Carlos Castenada/ Shamanisim, Journey to Ixlan Options

I wanted to share with the people on this board that the books by Carlos Castanada are nothing short of awe inspiring. I have only read journey to Ixlan but the benifits are amazing. A way to enlightenment it seems. The ideas presented where validated by a shaman that i was fortunate enough to spend 2 days with on a chance meeting in Georgia.

Well I'm the opposite of you in the respect that I've only read The Teachings of Don Juan and A Separate Reality, yet to read Journey to Ixlan. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and found them to be very insighful and whilst there are many people out there who claim they are nothing but fiction my response is "Who cares?"
The insights and the messages and the thoughts provoked by reading these books make the authenticity obsolete in my opinion.
Work of fiction? Factual documentary?
'Tis of no importance and shouldn't deter away from the fact that these books should be on everyones reading list.

Well I'm the opposite of you in the respect that I've only read The Teachings of Don Juan and A Separate Reality, yet to read Journey to Ixlan. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and found them to be very insighful and whilst there are many people out there who claim they are nothing but fiction my response is "Who cares?"
The insights and the messages and the thoughts provoked by reading these books make the authenticity obsolete in my opinion.
Work of fiction? Factual documentary?
'Tis of no importance and shouldn't deter away from the fact that these books should be on everyones reading list.

A huge chunk of my own foundation paradigm as well. Castaneda had some really good ideas, whether he actually lived them or not. It's unfortunate that the Trugreen corp. became such a money cult.

If you like those books, you might also pick up a copy of The Celestine Prophecy - inspired by Castaneda's work and while not written with the same intellectual edge, it is written in the same tradition of telling a story about a message. Very practical as well, whereas the Castaneda books take a little critical thinking, not that it's not a good thing.

I've found that many of the books on 'toltec wisdom' like the books by Don Miguel Ruiz, have a good philosophy on life that seems, to me, to be very similar if not identical to the ideal frame of mind for a dedicated magician.

peace