TO LEARN FROM CASTANEDA
IN SPITE OF CASTANEDA.

 

By Victor Sanchez

Twenty years ago I began to work with the proposals contained in the books of Carlos Castaneda.  Almost ten years ago I wrote a book of exercises inspired by them.  Today, after the writings, the style, and the relationship of Castaneda to his readers have changed so much, new circumstances obligate me to refer once more, perhaps for the last time, to the Castaneda mystery.

 

When I wrote my book about Castaneda, it seemed to me very natural to give it the title of THE TEACHINGS OF DON CARLOS, Practical Applications of the works of Carlos Castaneda.  It was a recognition and homage to the work of an author who has had a great influence both, on my personal quest and on my professional career as a workshop leader. At that time, I wrote to Don Carlos to introduce my book and to ask him to write a prologue for it, which would help me to launch my first book in the publishing world. In that moment, it would have been impossible for me, to imagine that my dear author, besides not answering my letters, would react years later against my work, that had no pretensions other than developing practical ways of taking advantage of the proposals to which he had invited us through his books,  dealing with the pursuit of knowledge and freedom.

 

How to imagine the legendary Castaneda, apparently so far from the mundane and materialistic world, fighting with others over such banal matters as the intellectual property of cover design graphics?  How to imagine during those years that he would end up sending a host of lawyers against those authors[1] who, although they respected or even admired his work, dared to write or give conferences on the subject, expressing their own points of view?  How to imagine him, in the twilight of his life, founding highly lucrative enterprises that would fiercely compete in the marketplace of the new age workshops industry?

 

Well, that’s what ultimately happened.  Today, I am one of those accused by Castaneda, acting through a powerful law firm from Los Angeles. Live and learn.

 

I have been trying to avoid putting my energy and attention into this kind of stupid fight, and that's why I have not talk publicly about this before. Nevertheless, things have gone too far and I can no longer remain silent.  The harassment has begun to be somewhat uncomfortable, my freedom of speech and teach in the States is been threatened, and it has become necessary to do something to close this novel affair, which one way or another, it remains open.

 

I must be clear. For the last five years, I have been suffering from judicial harassment, false negative publicity, and direct personal attacks on the part of he who introduces himself as the last nagual in the lineage of don Juan. In this not absolutely clear how much of this campaign has been ordered personally by Castaneda and how much have come from the mind of his associates in the lucrative enterprises that make business using his name. 

 

For reasons beyond my understanding, they have been spreading for years, the fabrication that, with the sole purpose of making myself rich, I have been introducing myself as a disciple of Carlos Castaneda, and that I have been deceiving the people who have approached my work by pretending that he has directed or supported my work. 

 

Such pretension has existed only in their imagination, as anyone who has ever participated in my lectures or workshops or who has read my books with even a minimum of attention can attest.

 

At the beginning I thought: may be they are confused by the subtitle of my book, may be they didn't read it with attention enough, so I sent letters and even legal declarations to make my point clear. None of my clarifications and disclaimers, either public[2] or private[3], in which I stated again and again that I have never been interested in being anyone’s disciple, and that my relationship with Castaneda was that of a reader who became inspired by the books of an author for the developing of his own work, have amounted to anything. 

 

My encounters with him, and there have been several all of which had witnesses present, took place in the context of his public presentations, long time before the season of massive presentations which became common on the last years. As for the rest, one of the features of my work is a radical criticism of the attachment search for masters and the worship of the personality as a means for growth.

 

I tried regular mail, faxes, e-mail, and even explanations through the mass media. Apparently, none of these messages could enter into the may be tired ears, of the great New Age author. Strange thing. At hone hand, while there were other authors who strongly denounce Castaneda as a liar, in some cases with very convincing evidence[4], they didn't became a target in don Carlos lawsuits strategy. At the other hand, he dragged me into a California courtroom with the pretext that my publisher in the United States had used images on the cover of my first book (an eagle, the image of the desert, etc.) which, according to Castaneda and his lawyers, belong to him exclusively. Actually, my publisher's (Bear and Company) cover, which I didn't like that much, had some resemblance with some of the Castaneda's books covers. The absurdity of the situation is that authors do not usually participate in the design of the covers for their books. That's publishers work. Ant that's the way it happened in this case as well. Nevertheless, they included me in the lawsuit, arguing that I had conspired with the publisher to damage the business and reputation of Carlos Castaneda.

