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The New Age is Dead


aka CAT

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The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda BY ROBERT MARSHALL.

Dubbed the “Godfather of the New Age” by Time magazine, Castaneda made

a fortune by duping people into believing his fiction was true. For the record,

which is documented in the article above, he did not succeed in cheating death.

He did, consequent to his becoming terminally ill with cancer of the liver, con

his closest followers out of the remainder of their lives.

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Theme Song

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9CXnn_Y_pw[/media]

It's the same kind of story

That seems to come down from long ago

Two friends having coffee together

When something flies by their window

It might be out on that lawn

Which is wide, at least half of a playing field

Because there's no explaining what your imagination

Can make you see and feel

Seems like a dream

They got me hypnotized

Now it's not a meaningless question

To ask if they've been and gone

I remember a talk about North

Carolina and a strange, strange pond

You see the sides were like glass

In the thick of a forest without a road

And if any man's ever made that land

Then I think it would've showed

Seems like a dream

They got me hypnotized

They say there's a place down in Mexico

Where a man can fly over mountains and hills

And he don't need an airplane or some kind of engine

And he never will

Now you know it's a meaningless question

To ask if those stories are right

'Cause what matters most is the feeling

You get when you're hypnotized

Seems like a dream

They got me hypnotized

Edited by aka CAT
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Long ago I read the first two Castaneda books. I was intrigued by them and put off at the same time. There was the want to believe and at the same time thinking this is BS. It didn't take me long to decide on the BS.

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...It didn't take me long to decide on the BS.

Me too. The New Age 'mumbo-jumbo' is best buried IMO.

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Now only if they'd bury the archaic BS too.

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I recall some of my friends completely falling for Castenada. I read the books as well, but took them to be stories. Somewhere around that time some movies were made such as Altered States. I was not surprised when Castenada admitted that he failed his work and his degree was revoked.

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I started to read one of Castenada's books because someone recommended it to me many years ago. I thought it was utter rubbish and put it down before making it past the 3rd chapter, never felt "inspired" to look at his work again. Therefore any opinions I have on the "New Age" have absolutely nothing to do with anything he has claimed to have done. I wonder why that is at stake or issue here? The new age encompasses so many aspects of spiritual discovery and personal journeys, many are dead end roads but those which bear fruit are far from dead to many also.

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Castenada was aloof. IMHO, his 'adventures' wouldn't have made good fiction either.

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I read a few chapters out of one of his books and I had a hard time accepting that some people actually took his hallucinogenic ramblings seriously.

I figured him to be a fraud after the first few pages and my suspicions were repeatedly confirmed.

This is the problem with new age (or rather the new 'dark' age) is that some people will readily accept something just because it sounds nice.

I have to admit, there was a chapter in one book were Castenada was writing about one of his supposed hallucinatory trips and met two talking lizards. It was hilarious.

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This is the problem with new age (or rather the new 'dark' age) is that some people will readily accept something just because it sounds nice.
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Wow "the new age" didn't last very long so what comes next,or are we out of "ages", maybe old age because that's where we are all heading.

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Much more to the New Age than Castenada.

Not sure he was more than a peripheral writer.

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All,

What I liked about everyone's posts were the ways that each of you demonstrated

critical thinking vital to the individual through out his/her life time. Your views of

cults as much as the occult similarly interest me. Much can be said about both.

Much more to the New Age than Castenada.

Yes, but none other than he was coined "the Godfather of the New Age"--

an age wherein fact/fiction, or truth/falsehood are, apparently, as secondary

to authors' and publisher's profit line as such are to the larger agenda served

by the controlled media. In any case, every age is as trendy as is the present

ever new while still contingent as portentous.

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the fact that those people went missing after he died, and are still missing, is by far the most disturbing. seriously unsettling and cult like.

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the fact that those people went missing after he died, and are still missing, is by far the most disturbing. seriously unsettling and cult like.

It's just like a cult leader to want to take all of his followers with him.

Castaneda was no less a cold hearted ego maniac.

All of it is just as unsettling as I found a friend's interest in his literature.

It was for being mystified by one that I took interest in the other

all while marveling at what would newly pass for non-fiction.

That the ploy is less novel (no pun intended) today

hopefully makes such scams less profitable.

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Well what exactly is new age?

magick ? if it's magical stuff that is not new.

Also if he died of cancer he knew nothing of potions and herbs.

foolish mortal

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Well what exactly is new age?

magick ? if it's magical stuff that is not new.

