Speak directly and honestly. Say only what you really mean. Avoid saying things that could be used against you or gossiping about others. Use the power of words to achieve truth and love.
Other people's affairs do not concern you. Everything people say or do is a projection of their own reality, their personal dream. If you develop immunity to other people's views and actions, you will avoid needless suffering.
- Don't make assumptions
Find the courage to ask the questions you need when there is a misunderstanding and to express what you really want to express. Be as clear as possible when communicating with others to avoid misunderstandings, frustration, and suffering. This agreement alone can completely change your life.
Your opportunities are not always the same: it is one thing when you are healthy, and another when you are sick or upset. Under any circumstances, just make every effort, and you will not have reproaches of conscience, reproaches against yourself and regrets.
Well, now a little more about each agreement...
First Agreement e
Your word must be impeccable
The First Agreement is the most important and therefore the most difficult to fulfill. It is so important that it allows you to rise to that level of existence that I call heaven on earth.
The first Agreement is that: Your word must be impeccable.
It sounds very simple, but it is incredibly powerful.
Why are such demands placed on the word? The word is a force that you create yourself. Your word is a gift that comes directly from God. Regarding the creation of the universe, the Gospel of John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Through words you express creative energy. The existence of all things is created with the participation of the word.
Whatever language you speak, your intentions are expressed through words. What you see in a dream, what you feel, what you really are - everything is embodied in words.
A word is not just a sound or a graphic symbol. The word is power, a powerful ability for a person to express himself and communicate, think - and thus create the events of his life.
The word is man's most powerful weapon; it is a magical instrument. But, like a double-edged sword, it can produce surprising beautiful dream, and destroy everything around. One facet is the abuse of words, which creates real hell. The other is the precision of the word, creating beauty, love and paradise on earth.
Depending on how it is used, the word can liberate or enslave. It is difficult to imagine the full power of the word.
Impeccability in words is correct use energy. Impeccability means using energy for the sake of truth and self-love. If you accept yourself, truth will permeate you, cleansing you from the emotional poison from within.
But it is difficult to accept such an Agreement, because we are accustomed to something different. When communicating with others and, more importantly, with ourselves, we become accustomed to lying. We are not perfect with our words.
The accuracy and perfection of your word can be measured by the level of self-love. The degree of self-love and self-feeling is proportional to the quality and integrity of the word. If the word is perfect, you feel good, you are happy and calm.
Second Agreement
Don't take anything personally
The next three Agreements follow from the First.
The second is: Don't take anything personally.
Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally. Let us remember the example given: when I, without knowing you, meet you on the street and say: “You are terribly stupid!”, then in reality this statement will concern me.
You can only accept it personally because you yourself believe in it. You may be thinking to yourself, “How does he know? Clairvoyant or what? Or is my stupidity already visible to everyone?”
You take the statement to heart because you agree with it. Once this happens, the poison enters you, and you are trapped in a hellish dream. And you get caught because of your sense of self-importance. Which, together with suspiciousness, are extreme expressions of egoism, because each of us believes that everything revolves around his “I”. During training or taming, people get used to taking everything upon themselves. We feel like we are responsible for everything. Me, me, me - always me!
But those around you do not act for your sake. And guided by your own motives. Each person lives in an individual dream, in his own consciousness; he is in a world completely different from ours. When we take things personally, we assume that people navigate our reality, and we try to reconcile our world with theirs.
When we truly see other people for who they are, without taking anything personally, they will not be able to hurt us either by word or deed. Are they lying to you? Well, okay. They lie because they are afraid. They are afraid that you will suddenly discover that they are imperfect.
Taking off the social mask is painful. When people say one thing and do another, you are deceiving yourself if you do not notice their actions. But when you are honest with yourself, you can protect yourself from emotional pain. It can be very painful to tell yourself the truth, but you don't need to become attached to that pain. Recovery is just around the corner: a little time and everything will get better.
Third Agreement
Don't make assumptions
We have a habit of making guesses about everything. The difficulty lies in our belief that they are true.
We could swear that our assumptions are real. We express them about what people are doing or thinking (taking it personally) and then blame them and send emotional poison. That is why every time we utter speculation, we are asking for trouble. We express them, misinterpret them, take them personally and create huge troubles out of nothing.
