The 4 codes to live, according to Toltec wisdom

Miguel Ángel Ruiz Macías is a Mexican researcher and writer, descendant of the Toltecs. His most famous work is The four Agreementsa compendium of teachings drawn from the wisdom of their ancestors. In it he exposes the codes to live properly.

His work It is classified within the spiritualist genre. She is greatly influenced by the experiences of Carlos Castaneda. The codes for living that Ruiz Macías proposes in his work are so accurate that it has already been translated into several languages ​​and more than 4 million people have read it.

The four Agreements or the four codes for living, come from Toltec soteriology. The word soteriology refers to the branch of theology that studies salvation. That is what Miguel Ángel Ruiz intends: to provide elements to save man from himself. This is a brief summary of his proposal.

1. Be honest, the first of the codes to live

The first of the codes to live by has to do with honesty. Ruiz presents it as an agreement that must be made with existence. He expresses it in the following words: “Be impeccable with your words ”.

Honesty with words is not only associated with the refusal to lie. It also has to do with integrity in communication.. Engage our mind, our heart and our spirit in the words we use.

According to Ruiz, the word has so much power who is capable of “bewitching” others. This means that it marks the people to whom they are directed. Its energy is so deep that it continues to resonate even many years after it was said.

2. Become independent of the opinions of others

The second of the agreements, or Ruiz’s codes for living, is expressed as follows: “Don’t take anything personally”. Each person has a vision of the world. He sees and values ​​things according to that view, to that particular construction of reality.

Therefore, When people talk about us, they are really only referring to the part of reality that they can grasp.. They refer to their own vision. Therefore, the correct thing is to understand those words as the fruit of themselves, not as something that really has to do with us.

In that sense, what others say about us has no real validity. Neither the good nor the bad of their opinions should touch us. By becoming independent from other people’s opinions we avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering..

3. Have the courage to express everything you feel

The third agreement by Miguel Ángel Ruiz says: “Don’t make assumptions”. It is one of the codes to live by that invites us to communicate in a clear, assertive and sufficiently fluid way. Confusions bring many difficulties and no contribution.

The right thing to do is not to assume that we have the truth. Much less think that we know the truth of others. So we should never shy away from asking directly about what we want to understand..

In addition, It is necessary to have the courage to express what we feel in the clearest and most sincere way possible.. It is a way of opening ourselves to others and facilitating mutual understanding. It is also a principle of genuine communication.

4. Give the best to others

The last of the agreements states: “Always do the most you can”. Ruiz insists that the effort is much more important than the result. What makes an act relevant or valuable is the effort that is put into it, not its appearance, its usefulness or its benefit.

The proposal is to do our best in everything we do. At once, prevent our inner tyrant from judging us if we do not achieve the precise objective that we had set. The purpose is to be better and better, so an adverse result is only a reason to start again.

What we must be excellent at is the willingness to give the best of ourselves to others.. Ruiz affirms that by simply fulfilling this task, our lives are instantly transformed in a positive way. This is also how we avoid illness and suffering.

The four codes for living inspired by the Toltecs represent fundamental axes to build a fuller and more fulfilled life. They coincide with Western psychology in many aspects. So these are thoughts worth reflecting on.

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