Paulo Coelho

Do you have a mentor or is it all self study?
 
Yes, I do have a mentor – better saying, I have several mentors: my neighbor, the taxi driver, the stranger that starts a conversation with me and it is not a stranger anymore, or the person that I crossed on the street, or the book that I open by chance, or a music that strikes me at the right moment. My mentors are people that I meet on the course of an ordinary day.

8 January 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will head to Spain next week for the first United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum aimed at promoting the global campaign launched by the world body to help overcome prejudices between nations and cultures and to promote interfaith dialogue.
 
Mr. Ban will open the Forum on 15 January along with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan, and the Secretary-General’s High Representative for the Alliance and former President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio.
 
The two-day meeting in the Spanish capital will bring together political leaders, the media, corporate and film industry executives, and grassroots and civil society leaders. Participants include author Paulo Coelho, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Queen Noor of Jordan, Al Jazeera anchor Riz Khan, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and former Irish President Mary Robinson.
 
Created in 2005 at the initiative of Spain and Turkey and under UN auspices, the Alliance seeks to tackle fear and suspicion, bridge divides and overcome prejudices and polarizations between Islam and the West.
 
“This event next week is the first major event of the Alliance of Civilizations,” the group’s Acting Director said at a press briefing in New York.
 
Shamal Idriss pointed out that a number of high-profile initiatives will be announced at the Forum, including major projects aimed at promoting understanding among cultures in the areas of media and youth. These will include efforts by the “Group of Friends” network – a growing community of over 80 States and international organizations that support the objectives of the Alliance.
 
The “centrepiece” of the Forum will be the launching of two major initiatives, he noted, confirming that one of them will be a “major investment” in the Alliance’s planned youth employment initiative, which would bring together Governments and major multinational corporations.
 
Madrid will also see the launch of a multi-million dollar Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund, an initiative that will be run independently of the UN and set up by private philanthropists and media agencies to “support major film productions that help to promote cross-cultural understanding and combat stereotypes.”
 
He added that so far investors had committed $10 million towards what will ultimately be a $100 million campaign for the Fund. While the names of the Fund’s partners will be announced at next week’s gathering, he noted that they include new media companies that were “household names” and “three major Hollywood film companies.”

By Paulo Coelho

The Warrior of Light has learned that it is best to follow the light.
(Manual of the Warrior of Light)

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By Paulo Coelho

A disciple who loved and admired his teacher decided to observe his behaviour minutely, believing that if he did everything that his teacher did, then he would also acquire his teacher’s wisdom.
 
The teacher always wore white, and so his disciple did the same.
 
The teacher was a vegetarian, and so his disciple stopped eating meat and replaced it with a diet of vegetables and herbs.
 
The teacher was an austere man, and so the disciple decided to devote himself to self-sacrifice and started sleeping on a straw mattress.
 
After some time, the teacher noticed these changes in his disciple’s behaviour and asked him why.
 
‘I am climbing the steps of initiation,’ came the reply. ‘The white of my clothes shows the simplicity of my search, the vegetarian food purifies my body, and the lack of comfort makes me think only of spiritual things.’
 
Smiling, the teacher took him to a field where a horse was grazing.
 
‘You have spent all this time looking outside yourself, which is what matters least,’ he said. ‘Do you see that creature there? He has white skin, eats only grass and sleeps in a stable on a straw bed. Do you think he has the face of a saint or will one day become a real teacher?’

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A lot of people still see The Alchemist and your other work as bibles to live by. How do you look back on your earlier work? Is it still ‘the truth’ for you or have you moved on and adapted new philosophies?
 

Alchemy is the art of projecting in this world what you have in the non-material world. Therefore, when you are able to manifest physically something, you get a better picture of your feelings. In the case of a book, most of the time I have a subconscious understanding, but I need to write and concentrate it. I would suggest everybody to write diaries, it helps a lot to solve our own conflicts. Besides that, every book is a different one: I love narratives, but I also love to write to answer some questions I have about myself.

By Paulo Coelho

I am going to spend the next two weeks on the road, but this blog will continue to be updated, comments and friends approved. However, for any personal message, please put “Personal” in the subject, and I will read/answer when I return.

