The Art of Dreaming

For anyone who has read through all of them, this is by far Castaneda's most controversial book. It's fascinating reading, featuring long-awaited direct contacts with the Tenant (by whatever name -- he is known by a few different designations in Spanish) in equally long-awaited scenes taking place in Tula, the home of the ancient Toltecs.Besides being such a gripping reading experience, the dreaming practices are real and can be experienced. For the practical-minded, this is a huge improvement over jumping into abysses and some of the other not very practical sorts of things done in the other books.Now as for the rest:1. There is no don Juan in this book. When dJ left this world (in the book Tales of Power), Carlos was still piddling about trying to see his hands in dreams. The advanced dreaming practices outlined in this book could not have possibly been learned back in those years when dJ was here. Either there was another teacher (and he did confirm that he had at least one other teacher), or...2. The book is stylistically inconsistent with all of his previous books. Was the author getting old? Did he stop employing the services of his usual editor? or did someone else write this book? At any rate, this book has virtually nothing in common with any of his other books, either in practice or stylistically.As we depart from this book, we come to the Cleargreen years and the Magical Passes, which I won't even bother to review. It's clear from this book and everything after it that, despite the unifying presence of the name "don Juan," Castaneda's books are about at least four distinctly different sets of practices that have little to do with each other. Discerning readers should distinguish from among them and use what is useful for them.To be more explicit about that claim, CC's first three books are more or less ethnography about practices associated with Indians, the fourth book goes way beyond that, the fifth through eighth books introduce us to nagual groups and the concept of the assemblage point, the ninth (this) book covers someone's dreaming practice, Magical Passes covers just that, Wheel of Time looks back at the other books, and, not quite finally (we might include the books by Armando Torres here), Active Side of Infinity is a kind of autobiography that seems to have been written earlier and then withheld until after his passing.The Art of Dreaming is absolutely the best book of its kind, thus its rating. Anyone who can understand this book could not possibly have any use for any of the other more popular books about lucid dreaming, except perhaps to use the paper for, as don Juan said in one of the other books, well, "you know what we use paper for in Mexico..."One point to make is that while books by psychologists about lucid dreaming put the dreaming self at the service of the rational waking mind, a truer practice would put the mind at the disposal of the self that dreams, by whatever name; in other words, by experiencing dreams with ones awareness (as we also experience waking life) instead of trying to control their content. The former treats them as real, while the latter treats them as a product of our mind, which is the flaw of all psychology including (or especially) Jungian. But I guess all that hinges on what "real" means.Regardless of the events that tarnished Castaneda's personal reputation during the 1990s, regardless of the stylistic deficiencies and the anachronistic use of don Juan as a character, regardless of whether we believe all the stuff that happened in Tula, as a book about dreaming, this book is the real deal.

I think that I get it. What we call dreaming during sleep is a similar process to what we call perception in the waking state. Except that most of us are asleep, really, while we are supposed to be awake.We seem to spend more time thinking about the past, past grudges and hurts, and worrying about what might be in the future, that we completely miss the moment of now, the only time in which we may perceive at all.Instead, we create stories in our heads, stories in which we are the star and the center of everything we experience. Others, family, friends, are all supporting players. It's not personal.Most of us cannot distinguish between what is and what we have made of it: do we like it, hate it, want more of it, want to get away from it, are angry about it, what we think it means, and so on down the rabbit hole. We layer all of that what little that is really out there with all of this stuff that we add to it.Memory of the past has an enormous impact on our experience. We humans are capable of reliving the past thousands of times instead of once and then moving on. That's why we have baby boomers who are still fighting and complaining about their parents and others when the the boomer was five. Imagine that. A 60 year old stuck at a five year old mentality. What's the fun in that?Our minds never register reality; we register at best a simplified model of what we imagine reality to be. Some call this a map; I call it a virtual world we create in our minds. Then, we are unaware that we have made all if this stuff up and we believe all of it. This is what we do, we dream when we are supposed to be awake.Not surprising, some of us have nightmares. Not all of the time for some, and some have occasional good dreams. But, dreams they are.And, we're stuck with that as far as ordinary awareness goes. There is more than ordinary awareness, but it is extraordinary to experience it.So, stuck with dreaming most of the time: What to do? Well, learn that you are dreaming, that it's you doing it and learn to dream a better dream.If you have to dream, at least dream a good dream.

Great read weather you take it literally or not this can change your perspective on reality and what dreaming really is.

