I
have just finished reading a book “The Pilgrimage” by Paulo Coelho. It was a sheer co-incidence that I read this
book at a time when my book on “Mount Kailash” (in Tamil) got published.
In
his book “The Pilgrimage”, the Author is narrating his Pilgrimage experience to
a Sacred Place called the ‘Road to Santiago’ in Spain and I was amazed to note
that the experiences portrayed by the Author are universal and applicable to
every one of us.
I
am just capturing some of the thoughts in the book which fascinated me. Hope you like it.
‘We
must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a
meal does for the body. Many times in our lives we see our dreams shattered and
our desires frustrated, but we have to continue dreaming. If we don’t, our soul dies’.
‘The
good fight is the one that’s fought in the name of our dreams. When we’re young
and our dreams first explode inside us with all of their force, we are very courageous,
but we haven’t yet learned how to fight. With great effort, we learn how to
fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat. So we turn
against ourselves and do battle within. We become our own worst enemy. We say
that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realize, or the result of
our not having known enough about life. We kill our dreams because we are
afraid to fight the good fight.’
‘The
first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time. The busiest
people always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always
tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to
do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are
afraid to fight the good fight.’
‘The
second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we
don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise
and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of
our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell
the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes
of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the
hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat
is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the good fight.’
‘And,
finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes
a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more
than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being
mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and
professional achievement. We are surprised when people of our age say that they
still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know
that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we
have refused to fight the good fight.’
‘When
we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility.
But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We
become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against
ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid
in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice.’
And
one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually
seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and
from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons.’
‘The
only way we can rescue our dreams is by being generous with ourselves. Any
attempt to inflict self punishment – no matter how subtle it may be – should be
dealt with rigorously.’
‘Of
all the ways we have found to hurt ourselves, the worst has been through love.
We are always suffering because of someone who doesn’t love us, or someone who
has left us, or someone who won’t leave us. If we are alone, it is because no
one wants us; if we are married, we transform the marriage to slavery. What a
terrible thing!’
‘In
order to fight the good fight, we need help. We need friends, and when the
friends aren’t nearby, we have to turn solitude into our main weapon. We need
the help of everything around us in order to take the necessary steps toward
our goal.
‘Trust
in what your intuition is going to tell you.’
‘Conversation
is useful, when people want to convince themselves that what they are saying is
right.’
‘Today,
you are seeing a manifestation of eros, the feeling of love that exists between
two people.’ The bride and groom were smiling for the photographers and
accepting congratulations. ‘It appears that these two really do love each
other.’ ‘And they believe that their love will
grow. But shortly, they will be alone with each other, struggling to earn a
living, build a house, and share their adventure. He will do his time in his work. She is
probably a good cook and will be an excellent housewife, because she has been
trained since she was a child for that role. She will be good company for him,
they’ll have children, and they will feel that they are building something together.
They’ll be fighting the good fight. So even if they have problems, they will
never be really unhappy.
‘However,
this story that I am telling you could go a very different way. He might begin
to feel that he’s not free enough to express all of the eros, all of the love
that he has for other women. She might begin to feel that she gave up a
brilliant career in order to be with her husband. So instead of creating
something together, each could begin to feel robbed of a means of expressing love.
Eros, the spirit that unites them, would begin to reveal only its negative
side. And what God had provided to humans as their noblest sentiment would
become a source of hatred and destructiveness.
‘Philos
is love in the form of friendship. It’s what I feel toward you and others. When
the flame of eros stops burning, it is philos that keeps a couple together.’
‘Agape
is total love. It is the love that consumes the person who experiences it.
Whoever knows and experiences agape learns that nothing else in the world is
important – just love. Be kind. ‘
(Eros,
Philos and Agage – all are Greek words – meaning love in different forms).
‘A
threat leads to nothing if it is not accepted. In fighting the good fight, you
should never forget that. Just as you should never forget that both attacking
and fleeing are part of the fight. What isn’t a part of the fight is becoming
paralyzed by fear.’
‘When
you sensed the presence of something positive, your imagination concluded that
someone had arrived to help you. And this, your faith, saved you. Even though
it was based on an assumption that was absolutely false.’
‘Human
beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die. For that
reason and only for that reason, I have a profound respect for the human race,
and I believe that its future is going to be much better than its present. Even
knowing that their days are numbered and that everything will end when they
least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being
with eternal life.’
‘Teaching is only demonstrating
that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.’
‘The only way to make the right
decision is to know what the wrong decision is.’
‘Everything
is contained in sounds – the past, the present, and the future. The person who
does not know how to listen will never hear the advice that life offers us all the
time. And only the person who listens to the sounds of the moment is able to
make the right decisions.’
‘People always arrive at the
right moment at the place where someone awaits them.’
