Lothar, where to begin?
It has been said that the best arguments are question begging, i.e., circular. Indeed, the symbol of the serpent that devours itself is an old and powerful image run rife in our minds: the circle, the cycles,...and I always enjoy a slice of pi!
That said, it is obvious that you have strong feelings about all this, it shows through the passion in your posts, Lothar; however, I think that there is definitely a large difference between a Tom Hanks movie, and the writings of Castenada! Of course, the quote needs to be placed in the context of C's writing, and when that is done, it does take on an appropriate air of profoundness which sums up part of the merits of C's work. We have seen, over in the Magick, a couple of threads that share a similar touchstone: Antlerhead's "Chaos Butterfly" deals, in part, with the notion of 'intent' and the thread by theremb (grammar and spelling aside), "thought of magic/shamanism" (now on page three) seems to capture the basic idea behind the quote: the magickal practitioner needs no more than his or her own will and imagination.
Along these lines, you make a very apt analysis with your programmer and doctor examples. Both those lines are as "great" as the line I quoted. All three reflect the Zen-like quality of being in the moment, of doing the work for the works sake, in relating to the reality at hand as an end and not a means. There is a wonderful and beautiful simplicity in all three that has little, if anything at all, to do with "stupid is as stupid does." The former are words of wisdom viz. an intimate connection to immediacy, the latter, I believe, do not reflect much more than an empty-headed script.
As for, "...the inscrutable teacher who continually confuses and mystifies the student by not speaking plainly or directly until finally the student becomes 'enlightened' and 'gets it'," this is a method that has been used in many ways by many different teachers of wisdom. Gurdjieff employed this method (and it’s interesting to note that a thread about him has popped up in the Magick, but then again, I find that this board often aligns itself to the "Cosmic Switchboard," or Synchronicity Central). It is a way, I think, that the alleged master gets results from his or her students: take away any power and authority the pupil has until he or she comes to recognize that it was their own power and authority invested in the instructor all along. If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the themes in Joderowsky’s "The Holy Mountain." That said, I do not think it is the only way to instruct, but merely a way that seems to work in some cases for some people. It becomes heinous when the "teacher" refuses to let go of the reigns, or the "student" fails to recognize that it’s been his or her doing all along.
All this said, I think Castenada is at least worth a look, and it is always up to the reader to "...separate some of the wheat from the chaff." In this sense, Ground Zero ought to be the one, at omega, who decides for hir own self what to think (indeed, this is all I ask of anyone). Besides, the fact/fiction debate about Don Juan only serves to empower the narrative even more: like the same debate wrt Jesus serves to enhance the faith of the Xtian. However, I do agree that if C did simply rip people off then he needs to be accountable for doing so. But, given the books' initial wide-spread popularity, i.e., exposure, had C’s tales only been hacked together plagiarism and dreamt up fiction, then they would not have survived this far with the reputation they carry; moreover, surely someone would have been able to, by now, conclusively show him for the rat that he is "alleged" to be.
Trying to touch all the filaments at once,
69 + 1 = 0 (mod 5) |
) Michael Harner said something along the lines of "Carlos' info is 110% valid whether any off it actually happened or not" and I also tend to agree this.