When I looked up the raven had disappeared. Castaneda was interested in my raven story, but he didn't offer an explanation. Ravens and crows, as all shape shifters know, are popular forms of travel in the Americas. Relatively little is known about Castaneda. De-emphasizing self and erasing personal history is the way Castaneda's line of seers has evolved into warriors of true knowledge.
Personality is a pretense.
If we weren't so involved in ourselves, we wouldn't do such barbaric things to ourselves. Yet, there are some records, and Castaneda himself lets slip a personal fillip now and then. Apparently Castaneda was born around 70 years ago in Peru and was reared by a hedonistic grandfather. But he has spent most of his life in Los Angeles. For a brief time, he taught cultural anthropology at the University of California-Irvine.