Personal History

Everyone wants to know about our ‘personal history,’ so here is mine. No use in hiding it; this ties in with being available and unavailable (also a don Juan technique.) I will write about being available and unavailable when I have time. So, here is a brief recap of how I began with Carlos Castaneda and some of my personal history. 

The year was 1987 and I was a junior in college. I had found a professor I really enjoyed (he was even in the field I was majoring in, Business,) and began attending all his classes. He seemed a bit odd to me, and that’s one reason I really enjoyed him. He wasn’t the typical ‘stuffy’ professor. He was this old ‘hippie,’ and would drive up from Sedona to Flagstaff to teach each week. He would quote Carlos Castaneda in his lectures, as well as provide us quotes on paper.

My favorite time with this professor was when he took the entire class outside, to conduct class out on the grassy lawn area. He spoke of many Carlos Castaneda topics, and this caught my interest. It didn’t attract me enough to actually read, Journey To Ixtlan, which was required reading for this professor’s course, but I certainly found interest in it!

Fast forward another year and a half, after graduation in the summer of 1988. I was bored one Sunday afternoon; so bored I decided to dig out my old college books and try and find something exciting. I found a book that I’d never opened, entitled Journey To Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda. (As mentioned above.) Figured I’d take a look. Fascinating!

That was the weirdest book I’d ever read, and come to find out, it was required reading from my favorite professor mentioned above. Thus, I started thinking about that professor and how he had behaved. I saw how he emulated what was taught in the book.

So, I tried the concepts myself, yet I was only dabbling. It was just a bit to ‘off the wall,’ but I tried. I felt like Carlos Castaneda in comparison to don Juan. It was entertaining intellectually, but when it came to put it to practice, I didn’t do so well.

Fast forward another five years to 1993. At the ripe old age of 27, I died. Drown. I was legally dead, brain dead for over two minutes. I won’t go into all the NDE details, as I have many, just suffice it to say that it really woke me up. (Or so I thought.) I applied all of the teachings CC had written about in his series of books. (CC is short for Carlos Castaneda the author.) But, as the years went by, and life carried on, I slowly slipped back into non-awareness.

Ah, but life wasn’t finished with me yet. Four years after the first NDE I was electrocuted and died once again in 1997. (I guess one life lesson wasn’t enough, eh?) This NDE really kicked me in the pants. I decided to really ‘buckle down’ and get with the teachings once again.

One part of the teachings that seemed to come from the last NDE was the ability to have lucid dreams at will. I will write about these Dreams and the lessons taught within the Dream. The rest of the waking lessons were difficult even though I was receiving guidance in Dreaming. That's what this blog is all about; the path of the mastery of awareness, and decided to label it, Exploring Awareness.

It’s now been over twenty years since that last NDE. Much has happened. I’ve kept the teachings of CC active and do my best to practice them. I also dabble in Zen and other teaching’s; different fingers pointing at the moon.

This blog will discuss my own personal experiences in regards to the teachings of don Juan and Carlos Castaneda, along with other teachings I find helpful. Am I a master of awareness? Not even close. Or, perhaps I-Am. Perhaps we ALL are. Who knows? What I do know is that life certainly is entertaining!

Tip - I highly recommend you read Carlos Castaneda's books if you are to follow along with this blog. If you are following this blog you have probably already read them. If not, please comment and ask for clarification.

TMMK