کتاب چهار میثاق، نوشته‌ی دون میگوئل‌ روئیز است که بر پایه‌ی خرد باستانی فرهنگ سرخ‌پوستان "تولتک" شکل گرفته است.
او در این کتاب به خواننده نشان می‌دهد که با ایجاد کمی تغییر، می‌توانیم در زندگی تجربه‌های جدیدی داشته باشیم، تجربه‌هایی که زندگی ما را پر از رهایی، شادی و عشق حقیقی می‌کند.
کتاب از شش فصل تشکیل شده است.
۱. اهلی شدن و رویای سیاره زمین.
۲.اولین میثاق: با کلام خود گناه نکنید.
۳. دومین میثاق: هیچ چیز را به خود نگیرید.
۴. سومین میثاق: تصورات باطل نکنید.
۵.چهارمین میثاق: بیشترین تلاشتان را بکنید.
۶.راه تولتک ها به سوی آزادی؛ شکستن میثاق‌های قدیمی.

شاید حرف‌های کتاب کلیشه‌ای و شعاری به نظر برسند و شبیه نصایح دینی به‌نظر آیند که بارها و بارها شنیده‌ایم ولی از آنجا که انسان ذاتا فراموشکار است این یادآوری‌ها کمک می‌کند بهتر عمل کند و زندگی بهتری برای خود بسازد.

بخش‌هایی از کتاب:
▪️عدالت حقیقی این است که برای هر اشتباه فقط یک بار تنبیه شویم. بی‌عدالتی حقیقی این است که برای هر خطا ببش از یک بار تنبیه شویم. ما چند بار تاوان یک خطا را می‌پردازیم؟ هزاران بار. انسان تنها حیوانی است که برای یک خطا هزاران بار تاوان می‌پردازد.

▪️ هرچه عشق به خود در ما بیشتر باشد، کمتر خوآزاری را تجربه می‌کنیم. خودآزاری نتیجه‌ی طرد شدن خویشتن نتیجه‌ی داشتن تصویری از کمال است که هرگز نمی‌توانیم به آن دست یابیم. تصویر ما از کمال دلیل طرد شدن ما از جانب خودمان است؛ به دلیل وجود آن است که نمی‌توانیم خود را همان‌گونه که هستیم بپذیریم، و به همین دلیل هم دیگران را همانطور که هستند نمی‌پذیریم.

▪️کلام به قدری قدرتمند است که یک کلمه می‌تواند زندگی یک فرد را عوض کند و یا زندگی میلیون‌ها انسان را نابود سازد.

▪️شما وقتی قویا عادت کردید هیچ چیز را به خود نگیرید، از بسیاری ناراحتی ها در زندگی اجتناب خواهید کرد. خشم،حسادت و حسرت شما ناپدید خواهند شد و حتی غم شما ناپدید می‌شود.

▪️آنچه واقعا تفاوت ایجاد می‌کند عمل است.

▪️وقتی بیشترین تلاشتان را بکنید زندگی پرشوری خواهید داشت. فعال و خلّاق خواهید بود، با خودتان خوب خواهید بود، و از خود برای خانواده و جامعه و همه چیز مایه خواهید گذاشت. اما عمل کردن است که موجب می‌شود شما شدیدا احساس رضایت و شادمانی می‌کنید.

▪️اگر آنچه را انجام می‌دهیم دوست داشته باشیم ، و اگر همیشه بیشترین تلاشمان را بکنیم، آن وقت واقعا از زندگی لذت می‌بریم.

▪️زندگی شما تجلّی رویایتان، و یک هنر است. و اگر از رویایتان لذت نمی‌برید، هر زمان که بخواهید می‌توانید زندگی‌تان را تغییر دهید. استادان رویا از زندگی خود یک شاهکار می‌آفرینند. آنها با انتخاب‌هایی که می‌کنند، رویای خویش را در اختیار می‌گیرند. هر چیزی نتایجی دارد، و استاد رویا از نتایج آگاه است.

