What I've Learned from "Like the Flowing River" by Paulo Coelho

I just finished reading Like the Flowing River by Paulo Coelho, it's a collection of his reflections and short stories written from 1998 to 2005.

The following are my favorite part from the book that made me reflect about life. 

The Story of Pencil

5 Qualities of Pencil

1.       You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.

2.       Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener that makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

3.       The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

4.       What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

5.       It always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.

The Importance of Degree

• Sometimes, we are so attached to our way of life that we turn down a wonderful opportunity simply because we don’t know what to do with it.

Pandora’s Box

• … despite being almost convinced at this moment that nothing will ever get better, I cannot lose the one thing that keeps me alive: hope…

The Music Coming from the Chapel

• … the greatness of God always reveals itself in the simple things.

The Dead Man Wore Pyjamas

• I can only conclude that worse than hunger and thirst, worse than being unemployed, unhappy in love or defeated and in despair, far worse than any or all of those things, is feeling that no one, absolutely no one, cares about us.

The Pianist in the Shopping Mall

• … that we each of us have our personal legend to fulfill  and that is all. It doesn't matter if other people support us or criticize us, or ignore us, or put up with us – we are doing it because that is our destiny on this earth, and the fount of all joy.

My Funeral

• … a lot of people… have stopped living, even though they continue working and eating and carrying on with their usual social activities. They do everything on automatic pilot, unaware on the magic moment that each day brings with it, never stopping to think about the miracle of life, not understanding that the next minute could be their last on the face of this planet.
• But we should also be grateful to death, because it makes us think about the importance of each decision we take, or fail to take; it makes us stop doing anything that keeps us stuck in the category of the “living dead” and, instead, urges us to risk everything, to bet everything on those things we always dreamed of doing, because, whether we like it or not, the angel of death is waiting for us.

Living Your Own Legend

• People do not think very much about death. They spend their lives worrying about absurdities; they put things off, and fail to notice important moment. They don’t take risks, because they think its dangerous. They complain lot, but are afraid to take action. They want everything to change, but they themselves refuse to change.

Statutes for the New Millennium

1.       We are all different, and should do what we can to remain so.

2.       Each human being was given two possibilities: action and contemplation. Both lead to the same place.

3.       Each human being was given two qualities: power and the gift. Power directs us towards our destiny; the gift obliges us to share with others what is best in us.

4.       Each human being was given a virtue: the ability to choose. Anyone who fails to use this virtue transforms it into a curse, and others will choose for them.

5.       Each human being has his or her own sexual identity and should be able to exercise that identity without guilt as long as they do not force that sexual identity on others.

6.       Every human being has a personal legend to be fulfilled, and this is our reason for being in the world.  This personal legend manifests itself in our enthusiasm for the task.

7.       One can abandon one’s personal legend for a time, as long as one does not forget about it entirely and returns to it as soon as possible.

8.       Every man has a feminine side, and every woman a masculine side. It is important to discipline with intuition, and to use intuition with objectivity.

9.       Every human being should know two languages: the language of society and the language of signs. One serves to communicate with other people, the other serves to understand God’s messages.

10.   Every human being has the right to search for happiness, and by ‘happiness’ is meant something that makes that individual feel content, not necessarily something that makes other people feel content.

11.   Very human being should keep alive in them the sacred flame of madness, but should behave as a normal person.

12.   Only the following items should be considered to be grave faults: not respecting another’s right; allowing oneself to be paralysed by fear; feeling guilty; believing that one does not deserve the good or ill that happens in one’s life; being coward.

We will love our enemies, but not make alliances with them. They were placed in our path in order to test our sword, and we should, out of respect for them, struggle against them.

We will choose our enemies.

13.   All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect. Anyone who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective way of worshiping and sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, that person is the only one responsible for his or her actions along the way and has no right to shift responsibility for any personal decisions on to that religion.

14.   It is hereby decreed that the wall separating the sacred and the profane be torn down. From now on, everything is sacred.

15.   Everything that is done in the present affects the future in the form of consequence and affects the past in the form of redemption.

16.   All statutes to the contrary are revoked.

The Australian and the Newspaper Ad

• I think that God suffers from poor eyesight too, not because He’s old, but because that’s how He wants it to be. That way, when someone does something wrong, He can always say he couldn't quite see, and so ends up forgiving the person because He doesn't want to commit an injustice.

The Art of Withdrawal

• We see the evil in others because we know the evil in ourselves. We never forgive those who wound us because we believe that we would never be forgiven. We say the painful truth to others because we want to hide it from ourselves. We show our strength, so that no one can see our frailty. That is why, whenever you judge your brother, be aware that it is you who is in the dock. (Okakura  Kakuzo)

Reflections on 11 September 2001

• I believe that the life of every human being is, at some point, touched by tragedy… Life is a constant risk, and anyone who forgets this will be unprepared for the challenges that fate may have in store. Whenever we come face to face with that inevitable suffering, we are forced to try and make some sense of what is happening, to overcome our fear, and set about the process of rebuilding.

Alone on the Road

• … in order to overcome these obstacles, we need four invisible forces: love, death, power, and time.

      We must love because we ourselves are loved by God.

      We must have an awareness of death in order fully to understand life.

      We must struggle in order to grow, but without allowing ourselves to be deceived by the power that is gained through that struggle, because we know that such power is useless.

      Finally, we must accept that our soul – even though it is eternal – is at this moment caught in the web of time, with all its opportunities and limitations.

Who Would Like This Twenty-Dollar Bill?

•  … So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.

The Art of Trying

•  As long as it doesn't harm anyone, change your opinions now and then and be unashamedly contradictory. You have that right; it doesn't matter what other people think, because they’re going to think something anyway.
• A warrior of light often finds that certain moments repeat themselves… then the warrior realizes that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to teach him what he has not yet learned.

Believing in the Impossible

•  … We always have the necessary resources to face the storms that life throws at us, but most of the time, those resources are locked up in the depths of our heart, and we waste an enormous amount of time trying to find them. By the time we've found them, we have already been defeated by adversity.