by Paulo Coelho
A fellow is driving a luxurious Mercedes Benz when he blows a tire. As he tries to change it, he realizes that he has no jack. "Well, I'll go to the nearest house and ask if I can borrow one," he thinks, as he goes in search of help. "Maybe the person I ask, seeing my car, will charge me for finding me his jack," he says to himself. "With a car like this, and with me asking for help, he'll probably charge me ten dollars.
No, maybe even fifty, because he knows I really need the jack. He might take advantage of me and charge me as much as a hundred dollars." And the further he walks, the higher goes the price. "When he reaches the nearest house, and the owner opens the door, the man shouts: "You're a thief! A jack isn't worth that much! Keep it!" Who of us can say that he has never acted that way?
Milton Ericsson is the author of a new therapy that has won over thousands of practitioners in theUnited States . When he was twelve, he contracted polio. Ten months later, he heard a physician tell his parents:
"Your son will not make it through the night." Ericsson heard his mother crying. "Who knows, if I make it through the night, perhaps she won't suffer so," he thought. And he decided not to sleep until the next day dawned. As the sun rose, he shouted to his mother: "Hey, I'm still alive!" The joy in the house was so great that he decided that he would always try to make it through one more night to put off his family's suffering. He died at 75 in 1990, leaving a number of important books about the enormous capacity man has to overcome his own limitations.
"Holy man," said a novice to the FatherSuperior , "my heart is filled with love for the world, and my heart is cleansed of the temptations of the devil. What is the next step?" The padre asked the disciple to go with him to visit an ill person who was in need of extreme unction. After comforting the family, the father noticed a trunk in one of the corners. "What is in that trunk?" he asked. "The clothing that my uncle never wore," said his niece. "He always thought that there would be some occasion for wearing them, but they wound up rotting in the trunk." "Don't forget that trunk," the father said to the disciple as they left. "If you have spiritual treasures in your heart, put them into practice now. Or they will still."
Mystics say that when we begin our spiritual path, we want to speak often with God -and we wind up not listening to what He has to say to us. The master says: "Relax a bit. It is not easy. We have a natural need always to do the right thing, and we think we can do that if we work unceasingly. It is important to try, to fall, to get up and try again. But let us allow God to help. In the middle of a great effort, let us look at ourselves, allow Him to reveal himself and guide us. Let us sometimes allow Him to take us onto his lap."
Maktub
A padre at the monastery at Sceta was sought out by a young man who wanted to follow the spiritual path. "For a period of a year, pay money to whoever attacks you," said the padre. For twelve months, the young man made payment whenever he was attacked. At the end of the year, he went back to the padre to learn what the next step was. "Go into the city and buy food for me," the padre said. As soon as the man left, the padre disguised himself as a beggar, and using a short cut that he knew, went to the gates of the city. When the man approached, the padre began to insult him. "This is great!" said the man to the false beggar. "For an entire year, I had to pay anyone who insulted me, and now I can be attacked for free, without spending a cent." Hearing that, the padre took off his disguise. "You are ready for the next step, because you have learned to laugh in the face of your problems," he said.
The wanderer was walking with two of his friends through the streets ofNew York . Suddenly, in the midst of a casual conversation, the other two began to argue, almost attacking each other. Later -when things had calmed down -they were sitting in a bar. One of them apologized to the other. "I've noticed that it's very easy to be hurtful to those you know," he said. "If you were a stranger, I would have controlled myself much more. But because we are friends -and you know me better than anyone does --
I wound up being much more aggressive. That's human nature." Maybe it is human nature. But we should fight against it.
There are moments when we would very much like to help someone, but there is nothing we can do.
Either the circumstances do not allow us to offer help, or the person is not receptive to any expression of relatedness and support. The master says: "There is always love. Even at those times when we feel most useless, we can still love -without expectation of reward, change or thanks. If we are able to act in that way, the energy of love begins to transform the Universe around us. When this energy appears, it is always able to do its work".
Fifteen years ago, during a period of profound rejection of faith, the wanderer was with his wife and a friend inRio de Janeiro . As they were having a drink together, an old buddy with whom the wanderer had shared the craziness of the 60s and 70s came into the bar. "What are you doing now?" the wanderer asked. "I'm a priest", his friend said. As they left the place, the wanderer pointed at a child sleeping on the sidewalk. "See how concerned Jesus is with the world?" he said. "Of course I see," said the priest.
"He placed that child right in front of you to make sure that you saw him, so that you could do something."
