Толтекското изкуство на живота и смъртта

by Miguel Ruiz, Дон Мигел Руис, Барбара Емрис

Невероятен нов шедьовър на обичания духовен учител и автор на феноменалния международен бестселър „Четирите споразумения“. Дон Мигел Руис, известен в целия свят със своята неподправеност, дълбока проницателност и мъдрост, сега повежда читателя в мистично лично пътешествие, извисяващо се до още по-високо ниво на духовното учение и съзнаването.

През 2002 г. дон Мигел Руис претърпява почти фатален инфаркт и девет седмици е в кома, на ръба на смъртта. Пътуването, което предприема, докато пребивава между този свят и отвъдното, е сърцевината на този автобиографичен роман – дълбок и мистичен разказ за духовната борба. Докато тялото му лежи в безсъзнание, Руис пътува в сънищата си и среща хората, идеите и събитията, които са го оформили, осветлявайки вечната борба между живота – непреходната енергия и истина, и смъртта – материята и субективното знание, в която всички участваме.

„Толтекското изкуство на живота и смъртта“ дава достъп до ума на един търсещ майстор, предлагайки неповторим и интимен поглед към развитието на душата. В кулминацията на продължилото цял живот учене Руис споделя съкровените тайни на уникалното си сърце и ум, призовавайки ни да вникнем в прозренията на толтекската мъдрост, които са същината на трансформацията и свободата.

Genres: Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Self Help, Religion, Unfinished, Personal Development

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2015

About the author

Miguel Ángel Ruiz Macías is a Mexican author known for his teachings on Toltec spirituality and neoshamanism. Best known for his 1997 bestseller The Four Agreements, Ruiz's work is embraced by the New Thought movement and has influenced many seeking spiritual enlightenment. His books, including The Mastery of Love and The Voice of Knowledge, have helped spread Toltec wisdom worldwide. Ruiz was named one of the Watkins 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in 2018. He also co-authored The Fifth Agreement with his son José Ruiz and has continued to write and teach on personal freedom and love.

Reviews

[Rljulie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a somewhat reluctant fan of Ruiz's work, in a "pinch your nose and just dive in" kind of way. That is to say that underneath the "Church of Oprah" cultish trendy new-age-ness of this pseudo-spirituality, I find a lot of solid pragmatic advice, and ways of framing life that make good sense, and when I can get beyond the mysticism, I find cognitive-behavioral-therapy-style usefulness. "The Four Agreements" would be on my list of "books that have changed my life", and I mean that in the best way.

With this one, though, there's no "beyond the mysticism". It's Ruiz's autobiography, written as a meditative dream experienced when he was in a medically-induced coma after a heart attack. His mother undertook a journey of meditation to "meet" him on an astral plane and bring him back to his life on earth. It's difficult to criticize something so deeply personal and believed as that, so I can only say that I myself find both parts of this particular story difficult to engage with. The first part, the "journeying" and dreaming, wandering around trees and soaring through outer space, reeling through time and meeting "the ancestors" just seemed dippy. The second component, the biographical material, is his own admissions of himself as an over-indulged womanizing wunderkind-turned-legend...there's no hook there that relates to me. He is rather a legend...that's unarguable. It's just not relevant to many others. But I know it's sure to sell a jillion copies and be a best seller, and probably will find purchase with many readers who aren't quite like me.

Two stars: an extra one just because I do have so much respect for Ruiz's storytelling and vision.

(Advanced Reading Copy, read June 2015)

[DoubleM · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this book: it is just another patriarchal, misogynistic treatise extolling the virtues (????) of men and demeaning women, e.g., Iala (knowledge) is depicted as EVIL (reminding the reader of Eve being the epitome of Evil in the Bible); that women have no value except to tempt men, and men, being esteemed because they succumbed to the temptation, are honored for their conquests.

I found no new ideas, no "awareness," no inspiration and no value in this tome - a total waste of time and money!

[NON · Rating 2 out of 5]

I respect and like Miguel Ruiz a lot but what the hell is this? Too egoistical. Unreasonable. Unbearable.

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not your usual Don Miguel Ruiz book. This is mostly his biography. Miguel writes his whole transition of becoming an enlighten and aware person. He is writing as if he is in a dream in which his relatives are guiding him, also "LALA" who is his knowledge follows him through the whole book. Different but interesting.

