We [people] love ourselves with conditions. We need opinions, we need approval, we create an image of ourselves that is not what we are. This how we lose our authenticity and create masks - how we become "domesticated."
Miguel Angel RuizWe are so well trained that we are our own domesticator. We are an autodomesticated animal. We can now domesticate ourselves according to the same belief system we were given, and using the same system of punishment and reward. We punish ourselves when we don't follow the rules according to our belief system; we reward ourselves when we are the "good boy" or "good girl".
Miguel Angel RuizYou are immortal; you exist for billions of years in different manifestations, because you are Life, and Life cannot die. You are in the trees, the butterflies, the fish, the air, the moon, the sun. Wherever you go, you are there, waiting for yourself.
Miguel Angel RuizIf we look at human society we see a place so difficult to live in because it is ruled by fear.
Miguel Angel RuizThe only way to change the world is to change the main character of our story - the one we believe that we are. If we change the main character, if we respect ourselves, then just like magic, all the secondary characters will change. We can only give what we have, and if we don't respect ourselves, how can we respect others?
Miguel Angel Ruiz