Castaneda & Philosophy


Many writings about Carlos Castaneda tell us that these books are full of meaning but mere fiction or of great originality but queer story.

These views seems to be unable to grasp some images that - I think - by studying philosophical works on existentialism, he constructed.

For example, can you explain "ricapituration" without some tradition of philosophical thought ? Why Florinda had to stay in a crate named 'ricapituration' and said to us "stalkers face the oncoming time" ?

Some teaches us these conceptions come from Gurdjieff or others. But from the point of total interpretation, I think it's the best way to compare it with Existentialism. I have to explain this.






Spirit of Warriors



INDULGENCE

We used to say 'indulging' that means an attitude in everday life. Castaneda chiefly used this word in the volume IV, Tales of Power. This word has another meaning concerning a legal condition, that is, to postpone one's execution. So it means 'being in time enlarged'.
One gets a time but only limited. Heidegger said in "Sein und Zeit" that one as average man ( Da-Sein, he called it) constantly falls in this situation of having endless time.
How many times Don Juan says "You don't have time to lose". Apart from this situation, he mentioned a state of warrior in front of inevitable death. Inevitable death teaches us 'having no time' and act like a warrior. From the view point of Exitentialism, this is none but 'existence'.



DEATH

Death is an adviser and means to straighten up one's mind of indulging. Heidegger said that death is a way to the total being of freedom. For him death is a true future of one's own.



REPETITION

La Gorda in V and Florinda in VI underwent ricapituration by turning their faces. Florinda said about 'facing oncoming time'.
For existentilism,  repetition is a true past.
Kierkegaard explained this repetition as 'progressive past'. Reaching past in such a way leads us to another authentic future = eternity.
Don Juan asked if we know this very moment can be eternity in IV.
Kierkegaard & Heideger of course take this moment as eternity.



MOMENT

The present as 'Augenblick' stand for the grasp of eternity.
Here we have a trinity of temporality, time as key concept. We understand Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan's Teachings were methods of awereness seen from the view of time.
This view will require another interpretation concerning 'guilty'.
Castaneda says that to have no time is to be impeccable.
'Impeccability' is also a legal term that means no guilty.
So we find some connection between the first concept 'indulging' and this 'impeccablity'.
Indulging and Impeccability are Castaneda's main concepts of time.



UNDERSTANDING

Wittgenstein said that the world is not an assembly of things but of events. But it seems to be wrong to compare it with CC's notion to the world.
This meaning is akint to Heidegger's 'world'.
It has two main properties, that can be 'stopped' and 'has aspect of praxis'.
The world is something to be stopped and understood with praxis. Heidegger pointed out that ordinarily the men used to be accustomed to this world by doing away with all the things around us. And when this doing away is 'suspended', the world turns out to be unfamiliar, by which we find ourselves having already always had "the world", from the beginning.
Castaneda took the world as something being stopped, of course. However, it's more important that he describe this world as both being understood and being done away with. So he can mention 'doing' and 'not doing' of the Tonal.