"The FOUR Agreements"
by Don Miguel Ruiz
It has been nearly 10 years since I first read the four agreements. In a mature state and definitely in a more grounded spiritual place, revisiting the book 10 years later was an act of divine intervention. Even more interesting and purposeful, this book came at the beginning of my yogi teacher training and my life transition from NYC to LA. It is always so interesting reading a book for the second time and when there is a huge time gap between each read, new information is received and lessons that always need to be remembered are revisited.
The domestication of humans simply is how we are shaped, which begins at birth. At birth, and I can say even before we are born into this world, there are systems of rules conditioning and controlling the way we live, think, and breath. We are not given a choice. We are told what to do, not allowing the brain and mind to take shape and grow into our own identity. This is not to point blame on anyone, it is just the way it is in this society. That being said, I feel it is ok to have guidance from an elder, however one needs the freedom to experience many facets of life without fear, shame guilt, and rejection. Now there are some children and some families who don’t have rules in their household, but I think its safe to say they are a rarity in this society. I can relate to the domestication from our elders. In no harmful way, they are trying to prepare the young child for the realities of the world, and their teachings were passed down from generations to generations of older philosophies and principles. The world today is now shifting. With science and technology we have more information; information that releases the shackles from certain limited or restricted thinking. We have the power to reshape, define, and/or redefine who we truly are. And while, economics is still an issue for certain demographics (not having access to affordable education and healthcare), we have always had access to personal freedom, we just were never made aware of it, it was kept from us, or we forgot. A book simply written like the Four Agreements is a vessel to help liberate our thinking and way of living.
For the next four weeks I will debrief how each chapter speaks to me. I invite you to join in the conversation.
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