The Four Vows - The Book of Toltec Wisdom and Practical Guide of the Four Vows

"The most important vows are those made to yourself.
Through these vows you can state who you are, what you feel, what are your beliefs, what is your behaviour"
Don Miguel Ruiz

"In case we become aware of the compromises leading our life and we find out we don't like the dream of our life, it necessary to change our vows" says the author of "The Four Vows".

What are these vows? They are our beliefs about the world, life, ourselves. This system of beliefs is compared with a "Book of Law" and represents the truth for us. Without doubting a single vow from this collection of "laws", we lead our life through fear. Don Miguel Ruiz offers us a way to replace the beliefs that hurt us with free chosen beliefs to put us in charge with our own life.

The Four Vows

1. Be faultless in everything you say!
Say nothing but the truth. State only things that you really think. Do not use words to vexate or to slander, which is valid including yourselves. Use word's power in the real mening of truth and love.

2. Do not take anything personally!
Nothing from other people's deeds has anything to do with you. Everything they claim and do is the projection of their own reality, their own dream. If you become immune to the opinions and actions of those around you, you won't be the victims of useless suffering.

3. Do not assume in vain!
Look inside yourselves for the courage to ask questions and to express what you really wish. Communicate with people around you as clear as you can, thus avoiding misunderstandings, sadeness and useless dramas. This vow is enough to make a capital change of your life.

4. Always do everything you can!
No matter what the circumstances, do everything you can. Thus you'll avoid self-judgement, useless critics and remorse.

Acquiring the four vows requests a lot of will and perseverence, because a major quantity of self-power is "trapped" in the old wrong beliefs.

Rewriting The Book of Law
In the "Practical Guide" of Four Vows, Don Miguel Ruiz recommends us to include in the "New Book of Law" all our current beliefs - what we think is good or bad, right or wrong about the domains listed below - and then to replace them with vows that will help us to become the masters of our lives.:

Personal vows:

• body and self
• the way you look
• skills and unique abilities/charisma
• health and diet
• feminity and masculinity
• negative feelings: fear, hate, sadeness, rage, concern
• personal values: perseverence, forgiveness, accepting the dark side, learning, reward and punishment
• succes and failure

• nature, animals, other life forms

Books of Don Miguel Ruiz "The Four Vows - Toltec Wisdom Book" and "The Four Vows - A Practical Guide" appeared at Mix publishing house in 2002 and 2003.