 

After negotiating with my publisher, Castaneda's attorney, signed a settlement agreement with Bear and Company for around eleven thousand dollars. What’s odd though is that, having settled with the person responsible for the cover, the lawsuit keep open against me, because they didn't include me in the settlement agreement, and nobody told me so. This way, Castaneda continued pursuing me, until he obtained, basing his arguments on technical details, a Court's judgement against me for more than one-hundred and eleven thousand dollars! 

 

The outline of the story is that I did not answer the charges brought against me soon enough, and when an attorney appear in behalf of me in the California Court, the judge thought it was too late, thus entering a default judgement against me, making me lose the case without giving my attorney the chance to present his arguments to show the obvious lack of merits in the case.

 

This way  Castaneda was about to add another hundred thousand dollars to his huge wallet, at Victor Sanchez's charge.  However, it is one thing for them to get the a judgement in their favor, and quite another for me to be able to pay him. Since, unlike him, I have no bank accounts, nor properties having a value that even begin to approach such a despicable sum.  That's why I am not that worry about this. Since I have not accumulated money, nor do I want to; it is the same to me whether I owe him one hundred thousand or one million. Advantages of the not rich people, I guess.

 

Believe it or not, he who was one of my favorite authors has turned into my largest creditor.

 

From Nagual to bill collector, weird thing!.

 

The story would be very funny if it weren’t so sad.

 

I must admit that for a long time I tried to avoid this absurd legal battle and find a sensible solution.  The truth is, however, that even today my life is not seriously altered, since Castaneda and Associates fight over things that to me are insignificant: reputation, markets, arrogance, and money.

 

Why has Castaneda felt so offended by my work to the point of persisting in his campaign of persecution year after year, using lawyers, sending spies to my workshops, or having associated agents to criticize me with ridiculous stories like that of the false disciple? May be we will never know the real reason. 

 

Sometimes I think my work must made him see a part of himself that he doesn’t like.  I can see no other reason for why such a great and famous author should trouble himself about the doings of another, much more modest one.  Like an elephant having a fit over the actions of a little ant.  For my part, I prefer to be a happy ant rather than an angry elephant, or a free cat rather than a caged tiger.  The advantage of being small I believe it’s called.

 

Finally, even though I don’t consider my own nature to be belligerent, I have had to accept the fact that, as an author, speaker, and workshops leader, I have acquired a responsibility for those who have become interested in my work. So, if ten years ago, I wrote a book in which I spoke of the many benefits I received by having read the works of Carlos Castaneda, today it is necessary to make a distinction and a public clarification. This is important because the title of my book "THE TEACHINGS OF DON CARLOS could be seen as an unrestricted praise for the work of an author who—admired years before—has changed much with the years, and with whom today I have more differences than coincidences.

 

I should say, for example, that I never had the intention in my work of following Castaneda’s footsteps, nor anyone else’s for that matter, since for walking, my own footsteps are quite enough.  I believe that to go through life following the footsteps of someone else, without regard to how big or small this someone else might be, always leads us to alienation, and is contrary to the most noble quest for a human being: freedom.

 

Let me say frankly that it was never my intention to copy or mechanically imitate Castaneda’s proposals.  I wished to improve upon them. The sorcerer’s apprentice had given me a seed.  It was my job to care for it; to make it grow and bear fruit.

 

From my point of view, these works, which are so fascinating and suggestive—at times very profound—suffered from one great lack: to present us with more practical and less obscure ways to approach the experience of knowledge. Readers were longing for specific procedures, that can be used within the context of everyday life, so the way of the warrior could become more than the search for the extraordinary for the sake of the extraordinary, or for abstract conceptual aberrations. We were wanting a living knowledge to be experienced in our own world, to discover anew the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary, and with this discovery, become better people in everything we do as we inhabit our lives, day to day.