The suffering and drama in your life is the result of second-guessing and taking things personally.
Think about this statement for a moment. The whole variety of managing connections between people comes down to controlling speculation and taking everything personally. Our hellish dream is based on this.
We create a huge amount of emotional poison simply by making assumptions and taking things personally, because we usually start discussing our hypotheses as well. Remember, gossip is a way of communicating in hellish sleep and passing poison to each other. We are afraid to ask someone to explain what we do not understand, and therefore we make guesses and are the first to believe in them; then we defend them and prove someone wrong.
It is always better to ask questions than to make assumptions because they bring us suffering.
To avoid speculation, ask questions. Let there be no ambiguities in communication. If you don't understand, ask. Have the courage to ask questions until everything falls into place, and then don’t delude yourself into thinking you already know everything about the situation. Once you receive the answer, you will know the truth, and there will be no need for guesswork.
Take courage and ask about what interests you. The respondent has the right to say “no” or “yes” but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everyone has the right to ask you a question, and you can answer “yes” or “no.”
If you don’t understand something, it’s better to ask again and find out everything without resorting to speculation. The day you stop making assumptions, communication will become pure and clear, devoid of emotional poison. Without guesswork, your word becomes impeccable.
Fourth Agreement
Try to do everything the best way
There is one more agreement, it turns the previous three into established habits. The fourth Agreement concerns the action of the previous ones: Try to do everything in the best possible way.
Under any circumstances, always try to do everything in the best possible way - no more and no less.
But keep in mind that your options in this regard are not constant. Everything is alive, and everything changes over time, and sometimes your efforts result in high quality, and sometimes - not very much. When you are rested and get up in the morning with fresh energy, your opportunities are greater than late in the evening when you are tired. You can do more when you are healthy than when you are sick; when sober than when drunk. Your potential will depend on whether you are in a wonderful and happy mood or upset, angry, jealous.
"Doing your best" doesn't feel like work because you enjoy what you do. When you enjoy the process and don't leave a bad aftertaste, you know you're doing your best. You try because you want it, and not because you have to, you try to please the Judge or others.
The First Three Agreements will only work if you do your best.
- Do not expect that you will immediately be able to always be impeccable in words. Your habits are too strong and ingrained in your thoughts. But you can do your best.
- Don't think that you will never take anything personally; just do your best for it.
- Don't dream that you'll never make assumptions and yet you can try to live just like that.
If you do the best you can, your habits of overusing words, taking things personally, and making assumptions will weaken and gradually leave you.
You should not judge, feel guilty, or punish yourself if you cannot fulfill these agreements.
Do the best you can, and you will feel a sense of relief, even if you continue to speculate, take things personally, and be less than perfect with your words.
Don Miguel Ruiz- Toltec healer, surgeon and writer of magical books. Don Miguel Ruiz was born and raised in a family of healers in rural Mexico; his mother was a curandera (healer), and his grandfather was a nagual (shaman). According to the Toltec tradition, the Nagual instructs a person on the path of personal freedom. Don Miguel Ruiz - Nagual of the Eagle Knight line; he devoted his life entirely to spreading the teachings of the ancient Toltecs. It should be noted that he has nothing to do with Carlos Castaneda
This little book can completely change your life. Try to follow the Four New Agreements by changing the old agreements that have been strangling your life - the agreements imposed on us by the Sleep of the planet, the Sleep of society, the Sleep of the family - and the hellish dream in which almost all of us live will turn into a Heavenly Dream.
Toltec don Miguel Ruiz, a Nagual of a different lineage than Castaneda, has concentrated in this small message all the wisdom of the Toltecs, and everyone, literally every one of us, can use it without fear.
Don Miguel Ruiz was born and raised in a family of healers in rural Mexico; his mother was a curandera (healer), and his grandfather was a nagual (shaman). The family hoped that Miguel would master their ancient heritage of teaching and healing people, and contribute to the esoteric science of the Toltecs. However, Miguel was carried away modern life, and he chose medical school to become a surgeon.
