DESPITE HIS FORTUNE CARLOS CASTANEDA WORKED LIKE A POOR MAN FOR SEVERAL YEARS

Carlos Castaneda recounted that after Don Juan's departure, a woman named Florinda, also known as 'the Toltec woman',  became the new leader of Castaneda's group and his companions .

And given the fame Castaneda had gained from the success of his books, Florinda, in order to lower his ego, ordered Castaneda to work as if he were a poor man, and he did so for three years.

And here I'm going to put the information I find about this event.

STORY BY JACOBO GRINBRG

The Mexican scientist Jacobo Grinberg was a friend of Castaneda, and he recounted the following about this event:

« Castaneda told us that Florinda the Elder had forced him, as an antidote to his sudden fame, to work as a cook in a restaurant.

For a year, Castaneda made hamburgers, accompanied by a woman who was a devoted reader of his books. This woman wanted to meet Carlos Castaneda in person, unaware that he was right beside her.

On one occasion, a large Cadillac pulled up in front of the restaurant with a man inside writing something in a notebook. The woman was sure it was her idol and told the cook who was with her, Castaneda, who was laughing his head off. »

THIS STORY TOLD BY CASTANEDA HIMSELF

In 1982, teacher  Graciela Corvalán interviewed  Castaneda, and about Florinda, she wrote the following:

« One of the many jobs was cooking in those roadside cafes. La Gorda accompanied me that year as a waitress. We spent more than a year traveling around like Joe Córdoba and his wife!"

"My full name was José Luis Córdoba, at your service," he said, bowing deeply, "although everyone knew me as Joe Córdoba."

Castaneda didn't tell us the name or location of the city where they lived. It's possible they were in several places. It seems that initially, he, La Gorda, and Mrs. Tolteca arrived, and Mrs. Tolteca stayed with them for a while. Their first priority was finding a house and work for 'Joe Córdoba, his wife, and his mother-in-law'.

"That's how we introduced ourselves," Castaneda commented, "because otherwise people wouldn't have understood such a strange trio."

They searched for work for a long time, until they finally found it in a roadside cafe.

"In that type of establishment, you start very early in the morning; you have to be working by five in the morning," he told us.

Castaneda told us, laughing, that in those places the first thing they ask you is: "Do you know how to cook eggs?"

What could "making eggs" possibly mean? It seemed to take him quite a while to figure out what they were trying to tell him until he finally realized it referred to the various ways of preparing eggs for breakfast. In truck stops or restaurants, "making eggs" is a big deal.

They worked like that for a year. "Now I really know how to make eggs!" she exclaimed, laughing. "As many as you want!"

La Gorda also worked a lot and she was such a good waitress that she ended up taking charge of all the girls.

After a year, when Mrs. Tolteca told them "that's enough, that task is over," the owner of the cafeteria didn't want to let them leave.

"The truth is that we worked very hard there, very hard! From morning till night," Castaneda confessed to us.

Terry

During that year they had a significant encounter. It's the story of a young woman named Terry, who came to the coffee shop where they were, asking for a job as a waitress.

By that time, Joe Córdoba (that is, Carlos Castaneda) had gained the trust of the owner of the establishment and was in charge of hiring and supervising all the staff.

Terry told them she was looking for Carlos Castaneda. How could she have known they were there? Castaneda didn't know.

"This girl Terry," Castaneda continued sadly, implying that she looked dirty and disheveled, "is one of those hippies who take drugs... A dreadful life. Poor thing!"

Castaneda would later tell us that although he was never able to tell Terry who he was, Joe Córdoba and his wife helped her a lot during the months she spent with them.

Anecdote

Castaneda told us that one day Terry came very excited from the street saying that she had just seen Carlos Castaneda in a Cadillac parked in front of the cafeteria.

"He's there!" she shouted to us. "He's in the car, writing!"

"Are you sure it's Carlos Castaneda? How can you be so convinced?" I asked her.

But she continued: "Yes, it's him, I'm sure of it!"

Castaneda then suggested that he go to the car and ask him. He had to get rid of that immense doubt.

"Come on! Come on!" he insisted.

She didn't dare to talk to him because she said he was too fat and very ugly.

Castaneda encouraged her, saying, "But you look divine, go on!"

She finally went, but returned immediately in tears. It seems the man in the Cadillac hadn't even looked at her and had sent her away, telling her not to bother him.

"Can you imagine how I tried to comfort her?" Castaneda told us. "I felt so sorry for her that I almost told her who I was, but the Fat Lady wouldn't let me; she protected me. I really couldn't say anything to her because I was carrying out a task in which I was Joe Córdoba and not Carlos Castaneda, and I couldn't disobey that rule."

Notes

Castaneda told us that when Terry arrived she wasn't a good waitress, but as the months passed they managed to make her good, clean and careful.

"La Gorda gave Terry a lot of advice. We took good care of her... She never imagined who she was with all that time."

And she also told us that the experience was terrible:

" During that time we went through moments of great deprivation during which we were mistreated and abused. More than once I was about to reveal who I was, but... 'Who would have believed me! ' said Castaneda . '  Besides, the Toltec woman is the one who decides.'"

"That year," he continued, "there were times when we were reduced to the bare minimum: we slept on the floor and ate only one thing . "

More stories from Joe Cordoba

Castaneda told us that one day the Toltec lady came and told them that they were not working hard enough.