A group of Jewish wise men met in order to try to create the shortest Constitution in the world. The rule for the meeting was that if -within the time span that he could balance himself on one foot -one of them could define the laws that should govern man, he would be regarded as the wisest of them. "May God punish the criminals," said one. The others argued that this wasn't a law, but a threat. The phrase wasn't accepted. At this point, the rabbi Hillel joined the meeting. Placing himself on one foot, he said: "Do not do unto others anything you would not want him to do unto you. This is the Law. All the rest is judicial commentary." So the rabbi Hillel was considered the wisest of them.
The writer, George Bernard Shaw noticed a huge block of one in the living room of a friend, the sculptor, J. Epstein. "What are you going to do with that stone?" Shaw asked. "I don't know yet. I'm thinking about it," Epstein answered. Shaw was surprised: "You mean you plan your own inspiration? Don't you think an artist has to be free to change his mind when he wants to?" "That only works when -after changing your mind -all you have to do ball up a piece of paper that weights five grams. But, when you are dealing with four tons, you have to think differently," Epstein said. The master says: "Each of us knows the best way to do his work. Only the person confronted with the task knows what problems are involved."
Brother John was thinking: "I need to be like the angels. They do nothing but contemplate the glory of God." And that night, he left the monastery at Sceta and went into the desert. A week later he returned to the monastery. The brother at the gate heard him knock, and asked who it was. "It's Brother John. I'm hungry." "That cannot be," said the brother. "Brother John is in the desert, transforming himself into an angel. He no longer feels hunger, and no longer has to work to support himself." "Forgive my pride," said Brother John. "Angels are helpful to man. That is their work, and that is why they contemplate the glory of God. I can contemplate the same glory in doing my daily work." With those words of humility, the brother opened the gate.
Of all the powerful arms of destruction that man has been able to invent, the most terrible -and most cowardly -is the word. Fists and firearms at least leave some blood remaining. Bombs destroy houses and streets. Poisons can be detected. The master says: "The word can destroy without leaving a clue. Children are conditioned for years by their parents, men are impiously criticized, women are systematically massacred by the words of their husbands. The faithful are kept far away from religion by those who regard themselves as the interpreters of the voice of God. Verify whether you are making use of this weapon. See whether others are using this weapon on you. And prevent either of those from continuing."
A legend of the desert tells the story of a man who wanted to move to another oasis, and began to load up his camel. He piled on his rugs, his cooking utensils, his trunks of clothes -and the a
nimal accepted it all. As they were leaving, the man remembered a beautiful blue feather his father had given him. He retrieved it and placed it on the camel's back. With that, the animal collapsed of the weight and died.
"My camel couldn't even bear the weight of a feather," the man must have thought. Sometimes we think the same of others -without understanding that our little joke may have been the drop that caused the goblet of suffering to overflow.
"Sometimes people get used to what they see in films and forget the real story," someone says to the wanderer. "Do you remember the film, 'The Ten Commandments?'" "Of course. Moses -Charlton Heston -raises his staff, the waters open, and the people ofIsrael are able to cross theRed Sea ." "In the Bible, that's not how it was," says the person. "There, God gives an order to Moses: 'Tell the children ofIsrael to march. ' And it is only after they begin to move forward that Moses raises his staff and the waters part. Because only courage in walking the path makes the path reveal itself."
This was written by the cellist, Pablo Casals: "I am always being reborn. Every morning is a time to begin life again. Eighty years ago I began my day in the same way -but this doesn't mean it is a mechanical routine. It is essential to my happiness. I awaken, and I go to the piano and play two preludes and a fugue from Bach. These pieces function as a blessing upon my house. But this practice is also a way of reestablishing contact with the mystery of life and with the miracle of being a human being. Even though I've done this for eighty years, the music is never the same -it always teaches me something new fantastic, unbelievable."
The master says: "On the one hand, we know that it is important to seek God. On the other, life creates a distance between us and Him. We feel ignored by the Divinity, or we are preoccupied with our daily tasks. This creates a feeling of guilt: either we are renouncing life to too much of an extent because of God, or we feel we are renouncing God too much because of life. This apparent conflict is a fantasy: God is in life and life is in God. One has only to be aware of this in order to understand fate better. If we are able to penetrate into the holy harmony of our daily round, we will always be on the right path, and we will complete our task."
The phrase is from Pablo Picasso: "God is an artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the ant. Actually, he never sought for a style -he was simply doing everything that he wanted to do." The master says: "When we begin along our path, a great fear arises. We feel obligated to do everything right. In the end, since we have only one life to live, who was it that invented the standard of "Everything right?" God made the giraffe, the elephant and the ant -why do we have to follow a standard? A standard serves only to show us how others define their own reality. Often we admire the models of others, and many times we can avoid the errors committed by others. But as for living well -only we know how to do that for ourselves."
