The Teachings of Don Juan : A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Over 40 years ago University of California Press published an unusual ms by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with limitations of the Western worldview. This classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents & the revolution in cognition it demands. In a series of fascinating dialogs, he sets forth his partial initiation with don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian shaman from the Mexican state of Sonora. He describes don Juan's perception & mastery of "non-ordinary reality" & how peyote along with other plants sacred to Amerinds were used as gateways to the mysteries of "dread," "clarity" & "power." The Teachings of Don Juan is the story of a journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of millions.
"For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, & the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. & there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly."--Don Juan
"Carlos Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan, takes us thru the moment of twilight, thru the crack in the universe between daylight & dark into a world not merely other than our own, but of an entirely different order of reality."--Walter Goldschmidt

Over 40 years ago University of California Press published an unusual ms by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with limitations of the Western worldview. This classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents & the revolution in cognition it demands. In a series of fascinating dialogs, he sets forth his partial initiation with don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian shaman from the Mexican state of Sonora. He describes don Juan's perception & mastery of "non-ordinary reality" & how peyote along with other plants sacred to Amerinds were used as gateways to the mysteries of "dread," "clarity" & "power." The Teachings of Don Juan is the story of a journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of millions.
"For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, & the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. & there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly."--Don Juan
"Carlos Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan, takes us thru the moment of twilight, thru the crack in the universe between daylight & dark into a world not merely other than our own, but of an entirely different order of reality."--Walter Goldschmidt