Paulo Coelho’s Blog

9 Responses to “Mikhail”

• Savita Vega

  August 17, 2009 at 9:21 pm

  This is my favorite thing of all that Mikhail says:

  Speaking to the writer: “That’s what you think (that you didn’t hear the voice). That’s what everyone thinks. And yet, judging by what the presence tells me, everyone hears voices all the time. They are what help us to recognize when we are face to face with a sign, you see.”

  At a certain point, the writer himself seems to express similar thoughts: “I believe in signs. After I had walked the road to Santiago, everything had changed completely: what we need to learn is always there before us, we just have to look around us with respect and attention in order to discover where God is leading us and which step we should take next.”

  For Mikhail, this Guiding Presence takes the form of an audible voice, for others it is the recognition of “signs.” Yet even those signs are a language spoken by that same “Voice.” Mikhail, I think is not an “exceptional” character - he is meant to point out the perfectly unexceptional capacities which we all possess. He is no more exceptional than is any saint, who at the core is just like anyone else, except that they have ventured to take certain risks - primarily the risk of believing in the infinite potential inherent within every human being.

  Much Love,
  Savita

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  Elaine Stevens Reply:
  August 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

  Namaste Savita,
  I love that passage as well. I am not blessed with the ability to alter my consciousness, but I equate epiphanies with “hearing the voice.” I hear it best when I read diverse opinions. I can look at ideas and know where I agree and where I don’t which allows me to discover what I truly believe at times of uncertainty.

  I studied epilepsy in neuropsychology and know about the voices they hear from a scientific perspective. Oliver Sacks wrote a wonderful short story on St. John the Evangelist and his theories on the Evangelist’s “falling sickness” being the source of his visions written in Revelations. All of this was brought to mind as I read Mikhail’s story.

  Love to you

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• Elaine Stevens

  August 15, 2009 at 8:07 pm

  Namaste,
  I see Mikhail partially as Alexandra saw him… a messenger. He was also a fighter for the cause of Love… thus the name he chose. Even he, however, was sucked in by the negativity of the street people when they went into the store to buy more alcohol.

  I wondered at the end whether he returned or not to Paris. I imagine that he did, but I’ll never know. I think the Steppes were renewing for him, but they were no longer his home.

  Love to you

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  Elaine Stevens Reply:
  August 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

  Namaaste,
  Again… amending with the theme of reflection:
  Mikhail was a reflected by both Esther and the writer, so it was perfect that he accompanied the writer to Kazakhstan. It was like a metaphor for the Trinity in that way. For Esther he seemed to be a tool to spread Love, which seemed to be her goal. With the writer, Esther had sent him on missions which promoted his dreams. The writer was literally “nobody” without Esther because he his known as the writer and he might never have actually sat down to write without her ideas. With the writer, Esther promoted concepts which inspired self love, something not innate in the writer who apparently easily lost himself in the superficial pleasures society offers.

  For the writer, Mikhail reflected Esther until he could find her once more. Mikhail introduced the writer to her work within Paris of which the writer was ignorant… mostly because if what Esther said didn’t reflect him, the writer tuned her out.

  Thus Mikhail becomes the messenger for the writer… an angel who returns the writer to his path.

  Love to you

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• Albin

  July 27, 2009 at 7:19 pm

  He feels the lack of love in world. And all that lack of love, pretending to be love. He want to unmask the false love with all it’s ritualls and strange rules that no one knows what they’re good for.

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• Monika

  July 23, 2009 at 10:45 pm

  Mikhail is a likely character, but a little bit bloodless and colourless, if you know what I mean.

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• Mon

  July 13, 2009 at 11:48 am

  Prima, estou mandando essa mensagem para mais uma vez agradecer o presente que você me deu na última vez que esteve aqui. O livro do Paulo não foi um mero presente, e sim, “o presente” que veio na hora certa. Coloquei na mochila e por dias ele estava ali me olhando, por fim depois de entrar num metrô cheio e que atrasava muito para sair, resolvi ler.
  Muito obrigado prima, naquele momento resgatou em mim, uma vontade de ler muito grande… enfim li o Zahir (me identifiquei muito com o personagem Mikrail) , um livro de teatro, estou lendo o Alquimista e por aí vai… precisava te dizer isso

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• juana santana

  July 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm

  oh mikhail, i was thinking when i start the book esther was with him. i need one mikhail now for find the way to my love.

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• Alexandra

  July 9, 2009 at 7:27 am

  Mikhail is a medium, like a messenger. He open the eyes of the Writer, and leads him back to Esther.

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