۰۱/۳/۲۱

Part Matrix, part Buddhism written in poetry and art. I see Taoism and mysticism too in here, and as someone who doesn’t see much of God in the world, even as an atheist, I can see God in this Toltec wisdom. I see the push and pull off the yin and yang. I see Emerson’s self-determination. And somehow, all of it feels intuitively logical.

I've read the book and listened to the audio version. The audio is my favorite. Wonder what the four agreements are?

1) Be Impeccable with Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2) Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3) Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4) Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

I'd like to propose this book as required reading for the course, Life. Make four simple agreements with yourself and living becomes so much easier, so much lighter:

1. Be impeccable with your word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t take anything personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t make assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always do your best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

What I love about this book
* It's a short, captivating read. I love the efficiency of receiving so much thought-provocation in so little time.
* The agreements are applicable to everyone, everywhere, regardless of religion, gender, age, etc.
* Stories, anecdotes and examples from various beliefs are intertwined throughout, spotlighting their common bottom lines: love, life and peace.

Possibly the most life-changing book I've ever read. No, really. See?

:)

It was hard to take this book seriously. Early statements went something like this:
..everything is made of light
..light is alive and contains all information
..to be alive is the biggest fear that humans have
Once we get past that silliness we come upon the agreements.

#1 says that words are power. I disagree. I think it is our thoughts that are our true power. He says that we are all conditioned by our culture and language but never explains why there are counterculturals or whether it's a good idea to be one.

#2 says we should not take anything personally. Including praise. But no man is an island, praise from loved ones is a blessing that should not be disregarded.

#3 says we should not make assumptions. But he ignores the fact that human brains work inductively and the resultant mistakes are inevitable.

#4 says always do your best. Usually good advice but sometimes leads to undue stress.

There is some good advice in here and it can (and has) been useful for some people. But the basis of his advice is so silly that as I said, I can't take it seriously.

Wowwwwwwww!

I think most everyone has read this book . Basically it tells us to be true to our real selves, look for the good, not bad, live in the moment, not to accept others opinions of you as true. Don't make assumptions, tell people what you need. Don't take things personally - in short who could be a better judge of who you are than yourself. In my experience it's much easier to be yourself as an " older" person. You've had those extra years to figure out who you are, and hopefully what's most important to you. You learn that most of the time the general public pay little or no attention to you. It becomes much less important to live up to the expectations of others and in my case , it has probably made me speak my mind way too often and too loudly. I think I'll need to keep this nearby and re- read parts to fully grasp all of it's concepts , not all of which I'm fully on board with yet . We'll see . Makes you think. 4 stars

The Four Agreements is a simple and short presentation of some very deep wisdom. In a world filled with spiritual reading material, this one's a goodie. It just made a lot of sense to me.

These lessons come from the shaman culture of Central America. "Toltec knowledge arises from the same essential unity of truth as all the sacred esoteric traditions found around the world. Though it is not a religion, it honors all the spiritual masters who have taught on the earth. While it does embrace spirit, it is most accurately described as a way of life, distinguished by the ready accessibility of happiness and love. introduction pg x. Happiness and love! Sign up the Hippie Librarian, pronto.

The book goes on to talk about how everyone has unconscious beliefs that we pick up as children. We view and experience our world through these beliefs. Most folks aren't even aware that they have them and this causes a myriad of misunderstandings and problems: "We keep searching and searching, when everything is already within us. There is no truth to find. Wherever we turn our heads, all we see is the truth, but with the agreements and beliefs we have stored in our mind, we have no eyes for this truth. We don't see the truth because we are blind. What blinds us are all those false beliefs we have in our mind." pg 17.

So, how do you cut through the fog of these beliefs to see clearly? Ruiz suggests using The Four Agreements.

The first is: "be impeccable with your word... you begin to see all the changes that can happen in your life. Changes first in the way you deal with yourself, and later in the way you deal with other people, especially those you love the most." pg 46. This includes your inner voice, the way you talk to yourself and how you narrate your reality.

