Paulo Coelho

From the Ashtavakra Gita (approx. fifth century B.C.):

“I am the boundless ocean
The wind that blows anywhere it wants to

Bears in my chest the vessel we call World
The World tosses from one side
to another

But I remain serene
I am the deep ocean
Where waves drive
themselves up

Where planets are shaken, up and down
But I remain immutable

I am the boundless ocean
From which all constellations came from
Beyond all forms

I exist. I am.”

Success does not come from having one’s work recognised by others. It is the fruit of the seed that you lovingly planted.

When harvest time arrives, you can say to yourself: ‘I succeeded.’

You succeeded in gaining respect for your work because you did not work only to survive, but to demonstrate your love for others.

You managed to finish what you began, even though you did not foresee all the traps along the way. And when your enthusiasm waned because of the difficulties you encountered, you reached for discipline. And when discipline seemed about to disappear because you were tired, you used your moments of repose to think about what steps you needed to take in the future.
You were not paralyzed by the defeats that are inevitable in the lives of those who take risks. You didn’t sit agonising over what you lost when you had an idea that didn’t work.
You didn’t stop when you experienced moments of glory, because you had not yet reached your goal.
And when you  have to ask for help, you did not feel humiliated. And when you learned that someone needed help, you showed them all that you had learned, without fearing that you might be revealing secrets or being used by others.
To him who knocks, the door will open.
He who asks will receive.
He who consoles knows that he will be consoled.

(Taken from “Manuscript found in Accra”)

selected by Awakened Consciousness

De Mello was was born in Bombay, British India on 4 September 193, ordained into the Jeesuit priesthood in March 1961 He died from a massive heart attack in New York,
In 1998, 11 years after de Mello’s death, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of its Cardinal-Prefect, Joseph Ratzinger] (who later became Pope Benedict XVI), conducted a review of de Mello’s work and released a lengthy comment expressing their theological concerns. While the group showed appreciation for many of de Mello’s writings, some positions were found to be “incompatible with the Catholic faith”.
I decided to dedicate the 3 weekly posts to him. And I will write to Pope Francis to ask the cancellation of Ratzinger’s Notification

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“Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.”

De Mello was was born in Bombay, British India on 4 September 193, ordained into the Jeesuit priesthood in March 1961 He died from a massive heart attack in New York,
In 1998, 11 years after de Mello’s death, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of its Cardinal-Prefect, Joseph Ratzinger] (who later became Pope Benedict XVI), conducted a review of de Mello’s work and released a lengthy comment expressing their theological concerns. While the group showed appreciation for many of de Mello’s writings, some positions were found to be “incompatible with the Catholic faith”.
I decided to dedicate the 3 weekly posts to him. And I will write to Pope Francis to ask the cancellation of Ratzinger’s Notification
He is the author of all texts below

There was once a hard-working and generous farmer who had several idle and greedy sons. On his deathbed he told them that the would find his treasure if they were to dig in a certain field. As soon as the old man was dead, the sons hurried to the fields, which they dug up from one end to another, and with increasing desperation and concentration when they did not find the gold in the place indicated.

But they found no gold at all. Realizing that in his generosity their father must have given his gold away during his lifetime, they abandoned their search. Finally, it occurred to them that, since the land had been prepared they might as well now sow a crop. They planted wheat, which produced an abundant yield. They sold this crop and prospered that year.

After the harvest was in, the sons thought again about the bare possibility that they might have missed the buried gold, so they again dug up the fields, with the same result. After several years they became accustomed to labor, and to the cycle of the seasons, something which they had not understood before.

Now they understood the reason for their father’s method of training them, and they became honest and contented farmers. Ultimately, they found themselves possessed of sufficient wealth and no longer to wonder about the hidden hoard.

De Mello was was born in Bombay, British India on 4 September 193, ordained into the Jeesuit priesthood in March 1961 He died from a massive heart attack in New York,
In 1998, 11 years after de Mello’s death, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of its Cardinal-Prefect, Joseph Ratzinger] (who later became Pope Benedict XVI), conducted a review of de Mello’s work and released a lengthy comment expressing their theological concerns. While the group showed appreciation for many of de Mello’s writings, some positions were found to be “incompatible with the Catholic faith”.
I decided to dedicate the 3 weekly posts to him. And I will write to Pope Francis to ask the cancellation of Ratzinger’s Notification
He is the author of all texts below

“Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself; I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.”

“”Ž”I have no fear of losing u, for you aren’t an object of my property, or anyone else’s. I love you as you are, without attachment, without fears, without conditions, without egoism, trying not to absorb you. I love you freely because I love your freedom, as well as mine.”

“As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. … That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life… Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.”

“These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness, and worship without awareness.”

Sister Begona Miguel of the Huelgas Monastery says;

“San Juan de La Cruz teaches us that silence has its own music; it is silence that enables us to see ourselves and the things around us.

‘I would like to add that there are words that can only be said in silence, odd as that may seem. To compose their symphonies, the great geniuses needed silence – and they managed to transform this silence into divine sounds. Philosophers and scientists need silence.

‘In the monastery, at night, we practice what we call The Great Silence.

‘In the absence of speech we can understand what lies beyond.”

Faith shows us that we are never alone.

Transformation helps us to love the mystery.
And when everything seems dark, and we feel alone and helpless, we won’t look back, for fear of seeing the changes that have taken place in our soul. We will look ahead.
We will not fear what happens tomorrow, because yesterday we had someone watching over us.
And that same Presence will remain at our side.
That Presence will shelter us from suffering.
Or will give us the strength to face it with dignity.
We will go farther than we think.

We will seek out the place where the morning star is born. And we will be surprised when we get there how much easier it was than we had imagined.
 
 
taken from THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA

A reader of my books met me at an afternoon book-signing in Bilbao, in the Basque Country.

“You always speak of symbols,” she tells me, “I want to show you a symbol that you have never seen.”

The next day she picks me up at my hotel.

“I don’t know how this started,” she says, “but legend has it that an old Jewish alchemist claimed that these trees could sing. The mayor of the town said that if he could not prove what he claimed, he would be killed. Ever since then, every year a tree sings in Soria, symbolically saving those who feel that everything is possible.”

We reach Soria and go to a square. Little by little, people begin to gather and all of a sudden a complete band with all their instruments climbs the gigantic bi-centenarian elm tree in the middle of the square. Each musician occupies a branch.

Under the command of an invisible wand, a tree sings in Soria.

Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honour of losing and the joy of winning.
I am not here to tell you that defeat is part of life: we all know that. Only the defeated know Love. Because it is in the realm of love that we fight our first battles – and generally lose.
I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated.
They are the ones who never fought.
They managed to avoid scars, humiliations, a sense of helplessness, as well as those moments when even warriors doubt the existence of God.
Such people can say with pride: ‘I never lost a battle.’ On the other hand, they will never be able to say: ‘I won a battle.’
Not that they care. They live in a universe in which they believe they are invulnerable; they close their eyes to injustices and to suffering; they feel safe because they do not have to deal with the daily challenges faced by those who risk stepping out beyond their own boundaries.

Defeat ends when we launch into another battle. Failure has no end: it is a lifetime choice.

 
 
taken from THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA