The fundamental issue which ["The Teachings of Don Juan"] confronts is as old as civilization, and of the utmost importance. Throughout his history man has tried to rationalize his suffering by attributing it to the existence of demonic spirits, which he has then attempted to propitiate. Our highly technological society clearly does not encourage belief in demonic forces. Science is our answer to the primitive's propitiation rituals….

The contemporary argument against our scientific rationalism is, broadly, that by ignoring the nether world we are only half-alive, truncated individuals cut off from the rich sources of both good and evil…. [We] should still go out to meet the devil, not perhaps in search of power over others but in search of power over ourselves, and a fuller humanity.

Such then is the debate that this volume seeks to illuminate. Mr. Castaneda's descriptions of his experiences with peyote are both...