Psychology

The Four Agreements, written by Don Miguel Ruiz in 1997, was considered an inspirational life-altering book based on the ideas of the primeval Toltec knowledge of the indigenous group of people in Southern Mexico. The Toltec was considered people of wisdom  artists and scientists who shaped a society to discover and preserve the conventional pious practices and knowledge of their ancestors.

The Toltec had viewed that spirit and science belonged in the same entity, wherein the material and unearthly energy emanated and governed by the universe. The author, born and raised in the rural part of Mexico, was brought up with this concept by his mother and grandfather, a Toltec faith healer and a nagual respectively. Though he pursued a career in medicine as a surgeon, he reverted to his Toltec ancestry after a car crash in the late 1970. He then became deeply inclined with the Toltec way of life  teaching, healing, lecturing, and eventually writing during the 1980s and 1990s The Prayers in 2001, The Mastery of Love in 1999, and the Four Agreements in 1997, to name a few. His first book, The Four Agreements, provided a simple yet powerful inspirational insight for personal growth, communications, behavior, and relationships.

The first chapter described the agony of ones emotional misery. As the author emphasized, there were three factors to consider the judge (the superego) or the grave voice within each individual who constantly being reminded how to behave on a socially acceptable way the victim referred to a portion on the individuals emotion that constantly being hurt, incompetent, and feeling of helplessness by accepting the harsh criticisms of others or the judge and last was the norms or the beliefs of the society an individual belonged into. These three factors could be described through Albert Elliss ABC model of rational-emotive therapy, wherein A represented the activating occurrence B was the conviction about the event and C was the emotional effect of the belief. The perceived reality was based on these and usually varied from one person to another. Apparently, the authors Four Agreements offered insights based on these concepts to develop the individuals well- being. The agreements comprised of the following Be impeccable with your word, dont take anything personally, dont make assumptions and always do your best (Ruiz 1997).

The first agreement referred to the kinds of words a person was using in everyday life, and eventually these words had a deep effect in the context of reality. An individual would never react straightforwardly to reality, but rather on his perceptions of reality. Apparently, these perceptions had influenced the kind of words a person would use. If one was careless on telling things that were hurtful or untrue, that individual would be responsible in creating an unpleasant or false reality irrational way of talking would exaggerate negative feelings and eventually a wicked social atmosphere. Thus, language could be considered vital in constructing reality and being impeccable with the kind of words to use would construct an affirmative reality.    

The second agreement, meant not to take the words of others personally, was imperative to become aware that the behavior of others was a direct proportion of how they perceived the world. Each person had a unique view of the world and there was no apparent reason to take other persons view more seriously other than his own. To agree with other persons distinctive view would mean taking it personally (accepting other peoples concept of reality), not to agree with this would reflect the unique identities of people who lived in a life of their own perceived reality. Thus, not taking the words of others personally would eventually separate the persons own perception of reality to that of other people.

The third agreement referred not to take assumptions about other peoples thoughts. Although none could eventually read how other people thinks, making decisions out of assumptions would often direct to undesirable consequences. Evidences should be collected first before concluding about what people would think, even if others would be hesitant to tell exactly whats on their mind. But nonetheless, there would be a better chance of understanding if questions were asked rather than totally guessing.

The fourth and the last agreement discussed that the individual should always exert the best. If it fell short, there would be nothing or no one to blame since the person had exerted his best and criticisms would be pointless. If an individual failed to exert his best, then the area of criticisms from others would be inevitable. Though, being at best could not be considered a permanent high-octane feeling of self-motivation, being at best depended on the individuals emotion at an instant of time and the level could be considered varying. The author also emphasized not to exert too much beyond a persons capacity since this could cause strain. Aside from this, self-motivation or will-power had a profound effect on the psychological and physical conditions of an individual could give.

The last chapter of the book reviewed how society had domesticated the people but also explained how to reclaim free will through awareness. The judge, the victim, and the society represented a parasite or virus on the mind of the individual. The struggle within the persons mind could be tremendously difficult since it became a part of a habitual system. Becoming aware on how to battle this virus through the insights of the Four Agreements could eventually give an individual good starting point to achieve personal growth, better communications, behavior, and relationships.