Don Miguel Ruiz opens The Mastery of Love by drawing on Toltec wisdom traditions to present his foundational reframing of romantic love: genuine love is a natural, divine state inherent within each person, distinct from the conditional, expectation-laden relationship patterns — what Ruiz terms "agreements" — that most people mistake for genuine love.

Ruiz's foundational argument:

• He argues that genuine love doesn't require another person to complete or fulfill oneself, but rather represents an inherent capacity within each individual that can be expressed regardless of relationship circumstance, contrasting this genuine love against more conditional, expectation-based relationship patterns
• Ruiz identifies much conventional romantic relationship pattern as actually reflecting learned, conditional agreements — expectations about how a partner should behave to earn or maintain love — rather than genuine, unconditional love itself
• This foundational distinction, drawing on Toltec spiritual tradition while presented in accessible contemporary language, sets up the book's overall project: helping readers recognize and move beyond these conditional relationship patterns toward what Ruiz presents as more genuine, unconditional love

This foundational reframing establishes the book's overall spiritual and psychological approach, distinguishing it from more purely practical or behavioral relationship advice by grounding its guidance in this broader Toltec philosophical framework.