Though I have loved all Castaneda’s books so far, I have a predilection for this one. This is because I have a particular interest in dreaming, and “dreaming” (the kind of dreaming Don Juan teaches about).Don Juan said “Through ‘dreaming’ we can perceive other worlds … we can feel how ‘dreaming’ opens up those other realms”. He calls “dreaming” the “gateway to infinity”. “Dreaming” is the sorcerers’ practical way of putting ordinary dreams to use.We learn that the whole universe is energy. Don Juan taught his apprentices to perceive energy directly.Human beings are luminous balls and the crucial feature of the luminous ball is a spot of intense brilliance on a place at the height of the shoulder blades, at an arm’s length from the person’s body, which is termed the assemblage point. This enables us to perceive, and when the assemblage point dislodges itself from its usual spot, our usual behaviour, awareness and perception are changed.Much of the book deals with changing the assemblage point and the consequences of this. Don Juan can make Carlos’ assemblage point shift to another position to enable him to reach a heightened state of awareness, otherwise termed the “second attention”.There are seven entrances, perceived as obstacles, called the seven gates of dreaming. We reach the first gate when we become aware that we’re falling asleep. This is achieved by intending it – “to wish without wishing, to do without doing”.Carlos reached the first gate of dreaming but by another way, by having “a gigantically real dream” – he wanders though a city until he becomes completely exhausted.When dreaming you must focus your gaze on anything of your choice as the starting point, for example, your hands. Then shift your gaze to other items and look at them in brief glances. Then go back to the item you started with.Carlos practices focusing and holding his dreaming attention on the items of his dreams. He learns that he must “redeploy” his energy by losing self-importance. Self-importance is “not only the sorcerers’ supreme enemy but the nemesis of mankind”The city he visited in his dream, where he got exhausted, was “out of this world”. Don Juan was with him, but he “saw” the city not as a city but as energy.You reach the second gate of dreaming when you wake from a dream into another dream. Carlos reaches this second gate, but again he does it in another manner, by “changing dreams in an orderly and precise manner”. He used the items of a dream to trigger another dream.We’re introduced to the inorganic beings, and their world, the most fascinating aspect of this book. Two inorganic beings begin to appear in Carlos’ dreams. They just stand there and stare at him. One day when in the hills with Don Juan, Carlos wrestles with one of them. By the ensuing energy exchange Carlos creates a lasting attachment to the being, which he later encounters again in the inorganic beings’ world.To cut a long story short, Carlos continues to journey into this world in his dreams, and becomes practically addicted to doing so, though warned by Don Juan that it is dangerous. He encounters a scout disguised as a little girl who is trapped there, merges with her in an attempt to save her but loses all his energy. He is rescued by the combined efforts of Don Juan and anther sorcerer called Carol Tiggs, who travel into this world physically.An interesting feature of Carlos’ sojourns in the inorganic beings’ world is the disembodied voice of the dream emissary, which provides him with useful information. The voice always speaks the truth, so he can trust the information given. But the inorganic beings as such are not really to be trusted, because they want Carlos’ energy and are eager for him to stay in their world forever.In one of the final chapters Carlos has an exciting but dangerous adventure with Carol Tiggs in another world. Finally, he is introduced to the “death defier”, one of the old sorcerers, and is gone for nine days. He is also fortunate to survive this sojourn.I found this book to be fascinating, engrossing and exciting, in fact unputdownable. I found the material presented therein to be extremely edifying but challenging.I highly recommend that you read the book. I will miss reading it, but now will tackle some of Castaneda’s previous books, which I have not yet read,
Votre accent est vraiment extraordinaire, lui dis-je. D’où vient-il ?- De tout proche de l’éternité, dit-elle en soupirant."Dreaming does not mean having dreams. Dreaming allows to perceive other worlds and describe them."This is the essence of the teaching that Don Juan, Yaqui sorcerer of Mexico lavished on Carlos Castaneda. "The art of dreaming" takes us to the heart of shamanism. We discover that by the dreams we can achieve an altered state of consciousness that enables easy access to other areas, as real and complete than that which we are familiar. Hence the "transition to infinity" which according to Castaneda allows the individual to answer fundamental questions.Travel in the meanders of the unconscious way to a different reality, this book is also a highlighting of incredible and unsuspected resources of the human being.
What do You think about The Art Of Dreaming (2004)?
At the time of its release this was a much discussed work on that most Freudian of worlds, the dreamscape. Castaneda wrote at length about 'active dreaming' to use another term. Probably still too esoteric and obscure for most readers or those without cause to delve into this type of work.[ June 2011Another box of books has been reopened for cleaning, sorting, and reevaluation and lo and behold, many of the collected works of Carlos Castaneda are part of the contents.Many years have gone but I remember this author and his works vividly. [Now don't get any ideas as to an allusion I may or may not be making] At some point I stopped purchasing more in the series and put them away. There's a 'blur' factor as I recall that happens with these stories of the metaphysical and magical journeys of learning (spelling of your choice for majic). Thus I finally put them down after a time. There's a new series of works by authors/students in the same genre. These are a continuation of the anthropological journey that Castaneda undertook to learn of his heritage and a way of life that existed if only in a shadow of the original form.This generic commentary is going to be applied to all the writings of CC as a review until a rereading decision is made. I don't own all the books by Castaneda though I've read all his books through the mid 1980's. A couple more I have copies of in this collection but I bet I never read them.Each of these books will have this introduction bracketed and italicized when I add a more specific commentary regarding the individual entry.An early footnote. Much of the fascination with fantastical dragon imagery is rooted in the first two or three of these works. Just thought you should know. ]
—CD
After seeing the other reviews of many genuine hearted people I am shocked that so few of them have looked past the teachings to find that it's all fictional nonsense, which by all means is great, it is one of the main reasons I read, but these books are almost surely fabricated in a way that makes the reader a happy fool. I mean sure he plagiarized some holy thinkers who spent years achieving inner transformation and imbedded those plagiarizations into the all wise non-existant Don Juan, but I hardly believe it counts as non fiction and it doesn't deserve much more than 1 star. As a makeshift manual on lucid dreaming it isn't all that unreliable as it can conjure results, but there is much more informative and rationally irrational lucid dreaming literature out there.
—Benjamin Martinez
If this is a work of fiction, as many of the critics claim (and I believe they are probably right, although it could have been partially based on, or inspired by, real people and events), I would say Castaneda has one hell of spectacular imagination. Throughout the book, I was constantly reminded of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass; except in this case Alice is a hot-tempered adult male anthropologist. The chapter in which he meets the Death Defier is absolutely thrilling to the end.
—Ben
