Under that black hat rests a look revealing itself as an explorer of the deep. Dark and smoky eyes capable of scrutinizing the questioner till any remnant of fakeness or shielding gets fragmented. The only uncertainty is that bird-of-prey look, permanently grasping and reinterpreting the world; however, its firmness harden his face, even though he's always deciphering his surroundings as if it was a perfect mystery to solve with serenity and trust. The serenity of someone who has seen and lived too much.

His name is Miguel Ruiz and he's still alive thanks to a 20 year-old heart, donated from a girl. He feels that everything around him is a dream and human life a great representation.

But beyond all that dreamlike description, the only certainty -concise and without relativism- is that this man wrote a book that has been translated in 38 languages, and at more than 20 years of the release, he's still selling thousands of copies.

Miguel smiles to death with such calm, you can say he has fulfilled his destiny and lived according to his principles. His mere existence has been an adventure novel. Before being the creator of best seller "The Four Agreements", Miguel Ruiz was a soccer player, a Rock musician and a Medical Surgeon. His childhood was marked by the death of his older brother, and survived an awful car accident. It's been 14 years since a massive stroke almost killed him, but got lucky enough and received a younger heart six years ago to keep on living.

Miguel grew up in the streets of Tijuana and every now and then he comes back to walk through childhood places. Two weeks ago he visited Tijuana and, at midday, among all the images hanged in the Caesar's Hotel Restaurant, the writer of " The Four Agreements" told the story of his life.

VIDEO: What's next on the life of Miguel Ruiz?

A Childhood in Tijuana

Miguel Ruiz was born in Guadalajara, Mexico on Aug. 27 of 1952, after that he was almost instantly taken to Tijuana with his grandparents.

His childhood was surrounded by music. Leonardo Macias, his grandfather, founded an orchestra in Guadalajara and performed at the Rosarito Hotel with Angel and Arturo, these two, uncles of Miguel. Musical instruments were always available at Miguel's home, so he learned to play guitar before being a teenager.

It was during this time that one young man called Javier Batiz delighted people with his guitar at Avenida Revolucion, when the seed of rock was starting to bloom in this side of the border. Miguel, without any music lessons, danced with guitars and looked for places to play; added to that, he also was a great chess player.

But even though he had all this beautiful qualities, fate brought a tragedy to his life: The death of his older brother, who only had 19-years-old. "The death of one of my brothers made me see life in a different perspective.

"He was a rebel, everybody judged him, but when he died, all of a sudden he became a hero for everyone, thing that made me realize that people in fact, are very hypocrite," said Miguel.

As many youngsters of Tijuana in that time, Miguel Ruiz traveled to Mexico City to move on with his career. High School #6 of UNAM welcomed him in those troubled years (at the end of the 60s), where he witnessed the student movement of 1968, which changed the course of Mexico's history due to the Tlatelolco massacre.

Entangled Between Soccer and Medicine

He was a very good soccer player and enjoyed showing everyone his ability and picardie in the sports fields. His role was being the attacking midfielder and caught the attention of three of the most important soccer teams in the country: Los Pumas, El America and Cruz Azul. Miguel decided to join Los Pumas because they were the official team of UNAM (University of Mexico),his school, so sooner than later he was playing to ascend to the main soccer team.

The history could've gone differently for Miguel Ruiz, for he was just a little step behind of being part of the Pumas Premier League, but he had to make a decision and chose to keep studying to become a medical surgeon, which he did.

He learned anatomy and physiology, endured long theoretical and practical sessions as any student. It was during the first semesters of his career that a silent desire for knowledge started to bloom, a curiosity he surely got from his family.

Leonardo Macias, Miguel's grandfather, besides being a very talented musician and Orchestra Director, is a very wise man, while Sarita Macias, Miguel's mom, was a famous healer who knew how to use botanics for her advantage, as well as some mind control to ease wound pain. The author of "The Four Agreements" [/b]learned a lot from these two, and as time was passing, he learned to live his youth as if it was a learning method; in that way, he finally realized he was made to travel the depths of the human mind.

"My mom is my most important teacher, from his dad I learned the Tolteca philosophy, a lifestyle. I was never told I was full tolteca, but it did help me unveil some keys of life. The word "Tolteca" means artist, that's why, every time I talk about the Toltecs, I'm talking about a person being an artist, and not just the culture of ancient Teotihuacan or Tula", says Ruiz.

"She was very known and helped a lot of people with her healing abilities until she decided to go to the US and became the first healer to be hired by the government. It was 2006 when she occupied a place in the Hall of Fame of San Diego as "Madre Sarita." She used mind control, an ability that worked thanks to her power of suggestion or persuasion to heal. She was a matriarch and my grandfather was a patriarch, he was known as a "Nagual" and was one of the main "Rosacruces" masters.

Miguel was immersed in medicine and in the knowledge transmitted by his grandfather when something terrible happened: He got into a car accident after a long night of drinking, but he amazingly survived.

