A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

While still in my transitional phases of "What Is Truth?" I was searching for a shorter path to God. Christianity was too filled with religious zealots, all pointing out what each other was doing wrong in their beliefs. The Catholics were sure they had a lock on the one true path. Protestants were all sure that Catholics were spreading lies and leading their followers straight to hell. A view point that was shared by the Ku Klux Klan! And all three were sure the Jews were the killers of their savior. A fallacy, instigated by the Nazis!!! I hadn't yet learned of all the different types of Protestantisms. But I was sure that I wanted no part of any of those.

Then I found a new book, by an unknown author. It was:
"The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge." By Carlos Castaneda. It was published by the University of California Press in 1968 as a work of anthropology. And on the Binding edge of the dust jacket it read "Non-Fiction."
It was submitted by Carlos Castaneda as his master’s thesis in the school of anthropology. It reportedly documents the events that took place during an apprenticeship he claimed to have served with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, named don Juan Matus, between 1960 and 1965.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section, The Teachings, is a first person narrative that documents Castaneda's initial interactions with don Juan.
The second, was a Structural Analysis, by Castaneda to disclose the internal cohesion and the cogency of don Juan’s Teachings.
don Juan tells Carlos that he is a brujo (Spanish for sorcerer or witch), a sort of healer, sorcerer or shaman, who had inherited (through a lineage of teachers) an ancient Mesoamerican practice for refining one's awareness of the universe. In the book, Don Juan was an expert in the cultivation and use of various psychotropic plants (specifically, psychedelic mushrooms, datura, and peyote) found in the Mexican deserts, which were used as aids to reach states of non-ordinary, or alternate reality in the philosophy he conveyed to Carlos.
In the book don Juan is unmarried, and presented as an old man of indigenous ancestry, with great strength and agility, who speaks excellent Spanish but had never been to college, and lived his entire life in poor conditions. Don Juan's philosophy might be summed up in a passage from Castaneda's book,
"For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly."
This was the fist book in a series that told more than a story of a man in search of truth. It gave step by step instructions of how to summon power. And which common plants could be used to "SEE" the lights that were at the center of every human and beast. And how to harness the powers in your dream state. Again in the quest for more personal power derived from the universe as it "Really Existed." Sort of like the way Luke Skywalker was taken into apprenticeship under the tutelage of Master Yoda and guiding him to the power of the force. Only this wasn't a Sci-Fi novel. It was 20 years ahead of Stephen Spielberg. And it was a Master's Thesis in Anthropology. SCIENCE!
The list of books in the series at that time included:
# The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968)
# A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan (1971)
# Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan (1972)
# Tales of Power (1974)
# The Second Ring of Power (1977)
It may have been a great story. But to me and a few close friends, it became a handbook!

WARNING! DANGER,WILL ROBINSON!

YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY FROM THOSE OF THE AUTHOR! AND MOST, IF NOT ALL OF THE PLANTS, LISTED IN THESE BOOKS, ARE HIGHLY TOXIC. AND MAY PROVE FATAL.

A statement that is only mentioned in passing in the original books. 
But there is another thing these books have in common with the "STAR WARS" story. There is a dark side. And this darkside (The Nagual) doesn't lure you. Or tempt you. It pursues you. And tries to consume you in an effort to strengthen its own power. And while I can neither recommend or condemn the reading of this or any other book. I will tell you this; If you follow the advice in these books, YOU may see God a lot sooner than you hoped. You may not be prepared for the meeting. But you will not arrive unexpected either.
Next time "Eastern Mysticism": Or "Everything You Though You Knew about Karma!"