Paulo Coelho

Dear Mr. Coelho,

I am a psychologist working at Folsom State Prison and have therapy group designed to help inmates think positively and take positive action in their lives.

Recently, we have begun reading The Alchemist in group because I thought it would be good for the inmates to start thinking about their own personal legends so they can start to nurture their own paths.

I must say they are taken by the story and are freely sharing their hopes and dreams with one another. They are contemplating their obstacless and what they can do to get through them.
Society has told them that they are done but, as they journey with Santiago, they are learning otherwise and are inspired.

Thank you for The Alchemist on behalf of the inmates in the Positive Mood Group at Folsom State Prison!

Sincerely,

Rachel Couzens, Psy.D.”

Dear Rachel

I just posted it here because this may serve as an example to many.
I also strongly encourage my friends in this blog to support you in whatever you need.
Here is a link to Folsom State Prison – Mission Statement with all the relevant addresses.
Thank you very much
Paulo

In 1967,When I was interned in Dr. Eiras Mental Institution (yes, I was considered to be a lunatic), I began to have panic crises.
One day, I decided to consult the psychiatrist in charge of my case:

“Doctor, I am overcome by fear; it takes from me the joy of living”.

“Here in my office there is a mouse that eats my books”, said the doctor.
“If I get desperate about this mouse, he will hide from me and I will do nothing else in life but hunt him.
“Therefore, I put the most important books in a safe place and let him gnaw some others.

“In this way, he is still a mouse and does not become a monster.

“Be afraid of some things and concentrate all your fear on them – so that you have courage in the rest.”

by Keith Parkins

A man without friends, a woman without friends, does not exist. “” Paulo Coelho

An annual tradition friends gather together to celebrate St Joseph Day.

What purpose is life without friends?

A St Joseph Day Party, Paulo Coelho and friends at Hotel Fortaleza do Guincho.

Hotel Fortaleza do Guincho is a recently restored 17th century fortress-like complex along the coast from Cascais, which is along the coast from Lisbon.

The Portuguese were adventurers and navigators, what is life without adventure, without taking risks?

The evening started with cocktails, followed by Paulo and Christina welcoming everyone.

Rudolf sent his best wishes, he was sorry he could not be there, but Scorpions were performing in Moscow.

Prayers in many languages, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Urdu, English, starting with Portuguese.

TO CONTINUE READING, PLEASE CLICK HERE)

According to the dictionary: s.f., from the Latin Invidia. Mixture of pain and anger; feeling of displeasure about the prosperity and happiness of someone else; desire to have what others have.

In a Jewish parable: A disciple asks the rabbis about the passage in Genesis:
“The Lord was pleased about Abel and his offer, whereas he was not pleased about Cain and his offer. Cain was exceedingly angry and his face fell. Then the Lord said to him: Why are you angry and why did your face fall?”
The rabbis answered:
“God should have asked Cain: Why are you angry? Was it because I did not accept your offering, or because I accepted the offering of your brother?”

Envy and ethics: For the scientist and researcher Dr. William M. Shelton, envy is a reaction provoked by losers, who seek to evade reality by hiding behind a crusade seeking to reinstate “moral values”, “noble ideas”, and “social justice”.
The situation becomes dangerous when the school system begins to develop in the student the conditioning for despising all those who manage to be successful, always attributing any success to corruption, manipulation and moral degradation.

As the pursuit of success is something inherent to the human condition, the students end up in a schizophrenic process of hating exactly that which would lead them to happiness, thereby increasing the anxiety crises, and reducing the capacity to innovate and improve society.

Satan and the demons: The demons came to complain to the Prince of Darkness. For two years they had tempted a certain monk who lives in the desert.
“We have offered him money, women, all we have in our repertoire, and nothing worked.”
– You don’t know how to do it properly – replied Satan. – Come and see how you should act in a case of this sort.
They all flew to the cavern where the holy monk lived. There, Satan whispered in his ear:
– Your friend Maccarius has just been promoted to Bishop of Alexandria.
Immediately the man blasphemed against the heavens, and lost his soul.

A carpenter and his apprentices were travelling through the province of Qi in search of building materials.
They saw a giant tree; five men all holding hands could not encompass its girth, and its crown reached almost to the clouds.

‘Let’s not waste our time with this tree,’ said the master carpenter.
‘It would take us for ever to cut it down. If we wanted to make a ship out of that heavy trunk, the ship would sink. If we tried to use it to build a roof, the walls would have to be specially reinforced.’

The group continued on its way. One of the apprentices remarked:

‘Such a big tree and no use to anyone!’

‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ said the master carpenter. ‘The tree was true to its own destiny.
“If it had been like all the others, we would have cut it down. But because it had the courage to be different, it will remain alive and strong for a long time yet.”

by Keith Parkins

An annual tradition friends gather together to celebrate St Joseph Day.

What purpose is life without friends?

A St Joseph Day Party, Paulo Coelho and friends at Hotel Fortaleza do Guincho.

Hotel Fortaleza do Guincho is a fortress-like complex along the coast from Cascais, which is along the coast from Lisbon.

The Portuguese were adventurers and navigators, what is life without adventure, without taking risks?

The evening started with cocktails, followed by Paulo and Christina welcoming everyone.

