Don Miguel Ruiz: The Toltec Art of Life and Death
An Interview with don Miguel Ruiz and Barbara Emrys: The Toltec Art of Life and Death
A Story of Self-Discovery
Don Miguel Ruiz is a renowned spiritual teacher and internationally bestselling author. He has spent the past three decades guiding students to personal freedom through his profound insights 
regarding the nature of human reality. His forthcoming book, THE TOLTEC ART OF LIFE AND DEATH: A Story of Self-Discovery
The youngest of thirteen children, don Miguel Ruiz, was born in rural Mexico to parents who were healers and practitioners of ancient Toltec traditions. As a young adult, he graduated from medical school in Mexico City and practiced neurosurgery with his older brother in Tijuana. A near-fatal car crash forever changed the direction of his life, however, causing him to leave medicine and to examine the essential truth about life and humanity. With his mother’s help, and through her ancestral teachings, he discovered his own path to awareness, which evolved into a deep understanding of the physical universe and the virtual world of the mind.
Combining Toltec mythology and scientific perspectives, don Miguel Ruiz has been able to merge ancient wisdom with modern physics and practical common-sense, forging a new philosophy for seekers of truth and personal authenticity. His landmark bestselling book, The Four Agreements, contains practical steps for long-term, personal transformation and has been read by millions around the world.
Interview with don Miguel Ruiz & Barbara Emrys by Dirk Terpstra
OMTimes: Barbara, you are the co-author of the book ‘The Toltec Art of Life and Death’. I am really curious to learn more about your contribution to this amazing book.
Barbara Emrys: Miguel was gracious in trusting me to deliver a message. We’ve been together as teachers, but I started as his student over twenty years ago. So, we’ve been together for a long time, and I like to think we have the same perspective on life at this point, although it wasn’t always the same. At this stage of our relationship and interaction, I was so glad that he could trust me to deliver this message. Of course, my mastery over English is a little better than his, but for the most part, these were stories that I have heard for so many years, but the challenge was to turn them into lessons. A biography is really not of any value to anyone, because it’s just one side of a story, and if you told it the next day it would be another kind of story — it’s not the events that matter, but what we can learn from those events. And that’s what we wanted to do with this book.
