[h1]A Separate Reality[/h1][h3]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/h3]
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A Separate Reality is an allegedly non-fictional book written by anthropologist/author
Carlos Castaneda in 1971 concerning the events that took place during anapprenticeship he claimed to have served with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer,
Don Juan Matus, between 1968 and 1971. The authenticity of the book, along with the rest of Castaneda's series, has been a topic ofdebate since they were published.
In the book Castaneda continues his description of his apprenticeship under the tutelage of Don Juan, from which he had withdrawn in 1965. As in hisprevious book,
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Castaneda describes the experiences he has with Don Juan while under the influenceof the
psychotropic plants that Don Juan offeredhim,
peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and a smokable mixture of what Castaneda believedto be, among other plants, dried mushroom of the genus
Psilocybe. The mainfocus of the book centered around Don Juan's attempts at getting Carlos to
See, a practice best described as, in Castaneda's own words,"perceiving energy directly as it flows through the universe".
The book contains an introduction, an epilogue and two separate parts. Part One, "The Preliminaries of 'Seeing'", describes hisre-initiation into the apprenticeship from which he withdrew in late 1965, and also describes his introduction to another
brujo (sorcerer) named
DonGenaro. Part Two, "The Task of 'Seeing'", elaborates on the mental processes involved with
Seeing, and begins with Castanedarealizing that the plants are a necessary tool to arrive at
Seeing.
