Reviews
Castaneda's sanity lends to even the most lurid experiences the force of data. It compels us to believe that don Juan is one of the most extraordinary figures in anthropological literature, a neolithic sage. It helps us to accept, from the continent we stole, a mysterious gift of wisdom., The secret to Castaneda's popularity is his great gift for storytelling...the exchanges between student and teacher are irresistibly dramatic and mind-expanding. Readers will be fascinated by the revelations of Castaneda., We are incredibly fortunate to have Carlos Castaneda's books. . . . One can't exaggerate the significance of what he has done., It's impossible to view the world in quite the same way after reading him...If Castaneda is correct, there is another world, a sometimes beautiful and sometimes frightening world, right before our eyes at this moment--if only we could see., Carlos Castaneda was one of the most profound and influential thinkers of this century. His insights paved the way for the future evolution of human consciousness. We are all deeply indebted to him.
Synopsis
In The Active Side of Infinity, anthropologist and shaman Carlos Castaneda returns once again to the story of his apprenticeship with the Yaqui Indian sorcerer don Juan. When his teacher instructs him to collect the memorable events of his life-events with a profound significance for him that changed his life or illuminated his path-Castaneda performs a task that turns out to be the preparation necessary for facing -the definitive journey' that every human being has to take at the end of his life. Castaneda's approach to what modern man refers to as -life after death, ' and which for shamans is a concrete region they call The Active Side of Inifinity, makes for an unusally moving and revealing book., "Ordinarily, events that change our path are impersonal affairs, and yet extremely personal. "My teacher, don Juan Matus, said this in guiding me as his apprentice to collect what I considered to be the memorable events of my life. Don Juan Matus was a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico; he was a nagual, a leader of a group of fifteen men and women shamans who traced their lineage to the shamans who lived in Mexico in ancient times. Over the course of thirteen years, don Juan ushered me into the cognitive world of those shamans, a world which was, according to him, ruled by a different system of cognition than the one which rules our world of everyday life. "Writing The Active Side of Infinity was a response to don Juan's directive to collect such an album of memorable events. Though it seemed at the time that don Juan had given me this instruction on the spur of the moment, as time went by he revealed to me that gathering such a collection was a traditional task given by the shamans of his lineage to their apprentices. Don Juan said that it was called a collection or an album because it was like an album of pictures made out of the recollection of events that had profound significance in the shaman's life, events that changed things for him, that illuminated his path. Don Juan stated that to formulate an album of this nature demanded such discipline and impartiality that it was, in essence, an act of war. "Don Juan described the total goal of the shamanistic knowledge that he handled as the preparation for facing the definitive journey the journey that every human being has to take at the end of his life. He said that what modern man referred to vaguely as 'life after death' was, for those shamans, a concrete region filled to capacity with practical affairs of a different order than the practical affairs of daily life, yet bearing a similar functional practicality. Don Juan considered that to collect the memorable events in their lives was, for shamans, the preparation for their entrance into that concrete region, which they called the a active side of infinity. In this book written in the final years of preparation for his definitive journey, anthropologist and shaman Carlos Castaneda gives us his most autobiographical and intimately revealing work ever, the fruit of a lifetime of experience and perhaps the most moving volume in his oeuvre., "Carlos Castaneda was one of the most profound and influential thinkers of this century. His insights paved the way for the future evolution of human consciousness. We are all deeply indebted to him." -- Deepak Chopra In this book written immediately before his death, anthropologist and shaman Carlos Castaneda gives us his most autobiographical and intimately revealing work ever, the fruit of a lifetime of experience and perhaps the most moving volume in his oeuvre. "Ordinarily, events that change our path are impersonal affairs, and yet extremely personal. My teacher, don Juan Matsus, said this in guiding me as his apprentice to collect what I considered to be the memorable events of my life.... Don Juan described the total goal of the shamanistic knowledge that he handled as the preparation for facing the definitive journey: the journey that every human being has to take at the end of his life. He said that what modern man referred to vaguely as life after death was, for those shamans, a concrete region filled to capacity with practical affairs of a different order than the practical affairs of daily life, yet bearing a similar functional practicality. Don Juan considered that to collect the memorable events in their lives was, for shamans, the preparation for their entrance into that concrete region, which they called the active side of infinity."
