Maktub Paulo Coelho Dedicated to Nha Chica 'Maktub'

Maktub
Paulo Coelho
Dedicated to Nha Chica
“Maktub” means “It is written.” The Arabs feel that “It is written” is not really a good translation,
because, although everything is already written, God is compassionate, and wrote it all down just to help
us.
The wanderer is inNew York . He has overslept an appointment, and when he leaves his hotel, he finds
that his car has been towed by the police. He arrives late for his appointment, the luncheon lasts longer
than necessary, and he is thinking about the fine he will have to pay. It will cost a fortune. Suddenly, he
remembers the dollar bill he found in the street the day before. He sees some kind of weird relationship
between the dollar bill and what happened to him that morning. “Who knows, perhaps I found that
money before the person who was supposed to find it had the chance? Maybe I removed that dollar bill
from the path of someone who really needed it. Who knows but what I interfered with what was
written?” He feels the need to rid himself of the dollar bill, and at that moment sees a beggar sitting on the
sidewalk. He quickly hands him the bill, and feels that he has restored a kind of equilibrium to things.
“Just a minute,” says the beggar. “I'm not looking for a handout. I'm a poet, and I want to read you a
poem in return.” “Well, make it a short one, because I'm in a hurry,” says the wanderer. The beggar says,
“If you are still living, it's because you have not yet arrived at the place you should be.”
Think of the lizard. It spends most of its life on the ground, envying the birds and indignant at its fate and
its shape. “I am the most disliked of all the creatures,” it thinks. “Ugly, repulsive, and condemned to
crawl along the ground.” One day, though, Mother Nature asks the lizard to make a cocoon. The lizard
is startled -it has never made a cocoon before. He thinks that he is building his tomb, and prepares to die.
Although unhappy with the life he has led up until then, he complains to God: “Just when I finally became
accustomed to things, Lord, you take away what little I have.” In desperation, he locks himself into the
cocoon and awaits the end. Some days later, he finds that he has been transformed into a beautiful
butterfly. He is able to fly to the sky, and he is greatly admired. He is surprised at the meaning of life and
at God's designs.
A stranger sought out the Father Superior at the monastery of Sceta. “I want to make my life better,” he
said. “But I cannot keep myself from having sinful thoughts.” The father noticed that the wind was
blowing briskly outside, and said to the stranger: “It's quite hot in here. I wonder if you could seize a bit
of that wind outside and bring it here to cool the room.” “That's impossible,” the stranger said. “It is also
impossible to keep yourself from thinking of things that offend God,” answered the monk. “But, if you
know how to say no to temptation, they will cause you no harm.”
The master says: “If a decision needs to be made, it is better to make it and deal with the consequences.
You cannot know beforehand what those consequences will be. The arts of divination were developed in
order to counsel people, never to predict the future. They provide good advice, but poor prophecy. “In
one of the prayers that Jesus taught us, it says, 'God's will be done. ' When His will causes a problem, it

also presents a solution. If the arts of divination were able to predict the future, every soothsayer would
be wealthy, married and content.”
The disciple approached his master: “For years I have been seeking illumination,” he said. “I feel that I
am close to achieving it. I need to know what the next step is.” “How do you support yourself?” the
master asked. “I haven't yet learned how to support myself; my parents help me out. But that is only a
detail.” “Your next step is to look directly at the sun for half a minute,” said the master. And the disciple
obeyed. When the half-minute was over, the master asked him to describe the field that surrounded
them. “I can't see it. The sun has affected my vision,” the disciple said. “A man who seeks only the light,
while shirking his responsibilities, will never find illumination. And one who keep his eyes fixed upon the
sun ends up blind,” was the master's comment.
A man was hiking through a valley in thePyrenees , when he met an old shepherd. He shared his food
with him, and they sat together for a long time, talking about life. The man said that, if one believed in
God, he would also have to admit that he was not free, since God would govern every step. In response,
the shepherd led him to a ravine where one could hear -with absolute clarity -the echo to any sound.
“Life is these walls, and fate is the shout that each of us makes,” said the shepherd. “What we do will be
raised to His heart, and will be returned to us in the same form. “God acts as the echo of our own
deeds.”
The master said: “When we sense that the time has come for a change, we begin -unconsciously -to run
the tape again, to view every defeat we have experienced until then. “And, of course, as we grow older,
our number of difficult moments grows larger. But, at the same time, experience provides us with better
means of overcoming those defeats, and of finding the path that allows us to go forward. We have to play
that second tape on our mental VCR, too. “If we only watch the tape of our defeats, we become
paralyzed. If we only watch the tape of our successes, we wind up thinking we are wiser than we really
are. “We need both of those tapes.”
The disciple said to his master: “I have spent most of the day thinking about things I should not be
thinking about, desiring things I should not desire and making plans I should not be making.” The master
invited the disciple to take a walk with him through the forest behind his house. Along the way, he
pointed to a plant, and asked the disciple if he knew its name. “Belladonna,” said the disciple. “It can kill
anyone who eats its leaves.” “But it cannot kill anyone who simply observes it,” said the master.
“Likewise, negative desires can cause no evil if you do not allow yourself to be seduced by them.”
BetweenFrance andSpain is a range of mountains. In one of those mountains, there is a village named
Argeles, and in the village is a hill leading to the valley. Every afternoon, an old man climbs and descends
the hill. When the wanderer went to Argeles for the first time, he was not aware of this. On his second
visit, he noticed that he crossed paths with the same man. And every time he went to the village, he
perceived the man in greater detail -his clothing, his beret, his cane, his glasses. Nowadays, whenever he
thinks about that village, he thinks of the old man, as well -even though he is not aware that this is true.
Only once did the wanderer ever speak to the man. In a joking fashion, he asked the man, “Do you think
that God lives in these beautiful mountains surrounding us?” “God lives,” said the old man, “in those
places where they allow Him to enter.”
The master met one night with his disciples, and asked them to build a campfire so they could sit and
talk. “The spiritual path is like a fire that burns before us,” he said. “A man who wants to light the fire has
to bear with the disagreeable smoke that makes it difficult for him to breathe, and brings tears to his eyes.
That is how his faith is rediscovered. However, once the fire is rekindled, the smoke disappears, and the
flames illuminate everything around him -providing heat and tranquility.” “But what if someone else lights
the fire for him?” asked one of the disciples. “And if someone helps us to avoid the smoke?” “If someone

does that, he is a false master. A master capable of taking the fire to wherever he desires, or of
extinguishing it whenever he wants to do so. And, since he has taught no one how to light the fire, he is
likely to leave everyone in the darkness.”
“When you strike out along your path, you will find a door with a phrase written upon it,” says the
master. “Come back to me, and tell me what the phrase says.” The disciple gives himself to the search,
body and soul, and one day comes upon the door, and then returns to his master. “What was written
there was 'THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE,' he says.” “Was that written on a wall or on a door?” the master
asks. “On a door,” the disciple answers. “Well, then, put your hand on the doorknob and open it.” The
disciple obeyed. Since the phrase was painted with the door, it gave way just as the door itself did. With
the door completely open, he could no longer see the phrase -and he went on.
The master says: “Close your eyes. Or even with your eyes open, imagine the following scene: a flock of
birds on the wing. Now, tell me how many birds you saw: Five? Eleven? Sixteen? Whatever the
response -and it is difficult for someone to say how many birds were seen -one thing becomes quite clear
in this small experiment. You can imagine a flock of birds, but the number of birds in the flock is beyond
your control. Yet the scene was clear, well-defined, exact. There must be an answer to the question.
Who was it that determined how many birds should appear in the imagined scene? Not you!”
A man decided to visit a hermit who, he had been told, lived not far from the monastery at Sceta. After
wandering aimlessly about the desert, he finally found the monk. “I need to know what is the first step
that should be taken along the spiritual path,” he said. The hermit took the man to a small well, and told
him to look at his reflection in the water. The man tried to do so, but as he made his attempt, the hermit
threw pebbles into the water, causing the surface to be disturbed. “I won't be able to see my face in the
water if you keep throwing those pebbles,” said the man. “Just as it is impossible for a man to see his
face in tro??6t? ?TI have been thinking about how to make this news less difficult to hear -how to paint it
in brighter colors, add to it promises of Paradise, visions of the Absolute, provide esoteric explanations
-but they do not apply. Take a deep breath, and prepare yourself. I have to be blunt, and I assure you, I
am absolutely certain of what I'm telling you. It is an infallible prediction, without any doubt whatsoever.
It's the following: you are going to die. It may be tomorrow or fifty years from now, but -sooner or later
--you are going to die. Even if you would rather not. Even if you have other plans. Think carefully about
what you are going to do today. And tomorrow. And with the rest of your life.”
An explorer, a white man, anxious to reach his destination in the heart ofAfrica , promised an extra
payment to his bearers if they would make greater speed. For several days, the bearers moved along at a
faster pace. One afternoon, though, they all suddenly put down their burden and sat on the ground. No
matter how much money they were offered, they refused to move on. When the explorer finally asked
why they were behaving as they were, he was given the following answer: “We have been moving along
at such a fast pace that we no longer know what we are doing. Now we have to wait until our soul
catches up with us.”
Our Lady, with the infant Jesus in her arms, came down to earth to visit a monastery. In their joy, the
padres stood in line to pay their respects: one of them recited poetry, another showed Her illuminated
images for the Bible, another recited the names of all of the saints. At the end of the line was a humble
padre who had never had the chance to learn from the wise men of his time. His parents were simple
people who worked in a traveling circus. When his turn came, the monks wanted to end the payment of
respects, fearful that he would damage their image. But he, too, wanted to show his love for the Virgin.
Embarrassed, and sensing the disapproval of the brothers, he took some oranges from his pocket and
began to toss them in the air -juggling as his parents with the circus had taught him. It was only then that
the infant Jesus smiled and clapped his hands with joy. And it was only to the humble monk that the
Virgin held out her arms, allowing him to hold her Son for a while.

