Product Description

Carlos Castaneda was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. In this stunning new jacket edition of his bestselling book, he takes the reader on an amazing journey of the soul via the teachings of the great sorcerer don Juan and reveals that there are worlds existing within our own that can be visited through dreams. The Art of Dreaming is an extraordinary and exciting adventure of the psyche unlike any other, which takes the reader on an amazing journey of the soul via the teachings of the great sorcerer, don Juan. Carlos Castaneda reveals that, like the layers of an onion, there are worlds existing within our own that can be visited through dreams. Using powerful ancient techniques to alter his state of consciousness, Castaneda travels into new worlds and encounters remarkable but dangerous beings; he conjoins energy bodies with another dreamer in order to dream and explore together, and thus acquires new knowledge and understanding. Castaneda's compelling writing enables the reader to participate fully in his eye-opening and thrilling discoveries and explorations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51739 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
'Castaneda has become one of the godfathers of the New Age movement! He is addressing the central issues of our time.' LOS ANGELES TIMES 'Carlos Castaneda is one of the most profound and influential thinkers of this century. His insights are paving the direction for the future evolution of human consciousness. We should all be deeply indebted to him.' DEEPAK CHOPRA 'We are incredibly fortunate to have Carlos Castaneda's books! One can't exaggerate the significance of what he has done.' NEW YORK TIMES '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 the moment- if only we could see.' CHICAGO TRIBUNE

About the Author
Carlos Castaneda was the author of 11 international bestsellers describing his work with don Juan Matus. His work and ideas will be continued by Cleargreen, the organisation that he founded to promote his ideas.

Customer Reviews

Dreaming practices for those who relate to Castaneda's world
I came to this book from an interest in lucid dreaming (becoming aware that you are dreaming while you are dreaming) and am also a long time fan of Castaneda. The book gave me some specific techniques to use in my dreaming practice, which is what I wanted. The early chapters were slow to get going, but as usual by the end of a Castaneda book I had entered his world and felt closer to those worlds that seem to be just beyond my everyday experience. Some chapters were hard to take, describing dream experiences that I found incredible or I simply did not want to believe them. I hope they are metaphorical descriptions, but as with so much of Castaneda the joy is wondering whether his descriptions of shamanic practices are real or not.

If you are new to Castaneda, then I think there are better works, and I would personally recommend his first books. If you have read Castaneda before (and like him) and are interested in dreaming techniques then this book has good coverage of the area. If you just want to get into lucid dreaming I would recommend Dreaming Realities by John Overdurf and Julie Silverthorn as a much more explicit book of techniques to use.

on finding your hands
I've read Casteneda's books for close on 35 years. I'm certain they are 'fiction', or lets say a tale based on some kind of fact. And I have to state I'm unhappy to see the development of the New Age, with it's wishy washy thinking and it's 'Harry Potter' sensationalism. And of course I'm unhappy to see Casteneda dragged into that bag, because I think association with the New Age stuff debases Casteneda.

I smile at the irony then, of my, if not 'believing' then TRUSTING Carlos Casteneda implicitly. I think he's pretty much on the money. It's a gut feeling. Years ago I found my hands in a dream, just like Casteneda describes, and so I began Lucid Dreaming. This practice has changed me more than any other single event or experience I've had. It's one thing to read this stuff and speculate, another to actually have the experiences pretty much as he describes for oneself. I'm a rational person, I could say he programmed my dreams but the truth is I had similar experiences of non everyday reality from when I was a child and one childhood and pre linguistic memory in particular predicates my trusting him.

I have picked the books up and been skeptical time after time. Not only did I read the damning critiques of Richard de Mille (who's actually rather kind to Carlos)I just struggled with my own doubts as to the validity of what I experienced. Pretty much like Carlos himself!. The trouble with the critiques is that they all treat the works as being flawed because Carlos wasn't in Mexico on the date he says he was blah blah blah, they are concerned with tiny empirical details but they never examine WHAT he says, they never actually look at his or don Juans 'explanations' (I don't feel right calling then his 'metaphysics'). If you are already a lucid dreamer and haven't read this book, then it's worth doing so because you'll recognise the 'landscape'. If you're not already a dreamer then this book may be a threshold for you.

Eitherway, all his books make wonderful reading. Even if you just take them as a story, they are entertaining, well written and insightful in many revealing ways. If on the otherhand you wake up one night looking at your hands, then realise you're in a dream, or if you dream you 'wake up' back in the very same hospital ward coming round from an operation you had back in 1970, only to wonder if the life you thought you had lived from that date on has all been a dream while you were under the anaesthetic, then you realise you live in a Universe that is suddenly larger, richer and more complex than the one you left behind.

Ha ha ha Casteneda has this effect upon you, and I for one am profoundly glad I've stuck with him.

A dream in a dream
Carlos Casteneda's books are entertaining and this is no exception. As we laugh at his exploits we begin to laugh at ourselves. There are huge and subtle insights in this book. A book that warns us about being trapped in the world of dreams. The practices suggested are worthy of investigation. The last chapters on the mysterious 'tenant' are truly spell binding. Highly reccomended!