The Four Agreements

by

Don Miguel Ruiz

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Four Agreements makes teaching easy.

The Four Agreements Symbols

Dream

Miguel Ruiz uses the metaphor of dreaming to represent human perception. In order to make sense of the world, Ruiz says, people need to “dream” or perceive it first—and much like a dream one has…

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Computer virus

Ruiz uses the metaphor of a computer virus to represent gossip, by which he means negative talk about other people. Ruiz argues that when somebody talks negatively about another person, they make others see that…

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Parasite

Ruiz compares people’s tendency to internally judge and shame themselves to a parasite that feeds off of fear. He visualizes the parasite as a “monster with a thousand heads” whose body is comprised of one’s…

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Flame

In the closing passage of The Four Agreements, Ruiz recites a prayer in which an old man gives the reader a flame that he received from his teacher’s heart. The flame represents universal…

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