Do not always try to be consistent. Saint Paul, after all, said, “The wisdom of the world is madness in the
eyes of God.” To be consistent is always to wear a tie that matches one's socks. It is to have the same
opinions tomorrow as one has today. And the movement of the planet? Where is it? So long as you do
no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while. Contradict yourself without being embarrassed.
This is your right. It doesn't matter what others think -because that's what they will think, in any case. So,
relax. Let the universe move about. Discover the joy of surprising yourself. “God selected the crazy
things on the earth so as to embarrass the wise men,” saidSaint Paul .
The master says: “Today would be a good day for doing something out of the ordinary. We could, for
example, dance through the streets on our way to work. Look directly into the eyes of a stranger, and
speak of love at first sight. Give the boss an idea that may seem ridiculous, an idea we've never
mentioned before. The Warriors of the Light allow themselves such days. Today, we could cry over
some ancient injustices that still stick in our craw. We could phone someone we vowed never to speak to
again (but from whom we would love to receive a message on the answering machine). Today could be
considered a day outside the script that we write every morning. Today, any fault will be permitted and
forgiven. Today is a day to enjoy life.”
The scientist, Roger Penrose, was walking with some friends and talking animatedly. He fell silent only in
order to cross the street. “I remember that -as I was crossing the street -an incredible idea came to me,”
Penrose said. “But, as soon as we reached the other side, we picked up where we left off, and I couldn't
remember what I thought of just a few seconds earlier.” Late in the afternoon, Penrose began to feel
euphoric -without knowing why. “I had the feeling that something had been revealed to me,” he said. He
decided to go back over every minute of the day, and -when he remembered the moment when he was
crossing the street -the idea came back to him. This time, he wrote it down. It was the theory of black
holes, a revolutionary theory in modern physics. And it came back to him because Penrose was able to
recall the silence that we always fall into as we cross a street. Saint Anton was living in the desert when a
young man approached him. “Father, I sold everything I owned, and gave the proceeds to the poor. I
kept only a few things that could help me to survive out here. I would like you to show me the path to
salvation.”
Saint Anton asked that the lad sell the few things that he had kept, and -with the money -buy some meat
in the city. When he returned, he was to strap the meat to his body. The young man did as he was
instructed. As he was returning, he was attacked by dogs and falcons who wanted the meat. “I'm back,”
said the young man, showing the father his wounded body and his tattered clothing. “Those who embark
in a new direction and want to keep a bit of the old life, wind up lacerated by their own past,” said the
saint.
The master says: “Make use of every blessing that God gave you today. A blessing cannot be saved.
There is no bank where we can deposit blessings received, to use them when we see fit. If you do not
use them, they will be irretrievably lost. God knows that we are creative artists when it comes to our
lives. On one day, he gives us clay for sculpting, on another, brushes and canvas, or a pen. But we can
never use clay on our canvas, nor pens in sculpture. Each day has its own miracle. Accept the blessings,
work, and create your minor works of art today. Tomorrow you will receive others.”
The monastery on the bank of the Rio Piedra is surrounded by beautiful vegetation -it is a true oasis
within the sterile fields of that part ofSpain . There, the small river becomes a mighty current, and is split
into dozens of waterfalls. The wanderer is walking through the area, hearing the music of the waters.
Suddenly, a grotto -behind one of the cataracts -captures his attention. He studies the rocks, worn by
time, and regards the lovely forms created patiently by nature. And he finds a verse by R. Tagore
inscribed on a plaque: “It was not a hammer that made these rocks so perfect, but water -with its

sweetness, its dance and its song.” Where force can only destroy, gentleness can sculpt.
The master says: “Many people are fearful of happiness. For such persons, to be content in life means
they must change a number of their habits -and lose their sense of identity. Often we become indignant at
the good things that befall us. We do not accept them, because to do so causes us to feel that we are in
God's debt. We think: 'Better not to drink from the chalice of happiness, because, when it is empty, we
will suffer greatly. ' Out of a fear of shrinking, we fail to grow. Out of a fear of weeping, we fail to laugh.”
One afternoon at the monastery at Sceta, one of the monks offended another. The superior of the
monastery, Brother Sisois, asked that the offended monk forgive his aggressor. “I cannot do that,”
responded the monk. “It was he that did this, and it he who must pay.” At that very moment, Brother
Sisois raised his arms to heaven and began to pray: “My Jesus, we no longer have need of thee. We are
now capable of making the aggressor pay for his offenses. We are now able to take vengeance into our
own hands, and to deal with Good and Evil. Therefore, You can leave us on our own, and their will be
no problem.” Ashamed, the monk immediately pardoned his brother.
A disciple said, “All masters say that spiritual treasure is discovered through solitary search. So, then,
why are we all together here?” “You are together because a forest is always stronger than a solitary
tree,” the master answered. “The forest conserves humidity, resists the hurricane and helps the soil to be
fertile. But what makes a tree strong is its roots. And the roots of a plant cannot help another plant to
grow. To be joined together in the same purpose is to allow each person to grow in his own fashion, and
that is the path of those who wish to commune with God.”
When the wanderer was ten years old, his mother insisted that he take a course in physical education.
One of the activities required him to jump from a bridge into a river. Early in the course, he was
paralyzed by fear. Each day, he stood last in line, and suffered every time one of those in front made his
jump -because it would shortly be his turn. One day, the instructor -noticing his fear -made him take the
first jump. Although he was still frightened, it was over so quickly that the fright was replaced by courage.
The master says: “Often, we can afford to take our time. But there are occasions when we must roll up
our sleeves and resolve a situation. In such cases, there is nothing worse than delay.”
Buddha was seated among his disciples one morning when a man approached the gathering. “Does God
exist,” he asked. “Yes, God exists,” Buddha answered. After lunch, another man appeared. “Does God
exist?” he asked. “No, God does not exist,” Buddha answered. Late in the day, a third man asked
Buddha the same question, and Buddha's response was: “You must decide for yourself.” “Master, this is
absurd,” said one of the disciples. “How can you give three different answers to the same question?”
“Because they were different persons,” answered the Enlightened One. “And each person approaches
God in his own way: some with certainty, some with denial and some with doubt.”
We are all concerned with taking action, doing things, resolving problems, providing for others. We are
always trying to plan something, conclude something else, discover a third. There is nothing wrong with
that -after all, that is how we build and modify the world. But the act of Adoration is also a part of life.
To stop from time to time, to escape one's self, and to stand silent before the Universe. To kneel down,
body and soul. Without asking for something, without thinking, without even giving thanks for anything.
Just to experience the warmth of the love that surrounds us. At such moments, unexpected tears may
appear -tears neither of happiness nor sadness. Do not be surprised at that. It is a gift. The tears are
cleansing your soul.
The master says: “If you must cry, cry like a child. You were once a child, and one of the first things you
learned in life was to cry, because crying is a part of life. Never forget that you are free, and that to show
your emotions is not shameful. Scream, sob loudly, make as much noise as you like. Because that is how

children cry, and they know the fastest way to put their hearts at ease. “Have you ever noticed how
children stop crying? They stop because something distracts them. Something calls them to the next
adventure. Children stop crying very quickly. And that's how it will be for you. But only if you can cry as
children do.”
The wanderer is having lunch with a woman friend, an attorney inFort Lauderdale . A highly animated
drunk at the next table insists on talking to her throughout the meal. At one point, the friend asks the
drunk to quiet down. But he says: “Why? I'm talking about love in a way that a sober person never does.
I'm happy, I'm trying to communicate with strangers. What's wrong with that?” “This isn't the appropriate
time,” she said. “You mean there are only certain times that are appropriate for showing one's
happiness?” With that, the drunk is invited to share her table.
The master says: “We must care for our body. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and deserves our
respect and affection. We must make the best use of our time. We must fight for our dreams, and
concentrate our efforts to that end. But we must not forget that life is made up of small pleasures. They
were placed here to encourage us, assist us in our search, and provide moments of surcease from our
daily battles. It is not a sin to be happy. There is nothing wrong in -from time to time -breaking certain
rules regarding diet, sleep and happiness. Do not criticize yourself if -once in a while -you waste your
time on trifles. These are the small pleasures that stimulate us.”
The pianist Artur Rubinstein was late arriving for lunch at a first class restaurant inNew York . His
friends began to be concerned, but Rubinstein finally appeared, with a spectacular blonde, one-third his
age, at his side. Known to be something of a cheapskate, he surprised his friends by ordering the most
expensive entree, and the rarest, most sophisticated wine. When lunch was over, he paid the bill with a
smile. “I can see that you are all surprised,” Rubinstein said. “But today, I went to my lawyer's to prepare
my will. I left a goodly amount to my daughter and to my relatives, and made generous donations to
charities. But I suddenly realized that I wasn't included in the will; everything went to others. So, I
decided to treat myself with greater generosity.”
While the master was traveling to spread the word of God, the house in which he lived with his disciples
burned down. “He entrusted the house to us, and we didn't take proper care,” said one of the disciples.
They immediately began to rebuild on what remained after the fire, but the master returned earlier than
expected, and saw what they were doing. “So, things are looking up: a new house,” he said happily. One
of the disciples, embarrassed, told him what had actually happened; that where they had all lived together
had been consumed by fire. “I don't understand,” said the master. “What I am seeing is men who have
faith in life, beginning a new chapter. Those who have lost everything they owned are in a better position
than many others, because, from that moment on, things can only improve.”
The master says: “If you are traveling the road of your dreams, be committed to it. Do not leave an open
door to be used as an excuse such as, 'Well, this isn't exactly what I wanted. ' Therein are contained the
seeds of defeat. “Walk your path. Even if your steps have to be uncertain, even if you know that you
could be doing it better. If you accept your possibilities in the present, there is no doubt that you will
improve in the future. But if you deny that you have limitations, you will never be rid of them. “Confront
your path with courage, and don't be afraid of the criticism of others. And, above all, don't allow yourself
to become paralyzed by self-criticism. “God will be with you on your sleepless nights, and will dry your
tears with His love. God is for the valiant.”
The master and his disciples were traveling, and, on the road, were unable to eat properly. The master
asked some of them to go and seek food. The disciples returned at the end of the day. Each brought with
him the little he had been able to gain through the charity of others: fruit that was already going bad, stale
bread and bitter wine. One of the disciples, however, brought with him a bag of ripe apples. “I would do