Also if he died of cancer he knew nothing of potions and herbs.

foolish mortal

The New Age was an outgrowth of an astrological age known as the Age of Aquarius.

It borrows from worldwide sources in a two-fold attempt to approach the totality of a

person (mind, body and spirit) and to reconcile science and spirituality. That its

proponents need not any qualifications nor established practices to set about such tall

aims usually entails their need to evoke magic--

I notice you are elixir-ready in that regard.

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I read one of his books and one of his girlfriends too. Its amazing how much they sound the same, same writing style. They both include stopping to crack their neck a lot. Anyway after reading the book I was having a dream and kep hearing the word "carlos casteneda" at night. Or Actually whatever his nickname was, which I forgot now. So that was kind of wierd. But I didnt like the teaching. I didnt like how they slappef that girl or spoke to her so rudely in order to get her to be submissive and also noted that one of those spirit girls told the girl that she had to sleep with Carlos since he was her teacher or some crap like that. I know everybody is different but I would never put up with that bs just to fly around in astral. Spoke to someone I knew about it that followed the teaching who said she though the book was beautiful and described her spiritual awakening. I just dont get that. But hey everybody is different.

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[...]I didnt like the teaching. I didnt like how they slappef that girl or spoke to her so rudely in order to get her to be submissive

and also noted that one of those spirit girls told the girl that she had to sleep with Carlos since he was her teacher or some crap

like that. I know everybody is different but I would never put up with that bs just to fly around in astral. Spoke to someone I knew

about it that followed the teaching who said she though the book was beautiful and described her spiritual awakening. I just dont

get that. But hey everybody is different.

Castaneda’s manipulating others arbitrarily for selfish purposes prompted me to contemplate what makes mankind kind.

Immediately, I was struck by how lacking was he in virtue. Compared to gentle persons, whom sincerely care about the well being

of their fellowmen, he, together with Simon and Schuster, minded not his detriment to others. It was reported that his main publisher

“[...]still classifies his books as nonfiction.

It could be argued that this label doesn’t matter since everyone now knows don Juan was a fictional creation. But everyone doesn’t,

and the trust that some readers have invested in these books leads to a darker story that has received almost no coverage in the

mainstream press.”

Anyway, since he borrowed upon the better practices of various indigenous peoples, don't be too hard on your confused friend.

What good is actual about many of them and their ways continues to appeal to people.

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I have two more of his books but never read them. I may one day.

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All,

What I liked about everyone's posts were the ways that each of you demonstrated

critical thinking vital to the individual through out his/her life time. Your views of

cults as much as the occult similarly interest me. Much can be said about both.

Yes, but none other than he was coined "the Godfather of the New Age"--

an age wherein fact/fiction, or truth/falsehood are, apparently, as secondary

to authors' and publisher's profit line as such are to the larger agenda served

by the controlled media. In any case, every age is as trendy as is the present

ever new while still contingent as portentous.

It was only a Time Magazine quote. Who reads Time Magazine?

And the rest of your post sounds like you are on a soapbox.

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It was only a Time Magazine quote. Who reads Time Magazine?

It was recurrent in reviews, promotions ...&c.

And the rest of your post sounds like you are on a soapbox.

That's odd, what ought not be said about abusive scam artists

whose success at profiteering from deception, even about unaffiliated

peoples, survives the grave via his publisher's perpetuating propaganda?

I have two more of his books but never read them. I may one day.

Not expert on Castaneda's published works,

I'm done with his fictional 'non-fiction.'

To whom it may concern, this thread's inception:

http://www.unexplain...pic=266276&st=0

Edited by aka CAT
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I('m probably about as non or even outright anti-new age as you can get.

It's all a scam as far as I'm concerned from magic(k) to quantum______ fill in the blank with whatever you think works, to psychics to energies.

I think its all bull.

That being said, it's like any other system of belief to me, as long as SOMEONE is willing to buy in, it'll never die because there are people out there looking for meaning in life who will inevitably buy into it.

Mormonism, Scientology, Shamanism, New Age ism,all these are niche beliefs that stay alive because people are always looking.

And i don't think thats necessarily a bad thing, looking is good, wondering about our place is good, just settling on one thing and buying wholeheartedly into it is the problem usually.

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It's all a scam as far as I'm concerned from magic(k) to quantum______ fill in the blank

My interest in quantum physics is as a sometimes hobbyist.

Edited by aka CAT
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All this New Age stuff may be a natural reaction against today's materialism. Going wholeheartedly in the opposite direction is I think not a rational solution. There must be some possibility of rational moderation between the two.

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