help me change the world - don miguel ruiz
DESCRIPTION
Insights with don Miguel Ruiz into his new book and the 4th AgreementTRANSCRIPT
The world that we create with our beliefs can take us
into the worst nightmare with a lot of drama, or it can take us into what I call
heaven on earth.
d o n M i g u e l R u i z
In 1997, the international bestseller, The Four Agreements, taught us all to be impeccable
with our word, not to take anything personally, not to make assumptions and always do our
best. The book’s success introduced millions of people to the ways of the Toltec and catapulted
its author, a gentle, soft-spoken nagual (shaman/teacher) in this ancient wisdom tradition into
the media spotlight.
In The Four Agreements, Ruiz tells us that the esoteric wisdom of the Toltecs can be traced
back thousands of years to southern Mexico. He characterizes the
Toltecs as a society of spiritual scientists and
artists, who came together to “explore and
conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices
of the ancient ones.” The cornerstone of Toltec teachings, he says, is the
belief that life is nothing but a dream, an illusion created by us through our beliefs.
Ruiz names Teotihuacan, an ancient city of pyramids near Mexico City (also known as the
place where “Man Becomes God”), as the sacred site where the masters and their students
gathered.
European conquests, and the misuse of power by some of its apprentices, resulted in
centuries of concealment and secrecy. The wisdom of the ancestors was kept alive through the
lineages of naguals, and resurfaced — as the Toltec prophecies foretold — at the time in the
future when it would be necessary to return the knowledge to the people. Don Miguel Ruiz of
the Eagle Knight lineage says that time has come.
Now, 12 years after The Four Agreements was first introduced, don Miguel, in collaboration
with his son, don Jose, has added a Fifth Agreement to his Toltec teachings. I had an
opportunity to speak with this father/son duo about the latest book and their spiritual journeys.
LP: Don Miguel, you were raised in a family of
teachers and healers. How much influence do
you think those early experiences had on your
current work?
MR: Yes I was born into a family who had those
traditions. My Mother was a curandera [healer],
my grandfather was a nagual [shaman] and on
and on. I had so much respect for the Toltec
tradition. So it was easy for me to follow. What I
learned was that everything is possible; nothing
is impossible. And everybody could be as they
are — something I wanted to share with my own
children. I taught my family to respect the Toltec
tradition. Toltec means artist—the tradition of the
artist. My children have learned to be very
creative.
LP: You had a near fatal accident many years ago
which you have said changed your life and put
you on your current path. Do we need to have
these kinds of dramatic events in our lives before
we can find our direction?
MR: Not at all. My car accident was a result of a
very stupid decision that I made. We had a big
party and I made a bad decision — I drank too
much and then decided to drive home. I slid into
a wall and totaled my car. Fortunately, my body
was perfectly ok after this accident. But it was a
big wake up call. It changed my life completely.
We can all learn, as I have, to live our lives as if
this is the last day of our life. And to make better
decisions. You can choose to make a smart
decision or a stupid decision. Toltec’s have
common sense.
LP: Why do you think we are here and what is
our purpose?
MR: Our purpose here is just to enjoy life and to
be happy. That is the mission of every human. It
is important to let people know that they could
be really happy if they wanted to.
LP: But it seems so many people are unhappy.
What keeps getting in the way of our happiness?
MR: I would say to you, if you are not happy,
why don’t you make yourself happy? Why you’re
not happy I don’t know. You have to answer that
for yourself. You are responsible for every
decis ion that you make; you pay the
consequences or you enjoy the consequences. If
you want to be happy, no longer make the
decisions that make you unhappy. What I do
know is that I believe in my own happiness.
LP: We talk about changing the world for the
better. What do you feel most needs changing?
MR: I ask people everywhere to...
“help me change the world”.
When I say that I mean the world we humans create in our own minds. Each one of us
creates our own world. What we believe is what really rules our lives. The world that we
create with our beliefs can take us into the worst nightmare with a lot of drama, or it can
take us into what I call heaven on earth. We need to be aware of what is going on in our
own minds. We cannot change the world if we do not change ourselves first.
The conversation turned to the newest book,
The Fifth Agreement. Don
Miguel graciously declined my invitation to
discuss the book, preferring to let Jose take over. Laughing, Jose takes the phone and
shares how much he has enjoyed listening to his father share his wisdom with me.
LP: Don Jose, what can you tell me about this
much anticipated sequel to The Four Agreements?
JR: The Fifth Agreement is based on all my father’s
teachings. He did a course called “Angel
Training” which is about training the mind. It is
about bringing awareness to the dream that is
your life. All of life is a dream. The world is a
mirror that reflects back to us what we believe.