anything to help my master and my brothers,” he said, sharing the apples with the others. “Where did you
get these?” asked the master. “I had to steal them,” the disciple answered. “People were giving me only
spoiled food, even though they knew that we were preaching the word of God.” “Get away with your
apples, and never come back,” said the master. “Anyone who would rob for me, would rob from me.”
We go out into the world in search of our dreams and ideals. Often we make inaccessible that which is
within our reach. When we realize the error, we feel we have wasted our time, seeking in the distance
what was close at hand. We blame ourselves for making such a mistake, for our useless search and for
the problems we have caused. The master says: “Although the treasure may be buried in your house, you
will find it only if you leave in search of it. If Peter had not experienced the pain of rejection, he would not
have been chosen as the head of the Church. If the prodigal son had not abandoned everything, he would
not have been given a feast by his father. There are certain things in our lives that carry a seal that says:
'You will appreciate my value only after you have lost me... and recovered me. ' It does no good to try to
shorten the path.”
The master was meeting with his favorite disciple, and asked him how his spiritual progress was going.
The disciple answered that he was now able to dedicate every moment of his day to God. “So, then, all
that's left is to forgive your enemies,” said the master. The disciple looked at his master, startled: “But
that's not necessary. I bear no ill will toward my enemies.” “Do you think that God bears you any ill will?”
asked the master. “Of course not,” the disciple answered. “Yet you ask for his forgiveness, don't you?
Do the same with your enemies, even though you bear them no ill will. A person who forgives is washing
and perfuming his own heart.”
The young Napoleon was trembling like a reed in the wind during the ferocious bombardments atToulon
. A soldier, seeing him that way, said to his fellow soldiers, “Look at him, he's scared to death.” “Yes, I
am,” replied Napoleon. “But I go on fighting. If you felt half the fear I feel, you would have fled a long
time ago.” The master says: “Fear is not a sign of cowardice. It is fear that allows us be brave and
dignified in the face of life's situations. Someone who experiences fear -and despite the fear goes on,
without allowing it to intimidate him -is giving proof of valiance. But someone who tackles difficult
situations without taking the danger into account, is proving only his irresponsibility.”
The wanderer is at the feast ofSaint John , with its tents, archery contests and country food. Suddenly, a
clown begins to mimic his gestures. People laugh, and the wanderer laughs, as well, and invites the clown
to have coffee with him. “Commit to life!” says the clown. “If you are alive, you have to shake your arms,
jump around, make noise, laugh and talk to people. Because life is exactly the opposite of death. To die
is to remain forever in the same position. If you are too quiet, you are not living.”
A disciple and his master were walking in the fields one morning. The disciple was asking what diet was
needed to provide purification. Although his master had always insisted that all foods were holy, the
disciple did not believe it. “There must be some meal that brings us closer to God,” the disciple said.
“Well, perhaps you are right. Those mushrooms there, for example,” said the master. The disciple was
excited, thinking that the mushrooms would provide him with purification and ecstasy. But as he stooped
to pick one he screamed: “These are poisonous! If I were to eat even one of them, I would die instantly!”
he said, horrified. “Well, I don't know any other food that would bring you so quickly to God,” said the
master.
In the winter of 1981, the wanderer is walking with his wife through the streets ofPrague , when he sees
a boy doing drawings of some neighborhood buildings. He likes what he sees, and decides to buy one.
When he holds out the money, he notices that the boy has no gloves -and the temperature is in the 20s.
“Why don't you wear gloves?” he asks. “So that I can hold my pencil.” They talk a bit aboutPrague . The
boy offers to do a drawing of the wanderer's wife's face, free of charge. As he waits for the drawing to

be completed, the wanderer realizes that something strange had happened: he had conversed for almost
five minutes with the boy, and neither spoke the other's language. They had used only gestures, smiles
and facial expressions -but the will to share something had allowed them to enter into the world of
language without words.
A friend took Hassan to the door of a mosque, where a blind man was begging. “This blind man is the
wisest person in our country,” said the friend. “How long have you been blind,” Hassan asked the man.
“Since birth,” the man answered. “And how did you become so wise?” “Since I didn't accept my
blindness, I tried to become an astronomer,” the man answered. “But, since I couldn't see the heavens, I
was forced to imagine the stars, the sun and the galaxies. And, the closer I came to God's work, the
closer I came to His wisdom.”
In a bar in a remote village inSpain , close to the city ofOlite , there is a sign placed there by the owner.
“Just as I succeeded in finding all the answers, all the questions changed.” The master says: “We are
always concerned with finding answers. We feel that answers are important to understand what life
means. “It is more important to live fully, and allow time to reveal to us the secrets of our existence. If we
are too concerned with making sense of life, we prevent nature from acting, and we become unable to
read God's signs.”
There is an Australian legend about a shaman who was walking with his three sisters when they met the
most famous warrior of the time. “I want to marry one of these beautiful girls,” the warrior said. “If one of
them marries, the other two will suffer”, said the shaman. “I am looking for a tribe that allow its men to
have three wives.” For years, they walked the entire Australian continent without finding such a tribe. “At
least one of us could have been happy,” said one of the sisters when they were old, and sick of walking.
“I was wrong,” said the shaman. “But now it's too late.” And he turned the three sisters into blocks of
stone, so that all who passed by would understand that one person's happiness does not mean others
must be sad.
The journalist, Walter Carelli, went to interview the Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. When his
interview had been completed, they began to talk about the language that exists beyond words, and
about the human being's great capacity to understand others. “I will give you an example,” said Borges.
And he began to speak in a strange language. Then he stopped and asked the journalist what he had
been saying. Before Carelli could respond, the photographer who was with him said: “It's the 'Our
Father. '” “Exactly,” said Borges. “I was reciting it in Finnish.”
An animal trainer with the circus is able to dominate elephants by using a very simple trick: when the
animal is still a child, he lashes one of his legs to the trunk of a tree. No matter how hard he struggles, the
young elephant is unable to free himself. Little by little, he becomes used to the idea that the trunk of the
tree is more powerful than he is. When he becomes an adult possessing tremendous strength, one has
only to tie a string about the elephant's leg, and tie him to a sapling. He will not attempt to free himself. As
with elephants, our feet are often bound by fragile ties. But since, as children, we became accustomed to
the strength of the tree trunk, we do not dare to struggle. Without realizing that a simple courageous act is
all that is needed to find our freedom.
The master says: “It avails you nothing to seek explanations about God. You can listen to beautiful
words, but they are basically empty. Just as you can read an entire encyclopedia about love without
knowing how to love. No one will ever prove that God exists. Certain things in life simply have to be
experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing. God -who is love -is also such a thing. Faith is a
childhood experience, in that magical sense that Jesus taught us: 'Children are thekingdomofGod . ' “God
will never enter your head. The door that He uses is your heart.”

The abbot always said that Abbot Joseph had prayed so much that he no longer had anything to worry
about -his passions had been conquered. Those words reached the ears of one of the wise men at the
monastery of Sceta, who called his novitiates together after their evening meal. “You have heard it said
that Abbot Joseph has no further temptations to overcome,” he said. “The lack of a struggle weakens the
soul. Let us ask that the Lord send down a powerful temptation to Abbot Joseph. And, if he is able to
resist that temptation, let us ask for another and another. And when he is once again struggling to resist
temptation, let us pray that he never says: 'Lord, take this devil away. ' Let us pray that instead he asks:
'Lord, give me the strength to win out over evil'”
There is a moment in every day when it is difficult to see clearly: evening time. Light and darkness blend,
and nothing is completely clear nor completely dark. In most spiritual traditions, this moment is
considered holy. The Catholic tradition teaches us that we should say a Hail Mary at six o'clock in the
evening. In the Quechuan tradition, if we run into a friend in the afternoon and we are still with him at
evening time, we must start all over, greeting him again with a “Good evening.” At dusk, the balance
between man and the planet is tested. God mixes shadow and light to see if the Earth has the courage to
go on turning. If the Earth is not frightened by the darkness, night passes -- a new sun shines the next
day.
The German philosopher, Schopenhauer, was strolling along a street inDresden , seeking the answers to
questions that bothered him. Passing by a garden, he decided to sit and look at the flowers. One of the
residents of the neighborhood observed the philosopher's strange behavior and summoned the police.
Minutes later, an officer approached Schopenhauer. “Who are you,” the officer asked brusquely.
Schopenhauer looked the policeman up and down. “If you can help me find the answer to that question,”
he said, “I will be eternally grateful to you.”
A man searching for wisdom decided to go up into the mountains, since he had been told that every two
years God appeared there. During his first year there, he ate everything that the land had to offer.
Eventually, the supply was exhausted, and he had to return to the city. “God is unfair!” he exclaimed.
“Didn't he know that I waited for a year to hear his voice. I was hungry and had to come back to town.”
At that moment, an angel appeared. “God would like very much to talk with you,” the angel said. “For an
entire year he fed you. He was hoping that you would produce your own food after that. But what did
you plant? If a man is unable to grow fruit where he lives, he is not ready to talk with God.”
People say, “Well, it seems that freedom for man consists of choosing his own brand of slavery. I work
eight hours a day, and if I get a promotion, I'll have to work twelve. I got married, and now I have no
time to myself. I looked for God, and now I have to attend cult meetings, masses and other religious
ceremonies. Everything that's important in life -love, work, faith -winds up becoming a burden that's too
heavy to bear.” The master says: “Only love allows us to escape. Only love turns slavery into freedom. If
we cannot love, it is better to stop now. Jesus said: 'Better to be blind in one eye than for the entire body
to perish in darkness. ' “Hard words. But true.”
A hermit fasted for an entire year, eating only once a week. After this sacrifice, he asked that God reveal
to him the true meaning of a certain passage in the Bible. No response was heard. “What a waste of
time,” the hermit said to himself. “I gave up so much, and God didn't even answer! Better to leave these
parts and find a monk who knows the meaning of the verse.” At that moment, an angel appeared. “The
twelve months of fasting served only to make you believe that you were better than others, and God does
not answer a vain person,” the angel said. “But when you were humble, and sought help from others,
God sent me.” And the angel explained what he wanted to know.
The master says: “Notice how certain words were formed so as to show their meaning clearly. “Let us
take the word “preoccupation.” It can be divided in two: “pre” and “occupation.” It means to occupy

