Letters to the Editor
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The dangers of irrationality
This is exactly why I have a problem with any religion, not just Christianity, and not because they're 'oppressive' or 'narrow-minded', but because they are simply not true. These were people who were too hip and avant-garde to settle for one of the boring organized religions, but were too weak to shake off that idiotic mantra of "there MUST be something more out there". Rational atheism, belief in a scientific phyiscal world just weren't hip enough for them, just like they aren't today for many new-age liberals who prattle on about Buddhism and yoga. But what these kinds of cults and the fundamentalist factions of more mainstream religions both demonstrate is the danger of relinquishing rationalism and the scientific worldview. Once you've opened the door to mystical mumbo-jumbo and 'faith', anything goes.
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Born yesterday
I find the 'investigative' tone of this article odd. Was the writer born yesterday? The wonderment with which classic brainwashing and cult techniques are described suggests it hasn't all been done, and documented, a thousand times before. Cutting off from your family and old life, having sex with the leader, intense competition and strife fostered among the followers as they compete for the fickle favour of the leader ... this is all as old as the hills.
There will always be people who want to give up responsibility for their own lives and cede it to another. Fortunately for these people there will always be those willing to take the job of 'glorious leader' on.
All I can think of to change this is to have cults and cult techniques studied in school, along with the other hallmarks of any abusive relationship. eg inconsistent reinforcement. Then, hopefully, people will at least be aware of what they're doing and what's in it for everyone when they willingly allow themselves to be exploited like this.
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In High School 1969-1973
I was a teenager and twenty-something during some pretty intense years. From Woodstock to Manson to Altamont to Kent State... SDS, SLA, Panthers, Leary, Alcatraz, Attica.. oy.
Anyhoo.. I tried to read Castaneda and was bored nearly to tears. There were a few friends I couldn't admit this to because it would have been uncool, man. But to most other friends.. we just cracked up. We were like "Um, ok. Eat some shrooms and you will see some old Mexican guy do a backflip or something. Whatever. Let's go over to my house and listen to some Led Zep."
I also tried valiantly to get into Hermann Hesse and Kahlil Gibran because it was supposed to make me into a senstive, open-minded, spiritual- yet-knowing intellectual. In the end, it turned out the people who turned me on to these "spiritual" writers were just trying to get into my pants.
Thank God Monty Python made it to America in 1974.
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Godfather? From "Time".
I am a professional storyteller and folklorist. I came of age in the 60's and was deeply influenced by Castaneda's writings. Two points.
1) I once attended a regional storytelling conference in which the keynote speaker's talk was "storytelling from the transcendent realm." The point? A story does not have to be "factual" to be powerful or carry truths. Case in point. The last verses of the book of Mark, now acknowledged by scholars to have been added for theological purposes. Look at the power they have carried for centuries.
Initially I believed Don Juan was real. The gripping force of Castaneda's narrative, combined with a tapping into a Jungian sense of mystical archetype had an amazing hold. "Tales of Power" is a great book, one that was transformative on many levels. The leap at the end, for example, carried with it a core truth of the nature of surrender. "Having to Believe" is echoed in many of the inner teachings of "The Course in MIracles". It was only when I read "The Eagle's Gift" and the sequel, did I realize it wasn't real, that the author had gone too far and spent his vision. Did that detract from the impact and fascination this author brought into my life? Where is the line between an artist's public contribution and his or her private demons? There is much to raise concern, for example, in the behavior of Trungpa Rimpoche, but there is little doubt that "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" is a work of brilliance. So in this sense I benefited from him, because he was part of a wave of energy and consciousness that emerged at the time and is still moving strongly in society.
2) Because "Time" conferred this title (Godfather of the New Age) on him, is this really true? This type of thinking betrays an ignorance of how historical movements arise. I applaud Mr. Marshall's research and what he is adding to our comprehension of this secretive man and his times. But I am increasingly concerned with Salon's overly materialistic approach to mystical subjects. At the time of Castaneda one was overwhelmed with information and energy, from Watts, to Hesse, to Yogananda to the Beatles. The issue of consciousness was everywhere. To ascribe the "birthing" of that energy to one person is ludicrous.
One could argue that people might be easy prey for a con artist. True enough. There are many in all forms. Richard Dawkins in his "religion" of atheism can be seen as pernicious in his ignorance in the inability to differentiate religion from spirituality. And as one who has studied the development of Christianity extensively from an alternative lens and personal history, I would argue that the Atonement Theology and deification of Jesus that is at the core of the religion is perhaps the greatest and most misguided perception of Divinity ever perpetrated on humanity. Built by authors who were knowingly and self consciously mythmakers.
A fine piece of investigative journalism. None of the above excuses Castaneda's excesses. Marred, however,by some fundamental misconceptions and assumptions about the time and the nature of story.
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What Wordsmith's You are
Author and letterwriters--what amazing Wordsmith's!!! So impossible for a mystery like this to be true--Partin was My cousin.She was half Cherokee Indian,as am I.I made the"LEAP" IN 1972.Yet I write this letter??????????