[Jose Amezcua · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not so good for me. I think you can get the same ir more knowledge with his other books but I do love the author. His books changed my life. The first book I read was the 4 agreements thanked to a girl who was very important in my life. She left me but I remember her every time I read Miguel's books.
Maybe I need to read it in my L1.
Read it anyway.

:)

[Joey Outten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. What a bunch of ego driven guru bullshit.

I loved The 4 Agreements. It's good advice to take in my daily life but this...

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the word was ever spoken there was...something...that rules words...that rules all dreams. p200

Knowledge follows us everywhere, like a concerned friend or a persuasive lover....It attempts to tell our hearts whom to love and what to hate .At it's most intrusive,knowledge is a ruthless autocrat. p225

We poison ourselves with judgments and fear, then we spread the toxin to living beings all around us. To heal ourselves requires self love. p226

Our story is not the truth. Our best scientific equations are not the truth. Symbols can't replace the truth, but they can serve it. They can point us in the right direction and when...knowledge surrendesr to what it can't comprehend-we become instruments of intent. Awareness wins the war of ideas. Love wins against self-judgement and personal suffering. p227

I am not exactly sure what is meant by 'instruments of intent' but it would seem to imply something like the review coming through us rather than mining for it or grappling with it. Although it seems some sort of grappling is necessary, especially in a book such as this one which presents itself on so many levels, it's encouraging to think that Love and Awareness could win.

On one level, it is the playful fantasy of a Toltec Shaman, catalogued under fiction but more a mythological fantasy that takes us on a dreamlike journey through time, tracking the highlights of memory. On another level it is a clever expansion of Don Miguel's teachings and he prods the reader at every turn to transcend any limitations of comprehension.

People put their faith in opinions and rumours and out of this they construct a world, believing that their construct is the real world. p64

Doubt can cause the citadel to crumble , and that kind of tremor is necessary if we want to see beyond our private illusions. p65

I began my immersion in this book with the audio version. The narrator's voice ( Christian Barrillas) was hypnotic and the events fantastic and difficult to follow.It was easy to take offence at Don Miguels spiritual machismo, but I quickly grew to love the narrators voice with his soothing accent, a great help with my insomnia. I needed the book however, and with a bit of juggling managed to get them checked out at the same time. I found that my repetitive listening allowed me to get into the bones of the text.

You want truth? You search for the thing that cannot be found and all the while it is eager and accessible. p142

It is not actually a conflict between good and evil; it is a conflict between truth and lies....
Great thoughts should be applied. not catalogued. p66

[Lulu Cares · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a lot of new ideas about life and death from this read. I’ll have to read again to grasp more. Good words put together. Magical and spiritual.

[Maxence Lecam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but very long. A little bit repetitive in some parts. Need to be highly concentrated to be able to not lost yourself. Better to listen (audible) or read in a quiet place. I recommend to read author previous book "the 4 arguments" before engaging in reading this one. Also having a little bit of knowledge about Toltec culture could help.

[Iva Fikova · Rating 1 out of 5]

мъка, общи али-бали и 90% празни приказки, не я четете

[Fred Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part guide to a good death, part historical fantasy, with a subtle overlay of Toltec spirituality, this book probably has a lot of depth, and might interest someone elderly. I could not connect with this book on an emotional level, and that interfered with my understanding of the life lessons that Don Miguel is trying to explain. A shorter and more condensed book might make that clearer. I'm comparing it a bit with Casteneda's Wheel of Life, which may be unfair, but they both teach life lessons in the Toltec tradition, one is condensed jewels, the other is dense panoramas.

[Dina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Glad I got this from the library and didn't pay for it. I love The Four Agreements, but what even is this.

[Ashley Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[Jim Huinink · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of wisdom in this book. He posits a universe where everything comes from spirit, and people have incredible power if they can just get over themselves, their opinions, their stories and words. He wants to help people find who they really are, pay attention to who they really are. He wants people to uncover for themselves that that all the self (ego) really is is consciousness dreaming.

That tale, that exposition in Don Miguel Ruiz is wonderful, and it’s something we need to be reminded of. However, I’m not sure he goes far enough in exploring what we really are. At the same time, it’s focus on Ruiz’s life feels inadvertently narcissistic.

