by Paulo Coelho
"Kenan Rifai says that when people praise us we should watch how we behave," says J, "because that means that we hide our faults very well. We end up believing that we are better than we thought and then the next step is to let ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security that will eventually set up dangers all around us."
"How can we be attentive to the opportunities that life gives us?"
"If you have only two opportunities, learn how to turn them into twelve. When you have twelve they will multiply automatically. That is why Jesus says: 'he who has a lot will have a lot more given. He who has little will have that little taken from him.'"
"That is one of the harshest sentences in the Gospels. But I have noticed throughout my life that it is absolutely true. So how can we identify the opportunities?"
"'Pay attention to every moment, because the opportunity--the 'magic moment'--is within our reach, although we always let it pass by because we feel guilty.'"
"Pay attention to every moment, because the opportunity--the 'magic moment'--is within our reach, although we always let it pass by because we feel guilty. So try not to waste your time blaming yourself; the universe will see to correcting you if you're not worthy of what you're doing."
"And how is the universe going to correct me?"
"It won't be through tragedies; these happen because they are part of life, and they should not be thought of as punishments. The universe generally shows us that we are wrong when it takes away what is most important to us: our friends.
"Kenan Rifai was a man who helped many people find themselves and achieve a harmonious relation with life. Even so, some of those people proved to be ungrateful and never even turned their head to say 'thanks.' They turned to him only when their lives were in a state of utter confusion. Rifai helped them again without mentioning the past; he was a man with many friends, and the ungrateful always ended up on their own."
"Those are fine words, but I don't know if I am capable of pardoning ingratitude so easily."
"It's very difficult. But there is no choice; if you don't pardon, then you'll think about the pain they caused you and that pain will never go away. I'm not saying that you have to like those who do you wrong. I'm not telling you to go back to that person's company. I'm not suggesting that you start seeing that person as an angel or as someone who acted without any hurtful intentions. All I am saying is that the energy of hate will take you nowhere, but the energy of pardon which manifests itself through love will manage to change your life in a positive sense."
"I have been hurt many times."
"This is why you still bear within yourself the little boy who hid from his parents and cried, the boy who was the weakest in his class. You still bear the marks of that frail little boy who could never find a girlfriend and was never good at sports. You haven't managed to erase the scars of some injustices committed against you during your life. But what good does that do you? None at all. It does absolutely nothing. It just leaves you with a constant desire to feel sorry for yourself for being the victim of those who were stronger. Or else makes you want to dress up like an avenger ready to inflict more wounds on those who hurt you. Don't you think you're wasting your time with all that?"
"I think it's human."
"It's certainly human. But it's neither intelligent nor reasonable. Respect your time on this Earth, understand that God has always pardoned you, and learn to pardon too."
After this conversation with J, which took place just before I traveled to the United States to spend forty days in the Mojave desert, I began to better understand the boy, the adolescent, the hurt adult I once was. One morning, going from Death Valley in California to Tucson in Arizona, I made a mental list of everyone I thought I hated because they had hurt me. I went along pardoning them one by one; six hours later in Tucson, my soul felt so light and my life had changed much for the better.
Translation (c) James Mulholland
"'The energy of hate will take you nowhere, but the energy of pardon which manifests itself through love will manage to change your life in a positive sense.'"
About the Author
PAULO COELHO is one of the most beloved writers of our time. With sales of more than 75 million copies worldwide, his books have been translated into 61 languages and published in 150 countries. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards and was inducted into the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2002. Mr. Coelho also writes a weekly column syndicated throughout the world.
www.paulocoelho.com and www.paulocoelhobooks.com
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Praise
International Acclaim for Paulo Coelho's
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
"A lyrical tale about the magical and mysterious powers of God."
--Publishers Weekly
"Coelho's...message about the spirituality of love will please his devoted following."
--Booklist
"A work of fiction that may sell big.... Sex and God whipped into tasty mayonnaise."
--Kirkus Reviews
"The story of By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept is beautiful and innocent."
--Cosmopolitan (France) "By the River Piedra...is a text that provokes reflection, which invites the reader to go into oneself, to analyze the relationship between fellow human beings and the connection we keep with the whole of the world."
--El Sol de Mexico
"The novel shines with a radiant brightness. Readers, whether believers or not, for a short time will find an escape from daily life where hope is normally a rare commodity."
--Biblioteca (France) "With By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Coelho offers us a beautiful story, full of poetry and without concessions."
--Page (France)
Also by Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist
The Pilgrimage
The Valkyries
The Fifth Mountain
Veronika Decides to Die
Warrior of the Light: A Manual
Eleven Minutes
The Zahir
The Devil and Miss Prym
Credits
Cover design by Doreen Louie
Cover photograph (c) 2000 by Telegraph Colour Library
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT. Copyright (c) 2006 by Paulo Coelho. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition (c) JUNE 2006 ISBN: 9780061859953
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