Els Ensenyaments de don Juan (1968)

Unlike many others I found nothing of value in this book. For a long time, I felt as if I missed something, since so many people enjoy it. However, after critical consideration I can't help but concluding that this book may offer some reflections on life, but not a system that is capable of finding truth. Don Juan' s system is not open for criticism, judging fRom his incapability to answer some justified answers. It is not a system which is in constant reflection about its core assumptions and methods. It is a system that is only to be understood, when accepted and when played by its rules, and therefore of no objective value when looking for tRuth. The same could be said for science, but the difference is that science should by definition be open to change and inclarity and unreasonable assumptions are not tolerated. Don Juan has a system, there is some sort of logic in it, but it is a flawed system because it is based on myths without explaining how these myths work, and without systematically testing if there are other explanations for the experienced special phenomenona. This is the main prolem with Don Juan, not so much with the writer (who seems to be able to remain some sense of objectivity), but because this book is about Don Juans system it is also a problem of the topic of the book. In the end I was just frustrated and annoyed with his person and I was happy when I finished reading. This book might be inspiring for some, but not for me. ( )

"Como Lázaro vuelto de la tumba" (dijo algún crítico), un antropólogo narra la primera etapa del aprendizaje que lo convertirá en "hombre de conocimiento" bajo la guía de un brujo yaqui. Por diversos medios, don Juan sumerge a su discípulo en una "realidad no ordinaria", tan objetiva como la cotidiana pero totalmente distinta, inexplicable para nuestros esquemas de pensamiento pero no para la sabiduría antigua que el maestro transmite con impecable coherencia lógica y poética.

I read this 40 years ago as non-fiction, and it struck me as genuine foo-foo. And I was young and impressionable. I think that there is general agreement now that it is complete fiction.* That makes it worse: fake foo-foo.

The philosophy resembles nebulous reflections that might be of use to astrologers. Castaneda got rich off his Don Juan books, checked out of normal society when critics began to catch up to him, and started his own cult of mostly young, beautiful, smart, vulnerable women and got high on his own supply of fantasy.**

The second star is freely given for the writing, which is persuasive in style if not in substance and is fully serviceable in a purely technical sense. Any interest I had was initiated by the book's popularity and reduced in the reading to mere curiosity about a curious book.

* https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/225444.Richard_de_Mille

** https://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/castaneda/
( )

Un antropólogo narra la primera etapa del aprendizaje que lo convertirá en "hombre de conocimiento" bajo la guía de un brujo de la tribu "yaqui".Libro Primero

The first of Castaneda's books, sets the stage for all to follow. An anthropologist student takes his studies under a native shaman and learns lessons on life and the aspects of reality that are not included in modern Western thought. ( )