The tacit palm of the strangest and most mysterious writer of the 20th century rightfully belongs to Carlos Castaneda. In order to understand why he deserved such a right, you need to get acquainted not only with his works, but also with information about his life. First of all, the book "Don Juan" can contribute to this. Castaneda opens the veil of secrecy in her over her life.
Biography: facts and conjectures
The figure of one of the mystical writers of the earth is shrouded in a veil of legends and fiction. Fictional and genuine facts are so intertwined that they are very difficult to separate. There is not even reliable information about the place of his birth. According to one version, he was born on December 25, 1925 in the Peruvian city of Cajamarca. Another says that he was born a few years later, in 1931. Place of birth also changed to Brazil. Castaneda was very fond of inventing the facts of his biography, and this also applied to information about his parents.
His parents were very young: his mother was barely 15, and his father was only two years older. Being children themselves, they could not raise a child. The upbringing of little Carlos was done by grandparents. Parents later took their son, but not for long. Mother died early and relatives took the boy again. After graduating from school, he studied as a sculptor, but, not having achieved great success, changed his field of activity. He worked as a taxi driver, wrote poetry, and sold alcohol.
In 1951 he emigrated to the United States and entered the University of California at the course of anthropology. People who knew Carlos closely spoke of him as a good friend and master of hoaxes. More or less reliable information about the life of Castaneda can be taken from his books. It is good that there are photographs, although this person did not like to be shot.
Was there a favorite family?
Margaret Ranyan was his wife, at least that is what she herself says in her book of memoirs about her husband. Castaneda himself claimed that he had never been married. From the book we can learn that the couple divorced, having lived only six months together, although they did not part before the death of Carlos.
It was hard to say whether Castaneda had children. What is true and what is not, apparently, we will never know. In any case, there is one young man named Adrian Vashon, who believes that his father is Carlos Castaneda.
Is Don Juan a fictional character or a real person?
In 1960, an event occurred in the life of the writer that changed not only his life, but also the lives of many people on earth. A university student, who came to Mexico for diploma materials, met an Indian named Don Juan, and the world around him changed beyond recognition. Until now, people who are interested in his work, can not come to the same opinion.
Did this man really exist or was Castaneda inventing him? It is difficult to unequivocally answer this question. The name Juan is very common in Mexico, but the author in his work at first only talked about an Indian who agreed to teach him. The name began to be mentioned much later.
The shaman, whose ancestors were real magicians - that is what don Juan was. Castaneda possessed the main quality necessary for teaching ancient magic - the desire to avoid any conventions. Seeing him as a good student, the Indian 13 years old passed on to him the secrets of ancient magic. The most important thought that don Juan Carlos inspired was that the magician should be able to erase any information about himself. The student easily coped with this.
Don Juan
Castaneda wrote books about how he was introduced to the world of magic, in the form of conversational notes. They have gained popularity all over the world. The first book was titled Don Juan's Teachings: The Way of Knowledge of the Yaki Indians, which was published in 1968.
After her release, a huge number of tourists and students of Carlos Castaneda went to Mexico in search of don Juan. But the search was unsuccessful. Even if don Juan existed in reality, it would hardly have been possible for anyone to find it.
List of writer books
Only three times did the book Teachings of don Juan correspond. Castaneda Carlos wrote the second three years later, and the third - a year later. After its release, the author was awarded the degree of candidate of sciences.
There was no free space at his lectures, those who wished to get acquainted with ancient magic did not fit into the audience. Producers actively asked to sell the rights to the film adaptation of books. But Carlos did not agree, explaining this by the fact that he does not represent a single acting actor playing the role of don Juan.
Over the next years, six more books were written, nine in total. The third and fourth reveal the philosophy of doctrine, and the rest complement it.
Reader Reviews
Admirers of the writer's work say that it does not matter to them whether Don Juan really existed. Castaneda is either a great anthropologist who carefully studied and described the magical world of the Indians, or a great writer who created a vivid figure in literature. In any case, he is a brilliant man who lived in the 20th century, and is worthy of being studied.
The books of Castaneda can be re-read more than once and always find something new.
Many readers call books about the teaching of don Juan a balm for the soul. They answer the philosophical questions that every person, at least once in a lifetime, asks himself. These are truly great books that open the curtain of the world.
The main life principles of don Juan
Castaneda could not immediately understand and accept the proposed philosophy. Its main principles are:
1. Always act decisively.
2. A person must be able to change throughout his life.
3. If you have failed to do something, you do not need to explain the reasons for the failure to others.
4. Do not be angry with people, it is justified only when a person is dear to you.
5. If what you do is not pleasant to you, you can always begin to do something else.
6. You do not like what you receive, think about what you give, and change it.
7. Remember that any of your actions or actions may be the last thing you do in this life.
8. Every person at any moment of his life can throw out from his life that which prevents him from moving on.
9. Unhappy or strong, we make ourselves only ourselves. The most interesting thing is that in both cases, the forces are equally spent on it.
10. The wisest counselor is death. If everything seems to go wrong in your life, ask her about it.
Smart student
The teachings of don Juan had a great impact on the young man. Carlos Castaneda, in order to understand the magic of ancient shamans, learned to do the following things:
1. Meditate to expand the boundaries of your consciousness. The wider they are, the more boundless is the world that you perceive.
2. To release people or memories that do not allow you to move on and have an inhibitory effect on the person.
3. In order to destroy the existing framework for perceiving the world, Castaneda for some time took herbal psychotropic drugs. True, in his books he constantly talked about the fact that in order to learn how to control his consciousness and change it, additional funds should not be used. There are other methods for this, which are described in his works.
4. Analyze your personality and decompose it into components: strengths of character, your mood and your desires. Also, learn to remove all unnecessary things that prevent you from moving towards your goals.
5. Turn off your "internal dialogue" in order to learn how to effectively use the capabilities of your brain. There is one exercise that helps a lot. Concentrate your attention on the second hand of the watch and watch it for 30 seconds.
6. Learn to be in harmony with the world and your goals.
7. Learn to do all their actions and actions, guided by the dictates of the heart. It means doing only that which causes ease and joy.
The difficulty of learning, as Castaneda argued, was to learn how to perceive the world around us with the whole body, and not just the eyes and mind.
The phenomenon of life and death
Apprenticeship with Don Juan greatly changed Castaneda. He began to say that he wanted to die as his teacher - "burn from the inside." One of the legends about his death says that he did not die, but disappeared into the air. The official version says that Carlos died on April 27, 1998 from liver cancer. His body was cremated, and the ashes, according to the will, were sent to Mexico.
There are many books that significantly change the worldview, one of which stands out especially - "The Teachings of don Juan." Carlos Castaneda and after death continues to cause incessant disputes about himself and his works. Probably, it’s no longer worth trying to understand what is true in them, and what is fiction, the main thing is different. Your view of the world, of your attitude to yourself is changing, and this is an indicator of good literature that needs to be read.