You probably remember a blog posted some months ago, “Why women love men”, written by one of my friends, Julia (she is now in the top friends for a while). That lead to other posts on the same subject. Today I am listing here Men’s rules for a relationship. I am not the author, I just compiled them from lists in internet.

But I must confess: I agree with many of them. For example, I never understood why women need so many shoes!

Let’s go to the list. Seeing you soon, love

Paulo

IF YOU WANT US TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH YOU…

1- Don’t cut your hair. Ever. Long hair is always more attractive than short hair. One of the big reasons guys fear getting married is that married women always cut their hair, and by then we are stuck with her.

2- Birthdays, Valentines, and Anniversaries are not quests to see if we can find the perfect present yet again!

3- Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.

4- Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

5- We don’t remember dates. Mark birthdays and anniversaries on a calendar. Remind us frequently beforehand.

6- Women who claim they ‘love to watch sports’ must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the hability to drink as much beer as the other sports watchers. You may always ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who’s playing.

7- Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints don’t do it!

8- Most guys own three pairs of shoes – tops. What makes you think we’d be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?

9- Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

10- If you think you are fat, don’t ask us. We refuse to answer.

11- On a road trip, the strongest bladder determines pit stops, not the weakest.

12- Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is for your girlfriends. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

13- If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing is wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

14- When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.

15- If a man’s zipper is down, that’s his problem—you didn’t see nothing.

16- Please check the oil. Please don’t forget to put some gasoline. You also can do these simple things, so none of us will be stuck on the road.

17- Thou shalt not buy a car in the colours of brown, pink, lime, green, orange or sky blue.

18- Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as soccer teams, the offside rule, investments or cars.

19- Pretend that you don’t know we dye our hair.

20- Gadgets are as exciting for us as handbags are for you.

21- When we say “I love you” we really mean it. Because we know the danger on pronouncing these three magical words – they will lead us to a lasting relationship.

22- Threfore, for this relationship to last, please read these rules again!

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By Paulo Coelho

The Warrior of Light is a believer.
(Manual of the Warrior of Light)

Welcome to Share with Friends – Free Texts for a Free Internet

By Paulo Coelho

An old children’s story tells of Miss Cockroach, who found a coin as she was sweeping out her house. After a long time spent at her window, choosing the right mate to accommodate all her fears and anxieties, she ended up marrying John Shrew. And as everyone knows, John Shrew fell in the stew.
 
Often in our lives, we find a coin that has been given to us by fate, and we believe it to be the one treasure of our lives. We end up placing so much value on that one thing that fate – the same fate that gave us the coin – decides to take it back.
 
Those who are afraid of making a choice, always choose wrongly.

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What has been the driving force in your life?
 
Knowing that everybody has a purpose. We know when we are closer to our goal by listening to our heart. So, my driving force is to fulfill my destiny.

What do you think are the most critic issues today in the world? On a personal and on a social level.
Love
Paulo

 
If you want, you can visit my e-Cards page to take this e-Book or other quotes to share with your friends.

By Paulo Coelho

The Warrior of Light recognizes the silence that precedes an important battle.
(Manual of the Warrior of Light)

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By Paulo Coelho

In one of his rare writings, the Sufi sage Hafik says of the spiritual search:
 
‘Accept with wisdom the fact that the Path is full of contradictions. The Path often hides itself in order to stimulate the traveller to discover what lies beyond the next bend.
 
If two travelling companions are following the same path, then one of them is clearly following a false trail. For there are no formulae for finding the truth of the Path, and each person needs to run the risks incurred by his own steps.
 
Only the ignorant try to imitate the behaviour of others. Intelligent men do not waste their time like that; they develop their own abilities; they know that in a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are the same, just as no two journeys along the same Path are the same.’

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Today, most people are talking about transformation, astral travel, holistic healing, channeling. Do you think these are indications of a paradigm shift in humanity?
 
It depends. I also see people complicating the communion with God. The new paradigm includes Rigor and Mercy. But we cannot be stupid enough to think that this is all. Appendicitis needs a surgeon, not a holistic healer.