You Can't Go Home Again

POOR CARLOS is on his own now. His 11-year apprenticeship to the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan is over.

Carlos Castaneda wrote his first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, as an anthropology student investigating the use of medicinal plants by Indians. Under the guidance of the aged Don Juan, Castaneda's experiments with hallucinogenic plants initiated him into a world of "nonordinary reality." In his second book, A Separate Reality, Castaneda witnessed even stranger miracles which could not be explained simply by the use of psychoactive substances. The strain of two contradictory realities briefly put Castaneda in a mental hospital.

His latest book, Journey to Ixtlan, shows how far an anthropology student from Los Angeles can come in eleven years. Although written in the same plodding, comically earnest style, it indicates that Castaneda has graduated from academic reporter to spiritual disciple and has planted himself in the supernatural world of Don Juan. The miracles he witnesses are more spectacular than ever. Yet Castaneda uses no drugs in Journey to Ixtlan; indeed, the climactic scene occurs in the absence of Don Juan.

Most of the book consists of Part One, "Stopping the World." In a series of specific lessons, Don Juan hammers away at Castaneda's dependence on Western rationality. To become a "man of knowledge," one must learn "not doing" until one can "stop the world" and, finally, "see." These elusive concepts are cornerstones in the life Don Juan is teaching--that of a warrior. The chapter titles read like a Zen training manual: "Erasing Personal History," "Losing Self-Importance," "Disrupting the Routines of Life" and so on. When the two men journey to the desert or the mountains to practice these teachings, Castaneda must become involved or be crushed by Don Juan's "stupendous, awesome" world.

IN A GAME with deadly consequences, Castaneda is taught that death is an adviser always at one's side. A warrior performs every act as though it is his last; he takes responsibility for his actions. Don Juan shows Castaneda a mountain that he says will be "the site of your last stand. You will die here no matter where you are."

Don Juan also tells Castaneda that a warrior must have a worthy opponent, and that Castaneda's opponent is a sorceress named La Catalina. La Catalina appeared briefly in A Separate Reality as a trap (Don Juan later admits) to ensnare Castaneda's warrior spirit. She is a formidable foe, yet she inexplicably fails to kill Castaneda when he bungles an encounter with her. As suddenly as she is brought up, La Catalina is mysteriously dropped after one chapter. For his final showdown with her, Castaneda will need an "ally," a spirit he must conquer for his personal use. In the last pages of the book, Castaneda meets his ally but does not tame it. Finally, Don Juan tells Castaneda that he will not explain anything more to him; the tutelage is ended.

Much is left hanging in this final installment. The highly imaginative, novelistic qualities of Castaneda's three books have led some people to doubt that Don Juan exists. A few paranoid hippies doubt even that Castaneda exists. (He does). But whether it is Castaneda's fiction or the turn of real events, the narrative has taken its readers for a bizarre ride. The popularity of the first book can be explained in part by the fascination with psychedelic drugs which peaked near the time of its publication. The accounts of supernatural events told in sober, unadorned prose were a welcome addition to the body of mystical literature.

However, with this book, Castaneda seems well on his way to creating a new mythology designed for the Western hemisphere. Don Juan's teachings can be analyzed as a melange of Zen, Sufism, the dream control of Tibetan Buddhism, and other disciplines. But this essentially Eastern message is transmitted by a member of the fierce Yaquis of northern Mexico, the only unconquered tribe of North America. Don Juan is no pacifist and no vegetarian--he is a warrior. The natural world of predator and prey is his pantheon: the cactus, rattlesnake, coyote, mountain lion--all of which are equal to man. Perhaps most Western of all, Don Juan says that he belongs to no social group. He is the supreme individual, the maverick we all are in our fantasies.

BUT HOW FAR can we pursue this new myth? Urban life in the U.S. is a poor training ground for becoming a hunter and a warrior, especially without a teacher. As in any discipline, a teacher is an essential. Each of Castaneda's books is terribly exciting, but after a few weeks the inspiration to live like a warrior fades. Don Juan would laugh at anyone for even trying to learn it from a book.

And what becomes of the "feminine" aspect of human personality in Don Juan's world? In the first book, Don Juan reverses our cultural stereotypes in describing an ally as female-like: violent, cruel, unpredictable. On the other hand, mescalito, the spirit of peyote, is described as male-like: kind, generous, giver of pleasure. Don Juan can be kind and nurturant towards his protege, but the emphasis is always on stoic courage. It appears no accident that Castaneda's opponent is the deadly sorceress La Catalina, who is the only woman in the three books.

"Journey to Ixtlan," the final and most crucial section, serves as a challenge. It is very short and consists mainly of a story by Don Genaro, Don Juan's fellow sorcerer, about winning his ally. After being spun like a top by the ally, but triumphing, Don Genaro tried to return to Ixtlan where he had a home, family and friends, but he could not reach his destination. He has still not reached it. Human beings, with the exception of Don Juan, are phantoms to Don Genaro now. Don Juan tells Castaneda that when he gains an ally, he will never be able to return to the Los Angeles that he left.

ONE ALMOST GLIMPSES self-pity in Don Juan in this farewell speech. He is not offering his disciple nirvana, only the dignity of living and dying as a man. The road of a warrior is a lonely road. A warrior carries no baggage save his private nostalgia. Don Juan's satori is both liberating and irreversible.

Journey to Ixtlan is the conclusion of a series, a phase, but it will not be Castaneda's last book. Unless Castaneda abandons the path of knowledge, there will be a book about taming his ally and confronting La Catalina. It's difficult to imagine that Don Juan will not also reappear--at strategic moments, no doubt. Perhaps Don Genaro, who is even more awesome than Don Juan, will become Castaneda's benefactor. Perhaps Castaneda will become a man of knowledge, take on an apprentice himself (in an urban setting?), and someday we'll have The Teachings of Carlos Castaneda. Or maybe he'll just stay in Los Angeles.