Product Description

The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda demystifies what Castaneda sought to hide and delivers a detailed portrait of an enigmatic, driven seeker that passes beyond mere description to the very assemblage point of Carlos Castaneda. It is the first book published since Castaneda's death in 1998 to assess the meaning of his life both as a person and a Nagual, and, more importantly, to examine his ideas and their unrecognized primary source.
Drawing on an original reading of texts and research, as well as his thirty years study and practice of esotericism, William Patrick Patterson uncovers the underlying threads that weave themselves like snakes through the fledgling Peruvian anthropologist's life, ones which led him to forsake his European intellectual membership for that of the dark world of sorcery and "break the human mold" to become a Nagual. Explored, too, are the questions of who don Juan really was and what actually happened with the jump into the abyss. The main ideas salted throughout Castaneda's ten major books are succinctly summarized and then compared idea-for-idea with those of an ancient, esoteric teaching to show how Castaneda disguised his source by giving the ideas a sorceric twist. Carlos Castaneda's books, particularly his early ones, showed a great narrative gift, often poetic, verging on the archetypal. His descriptions of his sorceric relationship with don Juan touched the hearts and minds of millions of readers. Patterson does justice to this and Castaneda's seriousness, intent and courage, but he also depicts Castaneda's descent in which he, the arch trickster, tricked himself into believing that the inner silence and attention of the Nagual had emptied him of his person.
Self-blinded to his ambivalence toward women, fear of men and need for total power, Castaneda sought to control all aspects of his students lives, creating a rigid hierarchy, cultivating jealousies and secrecy and playing sexual power games, all in the name of breaking the human mold which would free them to travel to inorganic worlds. When Castaneda's death, the so-called trigger event, occurred, three of the four witches disappeared, the remains of one only recently found in Death Valley. The other two are assumed to have also committed suicide. There is much to be learned from the many aspects and phases of Castaneda's life that every sincere seeker could long ponder.
Hardcover, chronology, notes, index, appendices.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #358615 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 290 pages

Review
A must read for anyone who has followed Carlos on his extraordinary journey. The way William Patrick Patterson expounds on Carlos' teachings is astounding! --Margaret Runyan, author, A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda

Although inclined to skepticism about Castaneda, I found myself reading The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda with total fascination. As it tells just about everything, I imagine this will be the definitive book on Castaneda. --Colin Wilson, author, The Outsider and The Occult

This is the most brilliant and insightful rendering to date of the 'Ultimate Impeccable Warrior,' Carlos Castaneda, my father. --C.J. Castaneda

Customer Reviews

Giving Context to Castaneda---man and Nagual
The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda

Before Patterson's book, Castaneda appeared an elusive figure, almost larger than or beyond life. There were so many questions: Who really was Castaneda? Don Juan? The witches? But now Patterson has masterfully unearthed the details that make up the "man" and the "Nagual." Having a background in Gurdjieff's teaching of the Fourth Way, I found Patterson's fact-findings of Castaneda's contact with Lord John Pentland, the leader of the Gurdjieff Work in America (appointed by Gurdjieff himself), fascinating and revealing. It is astounding to read the long list of Castaneda idea-methods compared to Gurdjieff's teaching ideas. This was a connection I never knew about yet wondered whether Castaneda had learned it all from don Juan. No doubt, being well-read and having had contact with Lord Pentland, Castaneda reformulated these same ideas into his magical-Nagualist language.

The captivation for so many of us, for the "non-ordinary reality" that Castaneda speaks about--in denial of our "ordinary reality,"--may have perhaps thrown a veil over the whole Castaneda phenomenon. Patterson, who one gets the sense holds a deep respect for Castaneda, takes the details of the "ordinary reality" of his life and removes that veil by providing an entirely new perspective. He considers the whole of the man's life whose parts are interconnected as well as sources for motivating factors. For example: How did his experience with his parents manifest later in his life? His relationship to women? What was the heavy guilt he carried and tried to write about before he died?

Also included in the book is the full research paper by Dr. Daniel Brinton, M.D., on the origin of Nagualism. ...This is a fascinating book which for the first time has given context to Castaneda-- "man" and "Nagual," --as well as opened many questions.

A New Look at Castaneda's Life and His Work
Who was Carlos Castaneda? Who was the man that wrote a famed work entitled "The Teaching of Don Juan," and where did the ideas and sources in this work came from? Who was Don Juan Matus, and was he real or fictional? The research into these questions and a look into Castaneda's life has been brought to light by the author, William Patrick Patterson, in his latest book.

"The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda" is simply a new profound perspective of the life of Castaneda and his work. It is a book that cannot be put down, and it was read with such enthrall. It consisted of nine chapters in addition of a chronology of Castaneda's life. This book also included an essay of Daniel Brinton's "Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folklore and History," which is an interesting read.

There was the one thing that stood out, to me, was Patterson's discovery of such a remarkable connection between G.I. Gurdjieff's teachings and that of Castaneda's. From this book, there is a chapter entitled "Ideas And Sources," which shortly revealed that mentioned connection, and the author has showed a list of the similarities in ideas between the two profound teachings. While there is such difference between the two men's works, both of them "aim to awaken one from the dream of ordinary life" (p. 91). It was a possibly before having read this book that Castaneda may have derived from Gurdjieff's teachings and reformulated it to some extent from a "sorcery" perspective in his books. It was rather interesting to see that there are very strong connections between the two teachings.

This is a book about a man who journeyed on a perilous road and who shared with the world about his experiences and his interactions with varies of unique individuals. It is a book about Carlos Castaneda, a man of mystery whose famous sorceric stories has enthralled the mind of the modern people for forty years.

Personally, I have found this book to be quite intriguing and an eye-opening read as the author's writing style was very enjoyable. It is certainly to be recommended.

Castaneda Unveiled
Carlos Castaneda was always a man shrouded in uncertainty and mystery. Many people, including myself, who read his writings, were both intrigued and titillated by the steady stream of books in which he presented his work within the Sorceric tradition. His books were awaited in much the same way a new Beatles album was, with great anticipation and hope for revelation. What Castaneda had begun as an anthropological study for a college degree ended with Castaneda as the Nagual who opened this secret world to those who wished to explore it, at first from a distance though later directly.

Patterson traces Castaneda's path historically, while doing this Patterson vividly describes a little known cast of female participants that fell within Castaneda's influence and it must be said at times under his control and sexual domination. Patterson also writes of Castaneda from a new and different view point, of seeing the teaching Castaneda brought at first in books and later in his direct teaching from a Gurdjieffian / Fourth Way perspective. Patterson deftly lays out the case that, at the least Castaneda was influenced by G. I. Gurdjieff's teaching, known as the Fourth Way. In this book there is a sense that Castaneda did come to something but as can happen he came to it in a way that damaged him physically and psychologically leaving him ungrounded, with a wrecked body but with power.

This was a fascinating book and I would highly recommend it. It is a must read for those who have an interest in Castaneda and what he brought but also for those who wish to see one example of how the teaching that Gurdjieff brought to the West has influenced many of the "spiritual teachers" of the late 20th century. This teaching as I am sure Gurdjieff must have foreseen has been picked over by many but understood by few.