For an instant I think I saw. I saw the loneliness of man as a gigantic wave which had been frozen in front of me, held back by the invisible wall of a metaphor.

In Carlos Castaneda e a Fenda entre os Mundos - Vislumbres da Filosofia Ānahuacah no Século XXI Brazilian writer Luis Carlos de Morais analyzes the work of Carlos Castaneda its cultural implications and its continuation in other authors. ISBN 0-06-019220-8. In his books Castañeda narrates in first person the events leading to and following after his meeting Matus a half-Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" in 1960.

Starting with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968 Castaneda wrote a series of books that describe his alleged training in shamanism. The books narrated in the first person relate his supposed experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan Matus.