"I saw myself driving and then taking my friends out of the car. It was a Volkswagen and it was thorned to pieces, that's when I realized I'm not my body. My body is my home, I live in my body, but i'm not it. My flesh is matter that can't move by itself, it needs energy. What I am cannot be destroyed, but my body can," says Miguel.

That was when Miguel understood that there was something in the depths of human mind that went beyond anatomy, something unknown and profound to which he needed to dedicate more time.

"The Four Agreements"

After all his doubts, Miguel Ruiz certified as a Doctor and worked some years as a surgeon, though he would spend more time visiting archeological sites and tour guiding.

It was during this time that "The Four Agreements" was born, a book that, according to his own words, came out spontaneously, almost naturally, because he only portrayed in paper what in a way or another he had learned from his mother and grandfather since he was a child.

"Since I was very little I've heard the four agreements from my parents, even though they didn't call it like that. When I left my medical career I started studying the mind, and then I worked with different apprentices for 10 years, I used to take them to archeological sites tours and told them stories that were meant to change them in some way. I did that to confront their superstitions till they got to the point of a non-believer. "The Four Agreements" is created from this experience, and when the time was right a publisher offered me to write these lessons and it came out really easy because the book was already made inside my head. The challenge per se was to write it in a way everyone would understand, no matter if it was someone who didn't finished elementary school or someone highly educated."

The book was published in 1997 and became a bestseller after selling more than 4 million copies since its outing. "The Four Agreements" has been translated to 38 languages.

"The Four Agreements are dead words, it's just a book with letters that comes alive when someone reads it, because the words have been injected in their lives, and thus, in our minds. These agreements are very simple, but at the same time very profound and complex. The book is alive as soon as someone reads it, and when that happens, it turns into a classic."

"Words are the tool you use to create your own story and therefore you have to be impeccable with them. You are the artist of your own story, which is only real for you. It's the story you believe and the one that everyone believes, you are the secondary character of the stories of people who do not know you, that's why the second agreement is do not take things personal, because that will give you immunity to any attack or adversity. The Third Agreement is do not make assumptions, because your knowledge has a voice that nobody listens more than you. The voice of knowledge is to talk and talk and not to, is like a wild horse that cannot be domesticated and often creates incredible stories based on assumptions, we all assume. These three agreements are at the level of the mind," Miguel says.

"The fourth agreement is a complete different thing because it has to do with action, is manifesting what you have in mind, how to project where you come from and always doing the best you can, even though agreements are not commandments or laws, you'll always have to try your best ; sometimes you take things personally and sometimes you make assumptions, but every time you do it less times and now the main character is changing and taking actions that previously weren't taken," he adds.

Miguel, Jose Luis and Leonardo, his three sons, have continued his way of life. The fifth agreement is "Be skeptical, but learn to listen", which is the backbone of the book written by his son, Joseph Ruiz.

VIDEO: The Fifth Agreement

According to Miguel, "When you become skeptical you don't believe the church, school, or the President, but you listen to everything."

A Race Against Death

On Feb. 28 of 2002 Miguel suffered a massive heart attack that kept him nine weeks in a coma and when he woke up, doctors said his cardiac output was of 16%, which condemned him to a disability and a life expectancy that hardly exceeded one year.

"For me it was a race against death. I had to give my children everything I had done and I've been focusing on that since then, a year passed, two years.... and I did not die, even though my body was very weak. I was teaching, taking people to archaeological sites and just told my children: Look, I will not sit and wait for death, death will find me someday and it will find me doing what I like," says Miguel.

"Eight years passed until I decided I needed a new heart and applied for a transplant. I submitted myself to many studies and evaluations until August of 2010, when I was told that I was accepted and was put in the waiting list. By then I was already in a wheelchair," he adds.

While waiting for the transplant, Miguel went traveling with his children for the eastern United States. On the night of Oct. 9, while in Austin, he received a call from the hospital in Los Angeles: "We already have your heart, but you must be here in less than six hours to start the transplant", so at four o'clock, Miguel Ruiz traveled to Los Angeles, and at dawn he entered the operating room. Five hours later he had a new heart which belonged to a 20-year-old who had recently died.

Six months after the operation, Miguel was able to travel and decided to go to the Yucatan Peninsula, where he recorded a series of videos and even allowed himself to climb the pyramids. The next four years were spent traveling the world until his body asked him for a bit of calm.

Now Don Miguel gives occasional lectures, supports his children and has recently released a new book called "El arte Tolteca de la vida y de la muerte" (The Toltec Art of Life and Death), which could turn into a film soon.

Without any trouble, Miguel knows that for now his only task is to enjoy every new day of his life, live it as far as possible, as an adventure, and motivate each person who crosses his way to help them change the world, their own world.

VIDEO: Full Interview with Miguel Ruiz

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Translated by: cristina.mora@sandiegored.com