I don't know. I tend to see a lot of Tibetan Buddhism as well, which was at that time not accessible to people as it is today. Even 5 years ago trying to find anything on the Dzogchen on the net was daunting, now it's everywhere.
Supernatural, I believe is becoming less 'super' and more 'natural'. When I was a teen the idea of 'ghosts' was ludicrous, now it's more mainstream and accepted that sometimes, the unexplainable does occur. It's not written off so quickly as being stupid, mad, or delusional.
As far as direct connection to the divine, I know many Christians who will differ with your view, and state they have direct connection. Which I disagree with. I personally believe the Christian Bible is far away from Divine. Once they realized all that killing and hatred and intolerance, and mass genocide of indigenous peoples was perhaps not right, they rewrote the book and called it the New Testament.
![Roll Eyes ::)](http://newagefraud.org/smf/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
Well, in my experience, there are things in the natural world that are beyond the reasoning mind, and people call it 'supernatural'. And when met with something of that sort, the mind plays tricks to protect the psyche of a person. Amnesia, or even reforming the event in a way acceptable to their minds. People's psyches are fragile to some extent. And some people can be severely damaged psychologically by such events. However, I also perceive that as people expand their ways of thinking and can accept more, the supernatural begins to be less 'super'. To me, this is akin to the unknown becoming known. The world was flat, sailing too far you'll drop off the edge of the world.. but as thinking and mind evolved, it became more evident that the world was not flat. Our minds and our thinking does evolve, and opens us to perhaps a larger view.
As far as intellectual conceptualisation, I don't know, if you know that it's just your thoughts and point of view that makes something invalid or not real, then seems to me that would automatically break down that same intellectual conceptualism. I mean, why hold all that in place if you know it's just intellectual conceptualism?
I'm not very good at all this intellectual volly-ing. It may seem I am, but I really am not. I try to keep things simple and not over intellectualize to the point of losing the entire topic inside some vast mental hallway..
![Grin ;D](http://newagefraud.org/smf/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
Not saying that's what you are doing, but reading the points from those authors, I'd never make it through the book.. LOL
Thing is, whatever Carlos was trying to do with those first books, there is some valid points within the work. I just know that I read at 14 things I'd started experiencing seriously at 9 and never had answers for. I still don't have answers, but it was nice to read of it, nice to not think I was insane. I used to be terrified that someone would find my journals and commit me to an asylum. LOL
Then 10 years later and all this New Age stuff started coming about. How anyone could relate that to Castaneda I don't know. It's all about fluff.. many just swapped out margarine (christianity) for butter (something a tad better but still not healthy). But I think it's all just in perspective, for me, what I read in those first books had nothing to do with new age gizmos. It had to do with inner work, of self awareness, not self propaganda and walking around on clouds with oh.. what did someone here call it.. bliss monkey?
But that's what I got out of those books. That it is a life long study and practice that takes a commitment and a perseverance. Also, the fact that that connection to the divine was not needed by any 'great other'. That was clear to me in what I read. No one needs that great other, or 'guru' .. all one really needs is the commitment to being aware of their self (mind, action/reaction) through self observation. That's what I got out of it. So it's hard for me to see the leap from that to these new age expos and workshops and whatnots with self proclaimed teachers and ascended masters and shamans and whatever the heck they wanna call themself..