Rudolf sent his best wishes, he was sorry he could not be there, but Scorpions were performing in Moscow.

Prayers in many languages, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Urdu, English, starting with Portuguese.

(TO CONTINUE READING, CLICK HERE )

There was once a wave in the ocean, rolling along, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the swiftness of the breeze.
It smiled at everything around it as it made its way toward the shore.

But then, it suddenly noticed that the waves in front of it, one by one, were striking against the cliff face, being savagely broken to pieces.

‘Oh God!’ it cried. ‘My end will be just like theirs. Soon I, too, will crash and disappear!’

Just then another wave passing by saw the first wave’s panic and asked:
‘Why are you so anxious? Look how beautiful the weather is, see the sun, feel the breeze…’

The first wave replied:
‘Don’t you see? See how violently those waves before us strike against the cliff, look at the terrible way they disappear. We’ll soon become nothing just like them.’

‘Oh, but you don’t understand,’ the second wave said.
‘You’re not a wave. You’re a part of the ocean.’

______________________________

in “The missing rose” by Serdar Ozkan

By Paulo Coelho

The yogi Raman was a true master of the art of archery. One morning, he invited his favourite disciple to watch a display of his skill. The disciple had seen this more than a hundred times before, but he nevertheless obeyed his teacher. They went into the wood beside the monastery and when they reached a magnificent oak tree, Raman took a flower which he had tucked in his collar and placed it on one of the branches.

He then opened his bag and took out three objects: his splendid bow made of precious wood, an arrow and a white handkerchief embroidered with lilacs.

The yogi positioned himself one hundred paces from the spot where he had placed the flower. Facing his target, he asked his disciple to blindfold him with the embroidered handkerchief.

The disciple did as his teacher requested.

‘How often have you seen me practise the noble and ancient sport of archery?’ Raman asked him.

‘Every day,’ replied his disciple. ‘And you have always managed to hit the rose from three hundred paces away.’

With his eyes covered by the handkerchief, the yogi Raman placed his feet firmly on the ground, drew back the bowstring with all his might – aiming at the rose placed on one of the branches of the oak tree – and then released the arrow.

The arrow whistled through the air, but it did not even hit the tree, missing the target by an embarrassingly wide margin.

‘Did I hit it?’ said Raman, removing the handkerchief from his eyes.

‘No, you missed completely,’ replied the disciple. ‘I thought you were going to demonstrate to me the power of thought and your ability to perform magic.’

‘I have just taught you the most important lesson about the power of thought,’ replied Raman. ‘When you want something, concentrate only on that: no one will ever hit a target they cannot see.’

The remarkable characteristics of Damascus steel became known to Europe when the Crusaders reached the Middle East, beginning in the 11th century.
They discovered that swords of this metal could split a feather in midair, yet retain their edge through many a battle with the Saracens.
The swords were easily recognized by a characteristic watery or ”damask” pattern on their blades.

Such blades were reputed to be not only tough and resistant to shattering, but capable of being honed to a sharp and resilient edge.

The original method of producing Damascus steel is not known. Due to differences in raw materials and manufacturing techniques, modern attempts to duplicate the metal have failed.

For eight centuries the Arab sword makers succeeded in concealing their techniques from competitors -and from posterity. Those in Europe only revealed that they quenched in ”red medicine” or ”green medicine.” A less abrupt form of cooling, according to one account, was achieved when the blade, still red hot, was ”carried ina furious gallop by a horseman on a fast horse.”

Writings found in Asia Minor said that to temper a Damascus sword the blade must be heated until it glows ”like the sun rising in the desert.”

According to Dr. Nickel, once blades of Damascus steel had been rough-shaped by hammering, they were ground to a fine edge. When they were hammered chiefly on one side, a curved shape resulted – the origin of the sabre, he said.

The finest blades ever made, he added, were the Samurai swords of Japan, whose blades may contain a million layers of steel. The layers resulted from hammering out a bar to double its original length, then folding it over as many as 32 times.

The multiple layers used by the Japanese and by makers of the Malay dagger or kris are sometimes referred to as ‘ ‘welded Damascus steel.” Although the production method differs from that of true Damascus steel, the blades may show a very similar pattern.

from a 1981 article by Walter Sullivan and Wikipedia

In today’s society (as it was the case in the past) there is a tremendous amount of energy spent on trying to make people conform to established behavior, to established religions, namely, to a certain type of thought.

This uniformity is very tricky because it comes through a certain «political correctness» that stifles people’s spontaneity.

Women who rebels against this sort of general “inertia” were called in the past witches and the stigma still strive nowadays.

Actually these rebellious women pay a price, doing things in a way that probably will not make a lot of sense to others but that are vital to them. Athena is very bold and she takes a risk – as anyone who stays true to oneself does.

I wanted to particularly explore the prejudices that we have when we embrace our compassionate side.

People that accept that God is more than rules and commandments and try to dwell into the adoration of beauty and passion, this feminine energy, are called “witches”.
But in fact, Athena is someone who intuitively understands the soul of the world and tries to abide to its freedom.

I felt the need to question why society had tried to lock away the feminine side. The character of Athena, with her freedom and courage, was my way to tackle this subject and to unveil the shackles of dogma.
 
 
 
In The Witch of Portobello