The Teachings of Don Juan 1. The Teachings of Don Juan

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'When a man starts to learn, he is never clear about his objectives. His purpose is faulty; his intent is vague. He hopes for rewards that will never materialize, for he knows nothing of the hardships of learning.
'He slowly begins to learn - bit by bit at first, then in big chunks. And his thoughts soon clash. What he learns is never what he pictured, or imagined, and so he begins to be afraid. Learning is never what one expects. Every step of learning is a new task, and the fear the man is experiencing begins to mount mercilessly, unyieldingly. His purpose becomes a battlefield.

Can anyone be a man of knowledge ?'
'No, not anyone.'
'Then what must a man do to become a man of knowledge?'
'He must challenge and defeat his four natural enemies.'
'Will he be a man of knowledge after defeating these four enemies?'
'Yes. A man can call himself a man of knowledge only if he is capable of defeating all four of them.'
'Then, can anybody who defeats these enemies be a man of knowledge?'
'Anybody who defeats them becomes a man of knowledge.'
'But are there any special requirements a man must fulfill before fighting with these enemies?'
'No. Anyone can try to become a man of knowledge; very few men actually succeed, but that is only natural. The enemies a man encounters on the path of learning to become a man of knowledge are truly formidable; most men succumb to them.'
'What kind of enemies are they, don Juan?'
He refused to talk about the enemies. He said it would be a long time before the

To be a man of knowledge has no permanence. One is never a man of knowledge, not really. Rather, one becomes a man of knowledge for a very brief instant, after defeating the four natural enemies.'

'A man of knowledge is one who has followed truthfully the hardships of learning,' he said. 'A man who has, without rushing or without faltering, gone as far as he can in unravelling the secrets of power and knowledge.'

'It is. The only trouble is that you exaggerate the bad points only.'
'There are no good points so far as I am concerned. All I know is that it makes me afraid.'
'There is nothing wrong with being afraid. When you fear, you see things in a different way.'

Don Juan used, separately and on different occasions, three hallucinogenic plants: peyote (Lophophora williamsii), Jimson weed (Datura inoxia syn. D. meteloides), and a mushroom (possibly Psilocybe mexicana).

In describing his teacher, don Juan used the word 'diablero'. Later I learned that diablero is a term used only by the Sonoran Indians. It refers to an evil person who practises black sorcery and is capable of transforming himself into an animal - a bird, a dog, a coyote, or any other creature

It is, rather, that the worlds of different peoples have different shapes.

It is not only that people have different customs; it is not only that people believe in different gods and expect different post-mortem fates.