Book Review

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like this book a great deal. At the risk of fulfilling a prophecy of the book, let me first make a disclaimer or two.

1. It is not the end-all solution to all the world's problems.
2. The presentation of the first few pages is a bit off-putting to those who are realists such as myself.

Having said that, however, it's easy to read past the "uncomfortable" bits and glean some very good, very helpful and best of all, very motivational thoughts. The book "feels" good, if you will.

I thought The Four Agreements tended to suggest that we quash all emotion but I also think that likely wasn't the true intent of Mr. Ruiz. His approach makes it a bit difficult to tell for certain except for one very quick sentence. My opinion, regardless, is that emotion is an essential part of our being and it is required of us to be fully human. Therefore, it should not be quashed It is, however, important to master how we express our emotions when we are beset by them.

It should also be mentioned that it's not possible to understand the agreements by reading the flyleaf. Oh, no! You have to read the book in order to fully understand the full scope and intent of it, especially as the agreements relate to oneself. For example, it's important to be impeccable with your word, the first agreement. Not only to others but to yourself. It's hinted at in the flyleaf but you have to read the book to get the full depth of what it means to be impeccable with yourself, too.

This is a book about kick-starting thought processes. It's a book about re-thinking why you believe what you believe. Did you choose your beliefs? I feel you did, even if you did it unconsciously. Do you know why you chose your beliefs? If you did it unconsciously, you may not know why. You should find out. If you just accepted your beliefs as they were spoon fed to you by your parents or a religious leader, perhaps you believe blindly. Maybe you're okay with that but I believe everyone should exert some introspection and make a determination as to why.

Doing so will do one of two (or many) things:

1. It will affirm your current faith and drive you to a long life of fulfilling those beliefs with greater passion and ever greater satisfaction, without the snobbishness which comes from those who believe dogmatically and unthinkingly

or

2. It will set you on a path of self-discovery and personal growth, driving you to a long life of self-fulfillment and confidence, knowing that it is important to believe in the idea of discovering new things whenever possible, throughout the rest of your life.

I can see that it would be easy to become dogmatic about The Four Agreements or Mr. Ruiz's other works. My feeling, however, is that we can benefit the most by using this kind of writing as a launching pad for a lifetime of continuous self-introspection, discovery and refinement of belief and thought.

--Wag--


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