Richard Jennings (also known as Corey Donovan) was a lawyer who now is retired. He was a student of Carlos Castaneda from 1995 until Castaneda passed away in 1998.
In 1999 Richard created the website SustainedAction.org where he revealed the dark side of Castaneda and his company Cleargreen.
The old version of this website is gone, but you can view its archives at this link: link
In 1924, Richard updated his website, see: link
His website is where I found the most detailed information about Castaneda and his group.
Here is a summary of the introduction that Richard wrote on his website:
« This website was created in 1999 to delve into the questions presented by Carlos Castaneda’s teachings and legacy. Castaneda had died a normal death the year before, after long claiming he planned to “burn with the fire from within.” The questions about his legacy included:
1) What was authentic?
2) Was much of the material merely “stories” designed to “trap our attention”?
3) Which practices “work” and which don’t?
4) What may be better described and taught by other energetic disciplines.
The site was also a place to publish the real facts about Carlos Castaneda’s legacy and biography. It also published chronologies of the women he claimed had also been students of his supposed teacher, Don Juan Matus.
That information debunked the stories Castaneda and the so-called Witches told about themselves. But the philosophies and concepts introduced by the books continue to influence and impact our culture in many ways. So another aspect of the inquiry here is exploring what is useful in the concepts and philosophies he popularized.
Carlos Castaneda was a brilliant storyteller. His best selling tales, drawing from other great literature and spiritual traditions, communicated useful principles in a way that was vivid and compelling for many. He also lied as casually and often in those books and his daily life as any other con man with narcissistic personality disorder. And he used his fame and storytelling talent to create a cult around him. The members of that cult were made to cut ties with family and longtime friends, and to devote themselves entirely to following Castaneda and his whims.
Many continue to quote Castaneda as a supposedly legitimate shamanic teacher and source of mystic truths. This site is therefore intended as an ongoing antidote and reality check for those claims. Borrowing one of the terms Castaneda coined, this site and the work behind it is truly a “sustained action.” In contrast to the way he used the term, however, this action is in the interest of questioning would-be gurus, and the pursuit of self reflection and integrity. »
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