Manuscript Found in Accra

by Paulo Coelho

  Elegance is not a matter of good taste. Every culture has its own idea of beauty, which is often completely different from ours.

  But every tribe, every people, has values that they associate with elegance: hospitality, respect, good manners.

  Arrogance attracts hatred and envy. Elegance arouses respect and Love.

  Arrogance causes us to humiliate our fellow man or woman. Elegance teaches us to walk in the light.

  Arrogance complicates words, because it believes that intelligence is for only the chosen few. Elegance transforms complex thoughts into something that everyone can understand.

  When we are walking our chosen path, we walk elegantly, emanating light.

  Our steps are firm, our gaze keen, our movements beautiful. And even at the most difficult moments, our adversaries can see no signs of weakness, because our elegance protects us.

  Elegance is accepted and admired because it makes no effort to be elegant.

  Only Love gives form to what, once, we could not even dream of.

  And only elegance allows that form to be made manifest.

  And a man who always woke up early to take his flocks to the pastures around the city said:

  “You have studied in order to be able to speak these beautiful words, but we have to work to support our families.”

  And he answered:

  Beautiful words are spoken by poets. And one day, someone will write:

  I fell asleep and dreamed that life was only Happiness.

  I woke and discovered that life was Duty.

  I did my Duty and discovered that life was Happiness.

  Work is the manifestation of Love that binds people together. Through it, we discover that we are incapable of living without other people, and that they need us just as much.

  There are two types of work.

  The first is the work we do because we have to in order to earn our daily bread. In that case, people are merely selling their time, not realizing that they can never buy it back.

  They spend their entire existence dreaming of the day when they can finally rest. When that day comes, they will be too old to enjoy everything life has to offer. Such people never take responsibility for their actions. They say: “I have no choice.”

  However, there is another type of work, which people also do in order to earn their daily bread, but in which they try to fill each minute with dedication and love for others.

  This second type of work we call the Offering. For example, two people might be cooking the same meal and using exactly the same ingredients, but one is pouring Love into what he does and the other is merely trying to fill his belly. The result will be completely different, even though Love is not something that can be seen or weighed.

  The person making the Offering is always rewarded. The more he shares out his affection, the more his affection grows.

  When the Divine Energy set the Universe in motion, all the planets and stars, all the seas and forests, all the valleys and mountains were given the chance to take part in the Creation. And the same thing happened with mankind.

  Some said: “No, we don’t want to. We won’t be able to right wrongs or punish injustice.”

  Others said: “With the sweat of my brow I will water the fields, and that will be my way of praising the Creator.”

  Then the devil came and whispered in his honeyed tones: “You will have to carry that rock up to the top of the hill, and, when you get there, it will roll back down again to the bottom.”

  And all those who believed in the devil said: “The only meaning in life is to repeat the same task over and over.”

  And those who did not believe in the devil answered: “Then I will love the rock that I have to carry to the top of the mountain. That way, each minute by its side will be a minute spent closer to the one I love.”

  The Offering is a wordless prayer. And like all prayers, it requires discipline—not the discipline of slavery, but of free choice.

  There is no point in saying: “Fate was unfair to me. While others are following their dreams, here I am just doing my job and earning my living.”

  Fate is never unfair to anyone. We are all free to love or hate what we do.

  When we love, we find the same joy in our daily activity as do those who one day set off in search of their dreams.

  No one can know the importance or greatness of what they do. Therein lies the mystery and the beauty of the Offering: it is the mission that was entrusted to us, and we, in turn, need to trust it.

  The laborer can plant, but he can’t say to the sun: “Shine more brightly this morning.” He can’t say to the clouds: “Make it rain this evening.” He has to do what is necessary: plow the field, sow the seeds, and learn the gift of patience through contemplation.

  He will experience moments of despair when he sees his harvest ruined and feels that all his work was in vain. The person who has set off in search of his dreams will also have moments when he regrets his decision, and then all he wants is to go back and find a job that will pay him enough to survive.

  The following day, though, the heart of every worker or every adventurer will once again be filled with euphoria and confidence. Both will see the fruits of the Offering and will be glad.

  Because both are singing the same song: the song of joy in the task that was entrusted to them.

  The poet would die of hunger if there were no shepherds. The shepherd would die of sadness if he could not sing the words of the poet.

