A Peace of the Universe | Scottsdale, AZ

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Rio

A Peace of the Universe  A Peace of the Universe Spiritual Bookstore  is an independent metaphysical bookstore in Scottsdale AZ. Judith, the owner, is the possessor of kindness, and a being on a path with heart. If you ever find yourself in Scottsdale, please make sure you stop by and say hello. Don’t miss out; she has a hug for you. You don’t have to buy anything . . . but tell her I said hello!

Judith and The Eye of the Dragon: Stalking Castaneda

A Peace of the Universe! A beautiful Store!   7000 E. Shea blvd.  Suite 1710 Scottsdale AZ 

Downtown Scottsdale

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The Road to Ojai | Bart’s Bookstore | Guerrilla Marketing |

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Rio

I went to Ojai, CA. The librarian told me that their budget has been reduced by 70% or so, they can’t purchase books; she said because of the economy. I told her that the economy was bad because of the “flag attack” wars, and I gave her an AE 9/11 Truth flyer. She was reluctant, but eventually accepted the flyer. There is an elephant in our living room as big as Building 7 was, but we don’t want to see it. 

The road to Ojai, CA

A Dam somewhere . . .

Bart’s bookstore is carrying The eye of the Dragon: Stalking Castaneda at the moment. Interesting bookstore: most of it is outdoors, under awnings and arbors.

Bart’s

Inside

Great Selection! Make sure you stop by if you visit Ojai.

My guerrilla marketing is working in Santa Barbara’s streets, flyers work.

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The Eye of the Dragon | Published!

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Rio

Published!

The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda has been published. 

“In The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda the author has written an engaging metaphysical narrative about the work of Carlos Castaneda. He is telling his own adventures and experiences, and using these as metaphors for the actual teachings.
At the premise level, this book is focused on a fairly generic subject, but at the execution level this generic quality is lifted with a personal and unique narrative. This personal touch warms up the material and makes the work accessible to the reader. Guzman’s writing style is particularly engaging, and he has a wonderful cadence to his writing that grabs readers and holds their attention.
This is ninety percent episodic narrative and ten percent outright teaching.”—CreateSpace

Although the main subject of the book is shamanism, the author juxtaposes the teachings with other major philosophies to show how they all converge at one point: the eye of the dragon . . . and to expose humanity’s bane.

To order: The Eye of the Dragon

To Excerpts 

It is also selling through amazon.com at: The Eye of the Dragon: Stalking Castaneda The “search inside the book” option is available now.

Also available at the Kindle library, and you can ask at your local library.

And Barnes and Noble  The Eye of the Dragon: Stalking Castaneda

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The Eye of the Dragon | A Vagabond in Mexico

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Rio

I resigned my post. We run out of time you know, and there are things to be done. I will be finishing  “The Eye of the Dragon” and promoting the new edition of  A Vagabond in Mexico It will be fun! Everything is interconnected. I may be on the road again soon. Last trip? Maybe.  Mexico? Maybe. And dancing . We are here to break boundaries, aren’t we?   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

— From “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost


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The Matrix | The Eye of the Dragon | The Challenge

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Rio

At last, I saw The Matrix. I liked the analogies (the Wachowskis must have read Carlos Castaneda) and implications. For although The Matrix is not produced by artificial intelligence (machines), it actually exists. It is here, limiting human beings, holding us in bondage, and rendering our intelligence useless − it creates a petty and cruel species that preys on its own kind.

What actually pulls the wool over our eyes, however, and forces us to take reality for what is not (and act like nitwits) is our own reflection − that is the part the movie misses. But, of course, being science fiction it is entitled to. I wonder, however, if it will help us realize that we are boundless beings trapped in a crippling system. And we can actually fly!

The Matrix is indeed everywhere, we are trapped in a bubble of perception, but so is the way out, the eye of the dragon, the knowledge to destroy our chains. We have a challenge in our hands, a challenge worthy of us.

There comes a moment in our lives when we are struck by a gut feeling that something is wrong, something is out of kilter. From that moment on it is our responsibility to accept the challenge and take action, do our search. Not doing so will extract from us an extremely high toll.

Be advised.

**********************

Morpheus: … you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

Buddha: 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. − The Diamond Sutra

Morpheus: I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.

For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly. –Don Juan

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Authonomy, a writer’s network | My experience

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Rio

I find authonomy.com to be a useful site to showcase your work to your friends and acquaintances in search of constructive criticism. In the future we may even have a site in which the members would do the same for each other. What I have found at the moment in many authors is a willingness to praise your work and shelve your book if you reciprocate, so that they eventually will get enough points to get to the editors’ desk. This is a dishonest practice that actually beats the purpose of the website; that is, to get the best manuscripts to the editors’ desk.

It is interesting to note how human beings sacrifice our integrity in pursuit of our goals. We miss the point; for success is an inside job. We should also consider that as authors we are also teachers who are setting an example and building a reputation. What kind of writers do we want to be?

And guess what? My book, The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda is becoming less and less popular on the site. But, like I say, I can always refer others to the site to get feedback; and perhaps the site will improve in the future.