oneself with something before it happens. “Who, in the entire universe, could have the gift of occupying
himself with a thing that has not yet happened? Never be preoccupied. Be attentive to your destiny and
to your path. Learn everything you need to know in order to handle the bright sword entrusted to you.
Pay attention to how your friends, your masters and your enemies fight. Train yourself sufficiently, but do
not commit the worst of errors: believing that you know what kind of blow your adversary is going to
deliver.”
Friday comes, you go home, and you pick up the newspapers that you weren't able to read during the
week. You turn on the television with the sound off. You put on a cassette tape. You use the remote
control to jump from one channel to the other, as you try to turn the pages of the paper and listen to the
music. The papers contain nothing new, the TV programs are repetitious, and you've already heard the
cassette dozens of times. Your wife is attending to the children, sacrificing her youthful years without
really understanding why she is doing so. An excuse occurs to you: “Well, that's the way life is.” No,
that's not the way life is. Life is enthusiasm. Try to remember where it was that you hid away your
enthusiasm. Take your wife and children with you and try to find it again, before it's too late. Love never
kept anyone from following his dream.
On Christmas Eve, the wanderer and his wife did an evaluation of the year that was about to end. During
dinner at the only restaurant in a village in thePyrenees , the wanderer began to complain about something
that hadn't gone the way he thought it should have. His wife stared at the Christmas tree decorating the
restaurant. The wanderer thought that she was no longer interested in the conversation, and changed the
subject: “Aren't the lights on the tree pretty!” he said. “They are,” his wife answered. “But if you look
closely, among the dozens of bulbs there is one that has burned out. It seems to me that, instead of seeing
the past year in terms of the dozens of blessings that illuminated it, you are fixating on the only bulb that
illuminated nothing.”
“Look at that humble holy man, walking the road”, said one devil to another. “I think I'll go over there
and conquer his soul.” “He won't listen to you, because he is concerned only with holy things,” said his
companion. But the devil, in his usual ardent fashion, dressed himself as the Archangel Gabriel, and
appeared before the holy man. “I have come to help you,” he said. “You must have me confused with
someone else,” answered the holy man. “I have done nothing in my life to deserve the attention of an
angel.” And he continued on his way, never knowing what he had avoided.
A friend of the wanderer went to a play on Broadway, and went out for a drink during the intermission.
The lobby was crowded, and people were smoking, talking and drinking. A pianist was playing, but no
one paid any attention to his music. The wanderer's friend sipped her drink and studied the musician. He
seemed bored -just doing his job and waiting for the intermission to end. After another drink, and feeling
a bit high, she approached the piano. “You're a pain in the neck! Why don't you play just for yourself?”
she exclaimed. The pianist was surprised. And then he began to play the kind of music he liked. In just a
few minutes, the entire lobby fell silent. When the song was over, there was enthusiastic applause.
Saint Francis ofAssisi was a very popular young man when he decided to leave it all behind and do his
life's work. Saint Clare was a beautiful young woman when she took her vow of chastity. Saint Raimundo
Lull knew the great intellectuals of his time when he went off into the desert. The spiritual quest is, above
all, a challenge. Whoever uses it to flee from his problems will not go very far. It does no good for
someone who cannot make friends to retire from the world. It accomplishes nothing to take a vow of
poverty if you are already unable to earn a living. And it makes no sense to become humble if one is
already a coward. It is one thing to have something and give it up. It is another not to have something and
to condemn those who have. It is easy for a weak man to go around preaching absolute charity, but what
good is it? The master says: “Praise the Lord's work. Conquer yourself as you confront the world.”

It is easy to be difficult. All we have to do is stay away from people, and in that way, avoid suffering.
That way, we don't have to risk love, disappointment, frustrated dreams. It is easy to be difficult. We
don't have to be concerned about phone calls we should have made, people who ask us for help, charity
that should be extended. It is easy to be difficult. We just have to pretend that we live in an ivory tower,
and never shed a tear. We just have to spend the rest of our lives playing a role. It is easy to be difficult.
All we have to do is reject everything good that life offers.
The patient said to his physician, “Doctor, I am ruled by fear, and fear has taken away all joy.” “Here in
my office, there is a mouse that nibbles at my books,” the doctor said. “If I become desperate over the
mouse, he will hide from me, and I'll do nothing else with my life but hunt for him. Instead, I have put all
of my best books in a safe place, and I allow him to eat at some of the others. That way, he continues to
be only a mouse, and not a monster. Fear a few things, and concentrate all of your fear on them -so you
can be courageous in facing the important things.”
The master says: “Often it is easier to love than to be loved. We find it hard to accept the help and
support of others. Our attempts to appear independent deprive others of the opportunity to demonstrate
their love. Many parents, in their old age, rob their children of the chance to show them the same
affection and support they received as children. Many husbands (and wives), when they are overtaken by
affliction, feel ashamed at depending upon others. As a result, the waters of love do not spread. You
should accept a gesture of love from someone. You have to allow others to help you, to give you the
strength to go on. If you accept such love with purity and humility, you will understand that Love is
neither giving nor receiving -it is participating.”
Eve was walking through the Garden of Eden, when the serpent approached her. “Eat this apple,” he
said. Eve, well taught by God, refused. “Eat this apple,” the serpent insisted. “Because you have to
become more beautiful for your husband.” “I don't need it,” Eve answered. “He has no one else but me.”
The serpent laughed: “Of course he does.” Since Eve did not believe him, he took her to the top of a hill
where there was a well. “She's down there. That's where Adam hid her.” Eve looked in and saw a
beautiful woman reflected in the water. And then she ate the apple the snake offered.
Excerpts from a “Letter to my Heart:” “My heart, I will never condemn you or criticize you. Nor will I
ever be ashamed of what you say. I know that you are a beloved child of God, and that He protects you
within a glorious and loving radiance. I believe in you, my heart. I am on your side, and I will always ask
for blessing in my prayers. I will always ask that you find the help and support you need. I believe in you,
my heart. I believe that you will share your love with anyone who needs or deserves it. That my path is
your path, and that we will walk together to the Holy Spirit. I ask of you: trust in me. Know that I love
you and that I am trying to give you all the freedom you need to continue beating joyfully in my breast. I
will do everything I can so that you never feel uncomfortable with my presence surrounding you.”
The master says: “When we decide to act, it is natural that unexpected conflict should arise. It is natural
that we will be wounded as a result of such conflict. Wounds heal: they stay on as scars, and that is
blessing. Such scars stay with us for the rest of our lives, and are of great help to us. If at some point -for
whatever reason -our desire to return to the past is strong, we have only to look at our scars. Scars are
the marks of handcuffs, and remind us of the horrors of prison -and with that reminder we move forward
again.”
In his Epistle to the Corinthians,Saint Paul tells us that sweetness is one of the main characteristics of
love. Let us never forget: love is tenderness. A rigid soul does not allow the hand of God to mold it in
accordance with His desires. The wanderer was traveling a narrow road in the north ofSpain , when he
saw a man stretched out in a bed of flowers. “Aren't you crushing those flowers?” the wanderer asked.
“No,” the man answered. “I'm trying to take a bit their sweetness from them.”

