what is going on around him in a tangible manner, but man, sometimes he just needs to SHUT UP. His questions sound so elementary sometimes. He has a hard time just accepting the experience as it is, and try to understand what happened to him. Sometimes, it's good to answer questions - like when he's making a new concoction of something or where they are going to go. Sometimes, he just needs to shut it.

Also, the X-Files things. So the reason I can stand this book is because Don Juan has some good things to say. The parts that lose me are when Castaneda goes into his hallucination stages. He smokes, takes peyote, drinks/eats/rubs the devil's weed, and he is sent to who knows where. Is it another world? Is it this world but a different reality? Is it his alternate or parallele universe? I have yet to figure that out, partly because I am losing my patience with this book - thought I plan to finish it no matter what.

I believe that he can 'fly' and do all that under the influences of those strong plants/drugs/things that Don Juan tells him to eat/drink/rub. Sometimes it gets kind of X-Files-y though. Maybe it's the way that Castaneda describes them. I'm just waiting for the X-Files BGM to start. I really think it's the way Castaneda describes his experiences. And then I just lose it when he starts his incessant questions. I can feel Don Juan's annoyance and fight to be patience, even through the pages of events that supposedly happened almost fifty years ago.

That said.

I don't doubt that there are people like Don Juan in this world. I also don't doubt that there are various plants, concoctions, and such that will allow people to have experiences like that of Castaneda. I was always interseted in Native American Shamans and medicine. I just like that sort of culture from the beginning. And I would love to meet my own Don Juan - though I don't think I would go through everything that Castaneda went through.

So I think this is what it comes down to - I just have a hard time with Castaneda himself and his writing style. Afterall, after his books, he disappeared for decades and then was reported to hav been living in some mansion in California with three of his 'followers' (or lovers, if you prefer that interpretation) that have been called "the Witches." They were also forced to change their names. I don't know about this Castaneda character. If i can stand it, I'll have to read more of his books. If not, I'm going to have to do some research on him so I can get a better understanding fo who he is and give him a more objective (subjective?) view...

I never really liked adventure books featuring boys anyways. The only one I've actually liked is The Alchemist.

I really think that's what it is.

Now I must finish the book.

bjs. Happy reading.