The devil was talking to his friends when they noticed a man walking along a road. They watched him pass and saw that he bent down to pick something up.
- What did he find? – asked one of the friends.
- A piece of Truth – answered the devil.
The friends were very concerned. After all, a piece of Truth might save that man’s soul – one less in Hell. But the devil remained unmoved, gazing at the view.
- Aren’t you worried? – said one of his companions.
- He found a piece of Truth!
- I’m not worried – answered the devil.
- Do you know what he’ll do with the piece?
As usual, he’ll create a new religion. And he’ll succeed in distancing even more people from the whole Truth.
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por medio de esta lectura podemos abarcar un sinnumero de comentarios respecto a lo que es religion pero hoy en dia cada humano que se cree propietario de un pedazo de verdad forma una religiòn asì tambièn cada humano que no esta de acuerdo con los sacramentos de la iglesia corre y forma una nueva iglesia con sus propios sacramentos decretos y restricciones que hagan creer a un pueblo de que esa es la religiòn verdadera es por tal razòn que segùn su lectura el diablo està tranquilo trèmulo pasivo esperando que todos caigan se alejen de la verdad porque esta es la forma de estar mas lejos de la verdad dividiendonos cada vez mas y alejandonos de nuestro señor Jesus y Nuestro Padre DIOS
a really impressive story…
A beautiful story. The Truth is oftentimes heavy, so few care to carry it. But still the love the quote ” I am the way the truth and the life” by Jesus Christ.
Las religiones como tal pueden ser apasionantes si es tan al servicio de la verdad o aprisionantes si lo estan del demonio, la luz hace ver la oscuridad oculta. La verdadera religión es una sola, independientemente de la forma que adapte para servir a cada pueblo en cada momento historico, y no oprime al hombre, lo libera, la religión del demonio, va contra la naturaleza del hombre bueno, porque el hombre bueno se rebela contra lo injusto y busca siempre la verdad, incluso pese a sus creencias, Dios es mas fuerte que las religiones.
The truth for me is that the universe is one thing. We see ourselves as separate entities which means every other truth is relative to our experience.
It was quite true that the world is flat. Until someone discovered otherwise. :)
With love, Daniel
Everything is changeable in the universe. therefore nothing is absolute truth. The truth is only one that is the vacuum state.
Our words dissect life…But Truth is not separate…From Totality
Space inside of me…There is nowhere else to be…This truth sets me free
Still Silent Spacious…All in Truth is inside…You WhOlly and AlOne
LoveM
Нас учили “Истина это адекватное отображение реальности”,примерно так.В таком случае как он мог найти кусочек Истины?Даже если мы будем смотреть одним глазом на мир,он не сильно будет отличатся от мира на который смотрим двумя глазами.Значить это просто кусочек Правды.
sometimes when the truth comes out …
… it becomes a secret only taught to a group that “deserves” it.
… it will not be acknowledged as that.
… the one who speaks out gets isolated & rejected, destroyed.
indeed, mankind has its problems with truth.
Devil is such a humanist! :)
The problem is that when it is found a piece of the truth, we also found a piece of pride.
And pride and truth do not mix because when we find another part of the truth, our pride, says that we have the truth, and we find that this piece is false.
Everyone is convinced that there is only one truth and we have possession of it. What others believe is a lie. And that’s one reason why so many human conflicts.
Hugs.
“Truth is anything that sets you free.” A yummy morsel of truth :-).
One piece of truth seems to create separation when the holder discounts the whole or doesn’t see that there is more than one truth out there (or more than one story).
God Bless You all…
El Indio Rolling Thunder, trueno rollando dijo de que la verdad es algo de buscar, no tener. Las dulces verdades encontramos pueden hacer mucho bueno o mucho mal. Triste la vanidad que nos miente a creer las mentiras de la gente que falta el sentido de Dios. La verdad es que todos peuden saber la luz, todos son iguales en nuestros posibilidades. Que nosotros tienen buen meastro a ensenar un tipo de religion libre de la vanidad, algien a cuidarnos de nuestros inseguridades, nuestros vecinos que nos ponerian encima de la silla de Christo o otro angel de Dios cuando no somos mas que nosotros mismos.
