Toltec Wisdom

I started a new book this week and so far it has been great. The book begins with a Toltec ancestor in search of that "something more," in life. One night he has a dream and it became a revelation that changed his life. In the dream he saw the sky and the stars and heard his voice saying, "I am made of light; I am made of stars."

He looked at the stars again, and he realized that it's not the stars that create light but rather the light creates the stars. "Everything is made of light," he said, "and the space in-between isn't empty." And he knew that everything exists in one living being, and that light is the messenger of life, because it is alive and contains all information.

The he realized that although he was made of stars, he was not those stars. "I am the in-between the stars," he thought. So he called the stars the tonal and the light between the stars the nagual, and he knew that what created the harmony and space between the two is Life or Intent. Without Life, tonal and the nagual could not exist. Life is the force of the absolute, the supreme, the Creator who creates everything.

This is what he discovered: Everything in existence is a manifestation of the one living being we call God. Everything is God. And he came to the conclusion that human perception in merely light perceiving light. He also saw that matter is a mirror --- everything is a mirror that reflects light and creates images of that light --- and the world of illusion, the Dream, is just like smoke which doesn't allow us to see what we really are. "The real us is pure love, pure light" he said.

This realization changed his life. Once he knew what he really was, he looked around at other humans and the rest of nature, and he was amazed at what he saw. He saw himself in everything --- in every human, in every animal, in every tree, in the water, in the rain, in the clouds, in the earth. And he saw that life mixed the tonal and nagual in different ways to create billions of manifestations of life.

When he returned he tried to tell others, but they could not understand. They could see that he had changed, that something beautiful was radiating from his eyes and his voice. They noticed that he no longer had judgment about anything or anyone. He was no longer like anyone else.

He had discovered that he was a mirror for the rest of people, a mirror in which he could see himself. "Everyone is a mirror."

Taken from The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz, p XV-Xviii

Sorry this was a bit long but I was very touched by it. It so much reminded me of that spiritual awakening I experienced in Alcoholics Anonymous. It continues to grow as I see others come to the rooms, get sober and then experience an awakening themselves. I was also struck by the bit about the mirror. I have been a mirror to my kids that I regret. They have seen things in the mirror no kid should ever see. But I'm also filled with gratitude because the grace freely given me by my Higher Power and the program Alcoholics Anonymous have changed that mirror in ways I never imagined possible. I am proud of the mirror my kids see today and it gets better by the day.