Editing Carlos Castaneda (section)

==Career==
Castaneda's first three books—''[[The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge]]'', ''[[A Separate Reality]]'', and ''[[Journey to Ixtlan]]''—were written while he was an [[anthropology]] student at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA). He wrote that these books were ethnographic accounts describing his apprenticeship with a traditional "Man of Knowledge" identified as ''don Juan Matus'', an Indigenous [[Yaqui]] from northern Mexico. The veracity of these books was doubted from their original publication, and are considered to be fictional by a number of scholars.<ref name="salon_2007"/><ref name=Baron/><ref name="Leach"/><ref name="spicer_1969"/> Castaneda was awarded his [[Bachelor degree|bachelor's]] and [[doctoral degree]]s based on the work described in these books.<ref name="salon_2007"/>

In 1974 his fourth book, ''Tales of Power'', chronicled the end of the story of his apprenticeship with Matus. Despite published questions and criticism, Castaneda continued to be popular with the reading public, and subsequent publications described further aspects of his training with don Juan.{{sfn|Wallis|2003|p=40}}

Castaneda wrote that don Juan recognized him as the new ''[[nagual]]'', or leader of a party of seers of his lineage. He said Matus also used the term ''nagual'' to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of the unknown yet still reachable by man—implying that, for his own party of seers, Matus was a connection to that unknown. Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as "non-ordinary reality".{{sfn|Torres|2004}}

While Castaneda was a well-known cultural figure, he rarely appeared in public forums. He was the subject of a cover article in the March 5, 1973, issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]],'' which described him as "an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a tortilla".{{sfn|Burton|1973}} There was controversy when it was revealed that Castaneda might have used a surrogate for his cover portrait. Correspondent Sandra Burton, apparently unaware of Castaneda's principle of freedom from personal history, confronted him about discrepancies in his account of his life. He responded: "To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics&nbsp;... is like using science to validate sorcery. It robs the world of its magic and makes milestones out of us all."  Following that interview, Castaneda completely retired from public view{{sfn|Burton|1973}} until the 1990s.{{sfn|Applebome|1998b}}

===Tensegrity===
{{for|the structural principle coined by Buckminster Fuller in the 1960s|Tensegrity}}
In the 1990s, Castaneda once again began appearing in public to promote Tensegrity, described in promotional materials as "the modernized version of some movements called magical passes developed by Indigenous shamans who lived in Mexico in times prior to the Spanish conquest".{{sfn|Applebome|1998b}}

Castaneda, with Carol Tiggs, [[Florinda Donner-Grau]] and [[Taisha Abelar]], created Cleargreen Incorporated in 1995, whose stated purpose was "to sponsor Tensegrity workshops, classes and publications". Tensegrity seminars, books, and other merchandise were sold through Cleargreen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cleargreen.com/about-us|title=ABOUT US|website=Carlos Castaneda's Tensegrity|access-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216084726/https://www.cleargreen.com/about-us|archive-date=February 16, 2018}}</ref>