hah carlos castaneda made all that shit up..Don Juan was not a real person..he was a character that he made up..I read all of his books..more than once..and then studied other stuff on him from the online videos to other authors citiques of his works...

Castandea very possibly may have taken peyote and datura with native american sorcerors..but there is no evidence that Don Juan existed..and apparently castaneda had even admitted to his friend before his death that he made it all up..If anything Don Juan was a conglomerate of diff people he worked with..

There are other parts to the books that dont add up either..one of those is the "little smoke", that he claims to be a smoking mix based on powdered psilocybe mushrooms..many many many people have attempted to make it, smoke the mushrooms etc..never works..psilocybin and psilocin are NOT smokeable..and there is NO evidence of the mushrooms used this way..

Later on, after the books made him a celebrity, Castaneda started a very shady sort of cult where he surrounded himslef with gullable followers and admiring women..he seemed to be an ego stroker to me..

His books had an impact on me when i was like 21 or so 5 years back..but since then I have changed my opinion on his character and credability.


If you want the REAL deal..go read Wizard of the Upper Amazon by a man named Manual Cordova..this guy was kidnapped by amazonians way back in the early days of rubber tapping at 15 years old..fed ayahuasca over and over, became prob one of the first ever white "curranderos" and even the tribes chief before he resurfaced back into mainstream Peru..its a good story,and all true.

http://books.google.ca/b...epage&q=&f=false

He was also abusive.
Thanks Fractal :]
My friend did his entire thesis on him in college, so I learned a lot from him.
Thank you so much for the link!

Hey thanks Fractal. I actually forgot to edit my post but I did some research after reading that other post and found out some interesting things. For one Carlos's library cards showed he was in the library on dates he was supposably in Don Juan's hut. Another is when he claimed he was doing the peyote ceremony he was actually in the library and was reading a book on peyote ceremonies. His library stack cards prove it all


Im going to buy that other book Friday!

One thing I had to do was quit watching/reading the news (alternative news). It served its purpose in that it made me aware to a point, but I feel sick some days, assaulted, and polluted, when I want to log in to check my email and there's all this bullshit about the state of the dying world and rotten politicians and billions of people who are either suffering or don't care at all.

It brings nothing constructive to my mind...

So (through the guidance, courage, and inspiration of the molecule), I am ever in a process of changing my life to be the antithesis of all the problems.

WAR OIL DEATH BOMBING APOCALYPSE BLAH BLAH BLAH... I've radically rearranged my life so I can sell my car.

OBESITY SICKNESS CANCER DEATH PLAGUE BLAH BLAH BLAH... I can pay the bills making people organic green juice, generating the energy I need to support myself only through protecting the environment and healing/non-harming others.

INDIFFERENCE DEPRESSION SUICIDE LONELINESS BLAH BLAH BLAH... I can treat every person I meet with love, compassion, and respect.

Since I have fully broken through and accepted a lifestyle where, to maintain sanity, I mustn't care what others think of me, I have the power to take that, run with it, and see how far it will go. I've made a new rule to myself to play my guitar publically and sing at least once a week. I'm moving deep into the city very soon, and I would love to do it in subway stations, for example. Think about how stressed out people are all the time, out of the moment, letting all those poisonous words typed above plus much more plague their minds... Who has the guts to break the silence, the trance of darkness?

Does it take a slight streak of insanity to do that? Absolutely.
But how much more insane is it to march through days blindly, staring at the ground, socially and emotionally disconnected from most of the species in a densely populated area? There is no sense of community... No sense that we are all here together, it feels more like a fight to do whatever is needed to keep ONEself alive...

Anyway, my point is, in the face of bullshit, be the antithesis. Be a creative, innovative, loving antithesis. As long as you are alive, you possess the creative power to one-up any kind of demon that comes your way. Wherever you see psychic garbage, compost and recycle. Psychedelics, especially DMT, IMHO, are literally the source of fuel for my inspiration to actively live in a way where I can still feel okay about the state of the world... to find the guts to forge that path. (I used to be terrified of the notion of public transit, for example.)

When I first realized I was weird, I felt really weird about it, and this resulted in an awkward shift of personal relationships. Old friends falling away, freaked out boyfriends, strange relationships with family. When I stopped doubting and started embracing my new perspective, I blossomed and now have the most positive social reception everywhere I go. People thank me for listening, for smiling, for sharing, for rocking out. It's cool...

Constructive craziness??

mechanistic view of the universe has some fundemental failings, I can't remember them, and as such I decided that it simply wasn't good enough for me.



I'd say for you, its not your psychedelic usage, its deeper than that, its who you are. if you can accept that, warts and all, then you'll feel great. accept it first, then change it.

whats the problem with being smart anyway? whats the problem with defending your ideas? people do this all the time. stop beating yourself up, man. over the next few months you can make a gradual effort to segregate yourself from society less. It sounds to me like you see yourself like as a genius type. Well, that's great, but remember its only a character and that character has advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantages? mental stress, depression, feeling that others are stupid, feeling misunderstood, feeling isolated. beleive me, i've been there, I know this all very well!

Psychedelics are great agents for change, It works both ways though, I think.

I suffered from the malady of 'non-standard thinking' long before I tried hallucinogens. Embrace it! It's your salvation!