But one day he almost died, and this incident radically changed his life. One late evening in the early seventies, he fell asleep behind the wheel of his car. I woke up the moment the car crashed into a concrete wall. Don Miguel remembers that he could not feel his body when he pulled his two friends out of the wrecked car.
This event stunned him, and he began to sort out his own thoughts. Miguel dedicated himself to mastering the ancient wisdom of his ancestors, diligently learning from his mother and undergoing training with a shaman in the Mexican desert. In the dream, he received instructions from his late grandfather.
According to the Toltec tradition, the Nagual instructs a person on the path of personal freedom. Don Miguel Ruiz - Nagual of the Eagle Knight line; he devoted his life entirely to spreading the teachings of the ancient Toltecs
Four Agreements
Your word must be impeccable
Speak directly and honestly. Say only what you really mean. Avoid saying things that could be used against you or gossiping about others. Use the power of words to achieve truth and love.
Don't take anything personally
Other people's affairs do not concern you. Everything people say or do is a projection of their own reality, their personal dream. If you develop immunity to other people's views and actions, you will avoid needless suffering.
Don't make assumptions
Find the courage to ask the questions you need when there is a misunderstanding and to express what you really want to express. Be as clear as possible when communicating with others to avoid misunderstandings, frustration, and suffering. This agreement alone can completely change your life.
Try to do everything in the best way
Your opportunities are not always the same: it is one thing when you are healthy, and another when you are sick or upset. Under any circumstances, just make every effort, and you will not have reproaches of conscience, reproaches against yourself and regrets.
In "The Four Agreements" Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of beliefs,
which rob people of joy and condemn them to unnecessary suffering. Based on the ancient wisdom of the Toltecs, the Four Agreements offer rules of behavior that open up enormous opportunities for rapid change in life in order to find freedom, true happiness and love.
Toltecs
Thousands of years ago, the Toltecs were known throughout southern Mexico as the "people of knowledge." Anthropologists talk about the Toltecs as a nation or race, but in reality they were scientists and artists who created their own community to explore and preserve spiritual knowledge and ancient customs. They came together as masters (naguals) and disciples in Teotihuacan, ancient city pyramids near Mexico City, known as "The Place Where Man Becomes God."
For thousands of years, the Naguals had to hide the wisdom of their ancestors and shroud its existence in mystery. European conquests and the open abuse of their abilities by some students forced traditional knowledge to be protected from those who were not prepared to use it wisely or who might deliberately use it for their own gain.
Toltec knowledge, like all sacred esoteric traditions throughout the world, is based on a fundamental unity of truth. It is by no means a religion, but the Toltec tradition honors all spiritual teachers who have ever taught on Earth. She also talks about the spirit, but it is more about a way of life, the hallmark of which is the readiness for internal changes leading to the achievement of happiness and love.
Introduction
Smokey mirror
Three thousand years ago there were exactly the same people as you and me - people who lived near a city surrounded by mountains. One of them studied to become a healer, to comprehend the knowledge of his ancestors. But this man did not always agree with what he had to master. He felt in his very heart that there must be something more.
One day, falling asleep in a cave, he saw his own sleeping body. One night, on the eve new moon, he came out of his hiding place. The sky was clear, thousands of stars shone on it. And then something happened inside him - something that transformed his entire future life. He looked at his hands, felt his body and heard his own voice say: “I am made of light, I am made of stars.”
He looked at the stars again and realized that it was not the stars that created the light, but rather the light that created the stars. “Everything is created from light,” he said, “and the space between created things is not emptiness.” He knew: all that exists is one living being, and light is the messenger of life that contains all information.
This man realized that although he was created from stars, he himself was not a star. He thought: “I am what is between the stars.” And he called the stars tonals, and the light between the stars - the nagual, realizing that the harmony and space between heavenly bodies and with light creates Life, or Intention. Without Life, the tonal and nagual cannot exist. Life is the power of the Absolute, the Supreme Power, the all-creating Creator.
His discovery was this: everything that exists is an expression of one living being, which we call God. Everything is God. He came to the conclusion that human perception is nothing more than simply light perceiving light. He viewed matter as a mirror - everything is a mirror, reflecting light and creating images of this light, and the world of illusion, Sleep, is like smoke, not allowing us to see ourselves. “Our true essence is pure love, pure light,” he told himself.