We create our beliefs and the mirror of God
reflects them back to us. So we begin a practice
of living in the mirror where we learn to reflect
every thought. We learn to control our emotions
and not let the emotions get the best of us. Then
you can make the decision to become a master of
your own awareness, and direct your own
attention to discover what you believe to be true.
That’s when we begin to be skeptical of our own
lies. That’s what the fifth agreement is — to be
skeptical of our own lies and be in truth at all
times. Then we can begin to listen with the heart
— the heart and common sense. It’s a big
opportunity for one to become both his own
teacher and his own apprentice.
LP: In order to stop telling ourselves lies, we need
to really examine some unpleasant things about
ourselves, don’t we?
JR: When it comes to this awareness, we know
that we are married to life ‘til death do us part.
When you have awareness and enlightenment,
you see all the negativity in life and you see it
because you now can do something about it. All
you have to do about it is be yourself. Be you, be
free.
When we meditate, when we close our eyes,
we enter our mind and that’s where dreams are
born. When we open our eyes, that is when we
begin to take action. The real healer is the one
who can cure himself of his own lies.
We can put all our faith into a person who
died many years ago that we didn’t even meet,
and put him on our altar. Or we can take a
picture of ourselves and place it on the altar.
When we do that we are respecting that we don’t
have to go outside of ourselves to look for the
perfection, to know what we already know. When
have respect for ourselves, it opens many doors
for us and everything becomes possible.
LP: Is this what you would call self mastery?
JR: Self mastery is to be a master in our own
language — how we understand our own work,
how we understand our own creation. We find
out that whatever we believe in is just a story and
everybody is living in their own story. We have a
great opportunity to change the story and stop
being a victim. In life we can all find excuses to
be victims and if we focus on that energy, that’s
what we’ll be. In our tradition, the ancestors say
that (taking on the role of victim] offers “minimal
potential” to become a nagual. And I believe that
the truth is that everyone has the potential to be a
nagual.
LP: When you say everyone can be a Nagual, do you mean we can all become masters?
JR: Nagual, master, shaman, — whatever you want to call it.
All those names are just names for angels. Angels are messengers. There comes a point in our dreams where we ask the question — what kind of messengers are we? The answer is in the way we live our life. All men or women who serve truth are angels. It doesn’t matter if they’ve studied for 20 years, or if they’ve just woken up. It doesn’t matter if they’ve studied at all.
When it comes to this awareness, we know that we all can create gold. The ancestors say that the conquistadors looked for the person who could make gold, but the real person who can make gold is one who is happy in their dreams. We are the people who make real gold — the golden moments of life, the beautiful moments of life.
don Jose Ruiz and dad
LP: When you say everyone can be a Nagual, do you mean we can all become masters?
JR: Nagual, master, shaman, — whatever you want to call it. All those names are just names for angels. Angels are messengers. There comes a point in our dreams where we ask the question — what kind of messengers are we? The answer is in the way we live our life. All men or women who serve truth are angels. It doesn’t matter if they’ve studied for 20 years, or if they’ve just woken up. It doesn’t matter if they’ve studied at all.
When it comes to this awareness, we know that we all can create gold. The ancestors say that the conquistadors looked for the person who could make gold, but the real person who can make gold is one who is happy in their dreams. We are the people who make real gold — the golden moments of life, the beautiful moments of life.
LP: I wanted to ask both of you about 2012. Does Toltec teaching talk about 2012? We’ve heard predictions of everything from a cataclysmic end of the world to something as mundane as a cosmic odometer hitting 99,999 miles and simply needing to be recalibrated.
MR: It is the end of the Mayan calendar. It’s just the end of one calendar and the beginning again of the same calendar. It’s just the way we measure time.
LP: Where will you be on December 21, 2012?
MR: If I’m alive, I will be with my son, Jose. We’re going to the place where the Mayan and the Toltec merge: Chichen Itza.
DJ: We are going there to
celebrate the end of an era, the end of a dream. It is time to build a new calendar which is a
new dream. So I’m inviting all our friends who want to
participate in this beautiful experience to come to Chichen Itza and go with us to the jungle that day, because 2012 is the end of superstition, the end of a world that believes in lies.
From this point on it’s an opportunity to see how we can live our dream, how we can co-
create with life. It is time to take action, to take up the challenge
and wake up the warrior — the warrior that is going for peace.
Linda M. Potter is a popular speaker and the author of the
newly released book, If Only God Would Give Me a Sign! available at your local book store, through
Amazon.com or at wordkeepersinc.com. You can contact her at [email protected], www.lindampotter.com.
Linda M. PotterSept. 16th
Unity of Vancouver 7pm, $20 at the doorBanyen or Science to
Sage
The Mastery of Self
Calendar http://www.miguelruiz.com/index.php?p=calendar
YOUtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_NSP4k57to
The 5th Agreement by don Jose Ruiz