245. Casteneda in Beirut

Well I’m going to continue reading: “Monday 30th, Tripoli to Beirut and back to Tripoli. I left home by moonlight. It was cold and clear. Walking fast through the empty streets with my hood up. (I was given a thin coat with a furry hood.) Bus to Beirut, walk to the American Express office, but find it costs twenty-two pounds to renew my expired card so I can cash the folk’s check for fifty dollars. That’s more than a fifth of the check, so I decide not to.

I walk to the American Embassy. There I see the usual nattily dressed employees. Embassies always attract pretty women! Tanks are parked outside the embassy and guards with machine guns make me feel a bit guilty as I walk in. Honest guys, there’s nothing in my bag but a travel-worn camera, some “Kleenex” and a broken wristwatch. All the doors lock both ways. I get a visitor’s pass and am escorted to the counselor’s waiting room where I read a little of Carlos Castaneda’s new book: “Tales of Power”, which is excerpted in “Harper’s Magazine”, September 1974 edition.

Castaneda talks about “looking at your hands” in your dreams and I think he is on to a clue to directing your dreams. I have tried to “look at my hands” in my dreams, but he is right about the difficulty of doing it. Shortly after looking at my own hands, my mind tricks me awake.

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