In this second book about his apprenticeship, Carlos Castaneda describes further training with Don Juan Matus, a Yaqui sorcerer. After years of using hallucinogenic plants, he is now taught to cultivate a different way of seeing without them, through exercises such as stopping the world, dreaming, and learning to see rather than just look. Don Juan introduces the idea of the "separate reality," a mode of perception that sits alongside ordinary reality, and Castaneda struggles to maintain his scientific scepticism as he records conversations and experiences.
Readers interested in 1970s counterculture, shamanism, and spiritual literature will find a classic of the genre. It is best read as an account of a period rather than as verified anthropology.
Deep; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1971
- Language
- EN
