Page:Para leer a Carlos Castaneda.djvu/8

 COMMENTARY TO THE SECOND EDITION

How was the wisdom and knowledge of ancient Mexico? Did it completely disappeared with the conquest and the colony? Does contemporary Mexico still holds some elements of this philosophy?

Mexicans are heirs to one of the six oldest independent origin cultures of the world. Other than cultures that developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Mesoamerica and Andean zone, there was no other culture in the world without external cultures influences in their development.

These six "mother" cultures produced through thousands of years an immeasurable and wonderful world of knowledge, that sought from within raising the quality of life (spiritual development) and improving standards of living (material development). With creativity, sensitivity and intelligence these peoples produced foodstuff, clothing, medicine, architecture, engineering, science, religion, philosophy, art, etc., wisdom and human experience that through millennia was enriched, to awaken men from their animal state and raise him to consciousness levels that allowed them to respond to the ontological problem that every culture has sought to solve. —WHO AM I, WHERE DO I COME FROM and WHERE AM I GOING. The world in which we live today was founded in the ancient knowledge provided by these old and wise cultures.

What was the philosophy that encouraged and guided the cultural development of ancient Mexico throughout thousands of years? Why, if the cultures of India, China, Egypt, etc., which are as ancient as ours are still philosophically alive, the anahuaca is presumed extinct?

In ancient Mexico existed the Toltecáyotl, as a higher knowledge complex that through thousands of years and generations produced the splendor of the so-called "classical period" in the Anahuac. This knowledge was transmitted through institutions such as the "Calmécatl" and the so-called "White Brotherhood". When the Spaniards arrived they destroyed "everything they saw and touched" of the culture, but there were "certain things" they never saw or touched, that were jealously guarded by the "men of knowledge", and remained intact; furthermore, on the contrary, these were developed and even perfected. This deep life and world knowledge is still alive and present in Mexicans daily life. Some knowledge remain hidden underground and selectively; other in the "skin" of "Mexico and Mexicans", others in the consciousness, but all are still alive and shaping us individually or our communities.

The knowledge contained in the work of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda is a minimal expression of this vast and immeasurable knowledge. His nine books discover a world of knowledge, forbidden for centuries to western understanding. The work introduces us to the intricate and exciting paths of the ancient knowledge that for thousands of years developed our Toltec grandparents. Though reading, we learn the technology to receive "THE EAGLE'S GIFT" or, as they said poetically, "flourish the heart".

Don Juan Matus (the shaman teacher) uses Carlos Castaneda as a vehicle to massively disseminate this Toltequity knowledge. Reading of "THE DON JUAN TEACHINGS" provides an extraordinary and revealing approach to our philosophical origins and provides a full sense to all our anahuaca legacy (solves our solitude labyrinth). We dare say that the work of Castaneda