To practice any kind of mysticism, a person will need alot of 'energy', and a person only has a limited amount of it. To gain more energy one has to save (or stop wasting) energy. By not making oneself famous, or shouting out to the world who you are (see example of this on many webpages), you will bind less energy in social structures, and this energy is free to be used elsewhere, ie in your practices and to alter your habitual behaviour.

Another great source of energy waste, actually the by far greatest, is the idea of the self, the so called Ego. This Ego wants to hear that it is special and unique in some way. It wants attention from others, and recognition. A normal human in the western world spends an unproportional amount of time on the self, the looks, what others will think, etc. By being more or less anonymous, there is less chance for the Ego to waste energy.

Whenever you see a mystic (or 'guru') who goes public, you can be quite sure that they either are enjoying their fame, and thus are succumbing to their Ego, or else they are making some kind of sacrifice. Where does Castaneda & Co fit in this schema?
 
 
 

LINKS!!

To practice "anonymity", see Stalking, Not Being Available and Erasing Personal History.