The Teachings of Don Juan - Carlos Castaneda

Tonight I read Carlos Castaneda's "The Teachings of Don Juan" in a single sitting (I skipped part 2, his structural analysis of the teachings, which does not interest me). I became interested in this book in a sort of roundabout way - one part of Levack's Witch-Hunt that keenly aroused my interest was the offhand reference to the hallucinogenic "flying unguents" purportedly used by medieval witches, which may (in some cases) have inspired the visions of flying to the witches' sabbath. These ointments contained plants such as atropa belladona and datura, and in my online research into their effects, I came across the following passage from Castaneda:

"There was a question I wanted to ask him. I knew he was going to evade it, so I waited for him to mention the subject. I waited all day. Finally, before I left that evening, I had to ask him, "Did I really fly?," don Juan?"

"That is what you told me. Didn't you?"

"I know, don Juan. I mean, did my body fly? Did I take off like a bird?"

"You always ask me questions I cannot answer. You flew. That is what the second portion of the devil's weed is for. As you take more of it, you will learn how to fly perfectly. It is not a simple matter. A man flies with the help of the second portion of the devil's weed. That is all I can tell you. What you want to know makes no sense. Birds fly like birds and a man who has taken the devil's weed flies as such [el enyerbado vuela asi]."

"As birds do? [Asi como los pajaros?]."

"No, he flies as a man who has taken the weed [No, asi como los enyerbados]."

"Then I didn't really fly, don Juan. I flew in my imagination, in my mind alone. Where was my body?"

"In the bushes," he replied cuttingly, but immediately broke into laughter again. "The trouble with you is that you understand things in only one way. You don't think a man flies; and yet a brujo can move a thousand miles in one second to see what is going on. He can deliver a blow to his enemies long distances away. So, does he or doesn't he fly?"

Although I am disappointed that Don Juan the man appears to have been a fiction, I still find this passage very powerful, and am still intrigued by some of the arguments Castaneda attributes to him, such as his rejection of there being only one way to understand our physical relationship with the world.

Regardless of whether you want to take it or leave it as spiritually valid, certainly no one could deny that Castaneda is a powerful storyteller, and the concluding episode was so wild and gripping I forgot I was even reading a book until it was over. A powerful "state of nonordinary reality" induced by reading!

The wise Dad Juan

Little Green

Like the previous Easy Rawlins mysteries, this is a lively and pleasurable read. The characters are fascinating, the dialog is vivid and often humorous, and the subtext always includes racial tension.  One of the more colorful character's is Easy's likable but extremely violent friend, Mouse.  In this book, for example, Easy is recovering from a near fatal auto accident - Mouse actually found and saved him - and after he has regained consciousness, Mouse takes Easy to his old apartment, which, they find, is now occupied by Jeffrey, who initially refuses to let them in.  Mouse takes out his long-barreled .41 and hits Jeffrey "in the center of his vast forehead."  Mouse again asks Jeffrey what he's doing here and he answers:

"I live here!  The man who owned this place died and I......I homesteaded it".

There was blood coming from Jeffrey's forehead, but we all knew that was the least of his problems."

 Well, in addition to the outlandish incidents, the social commentary is very interesting.  The events of Little Green are set within the hippie community of LA in the '60s and a recurrent observation of Easy's is how the hippies take a much more inclusive view of diversity - and that maybe this holds some hope for future relationships between black and white men. An interesting and entertaining read!