"They are so used tome that they know my schedule," he muttered. Thinking about that for a
moment, he realized that it could be the other way around: that it was he
who had become accustomed to their schedule.
But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight,
he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold
of the dawn.
We have to be prepared for change, he thought, and he was grateful for the
jacket's weight and warmth.
But, most important, he
was able every day to live out his dream.
The world was huge and inexhaustible; he had only to allow his
sheep to set the route for a while, and he would discover other interesting
things. The problem is that they don't even realize that they're walking a
new road every day. They don't see that the fields are new and the seasons
change. All they think about is food and water.
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting,
It's the simple things in life
that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.
When someone sees the
same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they
wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And then they want the
person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others
become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people
should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.
"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's
happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's
greatest lie."
The boy didn't know what a person's "destiny" was.
"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are
young, knows what their destiny is.
"At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.
They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to
see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force
begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their
destiny."
To
realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation.
"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to
achieve it."
He never realized that
people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."
The old man continued, "In the long run, what people think about shepherds
and bakers becomes more important for them than their own destinies."
The miner had
abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds. For five years he had
been working a certain river, and had examined hundreds of thousands of
stones looking for an emerald. The miner was about to give it all up, right at
the point when, if he were to examine just one more stone—just one more—
he would find his emerald. Since the miner had sacrificed everything to his
destiny, the old man decided to become involved. He transformed himself
into a stone that rolled up to the miner's foot. The miner, with all the anger
and frustration of his five fruitless years, picked up the stone and threw it
aside. But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell
upon, and there, embedded in the broken stone, was the most beautiful
emerald in the world.
"People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being," said the old
man, with a certain bitterness. "Maybe that's why they give up on it so early,
too. But that's the way it is."
"In
any case, it's good that you've learned that everything in life has its price.
This is what the Warriors of the Light try to teach."
Sometimes it's better to leave things as they are
for her,
every day was the same, and when each day is the same as the next, it's
because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives
every day that the sun rises.
"In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has
prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens
that he left for you."
'The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world,
and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.'
"I'm like everyone else—I see the
world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does."
"It's called the principle of favorability, beginner's luck. Because life wants
you to achieve your destiny," the old king had said.
We have to take advantage when
luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us. It's
called the principle of favorability. Or beginner's luck."
"You must always know what it is that you want," the old king had said.
I don't want to change
anything, because I don't know how to deal with change. I'm used to the
way I am.
every blessing ignored becomes a curse.
"Never stop dreaming," the old king had said. "Follow the omens."
It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love
and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.
He had worked for an entire year to make a dream come
true, and that dream, minute by minute, was becoming less important.
Maybe because that wasn't really his dream.
But he was able
to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of
things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong
current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first
made the decision.
The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes
his true reason for being, thought the boy.
people need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving
what they need and want.
"And, when you can't go back, you have to worry only about the best way of
moving forward. The rest is up to Allah, including the danger."
But all this happened for one basic reason: no matter how many detours
and adjustments it made, the caravan moved toward the same compass
point.
When you want something with all your heart, that's
when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive force."
It's only those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who
achieve the Master Work.
I'm interested only in
the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy
man.because life is the moment
we're living right now."
I must have no fear of failure. It was my fear
of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I'm
beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I'm happy at least
that I didn't wait twenty years."
it would be impossible to be
effective in battle if one knew that he was fated to die. The tribesmen
preferred the taste of battle, and the thrill of not knowing what the outcome
would be; the future was already written by Allah, and what he had written
was always for the good of man.
The secret is here in the present. If you pay
attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on
the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future,
and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his
children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity."
Everything depended on one word: "Maktub."
"When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help
that person to realize his dream,"
"It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil," said the alchemist. "It's what
comes out of their mouths that is."
Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your
treasure.
there was the language of omens, always ready to show him what
his eyes had failed to observe.
"Don't say anything," Fatima interrupted. "One is loved because one is
loved. No reason is needed for loving."
"They were
seeking the treasure of their destiny, without wanting actually to live out the
destiny."
"Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of
the World, and it will one day return there."
"Why do we have to listen to our hearts?" the boy asked, when they had
made camp that day.
"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."
"My heart is a traitor," the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused
to rest the horses. "It doesn't want me to go on."
"That makes sense," the alchemist answered. "Naturally it's afraid that, in
pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you've won."
People are afraid to pursue their most important
dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be
unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of
loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good
but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever
hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer
terribly."
"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one
night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams,
because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and
with eternity."
It said that all people who are happy have God
within them.
"You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to
what it has to say. That way, you'll never have to fear an unanticipated
blow."
"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. We speak of them only to children. Later, we
simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But,
unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their
destinies, and to happiness.
"What you still need to know is this: before a
dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned
along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in
addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've
moved toward that dream.
"Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the
victor's being severely tested."
the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn
"When
you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them,
seldom are you believed."
"Your eyes show the strength of your soul," answered the alchemist.
"Don't give in to your fears," said the alchemist, in a strangely gentle voice.
"If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart."
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear
of failure."
"But this payment goes well beyond my generosity," the monk responded.
"Don't say that again. Life might be listening, and give you less the next
time."
he reminded
himself that no project is completed until its objective has been achieved.
No comments:
Post a Comment