Contemplating the desert

By Paulo Coelho

Three people passing in a small caravan saw a man contemplating the late afternoon in the Sahara desert, from the top of a mountain.

- It must be a shepherd who has lost a sheep – said the first.

- No, I don’t think he’s looking for anything, much less at sunset, when the view is hazy. I think he’s waiting for a friend.

- I guarantee that’s a holy man, and is looking for enlightenment, – commented the third.

They began to talk about what the man was doing, and became so engrossed in the discussion that they almost fought over it. Finally, in order to resolve the matter, they decided to climb the mountain and go to the man.

- Are you looking for your sheep? – asked the first.

- No, I have no flock.

- Then you are surely waiting for someone – said the second.

- I’m a lonely man who lives in the desert – was the answer.

- Since you live in the desert in solitude, you must be a saint searching for God’s signs, and are meditating! – said the third man, delighted.

- Does everything on Earth have to have an explanation? Then I shall explain: I am merely looking at the sunset. Is that not enough to give sense to our lives?

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Image of the Day : Ascending and Descending by Escher

Descending by Escher

Quote of the Day

By Paulo Coelho

Good and Evil have the same face;
it all depends on when they cross
the path of each individual human being.
(The Devil and Miss Prym)

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Today’s Question by Aart Hilal

What is the appeal of traveling and what do you receive from traveling? Are they reflected to your work? Please let us know what does traveling means to you.

I’m a pilgrim writer and that inevitably appears in the way my characters deals with space. I’m in constant movement and very often I find that my characters need to equally find themselves in a journey. I believe that we are constantly experiencing transformation and that’s why we need to let life guide us. That’s what the main character in The Witch of Portobello, Athena, for instance, does: she runs the world in order to discover herself.

The physical journey mimics the psychological one in the sense that it’s only through this experience that she is able to grasp the deeper meaning of her life, the reason for her wanderings.