When Nomads Press originally published my book “A Vagabond in Mexico” some of my reviewers were somewhat disappointed at the lack of information concerning myself. And they had their reasons; this was my biographical entry for the back cover:
“About himself, S. Guzman-C. allows little to be said for the moment; it would be redundant. As you read on you will get to know him some, for he actually was…a vagabond in Mexico”.
Upon reading such a short entry they thought that perhaps I was trying to create mystery to sell the book. And in their opinion the opposite was true; more information about the author would have been a boost. They wanted more. And perhaps they were right. Our conditioned mind always wants to know the why. Why did I become a vagabond in Mexico? So perhaps they will be pleased with my new book, “The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda”. It explains, to a great extent, why I became a wanderer. This is the foreword:
“In days of yore (not quite fully aware of what I was doing, I must confess) I left everything behind in search of The Eye of the Dragon. At the beginning of my journey, I came across the teachings of the ancient Toltecs of Mexico through the works of Carlos Castaneda. The wisdom of don Juan, a Mexican Yaqui Indian shaman, was a beacon, but in 2001 I came across derogatory information about Castaneda, which cast a shadow on his credibility and proved conclusively that many of his claims (and to a great extent his work with don Juan) were fraudulent. At the time, I had verified that much of what he had written about was true, and the new and discrediting facts greatly puzzled me. They also forced me to question my findings and convictions, and to look in other directions to corroborate further.
Furthermore, it had been claimed that Castaneda had left this world in full consciousness taking his body with him, and the turmoil and utter disappointment that Castaneda’s ordinary death (due to cancer of the liver) caused in many of his closest followers, made me realize how blind human beings can be and how ready we are to miss a point and become either judges or victims. I am writing these notes with a double purpose: to help me get a better perspective and a new direction, and to maybe help a few others do the same”.
So who is S (Rio) Guzman? Is this blog throwing some light? According to what I have found there is not much of an “I” anywhere. This “I” that we put so much stock on is not the same from day to day, or from moment to moment. As an example, being a businessman is quite an accident for me; life has strange twists, doesn’t it? Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? But then again, everything is interconnected. Every being in this planet has a path to follow, which is interwoven with all other paths. Are there any “wrong” turns?
I have verified that nothing in this world is actually explainable; it is all energy in motion. When the Buddha says, “Regard this fleeting world as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream”, he can’t be more explicit. You see, magic is afoot, although we have the uncanny ability to ignore it completely. We live in a daze; we live in confusion, a confusion caused precisely by our undiciplined ego, our self-absorption. But who is this “I” anyway? Who are we really? I leave you with the question; for it behooves all of us to do our homework, our due diligence. Everything is Interconnected
Contact Information: email rsgguz@gmail.com Address: 1220 Rosecrans St, San Diego, CA 92106
From Top Left: James Reinhardt, Rio Guzman, Pliny Reynolds, Kelly Schenk
Bottom Left: Yu Miyamoto, Melissa Andrew, and Christopher Gidley
Me and my buddies: the Arcosanti experience
The amazing amazon kindle 2; the next generation !http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00154JDAI?tag=thenet-20
Thank you for sharing, you show great strength in your writing, a true warrior. “I” hope one day I can feel a part of what you express in your writing…i will keep reading.
Thanks for your comment David. I recommend you to read “Buddhism is not what you Think” by Steve Hagen. “Hardcore Zen” by Brad Warner and “Journey to Ixtlan” by Carlos Castaneda.
Practice is the key. Your own experience is what counts.
