Blog #8

I’ll admit it; I’m glad to be done with Castaneda’s book. Although it is written in narrative form and a little bit easier to read than The Field, I don’t feel as if it applies to life as much as The Field does. Actually, I should clarify that I don’t feel it applies to my life as much as does The Field. The possibilities for medicine that were presented in The Field personally excite me much more than the subject matter in The Teachings. Having never used hallucinogenic plants (and also never planning to use them) I had trouble finding a personal connection with The Teachings. However, I also realize that someone could find an interest in the book without using hallucinogens; it simply did not happen for me. Yet, personal opinions aside, I did find a passage in this week’s reading that relates to what we’ve been talking about in class.

In chapter 10 Don Juan speaks about the crows’ ability to see when a being is about to die. “‘Things that are alive,’ he said, ‘move inside, and a crow can easily see when something is dead, or about to die, because the movement has stopped or is slowing down to a stop. A crow can also tell when something is moving too fast, and by the same token a crow can tell when something is moving just right’” (139). This quote makes a lot of sense in relation to the discussions we’ve been having about beings of light. In The Field McTaggart explains that science is beginning to see that everything, at its most base level, is composed of light. If this is actually the case then it follows that if a person is about to die his light will be different than that of a healthy person. In other words his light would be “slowing down to a stop.” I recall that McTaggart also mentions that people who are healthy have a more balanced order than those who are sick. That would explain why, according to Don Juan, the crows are able to tell when certain beings are off and why others are “moving just right.”

Additionally, although slightly more morbid, is what Don Juan says the crows see in rotting flesh. According to him “what a crow sees then is millions of things moving inside the flesh with a light of their own” (140). Perhaps this is gross, but I think he’s talking about the microorganisms which cause a dead body to decay. Although small, they would each have their own light, so it would only make sense that they are the “millions of things” the crows see when looking at a dead body.

As stated, I didn’t really like the book; however, I was able to see the connections it had with our other readings and class discussions. I’m not sorry to say goodbye to The Teachings but I do recognize some of the interesting subjects it has brought about. Who would have guessed I’d ever end up talking about decaying flesh and microorganisms in a class titled “Altered States and Creativity”? For that I have The Teachings to thank.