  Through the Offering you are allowing others to love you. And you are teaching others to love through what you offer them.

  And the same man who had asked about work asked another question:

  “Why are some people luckier than others?”

  And he answered:

  Success does not come from having one’s work recognized by others. It is the fruit of a 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 agonizing 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 realized that you would 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 he who knocks, the door will open.

  He who asks will receive.

  He who consoles knows that he will be consoled.

  Even if none of these things happens when you are expecting it to, sooner or later you will see the fruits of the thing you shared with such generosity.

  Success comes to those who do not waste time comparing what they are doing with what others are doing; it enters the house of the person who says “I will do my best” every day.

  People who seek only success rarely find it, because success is not an end, but a consequence.

  Obsession doesn’t help at all; it only confuses us as to which path to follow and ends up taking away the pleasure of living.

  Not everyone who owns a pile of gold the size of that hill to the south of our city is rich. The truly rich person is the one who is in contact with the energy of Love every second of his existence.

  You must always have a goal in mind, but, as you go along, it costs nothing to stop now and then to enjoy the view
around you. As you advance, step by step, you can see a little farther into the distance and take the opportunity to discover things you hadn’t even noticed before.

  At such moments, it is important to ask yourself: “Are my values still intact? Am I trying to please others and do what they expect of me, or am I really convinced that my work is a manifestation of my soul and my enthusiasm? Do I want success at any price or do I want to be a successful person because I manage to fill my days with Love?”

  Because that is what real success means: enriching your life, not cramming your coffers with gold.

  A man might say: “I will use my money to sow, plant, harvest, and fill my granary with grain so that I will lack for nothing.” But when the Unwanted Visitor arrives, all the man’s efforts will have been in vain.

  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

  Do not try to make the road shorter, but travel it in such a way that every action leaves the land more fertile and the landscape more beautiful.

  Do not try to be the Master of Time. If you pick the fruit you planted too early, it will be green and give pleasure to no one. If, out of fear or insecurity, you decide to put off the moment of making the Offering, the fruit will have rotted.

  Therefore, respect the time between sowing and harvesting.

  Then await the miracle of the transformation.

  Until the wheat is in the oven, it cannot be called bread.

  Until the words are spoken, they cannot be called a poem.

  Until the threads are woven together by the hands of the person working them, they cannot be called cloth.

  When the moment comes to show others your Offering, they will be amazed and will say to one another: “There is a successful man, because everyone wants the fruits of his labors.”

  No one will ask what it cost to produce those fruits because anyone who does his work with love fills his creation with such intensity that it cannot be perceived by the eyes. Just as an acrobat flies easily through the air with no apparent effort, success, when it comes, seems the most natural thing in the world.

  Meanwhile, if anyone did dare to ask, the answer would be: I considered giving up. I thought God was no longer listening to me, I often had to change direction, and, on other occasions, I lost my way. Despite everything, though, I found it again and carried on, because I was convinced there was no other way to live my life.

  I learned which bridges should be crossed and which should be burned.

  I am poet, farmer, artist, soldier, father, trader, seller, teacher, politician, sage, and someone who merely takes care of home and children.

  I am aware that there are many people more famous than I and, often, that fame is richly deserved. In other cases, it is merely a manifestation of vanity or ambition and will not stand the test of time.

  What is success?

  It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.

  And Almira, who still believed that an army of angels and archangels would descend from the heavens to protect the sacred city, said:

  “Talk to us about miracles.”

  And he answered:

  What is a miracle?

  We can define it in various ways: as something that goes against the laws of nature, an intercession in moments of deep crisis, healings and visions, an impossible encounter, or a last-minute intervention when the Unwanted Visitor arrives.

  All these definitions are true, but a miracle goes beyond even that; it’s something that suddenly fills our hearts with Love. When that happens, we feel a profound reverence for the grace God has bestowed on us.

  Give us this day, Lord, our daily miracle.

  Even if we are incapable of noticing it because our mind is focused on great deeds and conquests. Even if we are too preoccupied with day-to-day life to know that our path was changed by it.

  And when we are sad, help us to keep our eyes open to the life around us: a flower opening, the stars in the sky, the distant singing of a bird or a child’s voice nearby.

  Help us to understand that there are certain things so important that we have to discover them without anyone’s help, and that we should not feel alone and helpless because You are there with us, ready to intervene if our feet go perilously close to the abyss.

