“If you believe yourself to be an artist, then everything becomes possible again. Words are your paintbrush and your life is the canvas.” - The Fifth Agreement  

Don Miguel Ruiz introduced us to ancient Toltec Wisdom in his well-known work, The Four Agreements. The word Toltec itself means artist, or artist of the Spirit. All of us are artists, and the words we use are our tools to create our reality. The newest book, The Fifth Agreement, written by Ruiz and his son, Don Jose, delves deeply into the use of words as the force that shapes and manifests our life story.

We are all constantly creating in our mind, words and symbols that manifest a kind of virtual reality. Each of our personal realities is different. The question is, are we going to create this reality with our without awareness? If you have awareness, you will enjoy your creation. You can create a beautiful belief system and a beautiful life story by using the word correctly. This takes a lot of practice and another skill – listening.

The First Agreement is: Be Impeccable With Your Word. The Fifth Agreement is Be Skeptical, But Learn to Listen. Question everything, especially your own truth – what you believe in. It can be a real truth or a virtual truth that is distorted in some way. A virtual truth can be easily swayed by emotion or prejudice. According to Ruiz, a real truth is life’s creation, and it’s the absolute truth because it is true for everyone. The virtual truth is our interpretation and that is where our artistry comes in. Words are our expression and we can choose to use them wisely.

It is a life-long challenge to free our words from gossip, falsehoods, anger, and demeaning ideas of our self and others. Ruiz points out that “Be impeccable with your word” actually means that words have magic, magic to manifest physical reality. If we use this magic incorrectly by claiming for example “we are not good enough,” we use the words or the magic of the words against ourselves. We are telling ourselves lies that make us suffer in our virtual reality.

If you have the courage, you can question these lies and use the sword of discrimination to sever these ties to you. The Ruiz authors say if you use the word impeccably, you will use your words in the direction of truth and love for yourself. The force behind your word is your intent. And, if your intent is purity, love and faith, you will create a beautiful life.

Namasté,
Jamey and Darlene Potter,
Owners of New Renaissance Bookshop