Wordy and eloquent: Castaneda is reminiscent of Zen koans, - which break your logic leaving you more open to the fluidity of intuition. His abstract presentation will have you dancing across a bridge you never saw on footprints you never planted.While it is part of a series, this book is presented as an independent work - concerning only the teachings pertaining to dreaming.In this one, Carlos is left to learn the art of dreaming on his own with only vague and sparse suggestion from Don Juan. After passing the first two gates of dreaming, shadowy beings begin to appear and it's clear immediately that Carlos is easy prey to their manipulations. The events that follow burgeon into a foolproof scheme to trap him forever in there world. Carlos may be just dumb enough to fall for it. The tenant's in this one too.

This book illustrates how miraculous our world is and how limited our perception. The shamans that practice this art take enormous risk. Not a path I would follow. I'm quite content to meditate in the safety of my room. I enjoy giving this book to friends to illustrate our capabilities, "To go where no man has gone before"

A lot has come out in recent years addressing the question of whether the author wrote fiction or nonfiction and how much he was influenced by the work of others- but in the case of this book some of the techniques he writes about might be very useful to you if you're interested in exploring your own dreams or the idea of lucid dreams in general. The author had a gift for wrapping ideas and techniques in wild imagery so his delivery doesn't come across as a dry academic text- if you're interested in dreams then this might increase your sense of wonder in the topic.

Carlos Castaneda and his guru Don Juan never disappoint.If you are interested in metaphysical concepts and literature...read this and the other books by the same author.You will get something out of it...for sure. Even if its 10 percent.Recommended!!

new condition

Very Good. Thanks

it becomes clear that I can't force dreaming, and yet I have to take it serious. It's not just happening but a process of studying my patterns in daily life to overcome them before I enter the dreamspace. It became clear that my life is a dream, too and how both the daily world and the dream are related. great book about dreaming.

I must confess I get somewhat agitated when people tout the greatness of Casteneda's early work, and then - on the flipside of the coin - continue to describe much of his later works as "absurd" etc etc... I personally believe these people are doing something very wrong. They are attempting to take every word of it as literal fact, as if one could literally step into another world as if it were a physically different planet. Of course when you try to be literal about these books you're going to stumble when it becomes more abstract! My own strong opinion is that all these great works are huge, well-veiled metaphors through and through.This was actually the first Casteneda book I read... I can still recall my very first impressions after finishing it: "Wow, well THAT was odd... and yet I couldn't put it down!" It is indeed a skilled and meticulous mind that shows the capability to wrap up such warnings of the pitfalls of the human condition within such entertaining stories in their own right. Who called him a Charlatan?! Far from it my friends... Why on earth should the author be spoonfeeding his meanings to the masses? It would take away from the artistry of his stories to do so "Well I GUESS I could've just said 'that'". No... you are supposed to find the relevant meanings yourself and see how the examples can help you act more impeccable.*SPOILER* - These are some examples of how I choose to interpret just a few key points from this book myself, for those who would ask for them:We are introduced to the "Assemblage point" - "assemblage" - "assemble" - where everything comes together... IN YOUR MIND... it is a description of the point of view you are taking to any given situation, and how that difference has the power to change how YOU act... and how the world will act towards YOU as a result of the "position" of the Assemblage Point.We are frequently bombarded with the word "dreaming"... and, although some examples can indeed be taken literally, the overwhelming feel for me, is that the intent is to refer to one's own imagination. Pure and simple.And IN our "dreaming" we are warned of "Inorganic Beings" who would strive to take all of our vitality and our life force itself. I feel this alludes to our internal dialogue... those automatic thoughts that out lack of consciousness allows to trap us... Maybe we have a huge life crisis on our hands... Maybe somebody has done something terrible to you and as a result you end up always thinking "I have to get even! I want justice! I'm going to get revenge!" or whatever... These are the "Inorganic Beings" that - seemingly with a life of their own, strive to SURVIVE in your mind, and steal all of your emotional energy. Which indeed is a very risky business, as you can trace so much evil that man has committed to this sad state of affairs.I could go on, but I think you get the picture... If you look to these books looking for "cheap magic and 'calling yourself spiritual'", don't be surprised when you don't ever quite get the hang of swinging from the filaments of the universe... By all means, if I'm wrong, show the world.. I'd be impressed immensely. However, for those of a more rational, sane perspective on life, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to enjoy an interesting story, and see how you can make it fit the mould of your experience to become more of an impeccable warrior.That is all :)