THE FIFTH AGREEMENT Also by don Miguel Ruiz THE FOUR AGREEMENTS A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom THE FOUR AGREEMENTS COMPANION BOOK Using The Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life THE MASTERY OF LOVE A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship PRAYERS A Communion with our Creator THE VOICE OF KNOWLEDGE A Practical Guide to Inner Peace LOS CUATRO ACUERDOS Una guía práctica para la libertad personal CUADERNO DE TRABAJO DE LOS CUATRO ACUERDOS Utiliza Los Cuatro Acuerdos para gobernar el sueño de tu vida LA MAESTRÍA DEL AMOR Una guía práctica para el arte de las relaciones ORACIONES Una comunión con nuestro Creador LA VOZ DEL CONOCIMIENTO Una guía práctica para la paz interior A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery A Toltec Wisdom Book THE FIFTH AGREEMENT DON MIGUEL RUIZ DON JOSE RUIZ WITH JANET MILLS AMBER-ALLEN PUBLISHING SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA Copyright © 2010 by Miguel Angel Ruiz, M.D., Jose Luis Ruiz, and Janet Mills Published by Amber-Allen Publishing, Inc. P. O. Box 6657 San Rafael, California 94903 Cover Illustration: Nicholas Wilton Cover Design: Janet Mills Typography: Rick Gordon All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruiz, Miguel, 1952– The fifth agreement : a practical guide to self-mastery/ Miguel Angel Ruiz and Jose Luis Ruiz ; with Janet Mills. p. cm. “A Toltec Wisdom book.” (alk. paper) 1. Conduct of life. 2. Belief and doubt. 3. Toltec philosophy — Miscellanea. 4. Ruiz, Miguel, 1952- Four agreements. I. Ruiz, Jose Luis, 1978- II. Mills, Janet, 1953- III. Title. BJ1595.R73 2010 299.7′92—dc22 2009043960 ISBN 978-1-934408-05-6 To every human who lives on this beautiful planet, and to the generations to come. CONTENTS Acknowledgments The Toltec Introduction PART I 1 … IN THE BEGINNING It’s All in the Program 2 … SYMBOLS AND AGREEMENTS The Art of Humans 3 … THE STORY OF YOU The First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word 4 … EVERY MIND IS A WORLD The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally 5 … TRUTH OR FICTION The Third Agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions 6 … THE POWER OF BELIEF The Symbol of Santa Claus 7 … PRACTICE MAKES THE MASTER The Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best PART II 8 … THE POWER OF DOUBT The Fifth Agreement: Be Skeptical, but Learn to Listen 9 … THE DREAM OF THE FIRST ATTENTION The Victims 10 … THE DREAM OF THE SECOND ATTENTION The Warriors 11 … THE DREAM OF THE THIRD ATTENTION The Masters 12 … BECOMING A SEER A New Point of View 13 … THE THREE LANGUAGES What Kind of Messenger Are You? EPILOGUE: Help Me to Change the World About the Authors Acknowledgments THE AUTHORS WISH TO EXPRESS THEIR HEARTFELT gratitude to the following people: Janet Mills, the mother of this book; Judy Segal, for all her love and support; Ray Chambers, for lighting the way; Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, for sharing the message of The Four Agreements with so many people; Ed Rosenberg and Major General Riemer, for their recognition of The Four Agreements on the United States Air Force challenge coin; Gail Mills, Karen Kreiger, and Nancy Carleton, for generously contributing their time and talent to the realization of this book; and Joyce Mills, Maiya Champa, Dave McCullough, Theresa Nelson, and Shkiba Samimi-Amri for their dedication and ongoing support of the teachings of the Toltec. The Toltec THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, THE TOLTEC WERE known throughout southern Mexico as “women and men of knowledge.” Anthropologists have spoken of the Toltec as a nation or a race, but, in fact, the Toltec were scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient ones. They came together as masters (naguals) and students at Teotihuacan, the ancient city of pyramids outside Mexico City known as the place where “Man Becomes God.” Over the millennia, the naguals were forced to conceal the ancestral wisdom and maintain its existence in obscurity. European conquest, coupled with rampant misuse of personal power by a few of the apprentices, made it necessary to shield the knowledge from those who were not prepared to use it wisely or who might intentionally misuse it for personal gain. Fortunately, the esoteric Toltec knowledge was embodied and passed on through generations by different lineages of naguals. Though it remained veiled in secrecy for hundreds of years, ancient prophecies foretold the coming of an age when it would be necessary to return the wisdom to the people. Now, don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz (naguals from the Eagle Knight lineage) have been guided to share with us the powerful teachings of the Toltec. Toltec wisdom 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 by don Miguel Ruiz THE FOUR AGREEMENTS WAS PUBLISHED MANY YEARS ago. If you have read the book, you already know what these agreements can do. They have the ability to transform your life by breaking thousands of limiting agreements you have made with yourself, with other people, with life itself. The first time you read The Four Agreements, it begins to work its magic. It goes much deeper than the words you are reading. You feel that you already know every word in the book. You feel it, but perhaps you never put it into words. When you read the book the first time, it challenges what you believe, and takes you to the limit of your comprehension. You break many limiting agreements, and overcome many challenges, but then you see new challenges. When you read the book a second time, it feels as if you’re reading a completely different book because the limits of your comprehension have already grown. Once again, it takes you into a deeper awareness of yourself, and you reach the limit that you can reach in that moment. And when you read the book a third time, it’s just as if you’re reading another book. Just like magic, because they are magic, the Four Agreements slowly help you to recover your authentic self. With practice, these four simple agreements take you to what you really are, not what you pretend to be, and this is exactly where you want to be: what you really are. The principles in The Four Agreements speak to the heart of all human beings, from the young to the old. They speak to people of different cultures all around the world — people who speak different languages, people whose religious and philosophical beliefs are vastly different. They have been taught at different kinds of schools, from elementary schools to secondary schools to universities. The principles in The Four Agreements reach everyone because they are pure common sense. Now it’s time to give another gift: The Fifth Agreement. The fifth agreement wasn’t included in my first book because the first four agreements were enough of a challenge at that time. The fifth agreement is made with words, of course, but its meaning and intent is beyond the words. The fifth agreement is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth, without words. The result of practicing the fifth agreement is the complete