Some months ago I published here a column with the title “The basement secrets”, describing a retreat that ended in a magic dinner in the underground area of Melk Abbey in Austria. In that article I commented that on looking deep into the basement of my soul, all that I could find were my mistakes, and that I would try to organize them so that rather than frighten me, they would help me understand better those things that I should not repeat. Among other people, I was in the company of the Abbot, Dr. Burkhard Ellegast, OSB, whom I consider a spiritual master, although we do not have a language in common (I can’t even ask for a glass of water in German). To my surprise, Abbot Burkhard wrote a text about “The basement secrets”, and here I adapt some of his reflections.
“We often wonder: how come that happened to us? All of a sudden I saw myself surrounded by people who were willing to reflect on the meaning of life. What could I say to these people, if all that had happened in my life was to enter an abbey at an early age and later be put in charge of directing this same abbey for 26 years?”
“I think that people look at me as if I had an answer to everything. But all that I decided to do was speak a little about myself. To say that my faith is capable of keeping me alive and enthusiastic and to go ahead despite the moments of pessimism. Then I explained my motto: if I ever make a false step and get dragged down to the bottom, this will never be done in a quiet manner. Everyone will see and hear me shouting, kicking, and waving flags so that I can serve as an alert for those who will come later.
“Because of this motto, I know that I will hardly make others follow me in my errors, and so I manage to master my fear and risk sailing my boat into unknown waters. I know, of course, that if I begin to drown, despite all the noise that I will be making, I will still be able to raise my hand and beg: God, please come to my help! In all certainty I will be heard, and a new path will be opened”.
“In his article, Paulo Coelho comments that he was surprised to see that I introduced him using a text from his book “Eleven minutes” (Note – the book is all about sex and prostitution, no wonder I was surprised!). I read an extract from the diary of the main character, where she tells the story of a lovely bird who used to visit her. She admired it so much that one day she decided to keep it in a cage so that she could always have its singing and its beauty near her. As the days went by, she grew used to the new company and lost that wonderful feeling of waiting for that free soul to come visit her from time to time, without being obliged to do so. The bird in turn was unable to sing in captivity, and ended up dying. Only then did she understand that love needs freedom to express all its charm – although freedom implies risks.
“We tend to want to capture things because we usually see freedom as something that has no borders or responsibilities. And because of this we also end up trying to enslave all that we love – as if egoism were the only way to keep our world well balanced. Love does not limit, it broadens our horizons, we can see clearly what lies outside and we can see even more clearly the dark places in our heart.
“Although I do not speak English, I could understand everything that Coelho’s eyes and gestures said. I can still remember when he asked me, through one of the people present, what he should do now. I answered him: keep on looking.
“And even when you find, keep on looking, with enthusiasm and curiosity. In spite of the mistakes that will eventually be committed, love is stronger, it allows the bird to fly free, and each step will be not just a movement forward but will contain in itself a whole new path”.
when you go down to “the basement of your soul”, you are doing an audit of your life, past and present no? just to re-cap where you were and where you are.
The Genealogy Tree was a good start for me, I remember doing it when my first child was born and some relatives handed me one they had made, a couple of weeks ago I did another one, I had worked out a pattern before – this time it became clearer because I was more aware of my “past generations’ relatives”.
I am thinking about the word intellectual. In tell ectual can ectual be replaced by actual so you go inside yourself to find out the real you.
I hope this make sense to you.
Love
I know how the bird feels, every relationship has been like this, and every time I die a little more, when will it end?
They love to hear me sing, love my plumage, don’t let me out of the cage, slowly, slowly I die…
is not it wasoeur?
Dearest Paulo and friends,
I loved this, read it after years and came at a perfect time :)
Thank you for being
Yajna
to all you guys… i dont understand the meaning of letting go, or setting it free, is there any differences … becaue ive read the book the bird in a cage… i fully understand some words and sentence but i can’t reALLY EXPLAIN TO MY SELF that do we realy have to let go of someone who realy special and only once in a lifetime to come into our life. or we just have to set it free because we have to? is that right?
guys needs some guidance, comments,,, advice etc… plzzz… its a real thing to me…
sc : l
Hi ! tom !
may HER blessings be with u always, I have suffered another disappointment recently, can say have just taken another blow, it takes some time to recover and start afresh.
The spoon with oil drops on it in alchemist indicates towards our need to maintain our awareness as we get busy with our lives, the boy got so engrossed in the various ’sights’ that the oil & spoon went out of his awareness and it spilled. similarly we need to maintain our awareness, in maintaining our awareness, the awareness of our goals, ideals, God if u prefer gets mainatined; as we traverse the time from morning till we sleep again. Krishna ( have u heard of him ) says that one needs to mainatain a continuous unintterupetd awaress, simili used is that of a stream of falling oil, noiseless, continuous, others have also said similar things.