The master says: “Pray every day. Even if your prayers are wordless and ask for nothing, and can hardly
be understood. Make a habit of your prayers. If that is difficult at the beginning, decide for yourself: 'I am
going to pray every day this week. ' And renew that promise for each of the next seven days. Remember
that you are creating not only a more intimate link with the spiritual world; you are also training your will.
It is through certain practices that we develop the discipline needed for life's combat. It does no good to
forget the resolution one day and pray twice the next. Nor to pray seven times the same day, and go
through the rest of the week thinking that you have completed your task. Certain things have to occur
with the right pace and rhythm.”
An evil man, about to die, meets an angel at the gates to Hell. The angel says to him: “It is enough for
you to have done one good thing in your life, and that will help you.” “Think hard,” the angel said. The
man remembers that one time, as he was walking through a forest, he saw a spider in his path and
detoured so as not to step on it. The angel smiles and a spider web comes down from the sky, allowing
the man to ascend toParadise . Others among the condemned take advantage of the web, and begin to
make the climb. But the man turns on them and begins to push them off, fearing that the web will break.
At that moment, it breaks, and the man is once again returned to Hell. “What a pity,” the man hears the
angel say. “Your concern with yourself turned the only good thing you ever did into evil.”
The master says: “A crossroad is a holy place. There, the pilgrim has to make a decision. That is why the
gods usually sleep and eat at crossroads. Where roads cross, two great forces are concentrated -the
path that will be chosen, and the path to be ignored. Both are transformed into a single path, but only for
a short period of time. The pilgrim may rest, sleep a bit, and even consult with the gods that inhabit the
crossroad. But no one can remain there forever: once his choice is made, he has to move on, without
thinking about the path he has rejected. Otherwise, the crossroad becomes a curse.”
Humanity has committed some of its worst crimes in the name of the truth. Men and women have been
burned at the stake. The entire culture of some civilizations has been destroyed. Those who committed
the sin of eating meat were kept at a distance. Those who sought a different path were ostracized. One
person, in the name of truth, was crucified. But -before He died -He left us a great definition of the Truth.
It is not what provides us with certitudes. It is not what makes us better than others. It is not what we
keep within the prison of our preconceived ideas. The Truth is what makes us free. “Know the Truth,
and the truth will make thee free,” He said.
One of the monks at the monastery at Sceta committed a grave error, and the wisest of hermits was
summoned by the brothers to judge him. The wise hermit did not want to come, but the group was so
insistent that he agreed. Before he left his place, though, he took a bucket and made some holes in its
bottom. Then, he filled it with sand, and began his walk to the monastery. The father superior, noticing
the bucket, asked what it was for. “I have come to judge another,” the hermit said. “My sins are running
out behind me, as does the sand in this bucket. But, since I do not look behind me, and cannot see my
own sins, I am able to judge another.” The monks immediately decided not to proceed with the
judgment.
Written on the wall of a small church in thePyrenees : “Lord, may this candle I have just lit Make light,
And illuminate me when I have problems and make decisions. May it make fire, So that You can burn
away my egotism, pride and impurity. May it make a flame, So that You can warm my heart and teach
me to love. I cannot remain for long in Your church. But in leaving this candle, a bit of myself remains
here. Help me to extend my prayer to the activities of this day. Amen.”
A friend of the wanderer decided to spend a few weeks at a monastery inNepal . One afternoon, he
entered one of the many temples of the monastery, and saw a smiling monk seated on the altar. “Why are

you smiling,” he asked. “Because I understand the meaning of bananas,” said the monk, opening his bag
and taking out a rotten banana. “This is a life that ran its course, and was not made use of -and now it is
too late.” Then he removed from his bag a banana that was still green. He showed it to the man, and put
it back in his bag. “This is a life that has not yet run its course, and awaits the right moment,” he said.
Finally, he took from his bag a ripe banana, peeled it, and shared it with the man, saying: “This is the
present moment. Know how to live it without fear.”
A woman friend had gone out with the exact amount of money she needed to take her son to the
movies. The boy was excited, and every minute asked his mother how long it would take to get there.
When she was stopped at a traffic light, she saw a beggar seated on the sidewalk. “Give all the money
you have with you to him,” she heard a voice say. The woman argued with the voice. She had promised
to take her son to the movies. “Give it all,” the voice insisted. “I can give him half, and my son can go in
alone while I wait outside,” she said. But the voice didn't want to discuss it. “Give it all!” She had no time
to explain it all to the boy. She stopped the car and held out all the money she had to the beggar. “God
exists, and you have proved it to me,” the beggar said. “Today is my birthday. I was sad, and ashamed
to be begging. So, I decided not to beg: if God exists, he will give me a present.”
A man is walking through a small village in the middle of a downpour, and sees a house burning. As he
approaches it, he sees a man surrounded by flames seated in the living room. “Hey, your house is on
fire!”, the traveler shouts. “I know that,” the man answers. “Well then, why don't you get out?” “Because
it's raining,” says the man. “My mother always told me you can catch pneumonia going out in the rain.”
Zao Chi's comment about the fable: “Wise is the man who can leave a situation when he sees that he is
forced to do so.”
In certain magic traditions, disciples devote one day a year -or a weekend if it is needed -to enter into
contact with the objects in their home. They touch each object and ask aloud: “Do I really need this?”
They take the books from their shelves: “Will I ever reread this?” They examine each souvenir they have
kept: “Do I still consider the moment that this object reminds me of to be important?” They open all of
their closets: “How long is it since I wore this? Do I really need it?” The master says: “Objects have their
own energy. When they are not used, they turn into standing water in the house -- a good place for rot
and for mosquitos. You must be attentive, and allow that energy to flow freely. If you keep what is old,
the new has no place in which to manifest itself.”
There is an old Peruvian legend that tells of a city where everyone was happy. Its inhabitants did as they
pleased, and got along well with each other. Except for the mayor, who was sad because he had nothing
to govern. The jail was empty, the court was never used, and the notary office produced nothing,
because a man's word was worth more than the paper it was written on. One day, the mayor called in
some workmen from a distant place to build an enclosure at the center of the village's main square. For a
week, the sound of hammers and saws could be heard. At the end of the week, the mayor invited
everyone in the village to the inauguration. With great solemnity, the fence boards were removed and
there could be seen... a gallows. The people asked each other what the gallows was doing there. In fear,
they began to use the court to resolve anything that before had been settled by mutual agreement. They
went to the notary office to register documents that recorded what before had simply been a man's word.
And they began to pay attention to what the mayor said, fearing the law. The legend says that the gallows
never was used. But its presence changed everything.
The master says: “From now on -and for the next few hundred years -the universe is going to boycott all
those have preconceived ideas. The energy of the Earth has to be renewed. New ideas need space. The
body and the soul need new challenges. The future is knocking on our door, and all ideas -except those
that are based upon preconceptions -will have a chance to appear. What is important will remain; what is
useless will disappear. But let each person judge only his own concepts. We are not the judges of the

dreams of others. In order to have faith in our own path, it is not necessary to prove that another's path is
wrong. One who does that does not believe in his own steps.”
Life is like a great bike race, the goal of which is to live one's own Personal Destiny. At the starting line,
we are all together, sharing camaraderie and enthusiasm. But, as the race develops, the initial joy gives
way to challenges: exhaustion, monotony, doubts as to one's ability. We notice that some friends refuse
to accept the challenges -they are still in the race, but only because they cannot stop in the middle of a
road. There are many of them. They ride along with the support car, talk among themselves and
complete the task. We find ourselves outdistancing them; and then we have to confront solitude, the
surprises around unfamiliar curves, problems with the bicycle. We wind up asking ourselves if the effort is
worth it. Yes, it is worth it. Don't give up.
A master and his disciple are riding across the Saudi Arabian desert. The master makes use of every
moment of their ride to teach the disciple about faith. “Trust in God,” he says. “God never abandons his
children.” At night, in their camp, the master asks the disciple to tie the horses to a nearby rock. The
disciple goes to the rock, but remembers what the master has taught him: “He must be testing me,” he
thinks. “I should leave the horses to God.” And he leaves the horses unfettered. In the morning, the
disciple sees that the horses have disappeared. Revolted, he comes back to his master. “You know
nothing about God,” he exclaims. “I left the horses in His care, and now the animals are gone.” “God
wanted to care for the horses,” the master answered. “But to do that, he needed your hands to tie them.”
“Perhaps Jesus sent some of his apostles to Hell to save souls,” John says. “Even in Hell, all is not lost.”
The idea surprises the wanderer. John is a fireman inLos Angeles , and today is his day off. “Why do you
say that?” the wanderer asks. “Because I've gone through Hell here on earth. I go into buildings that are
in flames and see people desperate to escape, and many times I risk my life to save them. I'm only a
particle in this immense universe, forced to act like a hero in the many fires I've fought. If I -- a nothing
-can do such things, imagine what Jesus could do! I have no doubt that some of His apostles have
infiltrated Hell, and are there saving souls.”
The master says: “A great many of the primitive civilizations practiced the custom of burying their dead in
a fetal position. 'He is being born again, in another life, and we must place him in the same position he
was in when he came into this world,' they said. For those civilizations, death was only another step along
the way of the universe. Little by little, the world has lost its calm acceptance of death. But it's not
important what we think, or what we do or what we believe in: each of us will die one day. Better to do
as the old Yaqui indians did: regard death as an advisor. Always ask: 'Since I'm going to die, what should
I be doing now?'”
Life is not about giving or receiving advice. If we need assistance, it is better to see how others solve —
or fail to solve -their problems. Our angel is always present, and often uses someone else's lips to tell us
something. But it usually reaches us in a casual way, generally at a moment in which -although we are
attentive -our preoccupations prevent us from seeing the miracle of life. We must allow our angel to
speak to us in the way he knows best -when he thinks it is needed. The master says: “Advice is a theory
about life -and the practice of life is generally quite different.”
A padre in the Charismatic Renewal movement inRio de Janeiro was riding on a bus when he suddenly
heard a voice saying that he should stand up and preach the word of Christ right there. The padre began
to converse with the voice: “They'll think I'm ridiculous! This is no place for a sermon.” But the voice
insisted that he had to speak out. “I'm a timid man, please don't ask this of me,” he implored. The internal
impulse persisted. Then he remembered his promise -to accept all of Christ's designs. He stood up
-consumed with embarrassment -and began to speak of the Evangelist. The riders listened to him in
silence. He looked at each of the passengers, and all were staring directly at him. He said everything that