This understanding changed his life. As soon as he realized who he really was, he looked around, looked at other people, at nature, and what he saw amazed him. He saw himself in everything: in every person, in every animal, in every tree, in water, in rain, in clouds, in earth. I saw that Life mixed the tonal and the nagual in various ways to create billions of its manifestations.
He understood everything in those short moments. He was filled with a thirst to act and his heart was filled with peace. I couldn’t wait to share my discovery with the world. But there weren't enough words to explain it all. He tried to tell others about this, but those around him were unable to understand him. People noticed that he had changed, that his eyes and voice radiated something beautiful. They discovered that he no longer made judgments about events or people. He became a completely different person.
He understood everyone perfectly, but no one could understand him. People believed that he was the incarnation of God, and he, listening to this, smiled and said:
"It's true. I am God. But you are also God. You and I represent the same thing. We are images of light. We are God."
But people still did not understand him.
He discovered that he was a mirror for all people, a mirror in which he could see himself. “Every person is a mirror,” he said. He saw himself in everyone, but no one saw themselves in him. He realized that people dream, but are not aware, do not understand who they really are. They could not see themselves in it, because between the mirrors there was a wall of fog or smoke. And this veil is woven from interpretations of the image of light. This is the Dream of humanity.
Now he knew that he would soon forget everything he had been taught. He wanted to remember all his visions and therefore decided to call himself the Smoky Mirror, so as not to forget that matter is a mirror, and the smoke in between is what prevents us from realizing who we really are. He said: “I am the Smoky Mirror, because I see myself in all of you, but we do not recognize each other because of the smoke between us. This smoke is the Dream, and you who sleep are the mirror.”
"It's easier to live with your eyes closed,
Everything you see is a misunderstanding..."
Miguel RUIZ
FOUR AGREEMENTS
Book of Toltec Wisdom
(Practical Guide)
Introduction
Smokey mirror
Three thousand years ago there were exactly the same people as you and me - people who lived near a city surrounded by mountains. One of them studied to become a healer, to comprehend the knowledge of his ancestors. But this man did not always agree with what he had to master. He felt in his very heart that there must be something more.
One day, falling asleep in a cave, he saw his own sleeping body. One night, on the eve of the new moon, he left his hiding place. The sky was clear, thousands of stars shone on it. And then something happened inside him - something that transformed his entire future life. He looked at his hands, felt his body and heard his own voice say: “I am made of light, I am made of stars.”
He looked at the stars again and realized that it was not the stars that created the light, but rather the light that created the stars. “Everything is created from light,” he said, “and the space between created things is not emptiness.” He knew: all that exists is one living being, and light is the messenger of life that contains all information.
This man realized that although he was created from stars, he himself was not a star. He thought: “I am what is between the stars.” And he called the stars tonals, and the light between the stars - the nagual, understanding that the harmony and space between the heavenly bodies and the light is created by Life, or Intention. Without Life, the tonal and nagual cannot exist. Life is the power of the Absolute, the Supreme Power, the all-creating Creator.
His discovery was this: everything that exists is an expression of one living being, which we call God. Everything is God. He came to the conclusion that human perception is nothing more than simply light perceiving light. He viewed matter as a mirror - everything is a mirror, reflecting light and creating images of this light, and the world of illusion, Sleep, is like smoke, not allowing us to see ourselves. “Our true essence is pure love, pure light,” he told himself.
This understanding changed his life. As soon as he realized who he really was, he looked around, looked at other people, at nature, and what he saw amazed him. He saw himself in everything: in every person, in every animal, in every tree, in water, in rain, in clouds, in earth. I saw that Life in various ways mixes the tonal and the nagual to create billions of its manifestations.
He understood everything in those short moments. He was filled with a thirst to act and his heart was filled with peace. I couldn’t wait to share my discovery with the world. But there weren't enough words to explain it all. He tried to tell others about this, but those around him were unable to understand him. People noticed that he had changed, that his eyes and voice radiated something beautiful. They discovered that he no longer made judgments about events or people. He became a completely different person.