WHAT MANKIND DOES WITH A PIECE OF TRUTH
“As usual, he’ll create a new religion. And he’ll succeed in distancing even more people from the whole Truth.”
…..does this suggest that religion is created from a partial truth and that religion distances people from truth?
I really like this short story. Having truth is not about making alot of noise and being right. Truth is sharing and caring for another person.
ys,its absolutely true.The more the masters came more they distanced the humans from the humanity cause most of them distanced the people from nature which is the highest truth and divine in itself.They gave the people the idea of write and wrong which the nature does not admit in itself.The masters made sheep out of the human beings and rather letting them explore the universe themselves made them follow what they found out Which in reality was not always the whole truth.
no, it is not so bad. not everyone who finds a piece of truth creates a religion. ordinary people just try to live up to it.
You are a magician in the form of a writer, you create magic with every story or book you share with us and dispense wisdom in such a simple way.
For as long as we need to box everything and put sets of rules together on what is, their will always be the division between good and bad and therefore always a reason to fight over what is right.
Then Mr.Paolo Coehlo what do you think is the truth? :) it would be great if you can share your solid insights about God. you know my email add, hope you can insert a time despite your compress and busy sched. ehe^ tnx.. #Philippines
TRUTH is anything that sets you free
I was doing some research recently and I found a passage that related to early Satan – or He-Satan; the opposer. He-Satan is under the control of God and his primary job is to tempt man and report back to God.
Maybe society is making Satan look bad to make itself look better and is finding a reason to blame it’s own evil on something.
oi,
Vim so pra dizer que eu AMO VC!!
Que vc e Chris tenham um excelente fim de semana…
Deus os abençoe.
marg
When Love is not our religion , and we hang on to fear, on our thoughts and convictions, so old, and yet we hold on to them so tight, as if they matter and as if it is the only truth, shutting out all our doors and windows to all the ‘ordinary’ miracles, then what is left…
and what is right? what is the truth?
only when we drop all these, like drops of water , in the vast river of the truth, only when Love is our religion, we shine like sparkling drops of water, and whoever is thirsty enough or wants to drink , drink the Love, can drink from this water… and then he realizes he can never go back…because he tasted the clear water.. it is like good old red wine..
Love and Gratitude
Annie
The Devil is never right … you cannot make a pearl necklace without the oyster, but you wouldn’t want to wear dead oysters around your neck, or the grain of sand that made the pearl.
All things come together, in their own time, accordingly.
CUANTA RAZÓN TIENE EL DIABLO PUES VAYAMOS Y RECOJAMOS TODOS LOS PEDAZOS Y FORMEMOS EL PUZLE PUES LAS RELIGIONES SON ESTUPENDAS SI NO ERES FANÁTICO Y TIENES AMPLITUD DE VISIÓN PARA MIRAR MAS ALLÁ Y VER A TRAVÉS DE ELLAS A UN MISMO SER QUE NOS DICE QUE SOMOS CO-CREADORES CON EL Y TAMBIÉN RESPONSABLES DE TODO LO QUE SUCEDE.
GRACIAS PAULO POR TUS ENSEÑANZAS YA SEAN TUYAS PROPIAS O LAS QUE RECOPILAS QUE PERTENECEN A LAS TRADICIONES QUE EN GENERAL EN TODOS LOS LUGARES SON IGUALES COMO TU DICES.
UN BESO
In this age as we think we have everything and aspire for much more, the only thing we missed is Truth. We even don’t have a piece of it. There are so much layers on top it. Religion is just one of these layers.
Peace!
That reminds me is there a devil and god after all …. or are they the same or … I have many questions indeed *LOL*
When it comes to people I think we have both a god and a devil inside of us …. then it´s a matter of choice if we choose love or fear/evil.
