OFF: Re: drugs

[M Holmes]

Jon Browne writes:

> If you're into Ethno-botany, shamanism or the works of Casteneda or
> McKenna

There's an excellent book researching Castaneda and showing pretty
convincingly that the guy more or less made it all up from reading books
like the Wasson's stuff in the University Library. The officials
probably knew this but Castaneda hit on a war between tradional and
ethnographic anthropologists and the ethno side gave 'im the Ph.D that
was supposedly awarded for the research in the first book.

The analysis goes into the fact that the timeline (as well as major plot
elements) in the first three books differs radically, and is
inconsistent with, the timeline as described in the second three books.

However, the author (I can't remember the author or title) is still an
admirer of Castaneda and regards him as a "Holy Fool" - a japester who
brings necessary knowledge through exposing hypocrisy and credulity
through what amounts to what the celts call "A Total Windup".

Personally I liked the first couple of books but I don't regard them as
any more spiritually enlightening as T.Lobsang Rampa's books (Mr. Rampa
is apparently an accountant in England and no more posesses a psychic
third eye than President Clinton does a sense of integrity).

> Jon Browne

FoFP