The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda

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.

I had not thought about Carlos Castaneda for decades. In my mind he was connected with my distant past when I was just beginning to search for new answers to old questions. So I was very surprised when I found that Mr. Patterson had written a book about him. As I am interested in G.I. Gurdjieff, I have read all of Patterson's other books and wondered why he would be writing about Castaneda. I had not suspected that there was any similarity between Gurdjieff's teaching and Castaneda's teaching - if it can really be called that. Patterson lays out the connections with clarity and insight. What I had not realized when I first read Castaneda's books - being intrigued by the sorcery and drugs - was that the sacred was missing. As Patterson states it, there is no "spiritual appreciation and valuation of the scale of Being and the duty to serve and offer 'help for God,' as Gurdjieff says." The other surprise for me was Castaneda's connection with Anais Nin.

This book was my introduction to Carlos Castaneda. Of course, I had heard of him, and seen his books, but I'd never read any. So I thought this might give me some insight into what I was or wasn't missing. And this book did not disappoint. Castaneda is an enigmatic and contradictory figure, and his inconsistencies are put before us along with the energy and intensity of his work. Such a complicated and influential figure deserves the kind of treatment he received in this book, an untainted window into his life, and an opportunity to draw our own conclusions. It struck me as an intelligent book written for an intelligent reader.

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.

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.