The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery [Hardcover]

don Miguel Ruiz (Author), don Jose Ruiz (Author), Janet Mills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2009

Since 1997, The Four Agreements has transformed the lives of millions of people around the world with a simple but profound message.

Now bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz and his son, don Jose Ruiz, collaborate with this powerful sequel The Fifth Agreement.

The Four Agreements provides the foundation for breaking thousands of agreements that create needless suffering and with The Fifth Agreement you recover all the power of your authenticity, which is who you really are when you are born.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Don Miguel Ruiz is the international bestselling author of the Toltec Wisdom series, including The Four Agreements (over 7 years on The New York Times bestseller list), The Mastery of Love, and The Voice of Knowledge. He continues to share the wisdom of the ancient Toltec through lectures, workshops, and journeys to sacred sites around the world.

Don Jose Ruiz was chosen by his father to carry on the centuries-old family legacy of healing and teaching. For the past 7 years, he has lectured widely across the United States and at sacred sites around the world.

 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Amber-Allen Publishing; First Edition edition (December 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878424688
• ISBN-13: 978-1878424686
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

208 of 212 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating Your Personal Heaven February 28, 2010

By Miriam Knight

Format:Hardcover

"The Fifth Agreement" is the sequel to "The Four Agreements," which outlines a simple foundation for a happy life that anyone can implement regardless of one's religion or lack of one. They convey the core of the Toltec shamanic tradition in a nutshell: Be impeccable with your word; don't take things personally; don't make assumptions; and do your best.

Don Miguel Ruiz wrote that bestseller 12 years ago, and now has written "The Fifth Agreement" with his son, don Jose. The fifth agreement is deceptively simple, yet incredibly profound. It states, "Be skeptical but learn to listen." While the first four agreements deal with our relationship to ourselves and how to create a happy life, the fifth agreement deals with our relationship to others, and how to create a better world.

"The Fifth Agreement" asks us to be skeptical and use discernment when listening others, and to understand that everyone has his or her own perspective and agenda reflected in their words. It is up to us to discern the truth behind the words, but always to be respectful of another's right to his or her views, even if we don't share them. Each of us is the artist of our own life, the director of our own play, and we can make it an adventure or a drama - heaven or hell, it's up to us.

The first part of the book reviews the first four agreements, discussing how the meanings we attribute to symbols define us culturally. The second part of the book delves into the more advanced concepts of the Toltec mystery school, including the Fifth Agreement, Victims, Warriors, Masters and Seers. All the concepts are explained in ways that anyone can understand and, hopefully, implement in one's life.

I had the opportunity to ask don Miguel in an interview for New Consciousness Review why he didn't include the fifth agreement in his first book. He said, "It wasn't the time." The fact that he decided that it is now the time, implies that we are finally ready as a society to learn to listen to each other and to respect our differences. Combined with the prescription for living joyfully offered by the Four Agreements, we really could have heaven on earth. This powerful little book shows the way, and makes it all sound possible.

175 of 186 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it. Read it. Live it. December 17, 2009

By James F. Morris VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just this minute finished reading don Miguel's new book, The Fifth Agreement, for the first time. It opens with a recap of the first four agreements, which is a little draggy if you've read The Four Agreements three times, but which is still worth reading because it is a reminder of the ramifications of the four agreements, and a chance to refocus on them in a new light. The fifth agreement, be skeptical, but learn to listen, is a stealth stunner.It seems simple and basic, but it's one of those that if carried to it's obvious conclusion, leads to complete freedom. In sum, it is a great book, a book to read, and reread, and read again. It is a book to practice and to live.
Don Miguel has a great knack for taking "keep it simple, stupid" to it's optimum.
Get it. Read it. Live it.

82 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Follow-on Book to "The Four Agreements" March 9, 2010

By Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified

Format:Hardcover

This is a wonderful book. Although there is some repeat of information from Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements," there is also a lot of new and very insightful content. In particular, I got the sense that Don Miguel Ruiz's son Don Jose, and the other co-author, Janet Mills, brought another dimension to the work that clearly added value to the book. As such, I highly recommend The Fifth Agreement as a spiritual growth resource. Here's one of my favorite passages:

"Let's say you're living with guilt and shame for a mistake you made ten years ago. The excuse for your suffering is, "I made a terrible mistake," and you're still suffering for something that happened ten years ago, but the truth is you're suffering from something that happened ten seconds ago. You judged yourself again for the same mistake, and of course the big judge says, "You need to be punished." It's simple action-reaction. The action is self-judgment; the reaction is self punishment in the form of guilt and shame. All your life you repeat the same action, hoping to have a different reaction, and it never happens. The only way to change your life is to change the action, and then the reaction will change."