What is the main conflict in A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda?

Carlos Castaneda (December 25, 1925 - April 27, 1998) recounts how he had met don Juan in 1961, ten years before the writing of this book. Don Juan is a Yaqui Native American from northwestern Mexico who is also a shaman or sorcerer, as Castaneda describes him, and also a very old man who is in excellent physical shape.

On April 2, 1968, Castaneda visits don Juan in central Mexico. Castaneda presents his first book to don Juan, telling him that he is the subject. The book draws a bit of curiosity but not much. The two wait on a park bench for one of don Juan's friends, and during this time Castaneda tells a story about poor street children who had offered to shine shoes and had eaten leftover food at a restaurant with outside tables. The author expresses sorrow for the street children, but don Juan objects. He maintains that Castaneda cannot possibly know if one life is better than another because the author has yet to learn how to properly see the world as a sorcerer, or man of knowledge.