Book : Manuscript Found in Accra

In the early April, Paulo's new book hit the bookstore, I brought it home right away. After finishing the longest journey with IQ84, I finally started reading it two days ago and continued finishing it yesterday. It merely took around 2 hours on my first read, maybe due to its big fonts. I'll churn it slowly again afterwards. 

The book is set in Jerusalem on the eve of the Crusades, where there was a gathering between a wise man called the Copt and an audience from all religions : Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the midst of a war. In the gathering, the audience asked questions and they listened to the wise man's philosophical thoughts. 

They asked about : the nature of love, elegance and beauty, work, sacrifices, difference between defeat and failure, anxiety,  and death. 

These are all values that needed to be known and shared, not based on religious system but as the same universal values. What Paulo is trying to say is the : "All religion is heading toward the same light and the light is God". This book is probably his opinions on how human should see this as a whole, he is trying to tell everyone about it, in his fiction. Good way of preaching about life.

It is like a book of wisdom, or positive values that people should be aware of. It is entirely liberated from any religion, so anyone who believe in God, can easily relate to it. If you don't believe in God, well, it's on moral values too - so you can still make use of it.

I am not sure why people want to bash him for writing book with positive values in it. I don't care if he made millions out of people for reading his book - if it's for a good cause, walaupun everything is obviously well-known. Lain lah if what he writes will turn his readers into orang2 tak berguna or something bad, kan. 

Extra fun part, 

I found John Crace's article on the review of the book from The Guardian, where he mocked Paulo's book all the way. So, I read other people's comment and I found this :

Great one, Paulo.
You are so cool in handling indirect attackers.

Book : Being Normal from The Winner Stands Alone

This is taken from the current book I am reading by Paulo Coelho : The Winner Stands Alone. I was in the train, on my way to work when I read this two pages of list on what being normal means. A successful rich man asked his bodyguard, and when his bodyguard couldn't give him any satisfying answers, he took out a folded paper that he brings everywhere to :

" What does being normal mean ? "
" I always have this with me and I add to it all the time ".

1. Anything that makes us forget who we are and what we want; that way we can work in order to produce, reproduce, and earn money.
2. Setting out rules for waging war (the Geneva Convention).
3. Spending years studying at university only to find out at the end of it all that you're unemployable.
4. Working from 9 till 5 every day at something that gives you no pleasure just so that, after thirty years, you can retire.
5. Retiring and discovering that you no longer have enough energy to enjoy life and dying a few years out of sheer boredom.
6. Using Botox.
7. Believing that power is much more important than money and that money is much more important than happiness.
8. Making fun of anyone who seeks happiness rather than money and accusing them of "lacking ambition."
9. Comparing objects like cars, houses, clothes, and defining life according to those comparisons, instead of trying to discover the real reason for being alive.
10. Never talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about the neighbors.

Little Story 27 : Safi & Signs

There was this little town in the middle of no where. For years, the town did not received any rain.

One night, a young man called Safi had a dream. In his dream, an angel came and told him a flood was coming and the angel told him not to worry because there will be signs to help him get through the town alive.

So days after, a heavy rain started to pour. It did not stop for days, weeks, and soon the town was slowly flooded.

The villagers were starting to pack their stuffs and left the place. They stopped by at Safi's house and asked him to come along. But Safi said;

No, I dreamed of an angel and he said a sign will help me. I'll be fine.

The rain did not stop for many days forward and more villagers were starting to leave the town using little boats. They stopped by at Safi's house and asked him to come along. But Safi said the same thing.

Days later, the rain was still pouring heavily and a search team came using a helicopter to find any remaining villagers and saw Safi on his roof top of his house. They shouted at Safi;

Safi, let's go! You will die if you stay there ! 

No, I had a dream and an angel came and said I will get a sign and I'll be safe ! 

The search team thought he was crazy and left him there.

Soon the whole village was flooded and Safi drowned. 

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Little did he know that the angel did sent him signs to help him.

The angel sent the villagers, the boat and even a search team by a helicopter.

But he failed to see those signs as 'the sign' and ignored it.

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This 1 minute story was retold, taken and inspired by Paulo Coelho's blog post several months ago. I keep remembering it so I felt like sharing it here because I failed to find the original post. This is the edited version.

Many times in life, we get signs to help us get through this life, almost like a cheat code, but we choose to ignore it. We no longer believe in intuition. A life we live based on only what we choose to learn and accept. 

Book : Heart & Dreams

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" Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said. "We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, towards its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them - the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the wold as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. 

"So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard : we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts." 

" Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?", the boy asked the alchemist. 

"Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer.

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The Alchemist , by Paulo Coelho , while on the train on the way to work.

Book : Aleph

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Hello!

I just finished reading Aleph by Paulo Coelho. I bought this book 11 days ago and decided to read it right away. I read it while waiting for the bus at the bus stop, while I was in the bus, while waiting at the train station, while in the train, after work waiting for my collegue, while having short dinner and before I sleep. Whenever I have free time to spare. 

He took the Trans-Siberian train, travelled 9,288 kilometers to find himself. He found answers to his questions, he found peace. I finished reading the book feeling envy and inspired because he had the courage to take the journey. As his saying says : "Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage". I have the same feeling of insecurity towards most of those countries he travelled in those journey as the feeling I have towards deep dark water. I keep imagine those places as cold and dark. The sense of being in the places so different than what I am used to. If I am asked to put my feet in a dark deep lake from the boat, I would probably cry so bad in my heart for being utterly terrified. 

He took the journey anyway despite feeling like he made a wrong decision. He found answers, he welcomed his past and mistakes, and he freed himself from the memories of his sins. 

“Is it possible to deviate from the path God has made? Yes, but it's always a mistake. It is possible to avoid pain? Yes, but you'll never learn anything. Is it possible to know something without ever having experiencing it? Yes, but it will never truly be part of you.” - Aleph.

You can find many other beautiful quotes by Paolo Coelho's Aleph from here or you can try to read his top 9 travel tips from here considering he travels a lot all his life.

Along with The Zahir and The Alchemist, I recommend reading this book, Aleph too.

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