 

I worked, studied, and experimented with the ideas presented by Castaneda. Inspired by the spirit of those books, I opened paths that allowed people to cross the parallel lines separating the world of fantastic tales from the world of daily life.  The challenge was to be able to make this quantum leap from one reality to another, without losing the magic of that other reality, but also without losing in the process one’s common sense, so necessary for inhabiting this reality.  To be able of giving ourselves passionately to the search for freedom without betraying what we love, that was, and continues to be, my challenge.

 

And it’s not that I was so original.  In reality, I believe that no one creates anything; rather, everything comes to us from something, or someone else, although for some people this is hard thing to admit.  They want to be God in the act of pure creation. In my own case for example, in order to deal with the Castanedian proposals, I leaned on myself in the experience or having been living with indigenous peoples, inheritors of the Toltec Traditions[5].  Aided by this experience, I developed methods and techniques that, far from the banal intention of pleasing or seeking Castaneda’s approval, served as a useful tool for people like me, people interested in making of these ideas something other than literary entertainment.

 

I believe that the results of twenty years of working with groups in the workshops, or in the people who have read my books worldwide and in all the positive changes achieved through this work, show that this effort has been worth the trouble.

 

This should be said plainly: The techniques contained in the book THE TEACHINGS OF DON CARLOS and those that I present in my workshops were developed by me, beginning, in many cases, with my practices of Castaneda’s proposals, or adaptations of my experiences among indigenous peoples of the toltec tradition.  I never attempted to imitate, but rather to improve upon the techniques so vaguely described in Castaneda’s books.  My work is not writing, but rather the search for practical tools for personal growth.

 

Finally, due to the fact that my name and Castaneda’s appear condemned to remain connected in the mind of the public, I should indicate some of the fundamental differences between the basic axioms of our respective work:

 

*As a member and heir of the Tradition of the historic Toltecs, I feel profoundly enamored with this world and this earth.  I believe that one must work daily to give something back for all those gifts we receive from her.  The idea of considering this world as a prison from which we must escape at all costs, seems to me inconceivable.

 

*The incessant mental abstractions and the construction of mental castles seem to me both boring and debilitating.  I believe much more in work with the body, in the encounter with nature.  I liked very much the former personage of Carlos, taking long walks with don Juan in the mountains.  However, I don’t feel close to the Castaneda who says that one should not work in nature because there is the wind and it might be dangerous.  The possibility of catching a cold aside, I consider the wind as a manifestation of nature, which is the visible face of the Spirit.  I feel much closer to the indigenous Toltec viewpoint, which considers the wind to be the messenger that communicates to the Powers of the world, as the bearer of the secrets of knowledge.

 

*As far as work in groups is concerned, I don’t like working in closed spaces within the city.  I prefer open country, mountains, the forest, or the desert.  I believe that we learn much more observing and participating in nature, rather than sealing ourselves in rooms to hear stories that have little or nothing to do with what we have or will experience.

 

*I remain of the opinion that wisdom and silent knowledge are much more present in the efficient, traditional practices of knowledge carried out by many indigenous peoples of Mexico, than in doctoral metaphysical or phenomenological dissertations.

 

*I believe that the incessant apprenticeship of love, together with the capacity to accept and live in the midst of the mysterious, will continue to be our most urgent tasks.

 

*I believe that those who put themselves above others saying they have vanquished self importance, are more dramatically trapped in it than those they pretend to teach.

 

*I believe that Castaneda is distorting and toying with the history of Mexico, and with the cultural patrimony of the indigenous peoples of this country, when he presents Tensegrity™ as the “practices of the ancient shamans of Mexico” without giving any evidence to support his claim.  It seems to me that Tensegrity is closer to China, to Kung-Fu or to Chi-Kung than to the practices of the Mexican shamans, past or present.

 

I am not writing this because I have decided to enter to the fight with Castaneda or his associates.  I write it out because of a sense of personal ethics, of respect for myself and for those who have worked with me: The readers and participants of my workshops.  I believe they deserve this clarification.

 

For them and for thousands interested in a non-fanatical reading of the work of Castaneda, I have to say again that books are for reading and for making use of as long as they coincide with our search and afford us benefits.  But they should be read with a critical eye without renouncing to our own criteria and common sense, independently of how much we may admire or even love the author.