Several devout Jews were praying at the synagogue when, during the prayer, they heard a child's voice saying: "A, B, C, D." They tried to concentrate on the scripture, but the voice repeated, "A, B, C, D." They interrupted the service, and, when they looked around, saw a boy who continued with the same chant. The rabbi spoke to the boy: "Why are you doing that?" "Because I don't know the holy verses,"
the boy said. "So I was hoping that if I recited the alphabet, God would use the letters to form the right words." "Thank you for this lesson," said the rabbi. "And may I give to God my days on this Earth in the same way that you have given him your letters."
The master says: "The spirit of God that is present in us can be described as being the screen in a movie theater. On the screen, various situations occur -people love, people separate, treasures are found, distant countries are discovered. It is not important which film is being shown. The screen is always the same. It is not important if tears fall or blood runs -because nothing can stain the whiteness of the screen. Just as with the movie screen, God is there -behind every one of life's agonies and ecstasies. We will see them all when our film ends."
An archer was walking in the woods near a Hindu monastery known for the severity of its teachings, when he saw the monks in the garden, drinking and enjoying themselves. "How cynical are those who seek the path to God," said the archer aloud. "They say that discipline is important, but there they are getting drunk!" "If you shoot one hundred arrows in a row, what will happen to your bow?" asked the eldest of the monks. "My bow would break," answered the archer. "If someone exceeds his limits, their will is also broken," said the monk. "He who is unable to balance work with relaxation loses his enthusiasm, and cannot go far."
A king sent a messenger to a distant country with a peace agreement that was to be signed. Wanting to take advantage of the journey, the messenger informed some of his friends that had important business dealings in that country. They asked that he postpone his trip, and -since a peace agreement was to be signed -they wrote new orders, and changed their business strategies. When the messenger finally made the trip, it was already too late for the agreement he was to deliver; war broke out, destroying the king's plans and the business arrangements of the men who had delayed the messenger. The master says:
"There is only one important thing in our lives: to live our personal destiny -the mission that was fated for us. But we always wind up loading ourselves down with useless concerns that then destroy our dream."
The wanderer is in theportofSydney , looking out at the bridge that connects the two parts of the city, when an Australian approaches him and asks that he read an ad in the newspaper. "The letters are quite small," he says. "I left my glasses at home, and I can't make them out." The wanderer is also without his reading glasses, and apologizes to the man. "Well, I guess I'll just forget about the ad," says the man.
And, wanting to continue the conversation, he says, "It's not just the two of us. God's vision is also clouded. Not because he is old, but because he wants it that way. Then, when someone close to Him commits an error, He is unable to see it clearly. Not wanting to be unfair, he forgives the person." "And what about the 'good things,'" I ask. "Well, God never leaves his glasses at home," laughs the Australian as he moves on.
"Is there anything more important than prayer?" asked the disciple of his master. The master asked the disciple to go to a nearby bush and cut off a branch. The disciple obeyed. "Is the bush still alive?" asked the master. "Just as alive as before," answered the disciple. "Now go and cut the roots," said the master.
"If I do that, the bush will die," said the disciple. "Prayers are the branches of a tree, whose roots are called faith," said the master. "There can be faith without prayer. But there can be no prayer without faith."
Saint Teresa d'Avila says: "Remember: the Lord invited all of us, and -since He is the pure truth -we cannot doubt his invitation. He said: 'Come to me all who are thirsty, and I will give you to drink. ' "If the invitation were not for each and every one of us, the Lord would have said: 'Come to me all who wish to, because you have nothing to lose. But I will provide drink only for those who are prepared. ' He imposes no conditions. It is enough to walk and desire, and all will receive the Water of Life of his love.
The Zen monks, when they wish to meditate, sit before a rock: "Now I will wait for this rock to grow a bit," they say. The master says: "Everything around us is constantly changing. Every day, the sun shines upon a new world. What we call routine is full of new proposals and opportunities. But we do not perceive that each day is different from all the others. Today, in some place, a treasure awaits you. It may be a fleeting smile, it may be a great victory -it doesn't matter. Life is made up of large and small miracles. Nothing is boring, because everything constantly changes. Tedium is not of the world. The poet, T. S.
Eliot, wrote: 'Walk many highways/ return to your home/ and view everything as if for the first time'".
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