he was feeling, completed his sermon and sat down. Even today, he has no idea what task he was
performing there on the bus. But that he was performing a mission, he has no doubt whatsoever. An
African witch doctor is leading his novice through the jungle. Although he is quite elderly, he makes his
way with agility, while his young novice slips a falls many times. The novice picks himself up, swears,
spits on the traitorous ground and continues to follow his master. After a long hike, they reach a sacred
place. Without pausing, the witch doctor turns around and begins to walk back to where they had
started. “You have taught me nothing today,” says the novice, after falling again. “I have been teaching
you something, but you have failed to learn it,” says the witch doctor. “I'm trying to teach you how to
deal with life's mistakes.” “And how should I deal with them?” “The same way as you should deal with
the falls you have taken,” answers the witch doctor. “Instead of cursing the place where you fall, you
should try to find out what made you slip in the first place.”
The father superior of the monastery at Sceta was visited one afternoon by a hermit. “My spiritual
advisor does not know how to direct me,” the hermit said. “Should I leave him?” The father superior said
not a word, and the hermit returned to the desert. A week later, he returned to visit the father superior.
“My spiritual advisor does not know how to direct me,” he said. “I have decided to leave him.” “That is
wise,” said the father superior. “When a man perceives that his soul is discontented, he cannot ask for
advice. Make the decisions needed to preserve your passage through this life.”
A young woman comes to see the wanderer. “I want to tell you something,” she says. “I have always
believed that I had the gift of curing. But I never had the courage to try it with anyone. Until one day, my
husband was having great pain in his left leg, and there was no one available to help him. I decided -with
some embarrassment -to place my hands on his leg and ask that the pain disappear. “I did this without
really believing I would be able to help him, and as I did so, I heard him praying. 'Please, Lord, make my
wife capable of being the Messenger of Your light and your strength,' he said. My hand began to become
hot, and the pain disappeared. “Afterwards, I ask him why he had prayed that way. He answered that it
was in order to give me confidence. Today, I am able to cure, thanks to those words.”
The philosopher, Aristipus, was enjoying his power at the court of Dionysus, the tyrant ofSyracuse . One
afternoon, he came upon Diogenes preparing a meal of lentils for himself. “If you were willing to be
courteous to Dionysus, you would not have to eat lentils,” Aristipus said. “If you knew how to enjoy
lentils, you would not have to be courteous to Dionysus,” Diogenes answered. The master says: “It is true
that everything has its price, but the price is always relative. When we follow our dreams, we may give
the impression to others that we are miserable and unhappy. But what others think is not important. What
is important is the joy in our heart.”
A man who lived inTurkey was told of a great master who lived inPersia . Without hesitation, he sold all
of his belongings, said good-bye to his family and went off in search of wisdom. After several years of
wandering, he found the hut where the great master lived. With fear and respect, he knocked on his
door. The great master appeared. “I am fromTurkey ,” the man said. “I have come all this way to ask
you just one question.” The old man was surprised, but said, “Fine. You may ask me one question.” “I
want to be clear about what it is that I am asking. May I say it in Turkish?” “Yes,” said the wise man.
“And I have already answered your only question. If there is anything else you want to know, ask your
heart. It will provide you with the answer.” And he closed the door.
The master says: “The word is power. Words transform the world, and man as well. “We have all heard
it said: 'We should not talk about the good things that have happened to us, because the envy of others
will ruin our happiness. ' Nothing of the sort. Those who are winners speak with pride of the miracles in
their lives. If you release positive energy into the air, it attracts more positive energy, and makes those
who really wish you well happy. As for the envious and defeated, they can only do damage to you if you

give them this power. Have no fear. Speak out about the good things in your life to whoever will listen.
The Soul of the World has a great need for your happiness.”
There was a Spanish king who was very proud of his lineage. He was also know to be cruel to those
who were weak. He was walking one day with his senior people through a field inAragon , where, years
before, his father had fallen in battle. They came upon a holy man there, picking through an enormous pile
of bones. “What are you doing there?” asked the king. “All honor to Your Majesty,” said the holy man.
“When I learned that the king ofSpain was coming here, I decided to recover the bones of your father to
give them to you. But no matter how hard I look, I cannot find them. They are the same as the bones of
the farmers, the poor, the beggars and the slaves.”
“Who is the best swordsman?” asked a warrior of his master. “Go to the field near the monastery,” his
master answered. “There is a rock there. I want you to insult the rock.” “But why would I do that?” the
disciple asked. “The rock will not respond.” “Well, then attack it with your sword,” the master said. “I
won't do that, either,” the disciple answered. “My sword would break. And if I attack the rock with my
hands, I'll injure my fingers and have no impact on it. That wasn't what I asked. Who is the best
swordsman?” “The best is the one who is like the rock,” said his master. “Without unsheathing a sword,
it demonstrates that no one can conquer it.”
The wanderer arrives at the village of San Martin de Unx, in Navarra, and is able to find the woman who
keeps the key to the Roman church in the ruined place. With great kindness, she climbs the narrow stairs
and opens the door. The darkness and the silence of the medieval temple have an emotional impact on
the wanderer. He falls into conversation with the woman, and as they talk, mentions that, although it is
mid-day, little can be seen of the beautiful works of art there in the church. “The detail can be seen only
at dawn,” the woman says. “The legend says that it was this that the builders of the church wanted to
teach us: that God has a particular time for showing us His glory.”
The master says: “There are two gods. The god that our professors taught us about, and the God who
teaches us. The god of whom people always speak, and the God that speaks to us. The god we have
learned to fear, and the God who speaks to us of compassion. There are two gods. The god who is on
high, and the God who takes part in our daily lives. The god who makes demands upon us, and the God
who pardons our debts. The god who threatens us with the fires of Hell, and the God who shows us the
best path. There are two gods. A god who crushes us under our sins, and a God who liberates us with
His love.”
The sculptor, Michelangelo, was once asked how it was that he could create such beautiful works. “It's
very simple,” he answered. “When I look at a block of marble, I see the sculpture inside it. All I have to
do is remove what doesn't belong.” The master says: “There is a work of art each of us was destined to
create. That is the central point of our life, and -no matter how we try to deceive ourselves -we know
how important it is to our happiness. Usually, that work of art is covered by years of fears, guilt and
indecision. But, if we decide to remove those things that do not belong, if we have no doubt as to our
capability, we are capable of going forward with the mission that is our destiny. That is the only way to
live with honor.”
An old man who is about to die calls a young man to his side and tells him a story of heroism: in wartime,
he had helped a man to survive. He provided the man with shelter, food and protection. When the man
who had been saved was once again in a safe place, he decided to betray his saviour and turn him over
to the enemy. “How did you escape?” the young man asked. “I didn't escape. I was the betrayer,” said
the old man. “But in telling the story as if I were the hero, I can understand everything he did for me.”
The master says: “We all need love. Love is a part of human nature, as much as eating, drinking and

sleeping. Sometimes we find ourselves, completely alone, looking at a beautiful sunset, and we think:
'This beauty isn't important, because I have no one to share it with. ' At such times, we should ask: how
often have we been asked to give love, and turned away? How many times have we been fearful of
approaching someone and saying, unmistakably, that we love them? Beware of solitude. It is as much of
an addiction as the most dangerous narcotic. If the sunset no longer makes sense to you, be humble, and
go in search of love. Know that -as with other spiritual blessings -the more you are willing to give, the
more you will receive in return.”
A Spanish missionary was visiting an island when he came upon three Aztec holy men. “How do you
pray?” the padre asked. “We have only one prayer,” one of the Aztecs answered. “We say, 'God, you
are three and we are three. Have pity on us. '” “I'm going to teach you a prayer that God will hear,” said
the missionary. And he taught them a Catholic prayer, and went on his way. Shortly before returning
toSpain , he stopped again at the same island. When his ship approached the shore, the padre saw the
three holy men walking across the water toward him. “Father, father,” one of them said. “Please teach us
again that prayer that God listens to. We have forgotten the words.” “It's not important,” the padre
answered, having witnessed the miracle. And he asked God's pardon for not having understood that He
speaks all languages.
Saint Johnof the Cross teaches us that, along our spiritual path, we should not look for visions, or believe
the statements we hear from others on the same path. Our only support should be our faith, because that
faith is clear, transparent and born within us. It cannot confused. A writer was conversing with a priest,
and asked what it was to experience God. “I don't know,” the priest answered. “The only experience I
have had so far is the experience of my faith in God.” And that is the most important.
The master says: “Forgiveness is a two-way street. Each time we forgive someone, we are also
pardoning ourselves. If we are tolerant of others, it is easier to accept our own mistakes. That way,
without guilt or bitterness, we are able to improve our approach to life. When, out of weakness, we allow
hatred, envy and intolerance to vibrate around us, we wind up being consumed by the vibrations. Peter
asked Christ: 'Master, should I forgive the other person seven times?' And Christ answered: 'Not just
seven, but seventy times. ' The act of forgiving cleanses the astral plane, and shows us the true light of the
Divinity.”
The master says: “The ancient masters were accustomed to creating “personages” to help their disciples
to deal with the darker side of their personality. Many of the stories about the creation of such
personages have become well-known fairy tales. The process is simple: you have only to place your
anxieties, fears and disappointments within an invisible being who stands at your left side. He functions as
a “villain” in your life, suggesting attitudes that you would not like to adopt -but wind up doing so. Once
that personage is created, it is easier to reject his advice. It's extremely simple. And that's why it works
so well.”
“How can I know what is the best way to act in my life?” a disciple asked his master. The master asked
that the disciple build a table. When the table was almost finished -needing only the nails driven into the
top -the master approached the disciple. The disciple was driving the nails with three precise strokes.
One nail, though, was more difficult, and the disciple had to hit it one more time. The fourth blow drove it
too deep, and the wood was scarred. “Your hand was used to three blows of the hammer,” the master
said. “When any action becomes habitual, it loses its meaning; and it may wind up causing damage. Every
action is your action, and there is only one secret: never let the habit take command of your movements.”
Near the city ofSoria , inSpain , there is an ancient hermitage carved into the rocks. Some years ago a
man who abandoned everything to dedicate himself to contemplation lived there. The wanderer is trying
to find the place one autumn afternoon, and, when he does, he is received with total cordiality. After