In my view … the truth is our own …. we all have our own truth …our view of life … and I think God speak directly to each one of us. So maybe there is so many religions as people on earth ;-) <3 namaste <3
Trust them, trust no evil inside them!! Believe in yourself, not the evil inside you!! Have faith in HIM (God) and be determibed!! :))
Thankyou for today’s story Paulo.
It reminds me of another that you shared. About a wee boy that put the world back together by turning the picture over, putting the face of a man back together.
So that’s what I decided to do. Work on love and understanding the face in the mirror first.
Is helping me to feel more compassionate, to become a better listener, respecting (each others paths, uniqueness, and share from the heart.
For example, a friend from this Blog shared a story about Lord Indra. I had been afraid of thunderstorms but through the story, looked at thunder in a new and different way. And overcome the fear of thunderstorms. (Thankyou Sheela)
I enjoy the offerings of stories and ideas here. Helps keep the mind and heart open. Thankyou so much!
Gratitude and Love to All,
Jane
A beautiful story. I think the devil is right. There are enough religions on our planet, to supply ten planets. I see no point in that some people get the idea to found new ones. But of course, anyone can make what he wants. The religions are not really serious sins. I do not think I can give Jesus the blame for the Crusades. What the organizations and believers do it is a different question. Maybe this means the devil. Whether there is a final and absolute truth? I think that’s possible. I do not know whether we humans are able to recognize them as long as we live. In love, there is much truth, perhaps the ultimate truth. But for that I would not need a new religion.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend
yes,you are so right.I think also like this.I remember a short story in the Bocaccios 'The Decameron”,the story with the merchant,who was answering a difficult question.If I think it was in 14 C,really daring story.I think many religions instigate people to hate their simmilars,only by claiming that they know the whole truth,while no one is able to really know it,as humman being.I think God is one for all ,no matter colour or relligion,only is called by different names.I remember your words in “The Fifth Mountain”.
Truly amazing, you laid a very important fact in a simple way. I guess the thing with religions is that they comfort people, for they give an easy truth and make sure that people DON’T ASK QUESTIONS. It is much easier not having to seek answers and confront different things. When there is one book that says it all, then why not just stick with it. Unfortunately they don’t realize that life is much more than that. They are missing a lot!! I believe there is no such thing as The Absolute Truth, we will never know whose truth is true !!
yes, a piece of the truth.
Religion always seem to cause a lot of troubles…
I can not forget the catholic priest who more or
less for himself said – when I told him I did not
want to take part of any communion (it was during
a wedding) – “ah these ?? who want to stay free”
much later I understood partly what he ment…
What is really “freedom” in these circumstances?
How can there be a “piece of truth”. If its not the truth then it is a lie.
I don’t believe religion is separate from spirituality. The spirit is in the religion, in its words and meaning and in the outcome of your actions if you follow it.