  Help us to continue onward despite the fear and to accept the inexplicable despite our need to explain and know everything.

  Help us to understand that Love’s strength lies in its contradictions and that Love lasts because it changes and not because it stays the same and never faces any challenges.

  And to understand, too, that each time we see the humble exalted and the arrogant humbled, we are witnessing a miracle.

  Help us to know that when our legs are tired, we can keep walking, thanks to the strength in our hearts, and that when our hearts are tired, we can still carry on, thanks to the strength of our Faith.

  Help us to see in each grain of desert sand proof of the miracle of difference, and may that encourage us to accept ourselves as we are. Because just as no two grains of sand are alike, so no two human beings will think and act in the same way.

  Help us to be humble when we receive and joyful when we give.

  Help us to understand that wisdom lies not in the answers we are given, but in the mystery of the questions that enrich our lives.

  Help us never to be imprisoned by the things we think we know, because we know so little about Fate. And may this lead us to behave impeccably, making use of the four cardinal virtues: boldness, elegance, love, and friendship.

  Give us this day, Lord, our daily miracle.

  Just as there are many paths to the top of a mountain, so there are many paths to achieving our goal. Help us to recognize the only one that is worth following: the one on which Love is to be found.

  Help us to awaken the Love sleeping within us before we awaken Love in other people. Only then will we be able to attract affection, enthusiasm, and respect.

  Help us to distinguish battles that are ours, battles into which we are propelled against our will, and battles that we cannot avoid because Fate has placed them in our path.

  May our eyes open so that we can see that no two days are ever the same. Each one brings with it a different miracle, which allows us to go on breathing, dreaming, and walking in the sun.

  May our ears also open to hear the very apposite words that suddenly emerge from the mouth of one of our fellows, even though we haven’t asked for his advice and he has no idea what is going on in our soul at that moment.

  And when we open our mouth, may we speak not just the language of men, but the language of angels, too, saying: “Miracles do not go against the laws of nature; we think that only because we do not know nature’s laws.”

  And when we achieve this, may we bow our head in respect, saying: “I was blind, but now I can see. I was dumb, but now I can speak. I was deaf, but now I can hear. Because God worked his miracle within me, and everything I thought was lost has been restored.”

  Miracles tear away the veils and change everything, but do not let us see what lies behind the veils.

  They allow us to escape unharmed from the valley of the shadow of death, but do not tell us which road led us to the mountains of joy and light.

  They open doors that were locked with impossible padlocks, but they use no key.

  They surround the suns with planets so that they do not feel alone in the Universe, and they keep the planets from getting too close so that they won’t be devoured by the suns.

  They transform the wheat into bread through work, the grape into wine through patience, and death into life through the resurrection of dreams.

  Therefore, Lord, give us this day our daily miracle.

  And forgive us if we are not always capable of recognizing it.

  And a man who was listening to the war chants coming from beyond the city walls and who feared for his family said:

  “Speak to us about anxiety.”

  And he answered:

  Ther
e is nothing wrong with anxiety.

  Although we cannot control God’s time, it is part of the human condition to want to receive the thing we are waiting for as quickly as possible.

  Or to drive away whatever is causing our fear.

  This is so from childhood onward, until we reach the age when we become indifferent to life. Because as long as we are intensely connected to the present moment, we will always be waiting anxiously for someone or something.

  How can you tell a passionate heart to be still and to contemplate the miracles of Creation in silence, free of tension, fear, and unanswerable questions?

  Anxiety is part of love, and should not be blamed because of that.

  How can you tell someone not to worry when he has invested his money and his life in a dream but has yet to see any results? The farmer cannot speed the progress of the seasons in order to pick the fruit he planted, but he waits impatiently for the coming of autumn and harvest time.

  How can you ask a warrior not to feel anxious before a battle?

  He has trained to the point of exhaustion for this moment; he has given of his best. While he believes he is prepared, he fears that all his efforts could prove to be in vain.

  Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it—just as we have learned to live with storms.

  For those who cannot learn to do so, life will be a nightmare.

  The very thing they should be grateful for—all the hours that make up a day—become a curse. They want time to pass more quickly, not realizing that this will also hasten their encounter with the Unwanted Visitor.

  Even worse, in an attempt to drive away anxiety, they do things that make them even more anxious.

  The mother, waiting for her son to come home, begins to imagine the worst.