Хакеры сновидений: Архив 7-9

lecture halls? What is a shaman“s behavior? To wear feathers on one“s head and dance to the spirits?

For thirty years, people have accused Carlos Castaneda of creating a literary character simply because what I report to

them does not concur with the anthropological “a priori,“ the ideas established in the lecture halls or in the anthropological field

work. However, what don Juan presented to me can only apply to a situation that calls for total action and, under such

circumstances, very little or almost nothing of the preconceived occurs.

I have never been able to draw conclusions about shamanism because in order to do this one needs to be an active member

in the shamans“ world. For a social scientist, let“s say for example a sociologist, it is very easy to arrive at sociological conclusions

over any subject related to the Occidental world, because the sociologist is an active member of the Occidental world. But how

can an anthropologist, who spends at the most two years studying other cultures, arrive at reliable conclusions about them? One

needs a lifetime to be able to acquire membership in a cultural world. I“ve been working for more than thirty years in the

cognitive world of the shamans of ancient Mexico and, sincerely, I don“t believe I have acquired the membership that would

allow me to draw conclusions or to even propose them.

I have discussed this with people from different disciplines and they always seem to understand and agree with the premises

I“m presenting. But then they turn around and they forget everything they agreed upon and continue to sustain “orthodox“

academic principles, without caring about the possibility of an absurd error in their conclusions. Our cognitive system seems to be

impenetrable.

Q: What“s the aim of you not allowing yourself to be photographed, having your voice

recorded or making your

biographical data known? Could this affect what you“ve achieved in your spiritual work, and if so how? Don“t you

think it would be useful for some sincere seekers of truth to know who you really are, as a way of corroborating that it

is really possible to follow the path you proclaim?

A: With reference to photographs and personal data, the other three disciples of don Juan and myself follow his instructions. For

a shaman like don Juan, the main idea behind refraining from giving personal data is very simple. It is imperative to leave aside

what he called “personal history“. To get away from the “me“ is something extremely annoying and difficult. What shamans like

don Juan seek is a state of fluidity where the personal “me“ does not count. He believed that an absence of photographs and

biographical data affects whomever enters into this field of action in a positive, though subliminal way. We are endlessly

accustomed to using photographs, recordings and biographical data, all of which spring from the idea of personal importance.

Don Juan said it was better not to know anything about a shaman; in this way, instead of encountering a person, one encounters

an idea that can be sustained; the opposite of what happens in the everyday world where we are faced only with people who

have numerous psychological problems but no ideas, all of these people filled to the brim with “me, me, me.“

Q: How should your followers interpret the publicity and the commercial infrastructure a side of your literary work

surrounding the knowledge you and your companions disseminate? What“s your real relationship with Cleargreen

Incorporated and the other companies (Laugan Productions, Toltec Artists)? I“m talking about a commercial link.

A: At this point in my work I needed someone able to represent me regarding the dissemination of don Juan Matus“s ideas.

Cleargreen is a corporation that has great affinity with our work, as are Laugan Productions and Toltec Artists. The idea of

disseminating don Juan“s teachings in the modern world implies the use of commercial and artistic media that are not within my

individual reach. As corporations having an affinity with don Juan“s ideas, Cleargreen Incorporated, Laugan Productions and

Toltec Artists are capable of providing the means to disseminate what I want to disseminate.

There is always a tendency for impersonal corporations to dominate and transform everything that is presented to them and

to adapt it to their own ideology. If it weren“t for Cleargreen“s, Laugan Productions“ and Toltec Artists“ sincere interest,

everything don Juan said would have been transformed into something else by now.

Q: There are a great number of people who, in one way or another, “cling“ to you in order to acquire public notoriety.

What“s your opinion on the actions of Victor Sanchez, who has interpreted and reorganized your teachings in order to

elaborate a personal theory? And of Ken Eagle Feather“s assertions that he has been chosen by don Juan to be his

disciple, and that don Juan came back just for him?

A: Indeed there are a number of people who call themselves my students or don Juan“s students, people I“ve never met and