Statement about survivors of the cult.
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http://www.sustainedaction.org/Explorations/compassion_for_cleargreen.htmCompassion for the Remaining Staff at Cleargreen:
The Difficulties of Emerging from a Cult
Introduction by Corey Donovan
In honor of the holiday season, not to mention the ending of a millenium, I would like to urge us to take a moment to find compassion and love in our hearts for the remaining gang at Cleargreen.
While they do and say things from time to time that may make a number of us angry, I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that they are the biggest victims of Castaneda's often abusive, authoritarian guru behavior, and that, as a result, they cannot exactly be expected to think or act entirely very rationally.
In my research, I've learned that a number of them come from very messed up backgrounds, and were, in some cases, either in bad physical or mental health (or both) when they met Castaneda. They have been taught to attribute their improved functioning to Castaneda. Like everyone else who came to work for Cleargreen when Castaneda was still alive, these people turned their lives over to Castaneda, ultimately submitting to his complete and unquestionable authority.
As the material on this site from The Guru Papers argues, this can, initially at least, be an empowering and energizing state for people who have long suffered from conflicting feelings and thoughts, since they now no longer have to think for themselves. Castaneda's group only slept with the people they were told to sleep with, only ate the food they were told to eat, only remained in touch with the friends or family they were allowed to remain in touch with, were barred from talking--even with each other--about things that they were not allowed to talk about, and were regularly given immensely time-consuming tasks that guaranteed they would have no room in their schedules to think about themselves. They were also kept in a constant state of concern that they were going to lose contact with the person on whom they had become so completely dependent (since people whom Castaneda threw out found that telephone numbers would immediately be changed and they would be barred from any further contact whatsoever). Emotionally, then, they were kept in a constant state of anxiety and focus on the guy in control.
When Castaneda died (after concealing the true extent of his condition from many of them in his final months), they were denied even the outlet of publicly grieving their loss. Those that remained (Fabricio left after a month or two--having lost not only Castaneda but the woman he loved that he gave up to Castaneda: Talia) simply shifted their allegiance and obedience to Carol. Can people like this afford to admit that Carol--who shows every sign of being an acute narcissist--is not a special and unique entity deserving of their total allegiance? Admit that she wasn't really out of this world for 10 years, the "energetic fact" that has been held over them for years as the basis for her superiority? No, it would be entirely too threatening. If they have to start thinking for themselves they will have to deal not only with the pain they ran away from in the first place, but also the realization that they were being manipulated and abused by Castaneda for years as well. Better to keep the myth in place and act like nothing whatsoever has happened. Hence, Carol easily succeeds in keeping them from looking at material that might make them question her authority. Yes, a few of them may simply be cynical opportunists willing to take advantage of a group that has put them in an elite position. Most of them, however, are so psychologically damaged that doing anything other than continuing to take orders and maintain the fantasy is too deeply threatening even to contemplate.
For further background on what it must be like for the people who completely turned their lives over to Castaneda, here is the bulk of a groundbreaking piece by Margaret Thaler Singer, the world's leading expert on the psychological dynamics of cults and "deprogramming."
"Coming Out of the Cults," by Margaret Thaler Singer, from Psychology Today January 1979.
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http://www.sustainedaction.org/Explorations/native_american_elders_reactions.htmVine Deloria, Jr. on 'don Juan'
From Sandy McIntosh
In trying to understand the problems that people from one culture (ours) meet with when they try to understand something fundamental in another culture (the "wisdom of the shamans of ancient Mexico"), I came upon the following by Vine Deloria, Jr. in his introduction to The Pretend Indian: Images of Native Americans in the Movies: Here he is discussing one of the strongest images whites have about Indians: the "old chief" stereotype.
"Carlos Castaneda parlayed the old man image into a series of best sellers that have much more relationship with an LSD travel tour than with Indians. Whatever Don Juan is, he is far from a recognizable Indian except to confused and psychically injured whites who have a need to project their spiritual energies onto an old Indian for resolution…. The whites are sincere but they are only sincere about what they are interested in, not about Indians about whom they know very little. They get exceedingly angry if you try to tell them the truth and will only reject you and keep searching until they find the Indian of their fantasies…. The obvious solution to the whole thing would be for the whites to achieve some kind of psychological and/or religious maturity. But the whole psychological posture of American society is toward perpetual youth. Everyone believes that he or she must be eternally young. No one wants to believe that he or she is getting or will ever get old. Somehow only Indians get old because the coffee table books are filled with pictures of old Indians but hardly a book exists that has pictures of old whites."