Why are the writings of Carlos Castaneda being taught as serious scholarship at universities?

[Bluegoat]

Dear Bluegoat,

I appreciate the exposure and the expansion of thinking that develops when we are exposed to a variety of things, be it religion, language, philosophical thinking, cultures, music, etc…

I also understand that we are able to appreciate certain aspects of our own religion or what have you when we are exposed to different ones. I understand and I am all for it.

My problem, here is that this is suppose to be an introductory course in the philosophy of religion. The classical thinkers have been skimmed up to this point and there have been short articles read of some, yet, of Castaneda a whole book has to be read and even the teachings practiced. His spirituality is not presented in the content of the which he claims as a foundation of his spirituality (toltec, yaqui etc…) instead, out of context the student are assigned to read Journey to Ixtlan and a deep analysis ensues of the ‘work’. I am not going to complain to the university, I am just watching the situation from a far and it does not make sense to me. I will see how the semester goes. My son will not have the same professor next semester as he will be attending the campus in my town. Right now, I have to drive an hour up a mountain and back and wait in the car four hours while he is in class. I do a lot of reading in the car and I pray the rosary and listen to Bible tapes. It’s just the way things turned out this semester.

My concern is; why promote a cult? If Jim Jones wrote up some scribbles, why would that have to be studied in a philosophy of religion course? Why ignore in the presentation of the works the fact that people committed suicide and all the other problems? Why just assign the scribbles to the students as is it was something worthwhile understanding? I understand some of the wives of Carlos Castaneda and maybe the supposed daughter committed suicide. I am not sure, but, there were some suicides after his death.

What I want to say is: Eso no tiene fundamento! There! It just does not have a rational basis nor presenting it to students as if it did.

http://www.altereddimensions.net/images/crime/jonestown/JonestownBodies2.jpg

It seems an odd choice to me as well.

 

[greylorn]

I seriously do not get it. My son is taking a philosophy of religion course at a state university and one of the assignments is to read Journey to Ixtlan. The assignment this week is to practice for a day the teachings of the book. Mainly to live the day as if it was the last. But, I find the whole thing weird. I do not think he is a serious scholar and if a professor wanted to cover him it would seem more appropriate to cover him in passing. If need be at all, a good fifteen minutes of lecture time and carry one.

Most universities are run by nitwits, funded by the government, and dedicated to creating as many nitwits as possible. That is because they will need nitwit professors in the future.

You are way ahead of the game. You’ve picked up the clue necessary to realize the kind of fools who are teaching your son, and what they are trying to transform him into.

But then, he’s obviously majoring in silly studies anyway. Presumably because he’s not bright enough to deal with hard sciences, or math, or engineering and not skilled enough to learn a useful trade like welding or machining. You’re pretty much stuck. You can’t change the system, so get ready to watch him grow up to be a perfesser, or burger chef.

 

[Bluegoat]

Most universities are run by nitwits, funded by the government, and dedicated to creating as many nitwits as possible. That is because they will need nitwit professors in the future.

You are way ahead of the game. You’ve picked up the clue necessary to realize the kind of fools who are teaching your son, and what they are trying to transform him into.

But then, he’s obviously majoring in silly studies anyway. Presumably because he’s not bright enough to deal with hard sciences, or math, or engineering and not skilled enough to learn a useful trade like welding or machining. You’re pretty much stuck. You can’t change the system, so get ready to watch him grow up to be a perfesser, or burger chef.

I met a ton of nitwits in the silly sciences when I was a student, not to mention the engineers, who couldn’t have thought their way out of a box in a lifetime.

Nitwits are found in all the disciplines.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I am just surprised that anyone still takes Castaneda seriously in this year of our Lord 2011.

Since 1976 at least, scholars have shown that Castaneda falsified his books, made up characters, copied ideas from other mystical traditions (the often-cited idea that one must live every day as if it were one’s last, was common in the Bushido tradition of the Samurai class), he ripped off other anthropological studies on the Yaqui, and documentary evidence showed that Castaneda could not have been in Mexico on the dates he claimed. His fans have claimed that the supposed truthful, first person nature of his narratives is just a literary device to express his own philosophical beliefs, but his initial books were published through a university press with no indication given to his publishers that this was a work of fiction, metafiction, or a put-on.

If my son was taking a religion class where Castaneda was a text, I would seriously advise him to try to drop the class and find a more reputable professor.