Paulo Coelho

Everybody is talking about crisis, the end of the world, the crash of the stock markets, etc… But in my generation, the hippie generation, we didn’t have money as our ultimate goal and I think that now we have adapted ourselves, or were forced to adapt ourselves to a new reality.

Don’t you think that this is a new beginning, a new beginning for us to see the world differently from what society has forced us to see?

I am looking forward for your opinion.

Even though today the mask is often evoked for dissimulation and deceit, it is interesting to see that it also conveys very different meanings according the different societies as well as different periods of human history.

In the West, the mask has often been used to veil the true identity of a person: hence the use of it during the carnival where people from different social ladders could mingle and do things that – had their identity been revealed – would cause their disgrace. Another interesting example of this can be found in Ancient Rome: the mask, called “persona”, was the social mask needed in order to shield the individual from society.

In the other hand, in Greece as well as in Japan, the mask is not conceived for veiling the identity but rather to replace it. Indeed, masks are used in theater in order  to create the catharsis in the public – meaning : to waken in us the deepest and truest emotions.

Hence the ambiguity of the mask – from shield to mirror of truth.
Now you take the floor: what do you associate with the mask?

Source : Wikipedia

Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson, following the humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative six-year old boy, and Hobbes, his energetic and sardonic””albeit stuffed””tiger. The pair are named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher. The strip was syndicated daily from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995. At its height, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. To date, more than 30 million copies of the 18 Calvin and Hobbes books have been printed.

By Paulo Coelho

The Warrior of Light lets go of the idea of days and hours in order to pay more attention to the moment.

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

The modern Japan is long been called as “Self-searching Era”. On the other hand, there are tendency that it is the reason for “Adults’ Regression Phenomena” such as adults’ growing tendency to put off marriage and declining birthrate. Mr. Coelho, what do you think of the influence toward society of the people’s search for one’s raison d’etre and purpose of life?

I think, that despite all the fanaticism, we are seeing the beginning of an era where feminine values, such as generosity and tolerance, are surfacing again.

This so called “regression” is actually a more honest attitude towards ourselves and what truly motivates us – not what society expects of us.