Ruiz mentions that some people talk to themselves in a manner that they would find unacceptable to use with the people they care about. Change the way you speak and, Ruiz claims, your life will follow.

The second agreement is: "Whatever people do, feel, think, or say, don't take it personally. If they tell you how wonderful you are, they are not saying that because of you." pg 59 This helps you because: "When we really see other people as they are without taking it personally, we can never be hurt by what they say or do. Even if others lie to you, it is okay. They are lying to you because they are afraid. They are afraid you will discover that they are not perfect." pg 63.

The third agreement is 'don't make assumptions': "If others tell us something, we make assumptions, and if they don't tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate." pg 74. Now that I've been looking for this, I've caught myself assuming things all the time.

It's funny how quick hurt feelings evaporate when I just put an "assumption" label over any stories I've concocted. It has actually been world-changing for me: to realize how many stories I make up because I'm bored or confused or simply don't know what someone else is thinking. And to realize that they're not real is such a relief. Really.

Finally: "Just do your best - in any circumstance in your life. It doesn't matter if you are sick or tired, if you always do your best there is no way you can judge yourself. And if you don't judge yourself there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame, and self-punishment. By always doing your best, you will break a big spell that you have been under." pg 85.

This was another big one for me. I used to get down on myself about how circumstances played out even if I had nothing to do with it. Now, I just pause and give it a quick think over, "Did I try my best?" Generally, yeah, I was trying my guts out.

And that's all I can ask of myself, really. I can't control the uncontrollable, I can only do the best I can with what I've got in front of me.

The Four Agreements may help readers live in the now and experience life as it is rather than as they've imagined it to be. At least, that's what it has done for me. Also recommended for readers who may be interested in spirituality but want a easy place to start. This one is simple and packs a big punch in a very few pages.

¿Sabéis esos libros que subrayarías la mayoría de sus frases; incluso si eso representaría para algunos maltratarlo? Pues así lo he dejado: subrayado electrónicamente... Vamos, que pocas páginas se han salvado de mis dedos :) Sé que cuando un libro nos gusta (enamora), se produce en nosotros un querer contagiar a otros este subidón, pero en este caso solo os pido que leáis la primera página; solo eso. Si os convence, adelante, sino, pues hay tantos libros por escoger que no vamos a quedarnos atorados en éste. Sencillamente es como un cuento explicado al fuego de una hoguera. Un susurro de los ancestros mientras nos cubrimos los hombros con una manta y tomamos una bebida bien caliente. Un soplo de brisa...

This booklet left me speechless …. Maybe this is a good thing!

Struggling somewhat to rate this one. There were a few nuggets that were very enlightening but a lot of unoriginal concepts or overly fluffy statements as well.

I found myself thinking "hey, that reminds me of..." very frequently while reading this book. The book reads like retreads of various scriptures, warm fuzzy stories, and self-help manuals. It's not a new concept that words are powerful and we should think and speak positively about ourselves and others. Not taking things personally is another not-new self-help idea. Same with not making assumptions and always doing your best. A lot of the advice is couched in "fuzzy" terms that just irritate me...black magic vs. white magic, visualizing and imagining, we live in a dream of hell? While the concepts behind the language may be accurate I just had a hard time taking it too seriously with language like that.

I particularly struggled as a parent reading the first chunk of the book. We have to teach our children something, just so they can function in society and have a structure to hang their lives on, but Ruiz seemed so against "domestication" that he almost seemed to advocate not passing our beliefs and teachings on to our children because they have no real choice in whether or not to believe them when they are young. I suspect if I had the chance to actually have a conversation with him, he could clarify the confusing and sometimes contradictory passages in the book, but I don't have that opportunity. And I'm left with a book that seems to have some good, though not really original, ideas - with no real outline for how to apply them.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

What an amazing little book! Definitely the sort you sit down to read outside, amongst nature, feeling the breeze on your face, hearing the birds all around ... while immersed in such truthful/wisdom-like words.

I know this book has been read many (check out the amount of reviews on Amazon