He understood everyone perfectly, but no one could understand him. People believed that he was the incarnation of God, and he, listening to this, smiled and said:
"This is true. I'm God. But you are also God. You and I represent the same thing. We are images of light. We are God."
But people still did not understand him.
He discovered that he was a mirror for all people, a mirror in which he could see himself. “Every person is a mirror,” he said. He saw himself in everyone, but no one saw themselves in him. He realized that people dream, but are not aware, do not understand who they really are. They could not see themselves in it, because between the mirrors there was a wall of fog or smoke. And this veil is woven from interpretations of the image of light. This is the Dream of humanity.
Now he knew that he would soon forget everything he had been taught. He wanted to remember all his visions and therefore decided to call himself the Smoky Mirror, so as not to forget that matter is a mirror, and the smoke in between is what prevents us from realizing who we really are. He said: “I am the Smokey Mirror, because I see myself in all of you, but we do not recognize each other because of the smoke between us. This smoke is a Dream, and you, those who sleep, are a mirror.”
“It’s easier to live with your eyes closed, All you see is a misunderstanding...” John Lennon
Taming and Dream of the Planet
Everything you see and hear now is nothing more than a dream. Not excluding this moment. Even when you are awake, you are dreaming.
Dreams - main function mind, and the mind sleeps twenty-four hours a day. He sleeps when the brain sleeps, he sleeps, and when the brain is awake. The difference is that when the brain is awake, certain material coordinates arise that force us to perceive things linearly. As soon as we fall asleep, they disappear, so the dream has the property of continuously changing.
People dream all the time. Even before our birth, those who lived before us created a boundless dream around themselves, which we call the “Dream of Society,” or the Dream of the Planet. A planetary dream is a collective dream, consisting of billions of individual dreams, which together form the Dream of a family, community, city, country and, finally, the Dream of all humanity. The dream of our planet includes all kinds of social attitudes, beliefs, laws, religions, various cultures and ways of being, governments, schools, political events and holidays.
We are endowed with the innate ability to dream. People who lived before us made sure that we had exactly the same dreams as the rest of society. External sleep has many rules, and when a child is born, we capture his attention and introduce them into his consciousness. Dream society uses mom and dad, schools and religion to teach us how to dream.
Attention is the ability to discern and focus only on what we want to perceive.
We can see, hear, touch or smell millions of things at the same time, but with the help of attention at will We mentally give preference to perceive one thing or another. Since our childhood, the adults around us have undividedly captured our attention and, with the help of repetitions, have fixed certain information in our minds. So we learned everything we know.
Using attention, we studied the entire reality around us, the external dream. We learned how to behave in society: what to believe and not believe; what is acceptable and unacceptable; what is good and bad; what is beautiful and ugly; what is right and wrong. All this already existed: all this knowledge, rules and concepts regarding how to live in the world around us.
At school you sat at your desk and listened to what the teacher was saying. In the temple they concentrated on what the priest or church minister said. The same applies to parents,
Good day to all!
First, a small digression.
I became acquainted with this kind of literature about five years ago. It's not that I believe in all these things like: gaining eternal harmony Maybe; think positively and you will live in chocolate; A person can control everything, if he learns to form thoughts correctly, etc. Just then I was curious why this literature was so popular. Although, of course, there is a healthy core in all this. But fanaticism is not inherent in me, so I treat everything new with a small amount of skepticism. I must say that I have read a lot of books in this direction. From some I was able to take something really useful, but most of them simply cloned each other and were forgotten immediately after reading. The heroine of today’s review has become, without exaggeration, my reference book. And I will be happy to tell you why I liked it. Perhaps someone after my review will want to get to know her. Or maybe for someone this acquaintance will be useful and important.
So the book "Four Agreements"- I was advised to read it in one VK group, where in discussions I mentioned that my life had stalled and stopped bringing joy. It was a rather difficult period when everything seemed wrong, one gave up on any failure, and the days were filled with disappointment and dissatisfaction. There was also dissatisfaction with myself - with myself, probably, first of all.
The book's summary caused a skeptical grin: I think I've seen this somewhere before...
This little book can completely change your life. Try to follow the Four New Agreements by changing the old agreements that have been strangling your life - the agreements imposed on us by the Sleep of the planet, the Sleep of society, the Sleep of the family - and the hellish dream in which almost all of us live will turn into a Heavenly Dream.
