Reward of goodbye

From Paulo Coelho's facebook page.
 

♥

It's no secret that I ♥ Paulo Coelho. ;) The inspirational word the comes through this man are awesome. He echos wisdom from eons ago (very similar to my big crush Kahlil Gibran ♥). Mr. Coelho writes obvious Truths so brilliantly it produces goosebumps, it's an Aha!- and But-Of-Course-moment all in one. :)

With that said I obviously ;) follow his blog, twitter and facebook and this morning I read last night's status update,

Love is joy.
Don't convince yourself that suffering is part of it.

!!! :D :D :D What did I just tell you?! :D Smiiiile of recognition at the notion of an obvious Truth. Beauty.

Love&Light,

A Prayer For Courage

*goose bump*-moment, again when reading Paulo Coelho's blog. :) Sooo need to do a hunt of more goose-bump-words (I'm sure!) from this man I've never heard of until today. Just wanted to get this posted immidiately! :)

"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,

but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,

but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield,

but to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,

but hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant that I may not be a coward,

feeling Your mercy in my success alone;

But let me find the grasp of Your hand in my failure."

- Rabindranath Tagore,

 1913 Nobel Prize Laureate from Bengal, India.

Dinner Challenge!

So here's a 'challenge' for you!

Who would you invite to dinner?
Choose 6 people, living or dead, that you'd like to invite over for dinner. Choose freely, they can be friends and/or family, famous or infamous ;) people.

'All' I want from you is a motivation as to why you've chosen these people, both on a personal level as well as what you think the individuals might add to the group.

Tag as many or as few people as you like.

Don't forget to let me know in the comments when you're done with the challenge! :) :) :)

If you've read this post you've been tagged for the challenge! :)

A special 'honourary tag' goes to DMG, Cora, Gumbo Soul and Kelly who I'll 'personally' hunt down and tag on their blogs! ;p

Edited to add: OhOhOh! Why not add a little note of what would be on the dinner table too?? :D That'd be fun to read about too. :)

Image is linked and borrowed from pinkofperfection.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I'm inviting:
Khalil Gibran
Jesus (as in Christ)
Paulo Coelho
Cora
Muhammed (as in founder of Islam)
Dalai Lama (as in the 14th)

This was not an easy choice...I could easily have added another 3-4 people to the table! OR invite a whole new group of 6 people. (I would have loved an all-girls-table! ;)) Sure, I guess I could have changed the rules too to suit ;) but my reason for 'only' inviting 6 people is so that we'll all have time to have a good chat with each other before the night is through. (Cora's an overnight guest just so ya'll know! ;)).

The reason for inviting these people over is, if you haven't already figured it out, to talk about religion, spirituality and faith. I'm curious to meet and discuss with each individual his/her point of view on these things but I'd also think it'd be sooo cool to see Muhammad chatting with Jesus and the Dalai Lama talking with Gibran etc. and so on. :) I think that the group conversations at the table would be very interesting too and I'd like to believe that they're all 'well-behaved' and wouldn't start a fight. ;)

Added after editing: I'm not a very good cook so I don't have a ready recipe in mind but I'd serve something vegetarian for sure. I think it'd be the best option considering the guest. A nice stew of some sort perhaps and definately a soul soothing sweet-something for dessert! ;)

So, tell me! Who would you invite to dinner?? :)

Time to give, time to receive.

Once again Paulo Coelho's blog makes me smile from the inside out. He just seems to find The Right Things and I'm just awestruck. :)


Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey

"It is important to know when we can give attention and when we need attention.

Often we are inclined to give, give, give without every asking anything in return.
We may think this is a sign of generosity or even heroism.

But it might be little else than a proud attitude that says:
“I don’t need help from others. I only want to give.”

When we keep giving without receiving we burn out quickly…there is a time to give and a time to receive.

We need equal time for both if we want to live healthy lives."

Thomas Merton

Via Master Coelho's blog I found this prayer by Thomas Merton.


My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going,
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
__________________________________

in Thoughts in Solitude

It made me curious to know more about Merton (see wiki-link above) and his words. I found a lot! :)

Here's 'a little bit' of what I found:

"To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name."

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another."

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can."

"It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him."

"Life consists in learning to live on one’s own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize what is one’s own—be familiar and at home with oneself. This means basically learning who one is, and learning what one has to offer to the contemporary world, and then learning how to make that offering valid."