sharing a piece of bread, the hermit asked that the wanderer go with him to a small stream nearby to
collect some edible mushrooms. As they walk, a boy approaches them. “Holy man,” he says, “I have
been told that, in order to achieve, we should avoid eating meat. Is that true?” “Accept with joy
everything that life offers you,” the man answered. “Do not commit sins against the spirit, but do not
blaspheme the earth's generosity.”
The master says: “If your journey is difficult, listen to your heart. Try to be as honest as possible with
yourself, and see whether you are really following your path and paying the price for your dreams. If you
do this, and nevertheless your life is hard, the moment comes when it is right to complain. But do it with
respect, as a child complains to a parent. But do not fail to ask for more attention and help. God is
Father and Mother, and parents always want the best for their children. It may be that the learning
process is being pushed too hard, and it costs nothing to request a pause, some affection. But never
exaggerate. Job complained at the proper time, and his belongings were returned to him. Al Afid
complained too much, and God stopped listening”.
A pious man found himself suddenly deprived of all of his wealth. Knowing that God would help him no
matter what, he began to pray: “Lord, please let me win the lottery,” he asked. He prayed for years and
years, but was still poor. One day he died, and -since he was a very pious man, he went straight to
heaven. When he arrived there, he refused to enter. He said that he had lived his entire life according to
his religious teachings, and that God had never allowed him to win the lottery. “Everything You promised
me was a lie,” the man said, disgusted. “I was always ready to help you win,” the Lord responded. “But,
no matter how much I wanted to do so, you never bought a lottery ticket.”
An aged Chinese wise man was walking through a field of snow, when he came upon a woman weeping.
“Why are you crying?” he asked. “Because I'm thinking about my life, my youth, the beauty that I saw in
the mirror and the men I loved. God is cruel to have given the ability to remember. He knew that I would
remember the spring of my life, and cry.” The wise man stood there in the field of snow, staring at a fixed
point and contemplating. At a certain point, the woman stopped crying: “What do you see there?” she
asked. “A field of roses,” answered the wise man. “God was generous with me when he gave me the
ability to remember. He knew that in winter, I could always remember spring -and smile.”
The master says: “One's personal destiny is not as simple as it appears. Not at all. It may even call for
some sort of dangerous action. When we want something, we put into motion some powerful energies,
and we are no longer able to conceal from ourselves the true meaning of our life. When we want
something, we make a choice and we pay a price. To follow one's dream carries a price. It may demand
that we give up old habits, it may create problems for us, and it may bring disappointment. But, no matter
how high the price, it is never so high as at we pay for not having lived out our personal destiny. Because
one day we will look back and see everything we have done, and hear our own heart say: 'I wasted my
life. ' Believe me, that is the worst phrase you can ever hear.”
A master had hundreds of disciples. All of them prayed at the appropriate time -except one, who was a
drunkard. On the day that he was dying, the master called the drunken disciple to his side, and passed on
to him all of his occult secrets. The other disciples were revolted: “What a shame! We sacrificed
everything for a master who was unable to perceive our qualities,” they said. The master said: “I had to
pass on these secrets to a man I knew well. Those who appear to be virtuous generally conceal their
vanity, their pride and their intolerance. So, I chose the only disciple whose defects I could see: the
drinker.”
The Cistercian father Marcos Garcia said: “Sometimes God takes back a certain blessing in order to
help the person understand it better. God knows up to what point he can test a soul -and he never goes
beyond that point. At such times, we never say: 'God has abandoned me. ' If the Lord imposes a

demanding test upon us, he always provides us with a sufficient number of graces -probably more than
sufficient -to meet the test. When we feel far from His presence, we should ask ourselves: 'Do we
understand how to make use of what he has placed in our path?'”
Sometimes days or weeks pass without our having received a gesture of affection from anyone. Such
periods are difficult; when human kindness seems to have disappeared, and life seems to be simply a
matter of survival. The master says: “We must examine our own fireplace. We must place more kindling,
and try to illuminate the dark room that our life has become. When we hear our fire crackling and the
burning wood snapping, and when we read the stories the flames are telling, hope returns to us. If we are
capable of loving, we will also be capable of being loved. It is only a matter of time.”
At a luncheon, a person broke his glass. Another person said, “That's a sign of good luck.” Everyone at
the table knew of the belief. But a rabbi who was there asked: “Why is that a sign of good luck?” “I don't
know,” said the wanderer's wife. “Perhaps it's an ancient way of preventing the guest from feeling bad.”
“No, that's not the explanation,” the rabbi said. “Certain Jewish traditions have it that every man has a
certain quota of luck, which he uses up over the course of his life. One can make that quota pay interest if
he uses his luck only for things he really needs -or he can use his luck in a wasteful fashion. We Jews also
say 'Good luck' when someone breaks a glass. But it means, 'It's good that you didn't use up any of your
luck trying to keep the glass from breaking. Now, you can use it for more important things. '”
Padre Abraham knew that close to the monastery at Sceta lived a hermit reputed to be a wise man. He
sought the man out and asked him: “If you were to find a beautiful woman in your bed today, would you
be able to convince yourself that it was not a woman?” “No,” answered the wise man. “But I would be
able to control myself.” The padre went on: “And if you found some gold coins in the desert, would you
be able to regard the money as stones?” “No,” said the wise man. “But I would be able to control myself
and leave them there.” The padre insisted: “And if you were consulted by two brothers, one of whom
hates you and the other of whom loves you, would you be able to regard them as equals?” The hermit
answered: “Even though I might suffer inside, I would treat the one who loved me in the same way as the
one who hated me.” “I will explain to you what a wise man is,” the padre later told his disciples. “It is he
who, rather than killing his passions, is able to control them.”
W. Frasier, throughout his life, wrote about the American west, and was proud of having written the
screenplay for a film that starred Gary Cooper. He said that there were very few times in his life when he
became angry. “I learned many things from the pioneers,” he said. “They fought the indians, crossed
deserts, searched for food and water in remote places. And all that was written during that period shows
that they demonstrated a curious trait: the pioneers wrote only about and talked about only good things.
Instead of complaining, they composed songs and jokes about their difficulties. That way, they avoided
discouragement and depression. And today, at age 88, I try to do the same thing.”
The text is adapted from a poem by John Muir: “I want to free my soul so that it can enjoy all of the gifts
that the spirits own. When this is possible, I will not try to know the craters of the moon, nor track the
rays of the sun to their source. I will not try to understand the beauty of a star, nor the artificial desolation
of a human being. “When I learn how to free my soul, I will follow the dawn, and to return with it through
time. When I learn how to free my soul, I will plunge into the magnetic currents that drain into an ocean
where all waters meet to form the Soul of the World. “When I learn how to free my soul, I will try to
read the splendid page of Creation from the beginning.”
One of the sacred symbols of Christianity is the figure of the pelican. The reason is simple: in the total
absence of food to eat, the pelican plunges its beak into its own flesh to feed its young. The master says:
“We are often incapable of understanding the blessings we have received. Many times we do not
perceive what He does to keep us spiritually nourished. There is a story about a pelican who -during a

hard winter -sacrificed herself by providing her own flesh to her children. When she finally died of
weakness, one of the nestlings said to another: 'Finally! I was getting tired of eating the same old thing
every day. '”
If you are dissatisfied with something -even a good thing that you would like to do, but have not been
able to -stop now. If things are not going well, there are only two explanations: either your perseverance
is being tested, or you need to change direction. In order to discover which of those options is correct
-since they are opposites -make use of silence and prayer. Little by little, things will become strangely
clear, until you have sufficient strength to choose. Once you have made your decision, forget completely
the other possibility. And go forward, because God is the God of the Valiant. Domingos Sabino said:
“Everything always turns out for the best. If things are not going well, it is because you have not yet
reached the end.”
The Brazilian composer, Nelson Motta, was inBahia , when he decided to pay a visit to Mother
Menininha de Gantois. He caught a taxi, and on their way, the driver lost his brakes. The car spun around
in the middle of the road, but other than being frightened, nothing serious occurred. When he met with
Mother Menininha, the first thing Nelson told her about was the near accident in the middle of the road.
“There are certain things that are already written, but God finds us a way to get past them without any
serious problem. That is, it was a part of your destiny to be in an automobile accident at this point in your
life,” she said. “But, as you see, everything happened -and nothing.”
“There was something missing from your talk about the Road toSantiago ,” said a pilgrim to the
wanderer as they were leaving the conference together. “I have noticed that the majority of pilgrims,” she
said, “whether on the Road toSantiago or on their paths through life, always seek to follow the same
pace as the others. At the beginning of my pilgrimage, I tried to walk at the same pace as my group. I got
tired, I demanded more of my body than it could deliver, I was tense, and I wound up with problems in
the tendons of my left foot. It was impossible for me to walk for two days, and I learned that I would be
able to get toSantiago only if I went at my own pace. It took me longer than the others, and I walked
alone for many stretches along the road. But it was only because I respected my own pace that I was
able to walk the entire road. Since then, I have applied that lesson to everything I do in my life.”
Croesus, the king ofLydia , had made the decision to attack the Persians, but nevertheless wanted to
consult with a Greek oracle. “You are fated to destroy a great empire,” the oracle said. Happily, Croesus
declared war. After two days of battle,Lydia was invaded by the Persians, its capital was sacked, and
Croesus was taken prisoner. Revolted, he asked his ambassador toGreece to go back to the oracle and
tell him how wrong he had been. “No, it was you who were wrong,” said the oracle to the ambassador.
“You destroyed a great empire:Lydia .” The master says: “The language of signs is there is before us, to
teach us the best way to act. But many times we try to distort those signs so that they “agree” with what
we wanted to do in the first place.
Buscaglia tells the story about the fourth of the Magi, who also saw the star shining overBethlehem . But
he was always late in arriving at the place where Jesus might be, because along the way, the poor and
needy stopped him to ask him for help. After thirty years of following in Jesus's footsteps, throughEgypt ,
Galilee andBethany , the magus reachedJerusalem , but was again too late. The child Jesus was now a
man, and the magus had arrived on the day of the crucifixion. The king had brought pearls to give to
Jesus, but had sold everything in order to help those whom he had met along the way. Only one pearl
remained, but the Saviour was already dead. “I have failed in the mission of my life,” the king thought.
And then he heard a voice: “Contrary to what you are thinking, you have been with me all your life. I was
nude, and you dressed me. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was imprisoned, and you visited me. I was in
every poor soul along the way. Thank you for so many presents of love.”