After this it’s hard to resist: what nonsense?!
Indeed, all these esoteric metaphors undermine confidence in the seriousness of the book. But it is small (127 pages in electronic version), and I decided: was not was. If I don’t like it, at least I’ll while away the evening. I sat down to read and... disappeared. Two hours flew by unnoticed. The incredulous smile was only on the first pages, because as I read, I became more and more imbued with the thought: Damn it, you can't argue!
Omitting the introductory part, which tells us a little about the author - Don Miguel Ruiz, mentions the four agreements themselves without details and dumps them on the reader mystical story about the Toltecs (this is people of knowledge, which, of course, you, like me, like most sane people, are neither in sleep nor in spirit...), we are making our way through the jungle to chapter one. In fact, everything is not so scary: the introduction takes only ten pages - you can bear with it, but it’s worth reading for general development.
The first chapter is already more specific. It talks about the influence of thoughts, habits, values, etc., established in childhood, on a person’s future life. Yes, the idea is not new, but that doesn’t make it any less sensible. The child believes adults, agrees with them, believes so much that he turns these beliefs into his own beliefs. The author calls it process of domestication.
In the first chapter, I found the part very interesting where the author talks about justice, according to which we should only pay once for any mistake... But, guided by memory, we condemn ourselves again and again, reproach ourselves, and feel guilty. And there is no end in sight to this. This is especially applicable to relationships between a man and a woman, when in a quarrel one of the couple recalls past mistakes, forcing the other to feel guilty once again.
All this applies to old agreements which we are offered to get rid of in order to make way for new ones - four agreements. Their essence is revealed in the following chapters.
And now about each in order.
Agreement one: Your word must be impeccable
Speak directly and honestly. Say only what you really mean. Avoid saying things that could be used against you or gossiping about others. Use the power of words to achieve truth and love.
This agreement is based on the power of the word, which we experience every day. Someone threw an insult at us - and we were already wound up. With a word you can hurt - not physically, but much more painfully, you can destroy. In a word you can save, resurrect. This is the most powerful weapon, the master of which is each of us. With the help of words you can manipulate others and influence someone’s destiny.
Every word is energy. AND
perfection in words is the correct use of energy.
By following this agreement, you will gradually get rid of the emotional poison that prompts you to curse and gossip even about those closest to you.
Agreement two: Ndon't take anything personally
Other people's affairs do not concern you. Everything people say or do is a projection of their own reality, their personal dream. If you develop immunity to other people's views and actions, you will avoid needless suffering.
I really like this idea. It should become a daily mantra for people who are heavily influenced by public opinion. Guided by this agreement, you will stop thinking about what they will say, how they will look, what they will think... These are their problems - those who say, think and look.
No one has abolished the norms of ethics, morality and, ultimately, the law. And this agreement is not a call to do crazy things without paying attention to the interests of others. No one has canceled the inviolability of personal space.
This agreement should help avoid conflicts when everyone foams at the mouth to defend their own point of view. It should help reduce your sense of self-importance and get rid of suspiciousness. Each person looks at the world through the prism of his own views. And you will never find two absolutely identical prisms. And an attempt to combine them is fraught negative consequences. Do not try on other people's judgments and do not try to instill your views in others.
Third agreement: Don't make assumptions
Find the courage to ask the questions you need when there is a misunderstanding and to express what you really want to express. Be as clear as possible when communicating with others to avoid misunderstandings, frustration, and suffering. This agreement alone can completely change your life.
Very helpful advice- I know from own experience. Understatement, misunderstanding, fear of clarifying, asking again can seriously ruin life. Afraid of appearing stupid in the eyes of others, without fully understanding it, we end up in an even more ridiculous situation.
We suffer from the fact that our guesses do not coincide with reality, when our assumptions turn out to be incorrect. We find someone to blame for this, or we scold ourselves. Because of speculation, problems and quarrels often arise in relationships. Unjustified expectations bring a lot of pain. We expect from people what they really cannot give us, just because they assumed... Then we get disappointed, we blame everyone for this - ourselves first of all.