"We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen."

"...to love another as a person we must begin by granting him his own autonomy and identity as a person. We have to love him for what he is in himself, and not for what he is to us. We have to love him for his own good, not for the good we get out of him. And this is impossible unless we are capable of a love which 'transforms' us, so to speak, into the other person, making us able to see things a he sees them, love what he loves, experience the deeper realities of his own life as if they were our own. Without sacrifice, such a transformation is utterly impossible. But unless we are capable of this kind of transformation 'into the other' while remaining ourselves, we are not yet capable of a fully human existence."
(here's what I have to say on Love)

"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt."

"A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."

"We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent,
and God is shining through it all the time...
He is everywhere,
He is in everything,
and we cannot be without Him."

- Thomas Merton



For more Merton quotes follow this link.

Prayer of Petrus

From Paulo Coelho, and The Pilgrimage.


At a certain point during my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, we came to a flat, monotonous field of wheat stretching all the way to the horizon. The only thing breaking the dull landscape was a medieval column with a cross on top, marking the pilgrims’ way. Petrus – my guide – put down his backpack and knelt down.

– Have pity on those who pity themselves, and think life has been unjust to them – for they will never manage to engage in Good Fight.
But have pity on those who are cruel to themselves, and can only see evil in their own acts, and who consider themselves guilty for the injustices of the world. For they know not Your law which says: even the strands of hair on your head have been counted.

Have pity on those who command and those who serve many hours of work, and sacrifice themselves in exchange for a Sunday, when everything is closed and there is nowhere to go.
But have pity on those who sanctify their work and go beyond the limits of their own madness, and end up in debt or nailed to the cross by their own brothers. For they know not Your law which says: be as prudent as a serpent and as simple as the pigeons.

Have pity on those who eat, drink and are merry, but are unhappy and lonely in their abundance.
But have more pity on those who fast, censure, forbid and feel saintly, and who preach Your name in public places. For they know not Your law which says: if I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

Have pity on those who fear Death and do not know the many kingdoms they have crossed and the many deaths they have died, and are unhappy because they think that everything will come to an end one day.
But have more pity on those who have known their many deaths and think they are immortal, for they know not Your law which says: he who is not born again may not see the kingdom of God.

Have pity on those who cannot see anyone but themselves, and are shut in their limousines, locked in their air conditioned penthouse offices, and suffer in silence the solitude of power.
But have pity on those who go without everything, and are charitable, and seek to overcome evil with love only, for they know not Your law which says: he who has no sword, may he sell his cloak and buy one.

Have pity on us, Lord. For we often think we are dressed when we are naked, we think we commit a crime and in reality save someone. Do not forget, in Your mercy, that we unsheathe the sword with the hand of an angel and the hand of a demon gripping the same hilt. For we are in the world, we continue in the world and need You. We always need Your law which says: when I sent you without bag, pouch or sandals, you lacked nothing.

Petrus stopped praying. The silence continued. He was gazing at the wheat field around us.

Choosing the Path

Again, from Mr. Coelho.

Choosing the Path “I am willing to give up everything”, said the prince to the master. “Please accept me as your disciple.”

“How does a man choose his path?” asked the master.

“Through sacrifice,” answered the prince. “A path which demands sacrifice, is a true path.”

The master bumped into some shelves. A precious vase fell, and the prince threw himself down in order to grab hold of it. He fell badly and broke his arm, but managed to save the vase.

“What is the greater sacrifice: to watch the vase smash, or break one’s arm in order to save it?” asked the master.

“I do not know,” said the prince.

“Then how can you guide your choice for sacrifice? The true path is chosen by our ability to love it, not to suffer for it.”

The Porcupine and Solidarity

Once again fabulous words of wisdom from Paulo Coelho's blog. A cute story with profound depth, what I've come to expect from this amazing author/philosopher.



(image: Google)
During the Ice Age many animals died because of the cold. Seeing this situation, the porcupines decided to group together, so they wrapped up well and protected one another.
But they hurt one another with their thorns, and so then they decided to stay apart from one another.

They started to freeze to death again.
So they had to make a choice: either they vanished from the face of the earth or they accepted their neighbor’s thorns.