He admits that words can really get in the way of living in the world of the nagual (even as he tells us that, in words). So then maybe this is a parable. Still, though, the narcissism feels overwhelming at times, to me. This book is, literally, all about him. Maybe you need to read this book, then, looking beyond the words to the thing they point to (Being or light or love or God or It or YHWH, or The Way.)

Some other things that detracted from my enjoyment of this book. I personally found his mother and Lala to be annoying characters, but, that, too, could be by design. Lala is words and she talks a lot. His mother has a reasonless love for her son. Finally, there is a heavy reliance on the metaphor of being a warrior. Ok, he is at war with the ego. Just negative.

What we really are is light and love. That's what I learned from another book I was reading at the same time (The Gifts of Near Death Experiences by the Linns); that book was unapologetically certain about why we are here, who we are, and how we can strive to create heaven on earth through practical love, every day. It gave away all its secrets in open generosity that's all too-often missing here (and that's also much more abundant in the slimmer Four Agreements).

There are odd mentions of Jesus in this book, but they are often deferred, and there is no discussion of any true light or true way in this book. It's not really about an answer like that (or any other for that matter). If you think I’m some agenda-driven fundy or something like that, I’m not, I can assure you. (I do love Jesus.) I’m just saying there’s something missing from this book, and I think I know what that is. I’m looking for love in this book and not really finding enough of it, in the end.

And it’s a fine book in its own right, a wonderful exploration of the afterlife and the spirit world from someone trying to explicate Toltec ways. If you need a reminder that the material world is not the end of things, then this is good for that. But it needs to, ahem, really lighten up.

[JP · Rating 1 out of 5]

I struggle to understand how some people find profundity in books such as this. I had heard it described as Ruiz’s “masterpiece” in the course of a long form interview. I’m still not sure how I would describe it, but masterpiece is not a term I would use. The most positive comment I can make is that the imagery is creative. The story is a series of dream scenes involving the spirit of the author, his mother, several departed ancestors, and others of his family. An Eve-like character and a departed grandfather guide his mother through the unconnected sequence of realizations that will result in the author returning from his coma back into the physical world. I can value that the author’s actual life experience of returning from a coma gave him further creative impetus; however, this work doesn’t inform any significant philosophy or life lessons. Some of the scenes are colorful, but the writing is simple and there’s no compelling story arc. At 120 pages in, I gave up on this book.

[Bandana Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting look into the personal life of someone perceived as a great teacher.. I'm not sure if it was intentional but he comes across as quite a flawed human being and in that sense and the spirit of facing death perhaps it's a story about self-acceptance. What bothers me is that it seems issues about poverty, abuse and trauma may be hinted at and lurking in the background and never directly talked about. Instead there are general statements like 'just accept you were born perfect.' so it's quite self-contradictory in a way. It seems more like the thoughts of someone beginning a spiritual journey (perhaps a 20 year old) rather than someone who's lived a full life. I suppose that's man-years.. jk ;) also, I said 'ewww' audibly many times while reading. Some creepy stuffy in there.

[Christopher Romain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and very much enjoyed the story of Don Miguel Ruiz.
The key takeaway of my reading this book was the idea of “You” being virtual reality and “Your Human” the truth.

My human is, or should be the love of my life. Being the closest human to me having been there with me through all of my experiences, including my birth, and will be there with me until the end.
My human is deserving of all of my love, loyalty, and respect having always obeyed me no matter many times I neglected or abused him. My constant companion and friend knowing all of my confessions and accepting me as I am.
Talk to your body as your friend.

“He who can speak, must speak while we have the gift. We just love while we still live. And we must act while we still have the strength.”

There is only one truths but the lies we tell ourselves are countless.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Transformational book.

This book assumes that you are familiar with Don Miguel Ruiz's previous works (The Four Agreements, Mastery of Love, Voice of Knowledge). If you jump into this book before reading those ones, you will likely be confused and not enjoy it.

This book is a spiritual odyssey filled with drama, love, and romance, but at its foundation it is the complete spiritual teaching of the Toltecs. It is the culmination of Ruiz's philosophy, and in my opinion, his magnum opus.

It is complex, and can become overwhelming due to the magnitude of the teachings. But if you work through it and take time to digest it, you will absolutely finish the book with a new understanding of yourself and the universe.