Kathleen xx
bueno…hola! no se! si es el sitio de comentarios….el tema es que hace rato me vengo preguntando varias cosas con respecto a dios,religiones,el diablo..es muy probable que no site a ningun autor…ni trate el tema con ningun tipo de metafora…es un pensamiento muy humilde…mi intencion no es ofender a nadie ni mucho menos creo que asta ahora nos enfocamos en creer todas las posibilidades con lo que respecta a dios…y sus diferentes religiones y nos referimos a dios como todo lo bueno y puro y con lo que respecta al diablo como todo lo malo y lo impuro…pregunta??? que ser de este mundo puede dar verasidad…de que es todo asi?? y si esto es parte de una sociedad…seriamos capaz de aceptar al diablo?? y si se dividieron los propocitos para con este mundo?? y si la historia del cielo y el infierno dependio de un amor mal consumado? por que? dar credito o partido por uno solo? por que? si el ser humano atavez de los tiempos gesto un dios todo poderoso,bueno y puro…y habrimos nuestro corazon para con el con todo nuestro ser… por que se dice que somos parte de dios que estamos echos a su imagen y semejanza….pues si es asi todos sabemos que cada ser humano tiene una parte buena y otra mala..que estamos llenos de defectos mas que virtudes…que somos capaces de hacer cosas que no estan dentro de los parametros de lo bueno… y asi y todo hasta el mas malo en algun momento de su vida tubo un acto de bondad aun que mas no sea una simple sonrisa…entonces me pregunto…??por que no darle credito al diablo…quizas nos dejaria de dar verguenza ese costado feo que cada ser humano tiene ..nadie discute algunos mas otros menos..pero un costado malo al fin…reconosernos como seres con un costado de bondad y otro de maldad…por que de repente!! el diablo nos odia tanto por que no somos capaces de reconoser que tambien somos parte de el!y si le damos la oportunidad y lo persuadimos….con nuestro costado bueno y dejamos de condenarlo…quizas descubrimos que a la maldad tiene algo de bondad…bien entendida..porsupuesto….y si la maldad se enamora de nuestro costado bueno y lo debilitamos con mucho amor y se entrega??..lo llenamos de extasis..pero del bueno….tal vez descubrimos que verdaderamente podemos mucho mas que una simple porcion de verdad
Truth has many faces, in some situations what may seem as a truth to one might not be truth to other. If life would be blck and white then things could be categorised true and untrue. But many times there are many grey shades in life.
why does not someone may be paulo or god speak to this devil fella ! ain’t the chap just wasting away his ‘life’, what will he gain by putting people in hell !! silly poor devil.
and it’s about time god was taken to task, why can he not ‘reform’ devil, eliminate the root cause of teh problem. unless of course they, that is devil and god are hand in glove, which i very much suspect is the case, in fact it is not even hand in glove, or hand in hand, it’s two faces of the same god !
love
aditya
talking about pieces of truth and devil’s views on it, devil is a fool, there is no piece of truth, truth is one, may be the act of picking it up makes it fragmented.
Religion and Sprituality – One is ritualistic and formal, the other mercurial and instinctive. Religions around the world are like the languages of this world – say a sentence in any language, translated meaningfully, it means the same thing, so I would like to beleive that our spiritual health is the translation of the language of religion. The truth? This we may never know officially, but how we conduct our lives in amongst the tens, hundreds, thousands and millions around us is the manisfestation of our individual truth about our beleives and understandings. Being truthful to oneself must be the most difficult thing to do as one should not be able to hide from oneself as one does with others. Religion is only the Police department, policing the behavior of the individual – the truth is within the individuals.
There are so many truths out there to be found and picked up. Many of us have found and picked up a Truth and carry it with us without realizing it is not our truth. Other times we discover a truth that has our initials on it but we don’t pick it up, maybe because we are too embarrassed to own our own truth or it is more comfortable to carry someone else’s truth in our pocket than our own.
Aqui no Brasil o capeta espalhou um monte de pedaços da Verdade…É igreja atrás de igreja que brota, tem uma que até comprou uma emissora de tv…
There is the piece of Truth and there is the whole Truth..How easier it is for man to be overcome by a piece of truth and for others to follow, just knowing fractions of that piece- while sacrificing the Whole Truth.
This story makes me think that I find truth (what I think is truth) is just a piece, is not a whole. It’s funny how the feeling of holding to that piece of truth is exhilarating, and it feels as if you’re holding the whole. It’s also funny how I started seeing everything trough it alone and how I judged people trough it alone. How can something like that be avoided, can it be avoided? Choosing to see the world trough a piece alone means stopping to communicate with the world in both ways, so I guess preventing that would be allowing others to show you their truth. From total power to complete vulnerability: what if they’ll shatter mine to pieces? What if their truth is better and bigger than mine? What if I discover there was no truth anywhere? Would I hold to the illusion of truth or would I be willing to smash it just to see what’s behind it? And should I be disappointed of what’s there, would I regret it? What if I discover both truths are true, but not the same, would it be any easier to comprehend? And than again, can it be comprehended?