 

I have seen doubt on the faces of many people who, after years of regarding Castaneda as their favorite author, very close to their hearts, vacillate and feel sorrow upon finding passages in the books or circumstances in Castaneda’s personal behavior with which they don't agree.  I can see how it is difficult for them to recognize faults in someone they have admired or loved for so long.  I know that through my own experience.  Nevertheless, however difficult, this recognition is necessary for internal health and because we need to mature in our way of approaching knowledge.  Mature in this case means that, once and for all, we give up our insistence in searching for perfect masters, to become emotionally dependent from, as substitute fathers and whom we would like to imagine as spiritually pure and free from worldly concerns.

 

In this sense, I believe all is not lost in the final outcome.  I believe that maybe Castaneda is giving us one final lesson, perhaps the greatest yet.  Perfect masters only exist in books.  In real life, as Castaneda himself has said on many occasions, there exist only people who are going to die.  People with love and negative feelings within them. Virtues and flaws. No one is so great that he can escape from this.  In real life, the sacred and the mundane are mixed.

 

The same master, guru or leader who motivates the spiritual elation of his followers, can become enamored with a Rolls Royce, with women, with money, with fame, or with the pleasure of making himself admired and powerful.  Paradoxically—and to comprehend this has cost me a great deal—this does not necessarily invalidate the merit of his work.  His triumphs or failures in his own growth as an individual do not change the triumphs or failures that his readers or followers may have had under the influence of these same books or teachings.

 

Years ago, feeling younger, I think I was more of a moralist.  I thought that the worldly excesses of certain spiritual masters such as Rajneesh, Gurdjieff, or those Tibetan lamas who do not accept contracts unless they are provided with limousines, made their work invalid.  Today, I think differently.  After having known so many people, I observe that many people have obtained benefits from such work, (although I don’t forget how many others have lost their way for having followed this same work), I have learned that many times the work surpasses the author.  I believe this is the case with Castaneda.

 

The legal battles and the almost unhealthy sense of property that Castaneda seemed to feel toward his work will be forgotten with the passage of time.  His books will go on.  Especially the early works, which in my opinion are the best, will remain literary classics on shamanism and spiritual search.

 

Therefore, I think that beyond the initial shock of seeing a much-beloved author change the meaning of his original works—his great works—so radically, the understanding should prevail that it was us, the readers,  who were in the wrong, imagining an immaculate Castaneda.  Ultimately Castaneda, like anyone else, has the right to his worldliness.  To rise or fall like any one else.

 

What really goes on in the heart of that human being who carries the weight of the name Carlos Castaneda at this point in his life?... I feel we will never know.  But I also feel it cannot be easy for him, and of course, I would not like to be in his shoes.

 

Before such questions I do not have an answer; only bewilderment remains and the respect imposed by the perception of the mystery.

 

For me, like my friend Manolo said the other day: From now on, there will be two Castanedas.  One who goes about creating enterprises, lawsuits, and harassing people he doesn’t even know.  And the other one, the one from old times. He who was with me in the solitude of my initial struggles. He who whispered words of freedom in my ear and pushed me to venture forth. He the closed one to our hearts.

 

In my heart, I will definitely remain with the latter.

 

EPILOGUE

 

I do not intend to write a continuation to THE TEACHINGS OF DON CARLOS.  I do not intend to write more about Castaneda, who will become a minor theme as viewed from the totality of my entire work.  In fact, I had planned to write a book carrying the same name as this article TO LEARN FROM CARLOS CASTANEDA IN SPITE OF CARLOS CASTANEDA.  However, after reviewing all the writing projects I have pending, I realized the matter was not so important.  Others can take it upon themselves to scrutinize that theme.  For me, this article will be more than enough to put me at peace with my conscience and with my readers.  Having made this clarification, I can consider the chapter closed.  Many techniques developed during the last few years.  The work of founding the New Toltequity and applying it to everyday life.  The search for freedom without submitting to human masters.  Theses are the themes of my current work, and will be the themes of my following publications.

 

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