"She sent us to organize a fairly large landscaping business, something like garden design and maintenance.  This new task for Mrs. Tolteca was no small feat. We had to hire a group of people to help us with the work during the week, while we were at the café. And on weekends we dedicated ourselves exclusively to the gardens. We were very successful!"

La Gorda is a very enterprising person. That year we worked incredibly hard... During the week we were at the coffee shop, and on weekends it was all driving the truck and pruning trees. The demands on Toltec women are immense!

I remember that on one occasion we were at a friend's house when journalists arrived looking for Carlos Castaneda. They were journalists from the New York Times.

Trying to go unnoticed, Gorda and I started planting trees in my friend's garden. From a distance, we saw them going in and out of the house. That's when my friend yelled at us and verbally abused us terribly in front of the journalists.

It seems Joe Córdoba's wife could yell at them without consequence. None of those present came to our defense. Who were we? Just a bunch of poor people working in the sun!

That's how my friend and we tricked the journalists.

However, I couldn't fool my body. For three years we were engrossed in the task of giving my body experiences that would make it realize that, in truth, we are nothing.

The truth is, it's not just the body that suffers; the mind is also accustomed to constant stimuli. The warrior, however, has no external stimuli; he doesn't need them. What better place, then, than where we were! There, no one thinks!

Continuing with the story of their adventures, Castaneda commented that more than once he and La Gorda were kicked out onto the street. "Other times, traveling by truck on the highway, they would push us to the side of the road. What choice did we have? It was better to let them pass!"

From everything Castaneda had been telling us, it seems that the task of those years had to do with "learning to survive in adverse circumstances" and with "the experience of discrimination." The latter, "is something very difficult to endure but very informative," Castaneda concluded calmly.

The goal of this exercise is to learn to detach oneself from the emotional impact of discrimination. The important thing is not to react, not to get angry. If you react, you're lost.

"One doesn't get offended when a tiger attacks," he explained, "one simply steps aside and lets it pass."

"Another time, Gorda and I found work in a house, she as a maid and I as a butler. You can't imagine how that ended! They kicked us out onto the street without pay. What's more, to protect themselves from us in case we protested, they had called the local police. Can you imagine? We were imprisoned for nothing!"

That year, Gorda and I spent it working incredibly hard and enduring great hardship. Many times we had nothing to eat. The worst part was that we couldn't complain and we didn't have the support of the group. We were alone in that endeavor and couldn't escape. In any case, even if we had been able to reveal our identities, no one would have believed us. The task is always all-consuming.

"Truly, in those years I was Joe Córdoba," Castaneda affirmed, emphasizing his words with his whole body, "and this is very beautiful because I can't fall any lower. I've already reached the lowest point there is to reach. That's all I am." With these last words, Castaneda touched the ground with his hands.

"As I told you before, each of us has different tasks to fulfill. The Genaros are very clever; Benigno is in Chiapas now and he's doing very well. He has a band: Benigno has a wonderful gift for imitation; he imitates Tom Jones and many others. Pablito is the same as always, he's very lazy. Benigno is the one who makes the noises and Pablito celebrates them. Benigno is the one who works and Pablito collects the applause."

"Now," he concluded, "we have all finished the tasks we were doing and are preparing for new ones. The Toltec lady is the one who commands us."

Comments from the interviewer and her friends

The story of Joe Córdoba and his wife had impressed us greatly. It was a very different experience from those in his books. We were interested to know if he had written or was writing anything about Joe Córdoba.

"Why don't you write about this? Of everything you've told us, Joe Córdoba and his wife are what have impacted me the most."

"I have just delivered a new manuscript to my agent," Castaneda replied, "and in that manuscript, the Toltec lady is the one who teaches. It couldn't be otherwise... Its title may well be 'Stalking and the Art of Being in the World.'"

All her teachings are contained there. She is responsible for that manuscript. A woman had to be the one to teach the art of stalking. Women know it well because they have always lived with the enemy; that is to say, they have always walked on tiptoe in a man's world. Precisely for that reason, because women have extensive experience in this art, the Toltec lady is the one who must impart the principles of stalking.

In this last manuscript, however, there is nothing concrete about the life of Joe Córdoba and his wife. I cannot write in detail about that experience because no one would understand or believe it. I can talk about it with very few people... But the essence of that experience of the last three years is in this book.

Returning to the Toltec lady and her modality, Castaneda told us that she was very different from Don Juan.

"She doesn't like me," he insisted, "but she does like Gorda. You can't ask a Toltec woman anything. Before you even speak, she already knows what to say. Besides, you have to be afraid of her; when she gets angry, she hits," he concluded, making many gestures that indicated his fear. »

ANOTHER INTERVIEW

I remember that in another interview Castaneda mentioned that the place was located near the border with Mexico and that Florinda had chosen this place because Latinos were heavily discriminated against in this  area, and in that way Castaneda was going to be continually despised.

And in this other interview Castaneda exclaimed that after this experience "he had lost any trace of ego."

If I ever find it, I'll transcribe it for you.

MY OPINION

Florinda supposedly put Carlos Castaneda in this situation to humble him, but historical data shows that Castaneda continued to have a very big ego; and knowing how much Castaneda loved to invent false stories, it is most likely that this story was also another lie, a product of his imagination.