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”– Benjamin Disraeli

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Plagiarism, what to do? | Glenn Hefley | The Eye of the Dragon

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Rio

I was checking some of my keywords on Google recently when I came across an excerpt from my book “The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda” which had been copied almost word for word without giving me credit. A few words had been clumsily changed (to try to hide the fact that it was plagiarized, I presume), but the only result of the changes was the distortion of the meaning of some sentences; it is obviously plagiarism.

After having tried to contact the support team of the website to no avail, I was wondering how to proceed when I came across Glenn Hefley who has been a free lance writer for years and has experience with these Internet thieves. Not only he explained to me how to proceed, but he also sent me a link to an article he had published on the subject of what to do about plagiarism. Since this is greatly needed information for all of us, I am including it all here for your convenience:

Freelance Writer Tip #2 : What to do about Plagiarism

By Glenn Hefley

So, you were out there on the web, engaging in a little harmless narcissism by searching for your name, or some favorite phrase of yours, and you come across someone who is publishing your articles, on their web site, without credit to you, or a how-dee-doo … no  nothing –  Just blatantly using your work for their profit. Well how about that?

What to do. First, read this page on Responding to Plagiarism, and follow the instructions.

Next :  People who do this type of stuff, generally have ads on their pages, which means, they are making money on your work, without paying you. If there is a Google Adsense ad on there, there will be a link at the bottom of the ad you can click on, which will take you to a Google Adsense Report page. At the bottom of this page, is a form you can fill out, to make a DMCA complaint against the owner of that web site.

Google is famous for not messing around with this type of thing. Someone stealing content, will generally have their Adsense account closed in 48 hours. They will not be able to get it back once it is closed. There are far too many people and companies out there on the Internet willing to run ads on their web site, for Google to risk the possibility of being pulled into a DMCA related law suite. They remove the account.

Most other ad companies, affiliate programs, and the like — do exactly the same thing. If you can find out which ad/affiliate companies the bad-man-site is using, then send them off an email as well.

It is a simple thing to ask permission to use an article. People ask me all the time. If it is an article which is on one of my web sites, I generally say yes, as long as I get a link back. Why not? It is even a little flattering. In fact you will find on most of my web sites I have a function which allows for exactly this type of co-sharing.

However, most of the time this occurs with my work, it is an article that I’ve sold to a client.

Clients don’t like the value of their investments undermined like this, and they will appreciate your effort in keeping their investment in good health. This doesn’t mean you are obligated to play watch-dog for their content (it is thier content once they have purchased it), but if you see this happening, let the client know, at the very least, and send them the information in this article, so they can respond in the most efficient manner.

– you have my permission to do so…

You might even pick up a few more projects from the client that way.

Happy writing.

To contact Glenn or get more information please visit: www.glennhefley.com

“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us…Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”– Mother Teresa

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The Eye of the Dragon | Stalking Castaneda | A Manuscript

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Rio

I recently finished my manuscript. The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda is now going to the ‘fridge’, meaning it will not be worked on for a few months.  I will get back to it later with a fresh mind to do the last draft. The cover art is below:

The Eye of The Dragon

The Eye of The Dragon

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Stalking Castaneda | Excerpt | Castaneda’s Legacy

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Rio

. . . and in case you don’t know Castaneda, I’ll tell you a little about his work as I go along, for it was a great help in my search for the eye of the dragon. I will also be comparing it with other works that have also been helpful. I won’t delve into any of these works; that is unnecessary. I will just say that their main and recurring theme is our destructive egomania, and I’ll let my own experience illustrate. It behooves you to do your own research and confirm the damaging effects of the ego, for being the bane of humankind its study is worthy of our consideration. Consider this:

     In an article I once came across in a monthly magazine, I read about a six-year-old boy who died after breaking his neck under an extremely heavy load, too heavy for the child to carry. The article also said that he had been a slave all his life. The author knew this because archeologists are trained to read bones. And the child’s bones, together with other bones (a mass grave for slaves) had been found while excavating somewhere in New York City (of all places) to lay the foundation for a new building. His bones not only told this archeologist how he had died but also how he had lived. They told him that he had been overworked all his life, that he had been malnourished, that he probably never had a loving arm around him. His bones told him that that heavy load killed him at the tender age of six years old.

    Should I ever feel sorry for myself? But actually, a more pertinent question would be, should I ever be sorry for that little boy? For just like that little boy I am going to die, and although longer, my life might well end up being much more miserable than his was. For only by reducing my self-importance to the lowest can I claim to be different from his captors and murderers; there is such a thing as a collective responsibility, a social contract. We all endorse a social contract that thrives in egomania, an egomania that causes the suffering of humanity.

Carlos Castaneda is dead now, but his controversial legacy remains.

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Sycamore Ranch | Sycamore Forest | New Mexico

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Rio

After I left Arcosanti, Arizona, I eventually reached The Sycamore Ranch in New Mexico. I worked there as a ranch hand for a little over a year. At the ranch I started working on the manuscript for The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda.

It was by chance, while digging some facts about the ranch for my book, that I found these pictures on the web. Here they are. Enjoy!

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This is the entrance and the Cactus Garden.

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This is the main house and my pad to the right:

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The forest. Animas Creek runs through it.

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Amazing place! It is right in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.

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