I watched a debate recently on the existence of God, and it was utterly going nowhere. Same old arguments back and forth, same counterarguments, both being right in their own little worlds and yet not even scratching their opponents armor. I thought at that time, this kind of talks are obsolete, you want a debate relevant to today’s society, bring JP Seligman and RD Hare in a room and please, please tell me Seligman has a chance! (names are from psychology, Seligman is the father of “Optimism can be learned”, and a big supporter on how expectations shape reality / Pygmalion effect; Hare studies the newest type of sociopaths, which he calls them “without conscience”, and presents tools to identify basically “irreparable” people and how to protect yourself from them, which is another brush on our paranoid society’s tendencies) This story makes me think beyond these debates, in which each is holding his piece of truth, grasping onto it and trying to dismantle whatever piece the other one has. In the end, it might be JUST one piece.
Maybe if I keep myself open enough, I might be able to see more than one piece in my lifetime. I just hope I won’t lose them as I go along.
But then again, I want to live it, not just hold onto it, and losing is part of the risk entailed.
Dear Heart, thank you for your ‘posts’ here and the other day, with the ‘girls on the balconies’. Indeed it was very funny and exciting. We were looking at the.. boys, stars, from away and we could not imagine that they were only …soil.[joking!!]
I feel lucky to be here with you and Paulo Coelho and to be honest, I go back often to read if there is any message.. unanswered. You see, being a lawyer’s wife, I know that if you do not answer to something in a certain time, it means that you accept it.. Silence has so many meanings..
LOVE,
THELMA
Hi all,
I feel the atmosphere of understanding in the religions.
People are more looking for the spirituality in the life – not just consume. This is good.
I think that decades ago it would be much easier to reach “the fight” among people with found piece of truth.
Now are people more opened.
thanks,
If only we could put back the pieces of the puzzle, of the Truth, together, we would have been able to see the whole image, GOD.
LOVE,
THELMA
“- What did he find? – asked one of the friends.
- A piece of Truth – answered the devil.”
I really like that moment. It’s a wonderful say. Picking a piece of truth.
Maybe you know Jean-Michel Folon. I don’t know why I’m thinking about him. It’s definitely not the subject. But your universe, though alied to oriental atmospheres, often brought me to that man and Magritte.
As for the matter here, I guess you’re true. We must care about.
Gratefully.
Dear Thelma,
I want to thank you for your kind words yesterday, and let you know I always enjoy what you share with us. Please understand this is a blog and not a chat, so it is hard to have a dialogue. Sunday I answered your lovely story about being a girl at Cyprus and how your dad let you leave for piano lessons, but with the time zones, so on, I don’t believe you ever was able to read them. So, just know, my dear Thelma, you too are so very special to us, and I’m so excited to see yours and all the other responses here. We are so lucky we found this! Should we create a blog-religion? *kidding*
It is funny how we want to convince others of what we ourselves believe in. Often we act like fanatics and have our hobby horses, issues we try to push onto others. Now, I’m not as critical to religion as the devil here seems to be. Religion has helped me closer towards the Truth, and I am so very grateful for being part of a faith built in generations by so many great souls. I was born a Lutheran and converted to Catholicism 21 years old. My brother is married to a Buddhist and my sister to a Muslim, me to a Presbyterian (who doesn’t believe, as he says, in a biblical God). A good friend is an atheist. Nothing wrong with believing in a system of one support, as long as we are tolerant and humble to others.
yes,you are so right.I think also like this.I remember a short story in the Bocaccios ‘The Decameron”,the story with the merchant,who was answering a difficult question.If I think it was in 14 C,really daring story.I think many religions instigate people to hate their simmilars,only by claiming that they know the whole truth,while no one is able to really know it,as humman being.I think God is one for all ,no matter colour or relligion,only is called by different names.I remember your words in “The Fifth Mountain”.
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