Carlos Castaneda
1 One of several paths of widsom
This is a collection of wisdom gathered from North American natives. It is just as profound as the more well-known eastern paths (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc.). Central is the image of the Warrior: one that sees, not just looks, one whose intentions and goals are clear. A bit like Japanese samurai. They look for the stable and constant, they are not interested in the fleeting. A Warrior is similar to a Nietschzean superhuman in that the striving is a goal in itself; whenver a goal is achieved the Warrior does not dwell but moves on. All actions must be firmly rooted in reality.
As in all paths of wisdom there are seeming contradictions: Warriors should understand what is really going on around them, but should not be lost in introspection. Maybe it is so that a Warrior must have the ability to extract the important from the important. There are many quotes that will help the wanderer.
2 Brilliant!!!
'The Wheel of Time' is simply beautiful! As a collection of excerpts from Castaneda's previous works, it does well in preserving the power and force of the philosophy and way of living Castaneda presents to us. It is an excellent and appealing introduction to the Way of the Warrior, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique, uplifting, and refreshing read.
3 more castaneda
This book is a collection of truisms and cliches which to me, divested from the twinkling eyes of Don Juan, sound boring and trite. There are a few quotes in this book, however, that make the book worth reading. Here's one I like (p. 257):
"It isn't that a warrior learns shamanism as time goes by; rather, what he learns as time goes by is to save energy. This energy will enable him to handle some of the energy fields which are ordinarily inaccesible to him. Shamanism is a state of awareness, the ability to use energy fields that are not employed in perceiving the everyday-life world that we know."
4 Useless book
This is the book of short excerpts taken from first 8 Castaneda's books. There is nothing new in it. The book is made and published after Castanedas death, and that is the only reason why this book is interesting to customers.
You cannot read this book because the excerpt on a page hs nothing common with the excerpt on the next page. Only thing what is possible to do with it is to open book randomly and read what is in the page you opened.
Even more, I would be less critical if someone would take these excerpts and group them by the theme. That would give some purpose to the book. But in this book excerps are grouped by the book in which they can be found.
The way in which the matter is presented in this book is useless.
5 Inspirational Excerpts From Past Books
For those who like Casteneda, this is a good addition to your library. It's unfortunate for us that Casteneda has past on. For those of you who long for the next generation of Casteneda, you may want to check out Regan's The Evolution of a Warrior - a great new novelist in the spirit of Casteneda.
6 Excellent Compilation
Excellent compilation for introducing you to the writings of Carlos Castaneda.
7 An Excellent Abstraction of Castaneda's Warrior's Way
Castaneda is one of the most fascinating occultists of the past 100 years. Like Blavatsky, McGregor Mathers and Gurdjieff it is always hard to tell what is fact, what is fiction and what is visionary. I read the first book, Don Juan, while still in college and looked forward to every book thereafter. Every book had the strange ability to "zonk" me - to dump me into a sleepy somnolent state that was a cross between some trance state and a deep sleep. I think Carlos was the closest we have in the West to a mythmaker, a dreamweaver. Starting in 1993 Casteneda and other members of his party became slightly more public - Abelar and Donner gave bookstore lectures, later they and others (and even CC, on a couple of occasions) gave workshops on CC's "Tensegrity" system of body movements. Although CC kept referring to Don Juan, it seemed more and more as though he was speaking for himself as well; the student had become the teacher. In that sense the "Don Juan Mythos" embodied in the various books (Ixtlan, Power of Silence, Art of Dreaming etc.) is finally and elegantly replaced by this final work of Carlos', the Wheel of Time, which is spare and abstract. This book has been criticized for largely being made up of select quotes and paraphrases from the "Mythos" but that is not true; each selection from the books has a lucid, poetical introduction in the best Castaneda tradition of spare but beautiful language, followed by a critical commentary or additional observations at the end of each selection. Carlos wanted to go out with a bang, and in this book he has, by creating, without any effort or intent to do so, a book as compelling for modern westerners as the Tao Teh Ching must have been for Chinese when Lao Tse first recorded his thoughts.
8 The Gems Are Here
If you're looking to get right the heart of Carlos Castaneda, here it is! Here are the gems! So many wise sayings! So much stirring of the thought. This book was particularly helpful for me in writing my own book about the warrior archetype. I am very grateful.
9 Comment on 'The Wheel of Time'
This book sums up Carlos' lessons in an easy guide to remember
10 A Collection of Excerpts
I was disappointed to see that this wasn't a new book, but only a collection of sayings from Castaneda's previous works - with a saying on each page. Nothing here that isn't in the previous books, only taken out of the dramatic narrative. Definintely not for those looking for the latest in the tales. Now I understand Carlos has "passed on" to where ever the heck he may have been headed, so we will not be hearing from him again except, I guess, from these post-mortem compilations.
11 Spinning the Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time was written for those individuals who have been caught up in the web of the Warriors way. By selecting these quotations in such a way, Carlos Castaneda deconstructed the rather numerous Shamanistic trickery associated with his teacher. In this way he insured that no one would be able to fall into the chaos which seems to inflict other travelers into the other side of things. The Wheel of Time was specifically written for practitioners with each quotation an expression of a particular problem which arises within the structure of this path. This book was not intended for speculation. It was intended as an avenue into the unknown which allows the warrior to remain free and unbroken.
12 More Carlos Castaneda In Swedish
please please please I like your books i Swedish. I have read 9 of them and I?m hungry for the rest. can you help me some way.
Ir?ne ps. Castaneda is my bible number1
13 More Carlos Castaneda In Swedish
please please please I like your books i Swedish. I have read 9 of them and I'm hungry for the rest. can you help me some way.
IrŽne ps. Castaneda is my bible number1
14 Is it fact or fiction ?
Is it fact or fiction ?. Alot of paper has been wasted in trying to answer this question. Personally, I think Castaneda's books should be read as fiction, because only then are they effective in planting a seed of doubt in the mind of the reader. A doubt that may be, just may be, there is more to life than what we experience through the five senses. Erasing personal history, losing self importance, using death as an adviser and other relevant terms are just empty words to the casual reader, but to someone treading a path with a heart they mean alot. What they mean cannot be articulated, but can only be experienced. Castaneda has written beautiful books and this one is my favourite.
15 A book of quotations from C's stupendous works
A must for any Castaneda follower. Each set off on a page of it's own, powerful quotations from each of his eight previous works. The Cream of the Cream.
