Carlos Castaneda: "The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui Way of Knowledge.

Dang, that must mean Florinda Donner and Taisha Abelar are also
pulling our legs. And do you suppose Castaneda was still pulling our
legs by the time he finished the tenth book in the series? Obviously,
I did not feel any leg-pulling Dennzio, so I am genuinely curious to
know, well, what made you feel that way? Anything specific? Regards,

J.R.

It all seemed like a mix of fantasy and bullshit. (nt, posted on June 16, 2004 at 16:04:50
dennzio	nt

Like I said, anything specific?, posted on June 16, 2004 at 17:43:17

J.R.
Audiophile

Posts: 9449
Location: New Mexico
Joined: August 26, 2000

Perhaps the world is not as you think, Dennzio. Perhaps what you
think of as fantasy or bullshit, whatever it is that you think of as
fantasy or bullshit (you failed to mention that), is something else,
say, even truth, or lies for that matter. You are too flippant in
your disdain; how about some substance. Regards,

J.R.

It is time for you to re read those books., posted on June 16, 2004 at 19:09:10
edta	Past time, really.

Hey, if you NEED drugs to escape your boring life, by all means take them., posted on June 17, 2004 at 12:20:02
dennzio	Don't expect me to believe that you have discovered anything but brain fade by using drugs. Spirituality and drugs are two different things really. Drugs affect only your brain functions. You are altering only your brain. You can get in touch with your spirit or higher self through safe methods that won't leave you brain dead.

Dear edna,, posted on June 17, 2004 at 12:28:10
dennzio	Your advice is like the candy a stranger offers a child.

You are awash in erroneous assumptions., posted on June 17, 2004 at 13:17:10

J.R.
Audiophile

Posts: 9449
Location: New Mexico
Joined: August 26, 2000

And you are even more flippant in your disdain. You know nothing
about my life: sometimes it's boring; sometimes it's not. Your
ranting about drugs, brain fade, brain functions, and brain dead
is fatuous for the simple reason that you do not discriminate in
what drug is what. Like I said above, we're not talking about coke
or heroin here. And, you are correct when you say that drugs and
spirituality are two different things: but certain drugs certainly
can enhance or bring about spirituality. Why do you suppose there
are half a million native American members of the Native American
Church, the peyote church? Brain dead Indians? I don't think so.
Regards,

J.R.

Ummm...., posted on June 17, 2004 at 14:27:02

dennzio

You admitted doing peyote over 100 times. What else have you experimented with...don't answer, Big Brother could be watching. My simple point is this: you need something outside of your self to bring some kind of experience to validate your notion of spirituality. I say this use of peyote, and whatever else you may experiment with, is a crutch of dependency and a lie to your true higher self. You are being deceived by a deceiver. You are opening doors, maybe, but can you close them if the place they lead to is not what you expected or hoped for? You are 64 and it is very unusual for someone your age to continue in a practice abandoned by most in their teens. Someone is watching out for you if you aren't burned out at this stage. You will never convince me that peyote is the road to enlightenment.

Peyote is a tool, a technique., posted on June 17, 2004 at 15:00:34

J.R.
Audiophile

Posts: 9449
Location: New Mexico
Joined: August 26, 2000

If I thought it was the road to enlightenment, I'd be enlightened.
And that's not even my goal. Freedom is what I'm looking for. I go
throught the doors I open and I try not to have any expectations. I
check things out and don't worry about closing the door. What is
looking out for me is that I am on a path with heart, and it's a lot
of hard work, and it takes a long time, not like the quicky Zazen
fix. When did you give up? Regards,

J.R.

Freedom and enlightenment could be synonymous., posted on June 17, 2004 at 18:50:58

dennzio

I haven't given anything up except altered states. They are just temporary distractions IMHO. You don't understand zen if your take on it is that it is quick. That doesn't even come close. Zen requires constant adjustment to conscious thought processes, or rather the correction of stinking thinking. Zazen is just one process. Mindfulness...now that is where the rubber meets the road, and I couldn't begin to claim I have mastered this. I'm not really a Buddhist, just a distant admirer of the Masters. The one Master I admire most is a Jewish nonconformist guy who turned the world on its ear a couple thousand years ago.

There are drugs, and then there are drugs, denn: did you know that old religions..., posted on June 19, 2004 at 10:15:43

orejones

...were once divided by Robert Graves (in "The White Goddess", or in "The second birth of Dyonissus", I think to remember) into two main groups: one, "mushroom eaters", the other one deriving their experiences of Divinity from what their priests felt after intoxicating themselves with laurel leaves?

Maybe you´d be interested in reading Huxley´s "The Doors of Perception", where he describes much of his experiences (under medical control) with hallucinogenic mushrooms. There was a second part to be written, which unfortunately was lost because of one of those fiery fires in California, which burned all the documents, but this one is more than worth reading...

And later, you could search for some documentary books describing the whole ceremony of collecting peyotl in New Mexico, which are most interesting: this is an almost millennary practice, with strict rules, and done in a very special spiritual condition...

About altered states of consciousness, simply google on those words, and you can spend a very rewarding time reading some very interesting things...

Regards

BF

Yep, posted on August 20, 2004 at 21:13:53
Mossback Audiophile Posts: 1871 Location: Washington, the State Joined: November 17, 2001	;)

Book Boulevard

Carlos Castaneda: "The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui Way of Knowledge.

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