August 24, 2010

• Pilgrimage

  I read the Pilgirmage by Paulo Coelho, and am passing on some amazing quotes. It is a deep book with many levels–some of which I don’t understand, and some I think you should be careful of and with. I still have many questions on what I think about parts of it. WIth that said, it does give much to think about:

  There are four sacred roads. This is a story about number three—the road of Santiago. The author must travel it to find his sword. The four roads:

  1.  To the tomb of St. Peter in Rome—they are called wanderers—the cross symbol, with the clovers, representing grace, miracles, and luck.
  2. To the holy sepulcher of Christ in Jerusalem—they are called palmists—the symbol of palm branches, with the hearts, representing love.
  3. To the mortal remains of St. James—they are called pilgrims—the symbol of the scallop shell, with the spades, representing power.
  4. The secret road that no one can teach you because it is personal, with the diamonds.

  “May He show you the only thing that you need to discover; may you walk neither too slowly nor too fast but always according to the laws and requirements of the Road; may you obey the one who is your guide, even though he may issue an order that is homicidal, blasphemous, or senseless.”

  “The true path to wisdom can be identified by three things, first, it must involve agape, second, it has to have practical application in your life. Otherwise, wisdom becomes a useless thing and deteriorates, like a sword never used. And finally, it has to be a path that can be followed by anyone.”

  “I am very glad to be here, because the work I did not finish is not important and the work I will be able to do after I get back will be so much better.”

  “The good fight is the one we fight because our heart asks it of us. In the heroic ages—at the time of the knights in armor—this was easy. There were lands to conquer and much to do. Today, though, the world has changed a lot, and the good fight has shifted from the battlefields to the fields within themselves. The good fight is the one that’s fought  in the name of our dreams. When we are young and our dreams first explode inside us with all of their force, we are very courageous, but we haven’t yet learned how to fight. With great effort, we learn how to fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat. So we turn against ourselves and do battle within. We become our own worst enemy. We say that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realize, or the result of our not having known enough about life. We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight.”

  “The first symptom of the process of our killing out dreams is the lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight. The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle.”

  “Finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. We  think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams—we have refused to fight the good fight. We go through a period of tranquilitiy, but the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being. We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. What we sought to avoid in combat—disappointment and defeat—comes upon us because of our cowardice. “ 

  “There are two manifestations of agape. One, not the only one, but it is the purest. Agape as total love. It is the love that consumes the person who experiences it. Whoever knows and experiences agape learns that nothing else in the world is important—just love. This was the kind of love that Jesus felt for humanity, and it was so great that it shook the stars and changed the course of history. Many individuals have been seized by this love that consumes. They had so much to give—and their world demanded so little—that they went out into the deserts and to isolated places, because the love they felt was so great that it transformed them. They became the hermit saints we know today. For you and me, who experience a different form of agape, this life may seem terrible. But the love that consumes makes everything else—absolutely everything—lose its importance. Those men just lived to be consumed by their love. Agape is so much more than liking. It is a feeling that suffuses, that fills every space in us, and turns our aggression to dust. “

  “Agape in its other form is enthusiasm. For the ancients, enthusiasm means trance, or ecstacy—a connection with God. Enthusuasm is agape directed at a particular idea or a specific thing. When we love and believe from the bottom of our heart, we feel ourselves to be stronger than anyone in the world, and we feel a serenity that is based on the certainty that nothing can shake our faith. This unusual strength allows us to make the right decision at the right time, and when we achieve our goal, we are amazed. “

  “A disciple can never imitate his guide’s steps. You have your own way of living your life, dealing with problems, and with winning. Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.”

  “Once a problem is solved, its simplicity is amazing.”

  “This is the most difficult moment in a person’s life—when the person witnesses the good fight and is unable to change and join the battle. When this happens, knowledge turns against the person who holds it. “

  “You can learn only through teaching. We have been together here on the Road to Santiago, but while you were learning the practices, I learned the meaning of them. In teaching you, I truly learned. By taking the role of guide, I was able to find my own true path. Life teaches us lessons every minute, and the secret is to accept that only in our daily lives can we show ourselves to be as wise a Solomon and as powerful as Alexander the Great. But we become aware of this only when we are forced to teach others and to participate in adventures as extravagant as this one has been. “

  “The secret of my sword, like the secret of any conquest we make in our lives, was the simplest thing in the world: it was what I should do with the sword. The only thing I had wanted to know was where it was hidden. I have never asked myself why I wanted to find it or what I needed it for. All of my efforts has been bent on reward; I had not understand that when we want something, we have to have a clear purpose in mind for the thing that we want. The only reason for seeking a reward is to know what to do with that reward. And this was the secret of my sword.”

  “Few can accept the burden of their own victory: most give up their dreams when they see that they can be realized. They refuse to fight the good fight because they do not know what to do with their own happiness; they are imprisoned by the things of the world. Just as I have been, who wanted to find my sword without knowing what to do with it.”

   

  • 8:55 pm
  • 1 Comment