Monthly Archive for July, 2007Page 2 of 7
I just completed reading the book by Paulo Coelho “The Zahir”. It is a fantastic story of an individual’s journey of discovering himself. This book has created two very powerful reactions in me. One of complete agreement to what the author has to say. The other of disagreement because it raises in me several unanswered questions that I have come to know as valid questions in these 31 years of my life.
In this book the author explains how he had to loose his inhibitions, his past and all the boundaries set by society in order to find true love and discover himself. His theory is based on a constant, that the society and human history teaches us the norms of “good” or “bad” the “normal” or the “abnormal”. We use and follow rules blindly, The rules set by history of the civilization that we now call our own. His construct is based on his belief that in order to be able to enjoy life to the fullest and help others to enjoy life to the fullest, a human mind has to break away from the bounds of society and norms and feel the free wind of independence. Then and only then can one love unconditionally and passionately.
Reaction One: Just to give an example, I understand and agree to where the author is coming from and I understand the reality in his thoughts. For example, ‘the institution of marriage having originated from the need to make food available for all’ this is a radical idea that is so unique and possibly true.
Indiscriminate copulation in the ancient man’s tribe caused …
To read the rest of the article, please visit Ishita Bardhan’s blog : Insights that Excites @ blogspot
Isabelita told me the following story.
An old illiterate Arab used to pray with such fervour each night that the wealthy owner of the great caravan decided to summon him so as to talk to him.
“Why do you pray with such devotion? How do you know God exists when you don’t even know how to read?”
“I do know, sir. I can read everything that the Great Celestial Father writes.”
“But how?”
The humble servant explained:
“When you receive a letter from someone far away, how do you recognise the writer?”
“By the handwriting.”
“When you receive a jewel, how do you know who made it?”
“By the goldsmith’s mark.”
“When you hear animals moving about near the tent, how do you know if it was a sheep or a horse or an ox?”
“By its footprints,” replied the owner, surprised at all these questions.
The old man invited him to come outside with him and showed him the sky.
“Neither the things written up there nor the desert down below could have been made or written by the hand of man.”
Please visit Aaminah’s blog : Writeous Sister Speaks @ wordpress.com to read more from her and talk with her.
A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.
Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man’s attention.
The wise man listened attentively to the boy’s explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn’t have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy looked around the palace and return in two hours.
“Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something,” said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. “As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.”
The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping the eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.
“Well,” asked the wise man, “did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?”
The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.
“Then go back and observe the marvels of my world,” said the wise man. “You cannot trust a man if you didn’t know his house.”
“Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.
“But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?” asked the wise man.
Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.
“Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give to you” said the wisest of wise men. “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”
Taken from ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho.
This little story is posted on Aks’s blog, please visit his blog : Dasht-e-tanhai @ wordpress.com to read more from him and talk with him.
All men and all women are connected by an energy which many people call love, but which is, in fact, the raw material from which the universe was built. This energy can’t be manipulated, it leads us gently forwards, it contains all we have to learn in this life. It we try to make it go in the direction we want, we end up desperate, frustrated, disillusioned, because that energy is free and wild.
We could spend the rest of our life saying that we love such a person or thing, when the truth is that we are merely suffering because, instead of accepting love’s strength, we are trying to diminish it so that it fits the world in which we imagine we live.
Source: The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession
He died while he was still alive….
Source: The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
Source: A Fable About Following Your Dream
To read, contribute and share more quotes from Paulo Coelho, please visit Paulo Coelho Quotes at zaadz.com.
