By Paulo Coelho
Conscious of the need to move with the times, Satan decided to sell off a large part of his stock of temptations. He placed an advertisement in the newspaper and spent the whole of the next day attending to customers in his workshop.
There were some amazing items for sale: stones on which the virtuous could stumble, mirrors that increased one’s own sense of importance and spectacles that diminished other people’s importance. Hanging on the wall were a few other prize objects: a dagger with a curved blade for stabbing people in the back and tape recorders that recorded only gossip and lies.
‘Don’t worry about the price!’ cried old Satan to any potential customers. ‘Take it away with you today and pay me when you can!’
One visitor noticed two much-used tools that had been relegated to a corner. They didn’t look anything special, but they were very expensive. Curious, he asked the reason for this apparent discrepancy.
‘They’re both very worn because they’re the tools I use most,’ said Satan, laughing. ‘I wouldn’t want them to be too noticeable because then people would know how to protect themselves against them. But they’re both worth the asking price: one is Doubt and the other is a Sense of Inferiority. When all other temptations fail, those two always work.’
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Doubt is a self destruction tool we use it against our souls and also we use it against others to destroy them, our relationships and finally ourselves. sometimes we use it against our loves, wives, husbands, friends….etc.
Spledid Paulo !
Didn’t i say once during our discussions on Sins, that your originals are far suerior to the quotations that u used to share then.
Great that the two tools have been clearly ennumerated by you here. the disease is identified, now what is the cure doctor ! mere awareness that these two r the most potent tools that satan may use to cripple us, will mere awareness suffice, will guard me against these tools. slpendid, the only problem remaining now is how to hold on to the awareness which loves to just slip away.
regards
aditya
Is Doubt not Cautiousness, and a Sense of Inferiority not Humility? Is Refrain not the absence of desire to intrude, but Self-Control in uncertainty? Isn’t Ignorance but the Generosity of privacy and space?
How do you hold a sunbeam in your hands?
When Satan gets this, he discovers Heaven.
doubt and inferiority were doing a job on me this morning. i told myself if i keep with it i’ll be fine and then i read this. and now doubt is doing a job on me having me think i won’t keep with it.
Without the shadow of a doubt.
We do know how to protect ourselves from those, and this is a good reminder to just do it. I feel we should owe and integrate our doubts and the sense of inferiority (especially when it masquerades as bravery…), no matter how painful or difficult it might appear to be, to prevent us from projecting them onto another. It is called the shadow process, and it would empower, not belittle you, and make you whole again, and see, and feel how much more you are beneath and beyond that ego surface. It is the one and most important thing you could do to bring your energies into balance, and save you from self-destruction and the destruction of everything that you think you love. It would expand your consciousness, enabling you to allow and accept more light and more love that is unconditional.
We always battle ourselves, our own shadows, our own demons. And we are the winners, and we are the loosers, in any of our battles. Usually, it is our soul we choose to leave behind… on that battle field.
But this does not mean that another cannot present us with an important lesson, a meaningful truth to acknowledge, at last. And we should always be grateful for that.
Peace be with you… all!
greetings fellow earth_ant_lings,,..
green glows our mother,
“don’t worry about the price, you can pay when you want to”
satan what a concept , without him the very foundation of god woudnt exist.
is this our nature that we would fear satan but commit sins in gods forgiveness.
am confused with this fusion,
they appear the same to me,
but sometimes satan appears like god in a disguise to me,
and god feels like an satan front,
man am i blasphemising here?
surely not my friends , its the child in me thats out tonight,
lol
bo0om…
… own… oops! Freudian slip…
“Una es la Duda y la otra el sentido de la inferioridad”
son cuestiones que se aparecen en el diario vivir, queridos guerreros corran el riesgo de sus pasos. Ya lo saben, podriamos perder en el intento, pero no pierdan la lección, que quien cae se levanta con más fuerza.
Saludos desde el Amazonas Americano.
Cecilia
this one gives me a Harry Potter-feeling… must be the image of Satan standing there in a black coat selling these “things”… *grin*
I understand how doubt can be Satan’s tool, people can often be manipulated into going against their beliefs because their beliefs aren’t strong enough.
A sense of inferiority? Maybe an example of that is say Hitler - who apparently had a bad childhood and to then make himself feel better than others he manipulated everyone into thinking his race was superior.
Hi Serene !
Good thoughts those, there is a fine point between sense of inferiority & humility, doubt and cautiousness. Till it’s humility, it’s beyond satan’s domain, but inferiority is his tool. If u send satan to heaven, the game is over, our universe exist in dualities. if u merge the +ve and -ve pole of any energy system, boom, system collapses. don’t hate satan, for hate makes you satan, just remain aware of the tools he uses.
Exelente cuento.
Un beso :)
well done sir it was indeed a superb work..really felt worth reading it..