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November/December 2001 Featured Stories
The Toltec Path

by Kelsey Bunker

Anthropologists describe Toltecs as a specific group of people who lived throughout Mexico and Central America. However they were not a distinct race of people such as the Maya but rather a group of people from a number of tribal groups that attained a rarified level of spiritual enlightenment. Due to a variety of factors, including the European invasion, the wisdom went into obscurity and was passed down only from master (nagual) to master. Today don Miguel Ruiz, a nagual in the Eagle Knight lineage, has been guided to share those powerful teachings in the world. He has distilled this knowledge in part into a few easily understandable tools called “The Four Agreements.”  The beauty of these tools is their simplicity of comprehension, and at the same time their infinite applications in our lives depending on our own unique perceptions. By adopting these agreements you can begin to transform your very life and create a dream based on love and joy.

The First Agreement is to be impeccable with your word. The Toltec gains awareness of the power of his word to create. Through the word we manifest everything; we express our will, our intent, our love and our faith. Human beings are powerful creators. Everything that exists in our world began as an idea and through the use of words we are able to manifest our dream. Not only are we able to create skyscrapers or send people to the moon, but we create our very life through the power of the word.

When we are born we have no knowledge and in the beginning we simply are. But slowly, slowly our parents and our friends, our teachers and our priests and even our government tell us who we are and who we should be. The word is used to describe us and then we learn to use the word to describe ourselves. It is our absolute faith in these words that creates our individual dream. We begin to believe that we are what someone told us we are. We never doubt that this description might be wrong. And it is this absolute faith in the word that causes it to manifest.

For example let us say that a teacher tells you that you cannot dance. You feel so ashamed and yet you believe this teacher. When you describe yourself you always tell people that you are not a dancer. And if someone asks you to dance you tell that you can’t. Your belief in this description of you is so strong that you never even try to dance. In reality you don’t know whether or not you can dance, you only know what someone told you about your ability to dance. Suppose that after you were told that you couldn’t dance, you go to a dance out of curiosity and someone asks you to dance. If you believe that you can’t dance and you step on your partner’s toes then you tell yourself, “See, I can’t dance” and in this way you use the word against yourself and you feel badly and ashamed. On the other hand suppose a person believes he can dance and he goes to a dance and steps on his partner’s toes. His reaction is more likely to be “oops I made a mistake” and then to keep on dancing.

As we grow older we gather more and more beliefs about whom we think we are. With each belief we become more and more limited. The Toltec recognizes that these beliefs are simply agreements that we have made initially with someone else and then eventually with ourselves. We have agreed to believe what that person told us about whom we are. Freedom to be our true selves comes when we first understand the agreements that we have made and what beliefs we hold about ourselves and then secondly when we gain enough power to not believe old agreements and to create new beliefs that serve to express our highest Self.

Simply being impeccable with your word in every situation begins to transform your life. You learn to speak from a place of integrity and say only what you mean. You avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. You use the power of the word, your ability to create in the furtherance of truth and love.

The Toltec path is one of discovery and mastery. Everyday we are presented with opportunities to discover our beliefs and begin to master them through awareness and transformation. By using our intent we can truly create a masterful dream for ourselves. Next issue we will discuss the second agreement; don’t take anything personally.

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz is available in bookstores and libraries. Kelsey Bunker is an apprentice with don Miguel Ruiz and currently teaches classes in the Portland area on the Four Agreements and facilitates monthly workshops with don Eduardo Fox from Los Angeles based on the Toltec wisdom. For more information call 503/288-4229 or email b1kelsey@aol.com.