The meaning of the word "indulge" is very complex and confusing. To explain it, requires a lot of knowledge. We are much more familiar with medieval indulgence, familiar from history, which meant “condescension,” when a person can atone for his money, without repentance, atone for his past, present and future sins. However, "indulging" is something else.
The personality of Carlos Castaneda
Carlos Castaneda is a person of Hispanic descent who deliberately obscures personal information about himself. He introduced the word “indulge” into modern language, the meaning of which we will analyze below. Castaneda has mythologized his life to such an extent that we do not know when and where he was born, what he did before moving to the United States in 1951. At the University of California, he received a bachelor's degree in anthropology and managed to get a grant for himself to visit Central Mexico. The result was a book that was written under the influence of his Indian teacher, mage and shaman don Juan. It was published as a novel, which became a bestseller and brought the author a lot of money.
Reasons for popularity
In Western countries, where everyone rummages in his own consciousness and subconscious mind and is used to visiting psychotherapists and psychiatrists, Castaneda’s research was highly appreciated. He became a Ph.D. and professor of his Alma mater. For a rational, healthy consciousness, which was brought up on Russian philosophical thought, all this seems nonsense, for he knew the “highest revelation”, which he willingly shared with everyone in his subsequent works.
In total, there were ten of them. They propose to abandon the usual perception of the world, perform ritual actions, take herbal drugs. This is the path of true knowledge that Castaneda offers on the basis of the “knowledge” of his teacher, but he could not show its authenticity to anyone. The hoaxer died quite casually in 1998. He had liver cancer, and in recent years he has given up not only drugs, alcohol, smoking, but also tea and coffee.
Esoteric world
Entering the precarious region of mysticism and esotericism, we first of all pay attention to what he understood, and whether he really understood what he wrote about, about the word "indulge." This means letting you feel sorry for yourself. In fact, there is a strong impression that this is just a collection of words. How can one not regret oneself if a close and dear person has died? And here, then, you should not notice this real grief, but you need to indulge. This is blasphemous.
What develops the spirit
The West is looking for "spirituality" in all mystical teachings: cardboard and popular exported Krishnaism, Zen Buddhism, which is wildly popular, finally, in the teachings of Castaneda, where to indulge is to weaken your will and to allow your desires to be condoned.
A worthy adult has long since parted with his whims without the teachings of Castaneda. He lives by the principle that freedom is a conscious necessity. Within this framework, which life itself has set, it acts: it studies, works, marries or remains single, has children or does not have children, not considering itself financially or morally ready for them. So the life of an ordinary, normal, not under the influence of drugs person flows. He enjoys the sun and good warm weather in the summer and light frost in the winter, blooming tulips in the spring, a bright bunch of mountain ash in the fall, a cozy corner on the sofa in the evening with a book or in front of the TV. Does he condone himself? We believe not. It simply satisfies the natural human needs.
Adequate assessment of the situation
According to the teachings of Castaneda, a person himself, without his help, is not able to assess the situation in which he is. This refers to stress.
Everything must be looked at through the eyes of the "prophet," and everything will fall into place. Suppose that a person was fired from work, and he naturally worries, pity himself and rushes about in search of a new field of activity, or, conversely, dropped his hands and went into sleep for a while. According to Castaneda, this should not be allowed, although it is very human. After all, it is a living organism, not an indifferent robot. The poor thing does not need to know what it means to "indulge." This will only confuse him even more. It was not Castaneda who came to his aid, but the old Russian proverb: "everything that is done is for the better." It will take some time, which, as you know, heals everything, a person will systematically and purposefully engage in the search. His
internal resources will come to the rescue
, which he did not even think about, as well as, possibly, friends, if a person is inclined to accept their help. In this case, a person does not indulge himself, but, on the contrary, stands on the verge of a healthy, reasonable choice.
We examined what it means to “indulge” and whether this concept is applicable in Russia.