[Alan Chávez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me encanta Los Cuatro Acuerdos del mismo autor y por eso pensé que este libro sería garantía, pero estaba muy confundido. Es una novela sobre cómo le dio un infarto y todo mundo trataba de despertarlo por medio de revivir sus recuerdos, en los que habla de cómo ayudó, educó e inspiró a todo mundo. Es un viaje por su ego y, sin mucho sentido, la verdad, pues la novela está bastante mala. Además, sexualiza a su mamá todo el tiempo, incluso habla de cómo su lengua frotaba el pezón de su madre cuando ella lo amamantaba. Es un horror de libro. Lo dejé cuando llevaba más del 50%, y me tardé muchísimo en llegar hasta ahí.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I added a star for who wrote it and out of respect for the other books of his I have read. The general approach to the subject paired with the unconscious state of his mind as the story progressed, probably affected the writing style. That alone was why it took me so long to get through this short book. Everything about that style feels forced, overly manipulative and pandering to a perceived audience. I don’t want to be entirely cynical or dismissive by saying a male point of view might be more receptive to the content, but I was not drawn into that story or world.

The sections I chose to highlight are my positive takeaways from the book.

[Orhun · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Yaşam ve Ölüm : Toltek Bilgeliği" ismiyle Türkçe'de yayınlanan bu kitabı okurken, yazar ve anlattıkları ile ilgili düşünceleriniz, pinpon topu gibi bir o uca bir bu uca hareket ediyor olacak. Miguel Ruiz 'in satırları ya inanılmaz bir sentez, ya da aşırı "cheesy" hissettirecek kendilerini. Kitapta hakikaten önemli ve etkileyici düşünceler mevcut, ama izole edilseler 3 sayfadan uzun sürmezlerdi.
"Fantastik kurgu roman" olarak okumak isteyenler için rahatlıkla 2-3 hatta 4 yıldız alabilecek bir kitap ancak bir şamanik öğreti kaynağı olarak en hafif ifadesiyle sınıfta kalıyor.

[James Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book of Miguel's that I was not a fan of. However, I am not a fan of fictional style books, even though this was his autobiography. It takes the readers into his unconscious state while he survived a heart attack. He used the four agreements to describe thoughts and dialogue, but it just failed to hook me. I was a little disappointed by this read.

Dr. James Arthur Williams
www.unmaskytp.com

[Hillary DG · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aw man. To be fair I hate most of the “Near-death experience” books I’ve read so it’s clearly not my type. But I really enjoyed and learned from The Four Agreements, making this egotistical cluster of a book that much more disappointing. The author lost me early on when he 1) started speaking about himself in 3rd person 2) casts a beautiful woman with red hair as the villain in the story (subtle much?). It went downhill from there. Avoid, avoid.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Regretfully, I must admit that this is by far the weakest books any of the Ruiz family has written about Toltec Shamanism -- a belief system that has become quite important to me.

I found it clumsy, rambling, and far far far (that's right, three fars) shorter on insights, lessons, and practices than any of the other Toltec books I've read.

[Lacey Kennison · Rating 2 out of 5]

i have been a huge fan of miguel ruiz’s books in the past. the reason why i gave this book two stars is because it felt boring to me. that has a lot to do with the fact that i’m not usually personally interested in autobiographies, which is basically what this book was. there were some insightful teachings within the pages, which is why i gave this book two stars as opposed to one.

[Sue Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at the inner workings of Don Miguel Ruiz's mind and the Toltec philosophy.
I found this book a wee bit weird, truth be told and there were times that it was hard to follow and I had to make myself keep at it.

[Sarah Pevehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many underline-able words of advice in this book! don Miguel never disappoints in his ability to help us look inward and outward all at the same time. My only disappointment was that I got this from the library and wasn’t able to mark all the passages that felt impactful!

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected. It's like a very long trippy near death experience. It's not really a conventional memoir. And it's kind of awkward describing your parents having sex in order to conceive you (Ruiz). I didn't finish it.

[michael jencik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me by surprise

I had read the Four Agreements but never heard of this book. I stumbled across it by chance and was hooked right from the beginning. It is touching, enthralling and even has a couple of humorous Spirits, reminiscent of Greek mythology.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved "The Four Agreements" but this book was a total miss for me. I'd warn others to maintain their admiration for the author from afar, as reading this auto-biography might not be as valuable or insightful as you had hoped.