Since then, he’s been dedicated to sharing that wisdom. But he gave up medicine in 1986, choosing to share the Toltec teachings and philosophies he had been learning from his family.

Then he played the role of doctor, becoming a practicing surgeon. In his early years, Don Miguel was cast in the role of sibling-he is the youngest of 11 brothers and two sisters. “And if we don’t like the way we are living, we can change that script.” Once we are aware that everyone around us is also an actor, we realize that we get to write our life script. “We learn the different rules as we are growing up, we see the expectations that are placed on us, we start to pleasure everyone, and little by little, we lose the authenticity,” says Don Miguel. “We try to please everyone and then we start acting, and the worst critic of all is ourselves, trying to really accept the way we behave and the way we act.” “When you are an actor, everyone is a critic,” Don Miguel says. His belief that we all create our identities also came up in an important conversation with his grandfather when he was 17, when the older man told him that everyone is living in their own bubble, created with the knowledge they have-or think they have. He first observed people switching from one role to another at his brother’s funeral, when he was only 10, and he could see the people around him being sad one moment, then gossiping with a friend in the next. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” The idea that we create not only our own perception of reality but also our identity is something Don Miguel has long thought about. In the play “As You Like It,” William Shakespeare wrote that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. “Language is how we create ourselves,” he says. “It’s life revealing secrets to us.” He’s always been known as a storyteller who uses that form to convey his spiritual wisdom. “Many people say they learn in the school of life, and that’s really what it is,” Don Miguel explains. The second in the series, The Myth, will come out later this year, as will the third. Don Miguel has steadily written other books since, including Master of Love, The Toltec Art of Life and Death, and The Three Questions, among others.Īt age 68, the Mexican-born, San Diego-based author has just published The Actor: How to Live an Authentic Life, the first in a mystery school series. and has been translated into 46 languages. Published in 1997, this classic has sold more than eight million copies in the U.S. Even if you haven't read Don Miguel Ruiz’s first book, The Four Agreements, you know someone who has.

The mystery of love don miguel ruiz