First Selection for the True Mexican Book Club: The Four Agreements

Vivi and I thought starting a True Mexican Book Club would be a great way to get some of our readers together for discussion, fellowship and fun. We are selecting books that will enhance our knowledge and cultural experience and feature Latino authors. If you have any suggestions please let us know and we will add them to the list. The first book we have selected is the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. No, this is not some new age cult book. Don Miguel is legit. I have been pretty angry lately about all the events happening in Arizona and I picked it up again to realign my focus. I shared it with Vivi and it has helped us be less of a danger to ourselves and others.

When I first read this book I felt like I was reading the words of my Mexican grandmother who was a Nahua Indian from the Sierra Puebla of Mexico. The author Don Miguel Ruiz comes from the same people I grew up with. He has masterfully created these ancient truths into a wonderful guide book for the soul. Whatever your culture these teachings are valuable and can help make life happier. I am so glad that he calls them Toltec truths. My grandmother was very proud of her Toltec roots . She felt that the Aztecs got all the credit when the Toltecs did all the work. My grandmother said that out of our “Toltec” culture came the worst Black Magicians and best White Magicians in all of Mexico. Carlos Casteneda really pissed off the Yaquis when he wrote about sorcery as this is not part of Yaqui tradition. Most certainly, I was taught, that it is a part of the life of the Nahua/Toltec people.

The Four Agreements, published in 1997 by tiny Amber-Allen Publishing, has sold more than 1.5 million copies. The Toltecs, Ruiz explains, were artists and spiritual seekers who thrived in Mexico hundreds of years ago before they were forced to hide their ancestral wisdom from European conquerors. Although Ruiz's grandfather and mother both practiced Toltec healing and teaching, Ruiz rejected the tradition and went to medical school. However,  in his final year he was in a car accident. Against all logic he was physically unscathed; emotionally, however, he would never be the same. What he calls an out-of-body experience transformed his worldview. Unable to explain what had happened to him, he sought his grandfather's guidance.

Years later Ruiz distilled this Toltec teaching into The Four Agreements, the basic premise of which is that most of the drama and suffering in our lives is self-created. We can live another way though. By refusing to buy into everything we've been taught about who we are, how the world works, and how we must react, and by making four simple pacts with ourselves. Doing so allows us to become dramatically happier regardless of our external circumstances. The agreements are (1) Be impeccable with your word—don't say it unless you mean it, and if it's gossip, keep a lid on it. (2) Don't take anything personally—what other people say or do isn't because of you, it's because of their own life experiences. (3) Don't make assumptions—preconceived ideas about what other people think can get you into trouble, and rigid notions of how things should be lead to disappointment. (4) Always do your best, but no more—post facto browbeating is pointless.

Hopefully your interest has been ignited. If so, we will meet Thursday August 26, 2010 at the Wrigley Mansion at 7:00 PM in the library. The Wrigley Mansion is located at 2501 East Telawa Trail in Phoenix and they have arranged drink specials for True Mexican Book Club members. Bookman's has several copies that are only 4 dollars and I am sure Changing Hands has inexpensive choices as well. Can't wait to see you all there. Lets get reading!


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