the four agreements: a toltec wisdom book

chapter 1.
domestication and the dream of the planet

'we need a great deal of courage to challenge our own beliefs. even if we understand the concept of it not being true, we feel the blame, the guilt, and the shame that occur if we go against these rules.' p.11

'the human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake' p.12

'95 percent of the beliefs we have stored in our minds are nothing but lies, and we suffer because we believe all these lies.' p.13

'if you consider hell as a state of mind, then hell is all around us... others can put us into a deeper hell, true. but only if we allow this to happen.' p.14

'we are on an eternal search for the truth because we only believe in the lies we have stored in our mind. we keep searching and searching, when everything is already within us. there is no truth to find. where ever we turn our heads, all we see is the truth, but with the agreements and beliefs we have stored in our mind, we have no eyes for this truth. what blinds us are all those false beliefs we have in our mind' p.15

'we cannot see who we truly are; we cannot see that we are not free' p.16

'that is why humans resist life. to be alive is the biggest fear humans have. death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive- the risk to be alive and express what we really are. just being ourself is the biggest fear of humans.' p.17

'we are so afraid that somebody else will notice that we are not what we pretend to be.' p.18

'the problem is that you dont accept yourself. humans punish themselves endlessly for not being what they believe they should be. nobody abuses us more than we abuse ourselves. the way we judge ourselves is the worst judge that ever existed.' p.19

'we have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. the more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse.' p.20