Blog 6

The English major in me is rejoicing at the fact that this book is in story form. If for no other reason, I am really enjoying it.
I think that, more than anything, I am enjoying reading about a perspective on mind altered states coming from personal experience. I am always interested in learning about different cultures, beliefs and points-of-view that my own personal experience could never otherwise have known or learned. Not only that... but coming from a culture which, over all, has a very negative view on the use of mind-altering drugs; it is interesting to me to see them being used and revered as something sacred and respected. It is a means to achieving a greater sense of understanding that we as a nation consider no more than a means of ruining lives or landing in jail.
I found it interesting that the story was not necessarily about a deeply motivated young man, in search of greater meaning in the world who finds a master to diligently teach him the ways, so much as it was about some curious unfocused guy who finds a master of mind-altering states and wants to glean as much empirical data off of him about peyote as he can with almost no regard to the spiritual aspects of the journey. He is not diligent or very committed in his studies or trials, but just kind of pops in from time to time and gets exposed to things that he probably would have preferred just hearing about. It made me wonder what it was that Don Juan saw in this guy that made him want to take him on as an apprentice. I almost feel upset that he is not taking this experience as seriously as he should. But then again, maybe I have seen too many Karate Kid type movies and the main character is just not fitting into the stereo-type I had picked out for him.
Reading this story brought back memories of personal experiences with other things and the effects that I had felt from them. It really put into perspective for me where I am in my life and how I have come to feel about these things. At one point, I would have read this and been on the next flight to central Mexico, whereas now, I no longer have that urge to go through the body aches, thirsts and miseries that are associated with the intense visions/experiences that one can have while on drugs. I found myself feeling grateful that while I enjoyed these experiences and that they are a part of who I am and how I see things today… that time of my life has come and past and realized that it is no longer a part of me. I can still understand that longing for other-worldly experiences, but I find myself much more attracted to methods that do not involve physical side effects, like meditation or paying close attention to my body's rhythms.
I found myself wondering what exactly the two drugs that they use really look like so I went online (hopefully I didn’t get myself put on some sort of Gov’t. watchlist for it) and found these:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.peyote.nl/peyote%2520forest.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.peyote.nl/&usg=__EzgtDgEpVppmZjdqVc3o7ZKpSyM=&h=322&w=430&sz=34&hl=en&start=1&sig2=wHaW-rW6svehrvS6RSPRTw&um=1&tbnid=ju9rSKBbD5JLbM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpeyote%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7RNTN_en%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1&ei=MvHISq-9JZTGlAeu5KWSAw

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/DaturaStramonium-plant-sm.jpg

The buttons that he described looked somehow different in my mind than what they actually look like. I imagined more of a mushroom looking surface instead of a cactus.


What I really enjoyed about the book so far is the reverence and care taken by Don Juan to perfect and perform the rituals. I think this is one of the most interesting and unique aspects of humanity and something that has yet escaped my life. I am coming to believe that what we believe is not important in the grand scheme of things. God is to me the way I can see God just as God is to another the way that they can see God. What it is that we believe to be higher/outside ourselves is not what matters, it is that we truly believe in that higher ideal/being. Maybe my mind is just really focused on this idea or I have a personal agenda to fill, but it really seems to me that this is an underlying theme to consciousness and our studies in this class.

Hannah