Cloaking Banalities in Exotic Garb

In recent years, two noticeable trends have emerged on the landscape of alternative spirituality. The first is a quest to revive ancient wisdom traditions--Celtic, Sufi, Native American--and popularize them for modern seekers dispirited by the ravages of hectic urban life. The second is to compress what are often thousands of years of esoteric, rigorous spiritual teachings into slim, pocket-sized books--enlightenment in a few easy steps, as it were.

Once in a while, the efforts work, as with ayurvedic healer and philosopher Deepak Chopra’s powerfully concise “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.” Other attempts, however, fall painfully flat; “The Mastery of Love” by Don Miguel Ruiz is one of them.

Ruiz offers an exotic background, describing himself as a nagual, or shaman, from the Eagle Knight lineage of the ancient Toltec civilization of what is now central Mexico. The Toltecs were pre-Columbian people who dominated the Mexican highland region from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Honored by the Aztecs as founders of the region’s urban civilization, Toltecs built pyramids topped by temples and images of warriors and feathered serpents; irrigation systems; and a trade and manufacturing economy of advanced stonework and volcanic glass tools.

But Toltecs today have become a trendy model for alternative spirituality. First popularized by the late mystic writer and self-described sorcerer Carlos Castaneda, Toltecs are now idealized as artistic, nature loving, righteous warrior shamans even though there is archeological evidence that they engaged in human sacrifice and bloody conquests of neighboring villages. Exactly who the Toltecs were and what their spiritual path encompassed are questions that few of the flourishing Web sites on them convincingly answer, and Ruiz’s book suffers from the same deficiency.

In fact, “Mastery of Love” barely talks about Toltec spirituality at all. Ruiz writes that he was raised by a curandera (healer) mother and a nagual grandfather, and embraced the family’s centuries-old spiritual tradition after an out-of-body experience helped him survive a car accident. He says he completed an apprenticeship with a powerful shaman in the Mexican desert and continues to receive guidance in his dreams through his now-deceased grandfather.

But Ruiz illustrates his teachings with stories from Greek mythology, such as tales of Artemis, Hercules and Zeus. He also presents principles on healing and love from Jesus Christ and Buddha, and writes of religious rituals from India. Where are the mystical voices of wisdom from his shamanic ancestors, the spiritual legends passed down through the lineage of his ancient Toltec people? Not in the pages of this book.

The teachings purport to be “a practical guide to the art of relationship”--how to heal emotional wounds, recover freedom and find love. But there is nothing original here, and most of his statements are repetitive and long-winded. Ruiz takes 18 pages to present his secret for the perfect relationship--essentially, you can’t change others, so love them for who they are. His comparisons are trite: You’d never ask a dog to be a cat, he says, so why expect otherwise from your partner?

In a clumsy analogy, he compares having all the pizza you want to eat to having all the love you need right in the “magical kitchen” of your heart.

And when Ruiz attempts to address the great metaphysical questions of the ages--the relationship among mind, body and soul--things get downright embarrassing. “Life is not the body; it is not the mind; it is not the soul. It is a force. . . . The whole universe is a living being that is moved by that force, and that is what you are. You are life.”

Ruiz’s earlier book, “The Four Agreements,” was marred by a similar banality, in revealing the Toltec “secrets” to personal liberation and joy: (1) speak without sin, (2) don’t take anything personally, (3) don’t make assumptions and (4) do your best.

Yet the San Diego healer and lecturer, who quit a medical practice after his near-death experience, seems to have struck a chord. Both his books are Southland bestsellers, and he is in demand as a workshop speaker and tour guide for his “power journeys” to the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan. If he is inspiring people to let go of fear and learn to love--whether the teachings are authentically Toltec or not--then that is a good thing.