This agreement will help bring clarity to the relationships with which you are connected, and, in a global sense, to your life.
Agreement four: Try to do everything in the best way
Your opportunities are not always the same: it is one thing when you are healthy, and another when you are sick or upset. Under any circumstances, just make every effort, and you will not have reproaches of conscience, reproaches against yourself and regrets.
I attribute this to a question of laziness and the habit of putting everything off until the last moment. Until recently, I myself was like this, especially at work: you mess around during the day, and then you stay late, because you have to do it, and who else if not you. Or when you had to take work on the weekends just because you weren’t putting in your best effort during working hours. And you scold yourself and feel sorry... As a result, mental imbalance and internal conflict. And again the feeling of guilt.
But everyone understands this, and any of these four agreements, in their own way. I just expressed my opinion through my own worldview prism.
In general, the book turned out to be sensible, despite the “mystical” digressions. Brief, succinct and to the point. She didn't reveal anything new, of course. But the advice that is given in it will not be superfluous to repeat again and try to follow them in life.
Therefore, I recommend that everyone interested in this kind of literature read this book. It’s small, and therefore you won’t spend a lot of time on it, if suddenly it seems stupid to you.
I recommend.
By the way, I read all books in electronic form on this wonderful device, and I have remained faithful to it for many years!
You are upset? Are you angry? You Bad mood, but you don’t want to take it out on others? Have a fight with someone, but don’t want to ruin the relationship? Then the Ho'oponopono method is for you!
Do you want to spend a quiet and enjoyable evening after a busy day? These anti-stress coloring pages will help you relax and unnecessarily disconnect from the bustle of the world.
Miguel RUIZ
FOUR AGREEMENTS
Book of Toltec Wisdom
(Practical Guide)
Introduction
Smokey mirror
Three thousand years ago there were exactly the same people as you and me - people who lived near a city surrounded by mountains. One of them studied to become a healer, to comprehend the knowledge of his ancestors. But this man did not always agree with what he had to master. He felt in his very heart that there must be something more.
One day, falling asleep in a cave, he saw his own sleeping body. One night, on the eve of the new moon, he left his hiding place. The sky was clear, thousands of stars shone on it. And then something happened inside him - something that transformed his entire future life. He looked at his hands, felt his body and heard his own voice say: “I am made of light, I am made of stars.”
He looked at the stars again and realized that it was not the stars that created the light, but rather the light that created the stars. “Everything is created from light,” he said, “and the space between created things is not emptiness.” He knew: all that exists is one living being, and light is the messenger of life that contains all information.
This man realized that although he was created from stars, he himself was not a star. He thought: “I am what is between the stars.” And he called the stars tonals, and the light between the stars - the nagual, understanding that the harmony and space between the heavenly bodies and the light is created by Life, or Intention. Without Life, the tonal and nagual cannot exist. Life is the power of the Absolute, the Supreme Power, the all-creating Creator.
His discovery was this: everything that exists is an expression of one living being, which we call God. Everything is God. He came to the conclusion that human perception is nothing more than simply light perceiving light. He viewed matter as a mirror - everything is a mirror, reflecting light and creating images of this light, and the world of illusion, Sleep, is like smoke, not allowing us to see ourselves. “Our true essence is pure love, pure light,” he told himself.
This understanding changed his life. As soon as he realized who he really was, he looked around, looked at other people, at nature, and what he saw amazed him. He saw himself in everything: in every person, in every animal, in every tree, in water, in rain, in clouds, in earth. I saw that Life mixed the tonal and the nagual in various ways to create billions of its manifestations.
He understood everything in those short moments. He was filled with a thirst to act and his heart was filled with peace. I couldn’t wait to share my discovery with the world. But there weren't enough words to explain it all. He tried to tell others about this, but those around him were unable to understand him. People noticed that he had changed, that his eyes and voice radiated something beautiful. They discovered that he no longer made judgments about events or people. He became a completely different person.
He understood everyone perfectly, but no one could understand him. People believed that he was the incarnation of God, and he, listening to this, smiled and said:
"This is true. I'm God. But you are also God. You and I represent the same thing. We are images of light. We are God."
But people still did not understand him.
