Paulo Coelho

By Paulo Coelho

I must enjoy all the gifts that God gives me today. These gifts cannot be saved up. There is no bank in which we can place the gifts we receive from God in order to use them when we wish. If I do not make use of these blessings, I will lose them for ever.
 
God knows that we are all artists of life. One day, he gives us a chisel to make a sculpture, the next, brushes and a canvas, another day, he gives us a pen to write with. But we cannot use a chisel to paint a canvas or a pen to make a sculpture. Each day has its own miracle. I must accept today’s blessings in order to create what I have; if I do this with detachment and without guilt, tomorrow I will receive more.

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In my book, 11 Minutes, there’s the following passage:
 
"’I’m the one who should feel ashamed for being unable to arouse them, but, no, they always blame themselves.’
 
To avoid such embarrassments, Maria always tried to put men at their ease, and if someone seemed drunker or more fragile than usual, she would avoid full sex and concentrate instead on caresses and masturbation, which always seemed to please them immensely, absurd though this might seem, since they could perfectly well masturbate on their own.
 
She had to make sure that they didn’t feel ashamed. These men, so powerful and arrogant at work, constantly having to deal with employees, customers, suppliers, prejudices, secrets, posturings, hypocrisy, fear and oppression, ended their day in a nightclub and they didn’t mind spending three hundred and fifty Swiss francs to stop being themselves for a night.
 
‘For a night? Now come on, Maria, you’re exaggerating. It’s really only forty-five minutes, and if you allow time for taking off clothes, making some phony gesture of affection, having a bit of banal conversation and getting dressed again, the amount of time spent actually having sex is about eleven minutes.’
 
Eleven minutes. The world revolved around something that only took eleven minutes.
 
And because of those eleven minutes in any one twenty-four-hour day (assuming that they all made love to their wives every day, which is patently absurd and a complete lie) they got married, supported a family, put up with screaming kids, thought up ridiculous excuses to justify getting home late, ogled dozens, if not hundreds of other women with whom they would like to go for a walk around Lake Geneva, bought expensive clothes for themselves and even more expensive clothes for their wives, paid prostitutes to try to give them what they were missing, and thus sustained a vast industry of cosmetics, diet foods, exercise, pornography and power, and yet when they got together with other men, contrary to popular belief, they never talked about women. They talked about jobs, money and sport.
 
Something was very wrong with civilisation, and it wasn’t the destruction of the Amazon rainforest or the ozone layer, the death of the panda, cigarettes, carcinogenic foodstuffs or prison conditions, as the newspapers would have it.
 
It was precisely the thing she was working with: sex."
 
Do you agree?

To me this book is only a reminder of a few points that I’ve already noted in his previous books especially from LIKE THE FLOWING RIVER . I still remember the same line taken from the previous book that I’ve read here. …
This article is written by OndeOnde. Please visit the blog Bookshelf to read the rest.

The first two books were: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (which was the first book of Coelho I was able to read) and Veronika Decides to Die (which I am currently reading). Each of the three books is concerned with a week in …
This article is written by Jo Josue. Please visit the blog CABAnata to read the rest.

Mine has to be ‘ The Alchemist’ by Paolo Coelho. I have read this book about 10 times and I know I will read it again. It’s a book that always From beginning to end the author takes you to a journey that helps you to realize that life …
This article is written by Fa Sy. Please visit the blog Nomore a girl, Not yet a Woman!!… to read the rest.

By Paulo Coelho

Whenever we need to make an important decision,
it is best to trust impulse and passion,
because reason usually tries to remove us from our dream,
saying that the time is not yet right.
Reason is afraid of defeat,
but intuition enjoys life and its challenges.
(Acceptance speech delivered to the Brazilian Academy of Letters)

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By Paulo Coelho

This song is not in profile anymore, but be welcome to browse the web and myspace, because Watts cannot be forgotten.

Love

Paulo

In fact, it is not a song, it is a conference, and I thank Celia “Mango Tree” to have it in her page. Alan Watts was a great influence in my generation. If you have time to hear this podcast, you will not be dissapointed

For more than forty years, Alan Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) earned a reputation as a foremost interpreter of Eastern philosophies for the West. Beginning at age sixteen, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, he developed an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, tape recordings, radio, television, and public lectures. In all, Watts wrote more than twenty-five books and recorded hundreds of lectures and seminars, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shared in complete candor and joy with his readers and listeners throughout the world. His overall works have presented a model of individuality and self-expression that can be matched by few philosophers.

His life and work reflects an astonishing adventure: he was an editor, Anglican priest, graduate dean, broadcaster, author, lecturer, and entertainer. He had fascinations for archery, calligraphy, cooking, chanting, and dancing, and still was completely comfortable hiking alone in the wilderness.

He held fellowships from Harvard University and the Bollingen Foundation, and was Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University during the Second World War. He became professor and dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, made the television series “Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life” for National Educational Television, and served as a visiting consultant for psychiatric institutions and hospitals, and for the United States Air Force. In the mid-sixties he traveled widely with his students in Japan, and visited Burma, Ceylon, and India.

(this information was taken from one many websites dedicated to him)

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In a recent interview I said that turning 60 is the same as turning 35 or 47: a birthday cake, blowing out candles, and so on. But it’s not quite the same…
 
This article is written by JACEK. Please visit the blog SOUTHERN SPAIN LIFESTYLE to read the rest.

I know.
Most of you people are wondering why I referred to God as She.
 
This article is written by Sourya. Please visit the blog THE LUNATIC SPEAKS to read the rest.

This book is about a boy who doesn’t afraid to follow his dreams, he has the courage to face all the blockages that are in front of him in order to pursuit his destiny and fulfill his dreams.
 
This article is written by yulz. Please visit the blog candleburn to read the rest.

By Paulo Coelho

‘Sometimes people get so used to what they see in films that they end up forgetting the real story,’ says a friend, as we stand together looking out over Miami harbour. ‘Do you remember The Ten Commandments?’

Of course I do. At one point, Moses – Charlton Heston – lifts up his rod, the waters part and the children of Israel cross over.

‘In the Bible it’s different,’ says my friend. ‘There, God says to Moses: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." And only afterwards does he tell Moses to lift up his rod, and then the Red Sea parts.

It is only courage on the path itself that makes the path appear.’

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A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:

‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
 
This article is written by Francis. Please visit the blog Francis’ Site to read the rest.

* It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. (p11)

* What’s the world’s greatest lie? It’s this: …
 
This article is written by Ravi Nagar. Please visit the blog Notes to Myself to read the rest.

Between the great variety of authors that we can find nowadays as favorites, we find Paulo Coelho, who is not only one of the most well-read authors and also one of the authors with major influence and with very much value in the …
 
This article is written by Solángel Rodrí­guez. Please visit the blog BrAziL to read the rest.