Claudio Naranjo
"We have the world we have because we have the education we have." Claudio Naranjo is a modern teacher with a very wide and varied list of credentials. Educated as a Medical Doctor, Musician, Philosopher, Poet, Psychiatrist and Anthropologist in Chile, South America, he came to the United States in the 1960's and began work at Ohio State University. He went on to work at Harvard as a Fulbright visiting scholar and finally settled in Berkeley, California where he; "fell in love with it and had occasion so soak in the atmosphere of the counterculture." "To the extent that a situation is unstructured, the individual is confronted with his own choices. To the extent that no rules of interaction are laid out, or behavior expected of him, he must determine his own rules, be responsible for his own action. Lack of structure requires of the individual that he be creative rather than a good player of a predetermined game." |
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Dr. Naranjo later became Carlos Castaneda's closest friend as well as working as the apprentice to Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt Therapy. He was a central figure of the early Esalen community and became part of Leo Zeff's pioneering psychedelic therapy group where he contributed to the use of Harmaline, MDA, and Ibogaine as therapeutic means to spiritual healing and transformation. He has been in contact with various spiritual masters including Swami Muktananda, Idries Shah, Oscar Ichazo, Suleyman Dede, HH the XVIth Karmapa and Tarthang Tulku Rimpoche. Dr. Naranjo's workshops in the 1970's contributed to applications of the Enneagram of personality and are considered by many to be his most significant contribution to education. His Enneagram studies originated through the work of George Gurdjieff and Oscar Ichazo and, since the late eighties, he has published three related books on the subject. More recently, he published The End of Patriarchy, which focuses on his interpretation of modern social problems. Naranjo, perhaps more than any other contemporary writer, may be credited with popularizing the Enneagram though he would disdain such a thought. Just about every other teacher, lecturer and writer on the Enneagram can trace their introduction to the system to Naranjo's first study groups, which were conducted in the early 70s in Berkeley, California. Since the late nineties, Dr. Naranjo has sought to influence the transformation of the educational system in various countries. "It is an increasingly dehumanizing situation that, not only does not do its job of educating in the true sense of the word…, but it stands in the way, creates many emotional problems." Dr. Naranjo's efforts come from a conviction that nothing is more hopeful in terms of social evolution than the collective furthering of individual wisdom, compassion and freedom. References www.claudionaranjo.net |