The Four Agreements

• Genre: Nonfiction; Self-Help; Spirituality
• Originally Published: 1997
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 7 chapters; approximately 160 pages; approximately 2 hours, 32 minutes on audiobook
• Central Concern: The book presents a code of conduct based on ancient Toltec wisdom that advocates freedom from self-limiting beliefs that may cause suffering and limitation in a person’s life. The Four Agreements are: Be impeccable with your word; Don’t take anything personally; Don’t make assumptions; Always do your best.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Strong spiritual themes; discussions of human suffering and personal inadequacies

Don Miguel Ruiz, Author

• Bio: Born 1952; from a family of Mexican traditional healers; former surgeon; experienced a near-fatal car accident that changed the course of his life; became a shaman, learning from his mother and a powerful Mexican esoteric tradition; his works focus on ancient Toltec teachings
• Other Works: The Mastery of Love (1999); The Voice of Knowledge (2004); The Fifth Agreement (2010)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Self-Limiting Agreements Learned Through Human Domestication
• The Necessity of Choice in Making and Breaking Agreements
• Living in a State of Unconditional Love

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Expand personal understanding of “domestication” as context and analogy for one of Ruiz’s central ideas.
• Study paired texts and brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Self-Limiting Agreements Learned Through Human Domestication, The Necessity of Choice in Making and Breaking Agreements, and Living in a State of Unconditional Love.