Letters to the Editor
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filling a mythos void
When I was in high school, and me and my friends began experimenting with various drugs (largely pot and beer when it came down to it, with some acid and mushrooms sprinkled in) most of the information we had was either mindlessly hysterical propaganda condemning all recreational drug use (while hypocritically not condemning alcohol), or mildly helpful in a clinically informational manner.
Then Castaneda shows up with this brilliant mythology. The unpredictable Promethian coyote trickster. No wonder he was popular! And even though I gave up all the drugs years ago, I can't give up the idea that the Castaneda books filled a gap in the mythos of our culture, giving us a more satisfying rationale for psychedelic exploration than just wanting to party. (Ram Das did the same thing in "Be Here Now," only with more integrity).
No doubt, the Castaneda books were centered around a fascination with power, ultimately a dark obsession. They never broke through to the profundity of compassionate giving.
On the other hand, our culture could stand a bit more in the way of exploring irrational, dreamlike states, the creative non-conformist consciousness. (though perhaps ironically, I think the West is ahead of the East in this regard)...
There is so much focus on the materialistic, and a need for an intimate experience of something greater than the world we see and hear.
I no longer believe drugs are necessary to reach that place, but it's easy to see why people try to get there that way, and never really reach it because they know they're looking for something, only they're not sure what.
We know that part of the story is missing, but what is it?
Coelho looks similar on the surface (e.g. "The Alchemist") but just not the same.
That's void we could really use a mythos to fill -- which I think is why people hesitate to condemn Castaneda. Whatever else you can say about him, he took a step in the right direction.