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Summary
Summary
This book is a collection of Castaneda's key experiences organized in an accessible way. They provide an insight into this tradition and elucidate ideas that occur in Castaneda's previous books.
Author Notes
Carlos Castaneda was the author of eight international bestsellers describing his work with don Juan Matus.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Although he died last April, Castaneda, dubbed "the Godfather of the New Age" by some, speaks, as seems only fitting for a man who called himself a sorcerer, from beyond the beyond. Castaneda undertook this somewhat autobiographical record of memories and experiences during his famous apprenticeship to don Juan, the Yaqui Indian who tutored him in the ways of shamanism. According to Castaneda, don Juan asked him to remember the most significant events of his life and to describe them in great detail as a means to recoup psychic energy and to understand the forces of "infinity" that had led him to the path of the "warrior-traveler." Castaneda uses those personal events to illustrate aspects of Yaqui mysticism, restating the fundamental themes of his work in a more accessible manner than some of his other writings. Gone are the tales, typical of his earlier books (A Journey to Ixtlan; The Teachings of Don Juan; etc.), of humans who transformed themselves into eagles and wolves, hallucinogenic adventures on peyote and superhuman physical challenges. Instead, readers get accounts of the visionary's lonely but privileged childhood on a hacienda in an unnamed Latin American country, as well as endearing memories of his life as a bumbling and rather neurotic anthropology graduate student at UCLA. "The active side of infinity" is an intelligent energy that intentionally guides the warrior-traveler. Reading Castaneda's account of don Juan's preparation for the "definitive journey" of death will likely be a poignant experience for Castaneda's fans, who may see the writing of the book as the author's preparation for his own departure. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
The secret to Castaneda's enduring popularity is his great gift for storytelling. Although the distinction between the factual and the imagined, or between the usual sense of reality and the realm of the spirit, has never been clearly demarcated in his books about the teachings of the sorcerer Don Juan, the exchanges between student and teacher are irresistibly dramatic and mind-expanding. In his previous book, Magical Passes [BKL F 1 98], Castaneda disclosed that he was the last in a shamanistic line and that he was free, indeed, compelled, to share as much of his knowledge as possible. With this mission in mind, he returns to some of his earliest sessions with the wily Don Juan and describes the difficulties he had in following instructions to select the most "memorable events" of his life. Shamans, don Juan explained, had discovered that the identifying of key incidents (and they didn't mean such prosaic passages as graduating from high school) made possible "the emotional and energetic adjustment necessary for venturing, in terms of perception, into the unknown." Such painful delving into the subconscious is, of course, also the foundation of psychoanalysis, and whether Castaneda's readers fully grasp the intricacies of Don Juan's teachings, or stick to more familiar psychological terrain, they will be fascinated by these revelations of Castaneda's personal life, especially those of his childhood and youth. It is touching and no doubt significant that Castaneda revealed so much of himself in this posthumously published volume, and one can't help but wonder about the life-after-death realm he was so assiduously preparing to enter, a region Don Juan called the "active side of infinity." --Donna Seaman
Library Journal Review
Castaneda, who died in April, here sums up important events in his life that prepared him for the final journey. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.