Archive for the 'Q&A' Category

I think in economic crisis the main problem of Igor, the main character of your new novel The Winner Stands Alone, will be to save his business but not love. What you think about this? And what you think about crisis?

Interesting that you mention the crisis because, in my eyes, this book talks exactly about the excesses that led to the current situation. The constant race for power, money, glamour, are the outward signs of a society that has made “consumption” the alpha and omega of human conduct. In this scenario, when a person is merely what he/she consumes, wears, and pretends – she gradually slips into this image, this collective illusion of perfection. But this collective “dream” reveals only that in order to exist you need to have – instead of simply being.

The crisis is bringing with its chaos, a sort of readjustment: people are realizing that there are other priorities and that they should focus on quality of life – rather than this frantic race for quantity.

Readers of your books, besides the joy of reading, find concrete spiritual directions for life… Do you think that your messages find their way to a specific type of readers, or you write novels without thinking about your reader?

I don’t give concrete spiritual directions for life, because living is the only way to learn. I am a writer, first and foremost. I always had the need to write, despite the outer world. I believe that it is this need to keep on understanding myself and questioning the world that motivates me the most. The miracle happens when this inner dialogue gets out in the world and touches other souls. Reaching within one’s soul is what links you to others. I profoundly belive in John Donne’s words: “No Man is an Island”.

Dear Paulo,
I really admire your thoughts and your messages around the pursue of one’s dream .However, not everyone is blessed with a childhood dream or a Personal Legend. Those of us that have been brought up with such a rigid pattern (school, school, work, more school, marriage, kid, etc), do not even have the luxury of dreaming what we want to become. Unfortunately, my best friend and I are among them. So, here we are, reading your books in frustration….
We completely grab the idea of pursuing the Personal Legend, but are stuck!
After reading your book, the idea of not having known what we shall pursue in life until the day we die, is really torturing to the bits of our nail.
The worst part: there is no turning back….!
Once the idea (of pursuing personal legend) has grown in our mind (or soul, shall I say it), we just cannot pretend that we do not believe what we read and return to normal life with ignorance. We cannot just act and behave normally like other woman in our ages (mid 30’s, happy smile while doing groceries or while working in the office) while we know there’s something missing in our life but have no slightest idea what the missing part is.
We keep questioning God on what we should do….
So, our question is basically simple…. How do we know whether a Personal Legend has been ‘tagged’ on us? And what journey should we take to know what they are?

Let’s do this by parts.
Firstly – if the idea of personal legend is something that is “torturing” you – well, let me say that you are in the good track.
People that have died to themselves don’t even bother wondering about this. You are alive and you wish to accomplish something – even if for the moment you don’t really know what it is.
Secondly – I totally disagree with “there’s no turning back”. Of course there is! Look at me for instance : I had parents that didn’t support me on my dream and committed me to an asylum, I was tortured in my mid-twenties, and I only truly managed to write a book at the age of 40! The possibility of “turning back” is actually the possibility of “moving forward”.
Now – how can you find out? Honestly, you should first allow yourself to do the things you want to do. You will see – it starts with very small things, but when this becomes a habit, little by little you start seeing the road you wish to take.
Having faith that the present can be infinitely richer and that life is a mystery is the beginning of the journey.

I very much enjoyed ‘A life in the Day – of the Boy from Brazil’ in the Sunday Times Magazine today. It was so different from the many famous people who are usually in this column due to the way in which you have shaped your life in reflective way.
Today in the Sunday Times, you are quoted as saying ‘ but there is a high price to pay for being different. I’ve paid a price for being different ……… I’m proud of my scars; they are like medals’.
Why do you think some of us are called to be different and make a difference and suffer the pain that this brings while others are content not to make a difference and therefore do not suffer the pain? Is this linked to our spirituality?

I’m not so sure about your assumption that people content themselves with what society asks of them. Furthermore, I don’t think they are as placid as you think.
Actually in my book The Pilgrimage I talk about this feeling. Indeed, when you abandon your dream, the first feeling that creeps in is a type of calmness, stillness. This is the first indication that something of precious in your soul is dying.
I would say that it is better to feel – completely – the consequences of your fight because these indicate that you are alive.
Of course, sometimes we wish to reduce the pain – and I think this is part of the battle. Ideally, the best would be to reduce the suffering in the realization of our dreams. Hence the need of allies and most importantly of all: faith.
The most beautiful accomplishment in my eyes is to fight with happiness in our hearts. I prefer this immensely more than some type of mild satisfaction of not taking risks.

What is more important to be loved or to love?

Dear Sylvia,
I think that if you could only choose one solution”: the best is to love. When you are in love, you live this miracle and you feel this strength.
On the other hand – to be loved – without the counterpart of loving is unbearable.
Your question though reminded me of a song by a very famous Brazilian singer: Roberto Carlos – “I will only love someone who loves be back”. This in my view is the perfect configuration.

My question to you is : What you say about those like me who are workaholics and have a need to keep striving for acknowledgements for others instead of self-fulfillment?

Dear Juan,
Being a workaholic myself, the only solution I found was allying my work with my mission. It was a very long process, but becoming a writer helped me a lot in achieving this fragile equilibrium.

Your blog yesterday has me thinking and wondering about something…it mentions men closing their eyes to major travesties around the world and some others that are less major, but no less important…and it is true that warriors of light never/should never accept what is unacceptable.

Tell me…should this apply to our own individual battles? To injustice done to ourselves? How do we know when to fight against this injustice, to fight for our truth, and when we should just let them win, walk away beaten and burned? It is unacceptable to me that this wrong was done to me and that truth and light will never win….what to do?

Oi Paulo,

I once read that in working with Raul Seixas, you said he taught you how to write about complicated and important subjects in simple ways. What were the specific lessons and techniques that you took from that?

Basically I learnt that the first draft – is the final draft! This means that if you feel that in order to write something you need to be constantly re-read and re-edit, this means you didn’t get it right in the first place.

He also tought me to not only go to the essential but also depart from more baroque ideas so that the message can pass in a crystal clear way.

Hi Mr Coelho,
just wondering, from among all the places & countries you’ve been to, which one do you consider a personal favorite?

I’ve always been a traveler, a pilgrim. To be able to keep on moving, meeting new people and getting in touch with new visions of the world, is what keeps me going.

That’s why, I find impossible to answer this question. It’s like asking me which of my characters I love the most: they are all part of my soul, my children.

The same thing happens with the different countries I’ve been to: all these different horizons gave me shelter.

Will you ever write an autobiography?

No – for two reasons. Firstly, a biography written by Fernando Morais (a Brazilian journalist and writer) is coming out throughout 2009 and 2010 in several countries.

Secondly, I never wanted to write an autobiography because I prefer a third party to write about one’s own work – otherwise it would be too pompous to indulge in such an exercise.