The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda

Author:Carlos Castaneda
Language: pt
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies, Native American Studies, Social Science, Mexico, Shamanism, Non-Christian Religions, Juan, Tribal religions, Psychology of Religion, Spirituality & religious experience, General, Anthropology, Religion, Cultural, Yaqui Indians - Religion, Ethnic or tribal religions, Ethnic Studies, Religion - Socialissues, Yaqui Indians, Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience, Ethnic & Tribal
ISBN: 9780520256460
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2008-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Part Two

A Structural Analysis

The following structural scheme, abstracted from the data on the states of non-ordinary reality presented in the foregoing part of this work, is conceived as an attempt to disclose the internal cohesion and the cogency of don Juan’s teachings. The structure, as I assess it, is composed of four concepts which are the main units: (1) man of knowledge; (2) a man of knowledge had an ally; (3) an ally had a rule; and (4) the rule was corroborated by special consensus. These four units are in turn composed of a number of subsidiary ideas; thus the total structure comprises all the meaningful concepts that were presented until the time I discontinued the apprenticeship. In a sense, these units represent successive levels of analysis, each level modifying the preceding one.

Because this conceptual structure is completely dependent on the meaning of all its units, the following clarification seems to be pertinent at this point: Throughout this entire work, meaning has been rendered as I understood it. The component concepts of don Juan’s knowledge as I have presented them here could not be the exact duplicate of what he said himself. In spite of all the effort I have put forth to render these concepts as faithfully as possible, their meaning has been deflected by my own attempts to classify them. The arrangement of the four main units of this structural scheme is, however, a logical sequence which appears to be free from the influence of extraneous classificatory devices of my own. But, insofar as the component ideas of each main unit are concerned, it has been impossible to discard my personal influence. At certain points extraneous classificatory items are necessary in order to render the phenomena understandable. And, if such a task was to be accomplished here, it had to be done by zigzagging back and forth from the alleged meanings and classificatory scheme of the teacher to the meanings and classificatory devices of the apprentice.

THE OPERATIVE ORDER

The First Unit

MAN OF KNOWLEDGE

At a very early stage of my apprenticeship, don Juan made the statement that the goal of his teachings was “to show how to become a man of knowledge”. I use that statement as a point of departure. It is obvious that to become a man of knowledge was an operational goal. And it is also obvious that every part of don Juan’s orderly teachings was geared to fulfill that goal in one way or another. My line of reasoning here is that under the circumstances “man of knowledge”, being an operational goal, must have bean indispensable to explaining some “operative order”.

Then, it is justifiable to conclude that, in order to understand that operative order, one has to understand its objective: man of knowledge.

After having established “man of knowledge” as the first structural unit, it was possible for me to arrange with assurance the following seven concepts as its proper components: (1) to become a man of knowledge was a matter of learning; (2) a man of

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