The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

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Doing your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are tired as opposed to well rested. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret. The Fifth Agreement – BE SKEPTICAL, BUT LEARN TO LISTEN Once we reach a state of adulthood, a person begins to lose that sense of innocence, meanwhile an opinion is formed followed by the development of a habit for making snap judgments.

First of all, they believe that these two terms are highly dependable, which is an entirely false claim. All artists live in their own dream, in their own world. In that world, whatever they perceive is truth for them, and it could be that it’s absolutely true for the artists who are expressing their story, but it’s not truth for you. The only truth for you is what you perceive in your world. With this awareness, there’s nothing to prove to anyone. It’s not about being right or wrong. You respect whatever somebody says because respect is so important. When you learn to listen, you show respect for other artists, you show respect for their art, for their creation. Be skeptical, but learn to listen - have an open mind and question everything, even your own thoughts.I change my story by changing what I believe about myself. When I clean up the lies I believe about myself, the lies I believe about other people change. Every time I change myself, my whole story changes to adapt to the new main character. We set these standards, we live by them, and we agree with the system. We learn because we pay attention, and we pay attention to the symbols that teach us about life, people, and the world. As a child, we might be shown a picture of a heart. Later we learn that a picture of a heart isn't simple. It can be interpreted and interrogated in a range of different ways, depending on context. Does it mean love, passion, heart health, romance, the organ that pumps to keep us alive? 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. The Third Agreement – DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS In this guide, we’ll begin by exploring the idea that each person’s reality is separate, relative, and unreal; we don’t see the “real” world, and we don’t see the same world. Then, we’ll learn how to escape that false reality through the five “agreements,” or five steps on the path to enlightenment. Part 1.1: Doubt Your Perception

For example, what makes something right or wrong? How do you know unequivocally, that something is wrong? The writer gives the exact definition of the word "impeccable". Which means sinless. It comes from the Latin word "Pecado". Isn't said in the Bible "In the beginning was the word "? Yes, and usually, words either become actions or affect some. So, one must perfectly be impeccable with his words.

When we use words impeccably, we only allow them to improve our lives, not be destructive. This starts with the words you choose and ends with the degree of relative truth you assign to words from others. The goal here is to, like the toddler you once were, not judge or reject yourself for who you are. At the same time, when others insult you, see their words as just symbols, their truth, not yours, and you’ll better be able to let it wash away. Once we have a basic grasp of language, we begin to develop a sense of morality and ethics. We usually start by learning about "right and wrong," "good and bad," and "reward and punishment." In short, we learn about behavior. We observe behavior, we buy into what constitutes good behavior, we believe it, and we agree with it. Rules work because they're universally regarded. Parenting and teaching promote the belief that good behavior is rewarded, and consequences are often viewed unfavorably. We're told there are "consequences for our actions."

In a world of fake news, deep fakes, conspiracy theories, and a general sense of disenchantment and mistrust, a book like this is even more relevant than ever. But skepticism can go in two directions. One way is to pretend to be skeptical because you think you’re too smart to be gullible. “Look at how intelligent I am. I don’t believe in anything.” This is not skepticism. To be skeptical is not to believe everything you hear, and you don’t believe because it’s not the truth, that’s all. The way to be skeptical is just to be aware that the entire humanity believes in lies. You know that humans distort the truth because we are dreaming, and our dream is just a reflection of the truth. We open by exploring their foundational principle—that reality is subjective—in Part 1.1, and follow that in Part 1.2 with a discussion of the nature of and path to enlightenment. In Part 2, we discuss the five “agreements,” or adjustments, the authors recommend we make in pursuing our personal freedom. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll call these the five steps on the Toltec road to enlightenment. Our Reality Is Subjective

PDF Summary Part 2: Challenge Your Reality

Let’s get this straight. When it comes to being skeptical, people often have misleading theories on what skepticism and egoism is. We perform a kind of mental iconoclasm. This is because we create our worlds using a series of symbols. The words we use, the objects around us – these are symbols, and they help to construct the world. Baudrillard famously discussed symbols in his seminal work, Simulacra and Simulation. The central thesis is that we build a "shared existence" through our perception of reality and symbols. And, each culture is taught to understand this reality and what the symbols represent or signify. Sometimes the symbols become bigger than the thing that they represent. And sometimes, the symbols are copied. Is a fake symbol less real than the original? And what makes something genuine or authentic? These are questions that we need to ask ourselves when we question the truth and the world around us. I am two people: one that came into the world with a mission to share, the “real” me. After I got messages from all the people that helped me grow into an adult, I became the “virtual” me, a mixture of all those people's messages that I assumed were the truth. Shortform note: In his book Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell explains that while we think we’re good at reading people, we’re actually terrible at it. We assume people are telling the truth and that the way they present themselves outwardly is an accurate and reliable representation of their inner feelings and intentions. But don’t we all occasionally hide our true feelings, tell half-truths, or mask our intent—and haven’t we gotten away with it? Why should others be any different?) Step 4: Be the Best You Can, Without Comparing The authors’ first point is that the world we perceive through our senses is only a subjective interpretation of a thin slice of what actually exists in the world. They argue that the information our senses give us is heavily filtered and fabricated: For instance, our brains interpret a narrow band of radiation as “color.” Without eyes—and brains to interpret their signals—colors would not exist; in a literal sense, they don’t exist outside of us.

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. Doing your best is about trusting in yourself and trusting in creation, the force of life. You set a goal and go for it 100 percent without any attachment to attaining it. This is a wonderful book. Although there is some repeat of information from Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements," there is also a lot of new and very insightful content. As such, I highly recommend The Fifth Agreement as a spiritual growth resource. Here's one of my favorite passages:In the tradition of the Toltec, a Nagual guides an individual to personal freedom. Combining new insights with old wisdom, don Miguel has dedicated his life to sharing the ancient Toltec wisdom by translating it into practical concepts that promote transformation through truth and common sense. Find the courage to ask questions and 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. The Fourth Agreement – ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz revealed how the process of our education, or “domestication,” can make us forget the wisdom we were born with. Throughout our lives, we make many agreements that go against ourselves and create needless suffering. The Four Agreements help us to break these self-limiting agreements and replace them with agreements that bring us personal freedom, happiness, and love. Each subjective reality is a stage in the Toltec road to total personal freedom, culminating in the ability to choose what we believe and thereby determine our own satisfaction and happiness. Essentially, that final stage is a form of enlightenment—so we’ll compare each stage along the way to other enlightenment philosophies, like Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism.