People with a profound interest in their dreams are drawn to the writings of mystic author Carlos Castaneda. Castaneda claimed that dreams are a gateway into a magical realm of separate realities, otherworldly beings and sorcery. He was hailed as a hero of the New Age and vilified as an absolute charlatan who craftily engineered a monumental literary hoax. Was his work fact or fiction? Could he project his astral body, contact others in their dreams, discover ancient secrets from sorcerers who died hundreds and thousands of years ago?

Reading his books one is puzzled by the odd combination of apparent wisdom and apparent nonsense. I've used his technique of looking at my hands in a dream when I knew I was dreaming (a lucid dream) as a way of maintaining my lucidity, but can one "burn from within" and become pure awareness, thereby avoiding old age, illness, and death? If Castaneda was wise, why would he fool us? If he was a fraud, why do his teachings so often ring true?

I was fortunate in 1988 to hear Castaneda lecture and answer questions on three separate occasions to small groups of invitees in the basement of the Phoenix bookstore in Santa Monica, California. A small, intense man in his sixties at the time, the author insisted that his writings were factual and honest. He pointed out that he had nothing to gain from fabricating lies. He wasn't interested in followers, fame or fortune. He'd devoted his life to trying to understand certain mysteries and he'd committed himself to the "warrior's path." It meant for him a life of total self-discipline and extreme austerity: no wife, no family, no high-profile academic career, no celebrity status as a best-selling author. Wouldn't he have to be a madman or a fool to give up all life's perks and pleasures just to deceive an indifferent public that hardly knew his name and had never seen his picture?

He seemed absolutely sincere and passionately committed, but from time to time I thought he was lying. Someone asked if he'd met any of the other (reputedly) enlightened figures of the era. He said he'd taken a year off and traveled around the world to meet and compare notes with the world's celebrated gurus and avatars - and found everyone of them to be a raving egomaniac. He said one Buddhist master he went to visit became so upset when told that Carlos Castaneda was at the door that he tripped on his sandals coming down the stairs, struck his head on the marble floor of the foyer, and died on the spot. I thought, "That didn't happen. Castaneda's putting us on. Why?"

I believe the answer is that deception is part of the tradition of sorcery practiced by Carlos Castaneda and the members of his group (Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar have also written books about the teachings of don Juan Matus). It's an aspect of stalking, as described in Castaneda's The Fire From Within. The attitude is that it's better to get something worthwhile done using deception than to fail to get something worthwhile done using truth. This would also account for all the questionable "facts" put forth in his writings. Furthermore, this practice of deception frees sorcerers from their own conditioning and personal history, considered vitally important to the attainment of their goals.

I also came away from those lectures feeling that Carlos Castaneda's passionate quest for magical powers and transcendence was a vanity, little different from the far more common quest, the pursuit of riches and fame. He seemed quite frustrated, unhappy, and full of cravings, though his cravings were for otherworldly rewards rather than worldly ones.

When asked by his disciples about the metaphysical realities, the Buddha replied that it was like a man who had been struck by a poison arrow wanting to know who made the arrow, when was it made, where was it made, what kind of wood was it made of, what kind of feathers were used, etc., before allowing anyone to remove the arrow.

Perhaps dreams can be used for learning how to achieve astral projection. But far more urgent is the need for a life that is emotionally satisfying. According to some teachings, the ultimate goal for the human spirit is a state of oneness with the cosmos and detachment. But even those teachings say that the path to enlightenment is the development of healthy, fulfilling attachments, the practice of love and kindness, an attitude of humility, and a deep inner commitment to truth.

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