“At the center of the universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds.” Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)
“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” Che Guevera
I was moved to look up these famous quotes by two 20th century visionaries and societal leaders as I read, not for the first time, the short book, The Four Agreements by, Don Miguel Ruiz. I was moved to read it again after seeing it recently recommended in a national magazine.
What are the four agreements?
“-BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS: Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”
Ruiz explains in much fuller detail in his book that this philosophy was developed thousands of years ago in what is now southern Mexico by the Toltec people, “scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient ones.” He explains how European colonization led to this ancestral wisdom going underground, existing “in obscurity.”
Since being published in 1997, the book has sold over 15 million copies in the United States and an estimated 12 to 16 million copies worldwide. It has been published in 52 languages.
There is a great deal of wisdom in this book, with a very specific focus on how individuals who have been emotionally wounded and hurt by friends, parents, teachers, bosses or whomever can recover, “choose to follow your heart always. . . When you transform your whole dream, magic just happens in your life. What you need comes to you easily because spirit moves freely through you. This is the mastery of intent, the mastery of the spirit, the mastery of love, the mastery of gratitude, and the mastery of love. This is the goal of the Toltec. This is the path to personal freedom.”
This sure sounds good. Who wouldn’t want to be on this path? But the weakness of the book is that there was virtually nothing about the need for organized social transformation of the institutions of society so that these values can be spread far and wide, particularly the most important value of love.
Today, organized social change, revolutionary change, is needed because in so many ways the natural world, human society and all forms of life are in such deep danger. That is where Guevera’s words and Ruiz’ words connect, both calling for love, “a deep feeling of love,” as an essential both for needed personal transformation and societal transformation. Ruiz writes of “walking in the world with your heart completely open, and not be afraid to be hurt.”
Maxim Gorky in his stirring book, MOTHER, first published in 1906, envisioned in Chapter 16 what a new world could become:
“There will come a time, I know, when people will take delight in one another, when each will be like a star to the other, and when each will listen to his fellow as to music. The free people will walk upon the earth, people great in their freedom. They will walk with open hearts, and the heart of each will be pure of envy and greed, and therefore all humankind will be without malice, and there will be nothing to divorce the heart from reason. Then life will be one great service to one another! Our figures will be raised to lofty heights—for to free humankind all heights are attainable. Then we shall live in truth and freedom and in beauty, and those will be accounted the best who will the most widely embrace the world with their hearts, and whose love of it will be the profoundest; those will be the best who will be the freest; for in them is the greatest beauty. Then will life be great, and the people will be great who live that life.”
So what does all of this mean for us right now? Most immediately it has to mean all-hands-on-deck to mobilize a massive vote all over the country on November 3 to win back the House and Senate from Republican control. Then, with conditions more favorable for us at the beginning of 2027, we just keep developing, coming together, fighting on issues and exposing the Trumpfascists and their billionaire buddies for the corrupt and greedy thieves that they are. History is calling.
Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com
Ted Glick 