Loving Blindly

By Don Jose Ruiz

In June 2001, I drove from Malibu to San Diego for a dentist appointment. On the way back, I started feeling a terrible pain in my eyes when I looked to either side. It even hurt to look in the rearview mirror. When I arrived home, I told my wife my eyes hurt and that I was going to lie down. When I woke up, the pain was still in my eyes and I couldn’t see. I was very scared. I asked my wife to call my dad, who said to take me to see my aunt, an eye doctor in Tijuana, and that he would arrange for the family to meet me there. The pressure continued to build in my head as we drove to Tijuana.

After examining me, my aunt said I may never see again. I started to panic. I felt so desperate. I was admitted into a hospital, where I went into a deep meditation, beyond sound and sight. When my consciousness returned to the world around me, I was at peace. I sensed the fear and the pity of my family members, and I knew that, just as their suffering was a choice, I could choose to be either the ultimate victim who was stuck in a bad dream or a great warrior who accepts the gift of life and everything it brings. That realization allowed me to surrender to love and let go of fear. My family was so worried, but I knew I would be okay. I was the blind one but I ended up consoling them. I knew that even if I were blind, nothing could take my heaven away, only myself. I only had to have faith in myself and in God.

I had always loved to look in people’s eyes. I could see in their eyes a reflection of the love I felt for them. It was a powerful connection. But I started to detach from my eyesight, knowing I could still connect with others through my hands, my emotions, and my inner perceptions.

A week and a half after losing my sight, I dreamed I was walking in a desert and came upon a cave. In that cave were many light bodies. With love, I directed the bodies to fly into the sun. I entered the cave and saw many demons. I was not afraid because I knew if something happened to me, I would be going back to the sun to be with my Creator. I elevated myself and said, “Take me to your leader.” I floated up and was with a large demon, Saint Lucifer himself. He looked into my eyes and said, “How dare you take my souls away and send them into the sun!” And I said, “You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? They belong to the sun, and I belong to the sun, as you belong to the sun.” He laughed in mockery, then jumped and bit my neck. I was not afraid. I surrendered. And I looked back, forgiving each moment of my life. I could see my own self looking at me in total forgiveness. After that dream, I was in total surrender. I knew I could be banished and still be loving, surrendering, and forgiving in each moment. Life is just a dream, and in forgiving and loving others, we are loving the Creator.

Three days after that dream, I was given my eyesight back. I woke up that morning and could see light coming in my room. It was so beautiful, the emotion of seeing my hands, of seeing my wife’s eyes, of seeing all the love and gratitude I had for the world. Life is short, and each moment is ours to love and forgive, to live life, to not let ourselves be imprisoned by our thoughts and fears. Everyone believes in lies and that makes the fear grow. The lie is that God is not inside each of us, that we are separate from God. We must let God be free in us. That is total freedom. It is true enlightenment—to live your dream, to live your life, to just be happy. It is so beautiful, this celebration of life. It is the dream of God.

Don Jose Ruiz grew up in a world of magic, a gift of his heritage. His father, Toltec teacher Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, oversaw his training in the ancient Toltec wisdom of the native people of southern Mexico. This teaching was handed down to Don Miguel by his grandmother, Mother Sarita, a Toltec faith healer, who learned the wisdom from her grandfather, Esiquio, a Toltec “nagual” or shaman. Through masterful guidance by his teachers and amazing life experiences with precision synchronicity, Jose came to “silent knowledge”; he witnessed the world as it is, without any story.

Like his father, combining new insights with ancient wisdom, don Jose Ruiz is dedicating his life to sharing the ancient Toltec wisdom by translating it into practical, everyday life concepts that promote transformation through truth, love and common sense. don Jose teaches and lectures across the United States and around the world: Power Journeys to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Palenque, Tulum and Coba; workshops with guest don Miguel or other teachers at Omega ­ NY, Austin, and Vancouver.

don Jose Ruiz has now collaborated with his father don Miguel Ruiz on a book that offers a fresh perspective on the Four Agreements, and a powerful new agreement for transforming our lives into our personal heaven: The Fifth Agreement.

The Fifth Agreement takes us to a deeper level of awareness of the power of the Self, and returns us to the authenticity we were born with. In this compelling sequel to The Four Agreements, we are reminded of the greatest gift we can give ourselves: the freedom to be who we really are.

This story appears in Phil Bolsta’s book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. To order your copy, click here.