The Five Levels of Attachment, by Don Miguel Ruiz,

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The Five Levels of Attachment picks up from where Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr’s father's book, The Four Agreements, left off. Building on the principles found in his father's international bestseller (2.5 million copies sold in the US), Don Miguel explores the ways in which we attach ourselves inappropriately to beliefs and the world. This is ancient wisdom for finding your true self. Ruiz explores the five levels of attachment that cause suffering in our lives.

The five levels are:

Authentic Self

Preference

Identification

Internalization

Fanatacism

Accessible and practical, The Five Levels of Attachment invites us to look at our own lives and see how an unhealthy level of attachment can keep us trapped in a psychological and spiritual fog. He then teaches us to reclaim our true freedom by cultivating awareness, detaching, and discover our true selves.

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Don Miguel Ruiz Jr explains the principles of the Five Levels of Attachment

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don Miguel Ruiz Jnr, on being Toltec

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The first level of attachment represents the Authentic Self, the living being that is the full potential of life. It describes that force that not only animates the body but also gives life to our mind and our soul.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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At the second level of attachment, Preference, we still move with the awareness of the Authentic Self. We recognize our ability to attach ourselves to something as we engage in the present moment, but we are also able to let go of the attachment when the moment has passed.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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The third level of attachment is Identity. You take your knowledge with you and begin to shape parts of your life around this identity; your attachment bleeds into a world that has nothing to do with it.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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The fourth level of attachment, Internalization, describes a degree of attachment to knowledge where our identity becomes the model by which we accept ourselves. This is domestication through attachment.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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The fifth level of attachment is Fanaticism. Whenever we believe something without question, we are at risk for attachment at this most extreme level -- it can exist in the most unlikely places.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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Is knowledge controlling you, or are you controlling knowledge? I identify myself with my knowledge, although I use it to see and understand the world.

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr, The Five Levels of Attachment

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Buy The Five Levels of Attachment in paperback from Hay House Publishing, on sale 3 March 2014.

Order the Kindle edition from Amazon