They wisely decided to stay together again. They learned to live with the small wounds that a very close relationship could cause, because the most important thing was the warmth given by the other.

And in the end they survived.

Epictetus

More really intriguing thoughts from Paulo Coelho's blog - Character of the week.



All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. All religions must be tolerated… for every man must get to heaven in his own way. Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.

Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.
Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire. Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else. Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

No man is free who is not master of himself.
God has entrusted me with myself.

Epictetus (AD 55–AD 135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher.

More Coelho...! Declaration of principles

1] All human beings are different. And should do everything possible to continue to be so.
2] Each human being has been granted two courses of action: that of deed and that of contemplation. Both lead to the same place.
3] Each human being has been granted two qualities: power and gift. Power drives man to meet his destiny, his gift obliges him to share with others that which is good in him. A man must know when to use his power, and when to use his gift.
4] Each human being has been granted a virtue: the capacity to choose. For he/she who does not use this virtue, it becomes a curse – and others will always choose for him/her.
5] Each human being has the right to two blessings, which are: the blessing to do right, and the blessing to err. In the latter case, there is always a path of learning leading to the right way.
6] Each human being has his own sexual profile, and should exercise it without guilt – provided he does not oblige others to exercise it with him/her.
7] Each human being has his own Personal Legend to be fulfilled, and this is the reason he is in the world. The Personal Legend is manifest in his enthusiasm for what she/he does.
Single paragraph – the Personal Legend may be abandoned for a certain time, provided one does not forget it and returns as soon as possible.
8] Each man has a feminine side, and each woman has a masculine side. It is necessary to use discipline with intuition, and to use intuition objectively.
9] Each human being must know two languages: the language of society and the language of the omens. The first serves for communication with others. The second serves to interpret messages from God.
10] Each human being has the right to seek out joy, joy being understood as something which makes one content – not necessarily that which makes others content.
11] Each human being must keep alight within him the sacred flame of madness. And must behave like a normal person.
12] The only faults considered grave are the following: not respecting the rights of one’s neighbor, letting oneself be paralyzed by fear, feeling guilty, thinking one does not deserve the good and bad which occurs in life, and being a coward.
Paragraph 1 – we shall love our adversaries, but not make alliances with them. They are placed in our way to test our sword, and deserve the respect of our fight.
Paragraph 2 – we shall choose our adversaries, not the other way around.
12A] We hereby declare the end to the wall dividing the sacred from the profane: from now on, all is sacred.
14] Everything which is done in the present, affects the future by consequence, and the past by redemption.
15] The impossible is possible

/Paulo Coelho


I just read this on Coelho's blog and went...wooow...! WOW! This man is just a awesome... It's a bit mind boggling that there's this person out there, right here and now, writing/speaking such obvious truths, the truths of my own heart and soul... Even if some things might not be completely "in tune" with my spirit I have yet to find (and believe you I'm looking!) something that's off...!

My favourite principle is Everything which is done in the present, affects the future by consequence, and the past by redemption. ...that and Each human being has the right to seek out joy, joy being understood as something which makes one content – not necessarily that which makes others content. And! ...from now on, all is sacred. it's just...aaah! Wow!

The Pencil

More powerful stuff from Paulo Coelho:
I've put the "main points" in bold - for me... :)

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘ I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.’
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.’

source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho



Needing to take the time to read more than little bits of mr. Coelho's work...!

Siddhartha Gautama

From Paulo Coelho's blog:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha)

Yes!! :D Your own reason and common sense! That's it! :D
Trust your own heart, your own gut feeling whether it be concerning religion or love or parenting or housekeeping...! Don't do what other's tell you to do, do what you feel is right... You need to decide what works for you...! :)

Paulo Coelho

‎‎"To believe in your choice you don't need to prove that other people's choices are wrong."
- Paulo Coelho

"No" is not a sin.
"Yes" is not a virtue.
- Paulo Coelho
I'm really liking Paulo Coelho's quotes... I follow him on facebook and he really has some insightful stuff to share! He seems, at least to me, to be a very interesting and quite available person and I like him more the more I learn of him...!
His books "Veronika Decides to Die" and "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept" I can most definitely recommend that you read!

He is truly inspirational in his "quest" for individual growth (for everyone!) and questioning of the need for a "norm" to follow... Who really decides what is "right" and what is "normal"...?