An Infinite Path podcast

[ecosophia]

It's been a while since I last posted one of my podcasts -- I know, forgetful of me. Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour and a half or so having a great conversation with Niles Heckman of An Infinite Path; you can download it for free here.  

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Please share "The Way of Dawn Wannabe", it sounds like it would be great reading!

[ecosophia]

That's The Teachings of Don Juanabee: A Poser Way of Knowledge. ;-)

I suppose Carlos Castaneda is practically forgotten nowadays, isn't he? Don Barthelme's The Teachings of Don B.: A Yankee Way of Knowledge was part of the inspiration for my project, as parody begets parody, but even that's hard to come by these days. (I found an online copy, fortunately.)

[violetcabra]

Far from it!

From my travels in the organic farm movement and with herbalists, Castaneda is one of the best read occult authors. Most young men in those scenes are quite familiar with his work, even if they are a little more sober-minded. In fact, amongst the neohippies he is still having a thundering impact; all of those people who look south to Latin American indigenous cultures as their spiritual inspiration, and put ayahausca, "The Medicine" on a pedestal are probably being influenced by Castaneda if they know it or not, and most of them seem to know it. I've seen a lot of tattered copies of his books in the break rooms of organic farms. So, ahem, there appears to be an entire Juanabee Tribe of people who not just pose, but also get thunderously stoned in the Southern Hemisphere.

[ecosophia]

Okay, that's good to hear. I consider Castaneda one of the great modern authors of visionary fiction -- his first trilogy, The Teachings of Don Juan, A Separate Reality, and Journey to Ixtlan, are absolutely brilliant, and even the later books (though they couldn't maintain that high level) are often quite good. That he chose to publish them as nonfiction makes perfect sense in the context of his teachings.

Laughter and Sadness

[degringolade]

I am thinking about when I read Carlos Castaneda in the long-ago. To a nineteen year-old it was heady stuff. I am almost tempted to re-read it, but there is a tendency when re-reading books that you thought were "great" or "life-changing" forty-five years ago now elicit the response "Jeez, was I really that fatuous?".

I might have to take the plunge though. I am trying to "see" and that is proving harder that I thought. I wonder if the methodologies found in the Don Juan books can help? This has to go into the list of possible recherches.

I know that everyone considers Castaneda "debunked" now. But I still have a fond spot in my heart. The debunkers were all "subject matter experts" who just didn't like what he wrote and went through all his data and found it, by their opinions, wanting.

I think that I still like the ideas. Whether or not they are up to "Academic" standards just is not important to me.

The parodies are a hoot though. Made me laugh many a time. But then again, I thought "Bored of the Rings" was funny too.

Re: Laughter and Sadness

[ecosophia]

I'm probably going to reread at least the first trilogy myself one of these days, once my current reading stack gets whittled down a ways.

Castaneda was debunked in the sense that it was pretty conclusively proved that he didn't get his teachings from a Yaqui man of knowledge in the Sonoran desert, but rather created them himself from a free mix of traditional shamanic teachings, modern philosophy, and his own inspiration, not unmixed with a whale of a lot of drugs. As the best of his critics, Richard De Mille, pointed out in The Don Juan Papers, that bears on the authenticity of his teachings but not on their validity.

Just as the value of Gerald Gardner's Wicca is not affected by the fact that it doesn't have the ancient pedigree he invented for it, the value of the Golden Dawn teachings aren't affected by the fact that the German adept from whom they supposedly came was a complete invention, and the value of modern Druidry isn't affected by the fact that it was cobbled together by three centuries of giddy eccentrics, the value of the teachings of don Carlos is independent of their origin. If the teachings work for you, they work, period.

And I laughed myself into hiccups the first time I read Bored of the Rings -- and at that time I adored Tolkien's trilogy.

Re: Laughter and Sadness

[degringolade]

My favorite line in "Bored" was:

'Pity stayed his hand. "it's a pity I've run out of bullets" he thought.'

or something like that

Thanks

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for posting this. I was very interested to learn about the history of various movements and your "back engineering." A most excellent interview.

[(Anonymous)]

This was so interesting!

[fluiddruid]

A very interesting interview, I learned a few new things and got answers to some of my questions. As always I will keep listening to this podcast until I can extract all the wisdom from it. Thank you for sharing it!

"Toad politics" is a catchy phrase, but I didn't quite understand what it was about. Could you enlighten me?

[ecosophia]

You'll have to ask the interviewer. I gathered from context, though, that he was talking about politics within the loose community of people who use the psychoactive secretions of toads for shamanic purposes.

[(Anonymous)]

Grettings AD.

On the pod cast u mentioned researching Asian burial mounds. Actually there’s one not far from the White House, it’s called the Vietnam Memorial.

Dashui

[ecosophia]

Um, not at all the same thing.

Thought that folks might like to read this

[degringolade]

https://aeon.co/essays/is-psychedelics-research-closer-to-theology-than-to-science

Your MPH Reference

[(Anonymous)]

As someone who is only now tuning into your online presence a bit more than in the past (largely because my interest in “things occult” has previously been limited), I have found a lot of fresh stimulation for spiritual growth in many of your observations.

In this particular instance of “first” podcast exposure, your mention in passing of Manly P. Hall has been a minor event for me, prompting me to finally look him up. I’ve begun listening to his many available lectures, and find them quite a revelation — not only of what he brings out of his immense wisdom, but of the extent to which his spoken knowledge seems often pre-existent in my own mind! He was truly a sage who was generous in his offerings and magnanimous in spirit. I can begin to see why you’re knocked out by him, as should we all be…

And so, many thanks to you, Mr. Greer!

Petrus

Shortwave, maybe?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know how far along you are with your Ham radio setup, but I wonder if it might be viable to start broadcasting the discussions on shortwave.

Re: Shortwave, maybe?

[ecosophia]

A ham radio license doesn't give you broadcasting privileges. That's a much more expensive license! Ham radio is for one-to-one conversations. Mind you, it would be great to see shortwave broadcasting come in for a revival, but that's not something I have the money or technical skill to get into.

Re: Shortwave, maybe?

[(Anonymous)]

More's the pity. A shame there's no other way to disseminate info that wouldn't be dependent on computers and the internet.

And here I was just hoping there'd be a way we'd all be able to huddle around our shortwave receivers, anxiously awaiting the next Ecosophy Broadcast.

Oh, well...