From the jacket cover of the book The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery by Ruiz & Ruiz available @ Amazon.com
BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORDS
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONAL
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.
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.
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.
BE SKEPTICAL, BUT LEARN TO LISTEN
Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear. Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind words, and you will understand the real message.
Many years ago I read Ruiz’s The Four Agreements, A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. I was so impressed by the simple, but deep wisdom of the Four Agreements that I sent copies to each of my twenty-some children. I think they received them much as anything of this sort is received from a parent.
A friend recently gave me a copy of The Fifth Agreement. I wondered why they put out another one as the first seemed enough for a lifetime, but it did not take me long to understand.
The first part of the book is a revisiting of the Four Agreements. Like a lot of things in life it never hurts to back over the basics. The Four Agreements are essentially the foundation for the Fifth Agreement.
Again the book is simple yet profound. None of the Five Agreements is something we do not know about. The trick is remember them and living them.
For me, at least, the book is best read in multiple sessions. I read each chapter as meditation. Like a meditation each chapter can be read again.
The book is spiritual, but not religious. It embraces and rejects religion all at the same time. At least that is my dream of how it read.
As I read the book, I could not help but see the confluence of Buddhism ant Toltec wisdom. Is it surprising, or is not surprising that similar concepts / wisdom developed at different times in different cultures.
The next question is why do I say this? Both approaches emphasize being in the moment. Impeccable speech strikes me as Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, and Right Thought in the Buddhist tradition. They phrase it differently, but they both address quieting the clattering monkey mind.
There is a comment towards the end of the book about life is not about suffering, but that life is to be enjoyed. I don’t know if this is a swipe at the Buddha’s primary premise or not. I do think for a vast number of folks life is suffering. Buddha said that when we let go of our attachments this suffering diminishes or goes away. Then life can be enjoyed (my words). I do not feel that is that far away from the letting go of the symbols we hold so dearly that are may be feeding us lies.
I take on it is that it is two different set of symbols, but they end up in the same place
Simple wisdom for complex times.