Knowing this why I , most others fail, because the stimulus from environemnt is like wind to a candle, my awareness is the candle and the various stimulus from environement is the wind, my awareness gets ‘blown’ out by the wind, just like it happned with the boy in alchemist. Not being one to give up easily, I have thought of a devise which can help me rekindle my awareness when I am lost in the ‘wonedrs’ of the world. but as it turns out, yesterday i received my nth rejection to the concept. people in business seem to balk at the very mention of awareness, meditation etc. let’s see.
if u care i will write a more conherent piece on this some other time.
regards
aditya
aditya, i apreciate it,
when you write something, you pour your heart and sould into those words, so when someone reads that piece of writing, it is as if someone is reaching deep inside you and reading your soul.
insaallah tom ! insaallah !!!!
may u’r words come true. I will share it with you, a little wait please.
regards
aditya
aditya,
if i may i would like to hear this concept, if it is based on the oil and spoon, then it shall surely be worth reading, it may even change the world ??
dear fusion,
to laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn appreciation of honest critics, to endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better.
as this saying goes, we must appreciate beauty, not lock it up and control it.
i met this man once when i was in a state of unhapiness, i said to him “what is the point of living if all we are living for is death?”
he replied “even if there is just death after life, nothing can reverse what you have accomplished in your life time, you shall still have your memories”
this is what i think about the bird, even if it one day did not return, you would still have the memories, and nothing in the universe can change that, not even if you wanted to.
Dear Fusion,
Perhaps you long for spring in the winter. But you are probably never really afraid that it won’t come.
In much the same way, Love will always be there for you, even though her shape is destined to change. We become attached to forms so easily, because we are afraid of change. Change to us, is associated with darkness and sorrow.
We do not want to accept it, but all forms eventually break down, and it is really a good thing, because it enables us and our the energy in us to evolve, to seek new forms. Only in this way, our potential, which is endless, is able to continue to realize itself. Our very reason for existing.
Love is there for our evolution, not for our comfort. She is everywhere.
HI Fusion !
Set the bird free and if void is frightening, find another obsession. There was a time when one lived without knowing the bird, one will manage without also, if so be it. must set free i feel, my happiness lies with a happy bird, gr8 if the happy bird shares her happiness with me !!!
aditya
hi..
i’m new to this blog, but i’ve been reading paulo’s book for years..
i have some question about this analogy you wrote, about the bird in a cage..
supposed the girl decided not to put the bird in a cage because she’s trying to understand that love is to set free..
so everyday she waited for the bird to come, receive a joyfull moment when the bird came, and became worried when the bird flew away..
because she will never know if the bird will come back again the next day..
because she’s worried whether or not that today was her last day with the bird..
and i think it’s tottaly normal to want something that’s keeping you happy in a reach of your arms..
so how do you deal with those kind of feelings, beetwen setting free or letting go in order to give freedom and the worried feelings that someday the bird will never come back, because maybe the bird is just too tired, or maybe it already find another place to sing..?
Hi ! Paulo & freinds!
To keep on looking when one has found ??!!! How to receive the grace of a master ?
Paulo ! I need some help from you. I have developed a concept which is based on the spoon and oil wisdom from Alchemist. All i need is 10 minutes of your time, to evaluate a one page summary of the concept. I understand that u have relatively quite periods sometime after the release of a book, maybe during that time. So far whenever i have sent an email to you, Mr. Felicidade Cornwell has replied saying that u were busy. The concept is about time, wrist watch, awareness and purpose / goals. My email id is adityakc11@indiatimes.com, adityakc1@yahoo.com.
regards
aditya
All we ever want in life is a master to show us the way home. However, the world is not built on masters any more, unfortunately, I am yet to meet a true master in person… I’ll just have to keep looking in the mirror for now and hope a master is looking back at me.
helo paulo,
once again this article reaches me in good timing helping me realise that love should be free.
many thanks as always for the words of wisdom, helping us search within our souls, questioning the norm and last but not least listening to our heart!!!!!!!
d
there is love love, waiting to find you, so instead of making it wait, go find it yourself. this is one of my motto’s. it stands for meeting new people and being differant and finding the good things in the most unlikely of places.
i remember a couple of years ago, i had not many friends and i loved them. but now that i have opened myself up to new things, i have met many new and differant and exciting people. each like a grain of sand on a beach, all individual…
what a wonderful situation you describe! I really love how you can show that simple things bear so much of deepness. We do easily take them for all too granted. thank you very much *with a smile*
no words can do justice…..
language never is a a barrier…..it is broken through love…