A science fiction story tells of a society where almost everyone is born ready to perform a function:
technicians, engineers or mechanics. Only a few are born without any skills: these are sent to an insane
asylum, since only crazy people are unable to make a contribution to society. One of the insane rebels.
The asylum has a library, where he attempts to learn everything there is to know about the arts and
sciences. When he feels that he knows enough, he decides to escape, but he is captured and taken to a
research center outside the city. “Welcome,” says one of the people in charge of the center. “It is those
who have been forced to make their own way that we admire most. From now on, you may do as you
please, since it is thanks to people like you that the world is able to progress.”
Before leaving on a long trip, a businessman was saying good-bye to his wife. “You have never brought
me a present that was worthy of me,” she said. “You ungrateful woman, everything I have given you cost
me years of work,” the man answered. “What else can I give you?” “Something that is as beautiful as I
am.” For two years, the woman awaited her present. Finally, her husband returned. “I was able to find
something that is as beautiful as you,” he said. “I wept at your ingratitude, but I resolved that I would do
as you asked. I thought all this time that there couldn't be a present as beautiful as you, but I found one.”
And he handed her a mirror.
The German philosopher, F. Nietzsche, once said: “It's not worthwhile to spend time discussing
everything; it is a part of the human condition to err from time to time.” The master says: “There are
people who insist that they be right about even minor details. They often do not permit themselves to
make a mistake. What they accomplish with that attitude is a fear of moving ahead. Fear of making a
mistake is the door that locks us into the castle of mediocrity. If we are able to overcome that fear, we
have taken an important step in the direction of our freedom.”
A novice asked the Father Superior Nisteros at the monastery at Sceta: “What are the things I should do
in order to please God?” Father Nisteros answered: “Abraham accepted strangers, and God was happy.
Elijah did not like strangers, and God was happy. David was proud of what he did, and God was happy.
The Roman publican, before the altar, was ashamed of what he did, and God was happy. John the
Baptist went into the desert, and God was happy. Jonah went to the great city ofNinevah , and God was
happy. Ask your soul what it wants to do. When your soul is in agreement with your dreams, it makes
God happy.”
A Buddhist master was traveling on foot with his disciples, when he noted that they were discussing
among themselves who was the best. “I have practiced meditation for fifteen years,” said one. “I have
been charitable ever since I left my parents' home,” said another. “I have always followed the precepts of
Buddha,” said a third. At noon, they stopped under an apple tree to rest. The branches of the tree were
loaded down with fruit, to the point that its branches reached to the ground. “When a tree is laden with
fruit, its branches bend to touch the ground. The truly wise is he who is humble. When a tree bears no
fruit, its branches are arrogant and haughty. The foolish man always believes that he is better than others.”
Antonio Machado says: “Blow by blow, step by step, Pathfinder, there is no path, The path is made to
be walked. By walking, the path is made, And if you look back, All you will see are the marks Of
footsteps that one day Your feet will once again take. Pathfinder, there is no path, The path is made to be
walked.”
At the Last Supper, Jesus accused -with the same gravity and using the same phrase -two of his
apostles. Both had committed the crimes foreseen by Jesus. Judas Iscariot recovered his senses and
condemned himself. Peter also recovered his senses, after denying three times everything he had believed
in. But at the decisive moment, Peter understood the true meaning of Jesus' message. He asked
forgiveness and went on, humiliated. He could have chosen suicide, but instead he faced the other
apostles and must have said: “Okay, speak of my error for as long as the human race exists. But let me

correct it.” Peter understood that Love forgives. Judas understood nothing.
A famous writer was walking with a friend when a boy started to cross the street in front of an oncoming
truck. The writer, in a fraction of a second, threw himself in front of the truck and was able to save the
boy. But, before anyone could praise him for his act of heroism, he slapped the boy across the face.
“Don't be fooled by appearances, my boy,” he said. “I saved you only so that you couldn't evade the
problems you will have as an adult.” The master says: “Sometimes we are afraid of doing good. Our
sense of guilt always tries to tell us that -when we act with generosity -we are merely trying to impress
others. It is difficult for us to accept that we are good by nature. We mask our good acts with irony and
indifference, as if live were synonymous with weakness.”
Jesus looked at the table before him, wondering what would be the best symbol of his passage on Earth.
On the table were pomegranates from Galilee, spices from the deserts of the south, dried fruits fromSyria
and Egyptian dates. He must have extended His hand to consecrate one of them, when suddenly he
recalled the message that he brought was for all men everywhere. And perhaps pomegranates and dates
did not exist is some parts of the world. He looked about him, and another thought occurred to him: in
the pomegranates and the dates and the fruits, the miracle of Creation manifested itself without any
interference by human beings. So he picked up the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his
disciples, saying: “Take and eat, all of you, for this is my Body.” Because bread was everywhere. And
bread, in contrast with the dates, the pomegranates and the fruits ofSyria , was the best symbol of the
path toward God. Bread was the fruit of the earth and of man's labors.
The juggler stops in the middle of the plaza, pulls out three oranges and begins to toss them. People
gather round and marvel at the grace and elegance of his movements. “That's what life's like, more or
less,” someone standing there with the wanderer says. “We always have an orange in each hand, and one
in the air. But that one in the air makes all the difference. It was thrown with ability and experience, but it
follows its own course. Like the juggler, we throw a dream out into the world, but we don't always have
control over it. At times like that, you have to know how to put yourself in God's hands -and ask that, in
due time, the dream follows its course correctly and falls, completed, back into your hand.”
One of the most powerful exercises in interior growth consists in paying attention to things we do
automatically -like breathing, blinking our eyes, or attending to things around us. When we do this, we
allow our brain to work with greater freedom -without the interference of our desires. Certain problems
that appeared to be insoluble wind up being resolved, and certain pains that we thought could never be
overcome wind up dissipating effortlessly. The master says: “When you have to confront a difficult
situation, try to use that technique. It requires a bit of discipline... but the results can be surprising”.
A man is at a fair, selling vases. A woman approaches and examines his merchandise. Some pieces are
undecorated, while others have carefully wrought designs. The woman asks the price of the vases. To her
surprise, she learns that they all cost the same. “How can the decorated vase cost the same as the simple
ones?” she asks. “Why charge the same for a vase that it took more time and effort to make?” “I am an
artist,” the seller says. “I can charge for the vase I made, but not for its beauty. The beauty is free.”
The wanderer was seated alone at a mass. Suddenly, he was approached by a friend. “I have to talk to
you,” the friend said. The wanderer saw in the meeting a sign, and began to talk about what he
considered to be important. He spoke of God's blessings, of love, and of the fact that he saw his friend's
arrival as a signal from his angel, because moments before the wanderer had felt alone, whereas now he
had company. The friend listened without saying a word, thanked the wanderer, and left. Rather than
happiness, the wanderer fell more alone than ever. Later, he realized that, in his enthusiasm, he had paid
no attention to his friends request: that he speak. The wanderer looked down and saw his words thrown
to the floor. Because the Universe wanted something different to have happened at that moment.

Three fairies were invited to the baptism of a prince. The first granted the prince the gift of finding his
love. The second granted him enough money to do as he pleased. The third granted him beauty. But, as
in all fairy tales, a witch appeared. She was furious at not having been invited, and pronounced a curse:
“Because you already have everything, I'm going to give you even more. You will be talented at whatever
you try to do.” The prince grew up handsome, rich and in love. But he was never able to complete his
mission on Earth. He was an excellent painter, sculptor, musician, mathematician -but he was never able
to complete a task because he quickly became distracted and wanted to move on to something else. The
master says: “All roads lead to the same place. But choose your own, and follow it to the end. Do not try
to walk every road.”
An anonymous text from the XVIII century speaks of a Russian monk who was looking for a spiritual
adviser. One day, he was told that in a certain village lived a hermit who dedicated himself night and day
to the salvation of his soul. Hearing this, the monk went in search of the holy man. “I want you to guide
me along the paths of the soul,” the monk said when he found the hermit. “The soul has its own path, and
your angel will guide you,” answered the hermit. “Pray without stopping.” “I don't know how to pray like
that. Will you teach me?” “If you do not know how to pray incessantly, then pray to God to teach you
how to do so.” “You are teaching me nothing,” said the monk. “There is nothing to be taught, because
you cannot transmit faith in the same way that you transmit knowledge about mathematics. Accept the
mystery of faith, and the Universe will reveal itself.”
The master says: “Write! Whether it's a letter, a diary or just some notes as you speak on the telephone
-but write! In writing, we come closer to God and to others. If you want to understand your role in the
world better, write. Try to put your soul in writing, even if no one reads your words -or worse, even if
someone winds up reading what you did not want to be read. The simple fact of writing helps us to
organize our thoughts and see more clearly what is in our surroundings. A paper and pen perform
miracles -they alleviate pain, make dreams come true and summon lost hope. The word has power.”
The monks of the desert affirmed that it was necessary to allow the hand of the angels to act. In order to
bring this about, they sometimes did absurd things -such as speaking to the flowers or laughing without
cause. The alchemists follow the “signs from God;” clues that sometimes make very little sense but wind
up leading somewhere. The master says: “Do not fear being regarded as crazy -do something today that
fits not at all with the logic you have learned. Behave is a way that is opposite to the usual serious
comportment you were taught. This little thing, no matter how little it is, can open the door to a great
adventure -human and spiritual.”
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.”
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 animal 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’”.