Hey, I’m a 17 year old guy and I have benefited greatly from me experiences. I have learned so much more than the average person my age. I’ve been really thinking about my wonderful circumstances and I feel (at this moment at least) that it is my duty to figure out how to help others, in the most productive way, to be happy. I’ve been analyzing life deeper and deeper as time goes by. Read about Taoism, Buddhism, the wide spectrum of Spirituality, Death, life, Chakras, love, , Energy, I’m now reading The Art of Dreaming. I’ve marveled at the beauty I see in life, and have felt a great responsibility to add as much good in this world as I can. I realize your first impression of me may be that I am an ignorant person who thinks he’s come to a final truth about life and is just culturally conditioned to feel like he should do charitable acts. Yes I, as every human being, am ignorant of lots of thongs, but in terms of life, I’ve contemplated a large amount. I believe that we as humans have a wonderful tool right in front of us, it’s the ability to communicate with other human beings. We underestimate this tool and we talk about baseball and the social exam, given there is a time and place for these things, but some people surround themselves in the shallow fast moving world and never share their ”soul” (personal deep thoughts) with others. I’ve learnt that just by talking to yourself in one’s mind, on can discover sooo much, and how cool is it that we can talk to others who don’t even share the same mind as us? It’s very cool. So I would like to extend to you the offer to have conversations about whatever would come up. From reading what I’ve read on this website, I’m convinced that we’d have many great things to talk about. This is for me and for you. I’m not sure how, but it’s happening and this message is going to affect both of us. woah…
Rock on,
Andrew Perri
Thanks for your kind comments Andrew. I am impressed! Not very many people understand how important it is to help others. When we help others we help ourselves; we improve the whole world.
The Art of Dreaming is a very interesting book. I also recommend you to read, “Journey to Ixtlan” also by Carlos Castaneda, “Buddhism is not what you Think” by Steve Hagen and Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner. Excellent!
Feel free to contact me anytime.
Rio
PS The ability to think constructively is definitely an asset; the problem is that frequently the mind wanders aimlessly. An undisciplined mind can’t avoid doing harm. “The mind is its own world and in itself can create a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven.” Milton–Paradise Lost
Hey Rio,
I’m extremely impressed, not that I wouldn’t have been, had I not seem this site! LOL
Keep up the GREAT work! Continued success!
Barry
Hello Barry! Thanks for visiting and for your nice comment. Let’s keep in touch!
Rio!! How you doing? Thought I would check in on ya. Nice to see you’re still in the game. Talk with you soon my friend.
-La Broi
Hey La Broi! Nice hearing from you. Long time no see. Hope your dog is doing fine. Where is your dog blog?
It does seem that everybody is into this kind of stuff lately. Don’t really understand it though, but thanks for trying to explain it. Appreciate you shedding light into this matter. Keep it up
Thanks Randal! Keep in touch.
Hi Rio,
great blog, great variety, great writing. Love it.
Thank you so much for your nice comment and so sorry for a late response. I just had no time to really explore your blog until today. Also thank you for the blogroll as I enjoy your blog I will also add it to my blogroll.
E
PS used to live in San Diego and miss it soooo much
Thanks for your nice comment Elena. I am also recommending your blog. I especially liked the Oprah interview. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll.
Where are you living now?
Oh, Boston now. I was relocated here with my family after accepting a job offer in 2004. We love it here, but San Diego is definitely the best place we’ve lived in US. We also lived in NYC, Dallas, Scottsdale AZ and traveled a bit as well.
I think combination of a special weather, ocean, incredible outdoors as well as many family and child friendly places makes it for the best place to live. We’d move back without giving it a second thought if opportunity presented itself.
Yes, there is a great combination of everything here. It would be great if you guys could move back, although, I have to admit, that the traffic congestion is beginning to make it look like Los Angeles.
Oh that’s too bad about traffic, but then again, after Boston we probably would be fine with it.
At least scenery is incredible, so one can just be present and take the moment to just be. I think with my crazy wonderful life I would appreciate getting stuck in traffic in San Diego , as long as I am along in a car
I would be just thankful for being there…
Well I hope you can make it back soon. But present we must be everywhere; it is the only way to escape the trap of ego. This is one of my favorite posts: http://rioguzman.com/2009/04/28/buddhism-mindfulness-meditation/
These two quotes go to the gist of the matter.
Please check it out.