He discovered that he was a mirror for all people, a mirror in which he could see himself. “Every person is a mirror,” he said. He saw himself in everyone, but no one saw themselves in him. He realized that people dream, but are not aware, do not understand who they really are. They could not see themselves in it, because between the mirrors there was a wall of fog or smoke. And this veil is woven from interpretations of the image of light. This is the Dream of humanity.
Now he knew that he would soon forget everything he had been taught. He wanted to remember all his visions and therefore decided to call himself the Smoky Mirror, so as not to forget that matter is a mirror, and the smoke in between is what prevents us from realizing who we really are. He said: “I am the Smokey Mirror, because I see myself in all of you, but we do not recognize each other because of the smoke between us. This smoke is a Dream, and you, those who sleep, are a mirror.”
“It’s easier to live with your eyes closed,
Everything you see is a misunderstanding..."
John Lennon
Taming and Dream of the Planet
Everything you see and hear now is nothing more than a dream. Not excluding this moment. Even when you are awake, you are dreaming.
Dreaming is the most important function of the mind, and the mind sleeps twenty-four hours a day. He sleeps when the brain sleeps, he sleeps, and when the brain is awake. The difference is that when the brain is awake, certain material coordinates arise that force us to perceive things linearly. As soon as we fall asleep, they disappear, so the dream has the property of continuously changing.
People dream all the time. Even before our birth, those who lived before us created a boundless dream around themselves, which we call the “Dream of Society,” or the Dream of the Planet. A planetary dream is a collective dream, consisting of billions of individual dreams, which together form the Dream of a family, community, city, country and, finally, the Dream of all humanity. The dream of our planet includes all kinds of social attitudes, beliefs, laws, religions, various cultures and ways of being, governments, schools, political events and holidays.
We are endowed with the innate ability to dream. People who lived before us made sure that we had exactly the same dreams as the rest of society. External sleep has many rules, and when a child is born, we capture his attention and introduce them into his consciousness. Dream society uses mom and dad, schools and religion to teach us how to dream.
Attention is the ability to discern and focus only on what we want to perceive.
We can see, hear, touch or smell millions of things at the same time, but with the help of attention, we mentally choose to perceive one or another at our own discretion. Since our childhood, the adults around us have undividedly captured our attention and, with the help of repetitions, have fixed certain information in our minds. So we learned everything we know.
Using attention, we studied the entire reality around us, the external dream. We learned how to behave in society: what to believe and not believe; what is acceptable and unacceptable; what is good and bad; what is beautiful and ugly; what is right and wrong. All this already existed: all this knowledge, rules and concepts regarding how to live in the world around us.
At school you sat at your desk and listened to what the teacher was saying. In the temple they concentrated on what the priest or church minister said. The same applies to parents, brothers and sisters: they were all trying to get your attention. In the same way, we learn to master the interest of other people, we ourselves fight for the attention of others.
Children compete to attract the attention of their parents, teachers, and friends. "Look at me! Look what I'm doing! Hey, here I am." The need for attention continues - even worsens - in adults.
External dream captures our attention and teaches us what we should believe, starting with the language we speak. Language is a code with which people understand each other and communicate. Every letter, every word in a language is the result of some agreement. We say “a page in a book,” and the word “page” itself is the result of a contract about how to understand it. Once we begin to understand the code, our attention becomes concentrated and energy is transferred from one person to another.
We didn't choose which language to speak. We didn’t choose religion or moral values - they existed before we were born. We have never had the opportunity to decide for ourselves what to believe or not believe. We did not take part in the development of the most insignificant of such agreements. Even given name didn't choose.
In childhood, we do not have the opportunity to choose our faith; we simply have to agree with the information transmitted by others from the Planetary Dream. The only way to save information is through agreement. An external dream can attract attention, but if we do not agree with the information we receive, we do not retain it. As soon as a person agrees, he begins to trust, and this is already called “faith.” To believe, you need to trust unconditionally.
We learn this in childhood. Children believe everything that adults say, agree with them, and their faith is so strong that it itself internal organization completely controls the Dream of Life. We did not choose these beliefs, we could even rebel against them, but we were not strong enough for such a rebellion to win. And as a result of the agreement, we approve and accept other people's beliefs.
