SAGE

I collect quotes, things people say, sayings, little stories,put them in a file and occasionally I pull it out and see what floats to the surface.

Here is a couple of floaters for you………………………….

“I believe that the power of music is being felt in places we never imagined.  This project started Ten Years ago in a subway station with two monks singing and playing guitar.  To this day I cannot tell you where they where from or what language they where singing in.  I am starting to believe that this is meant to be, as they serve as a symbol that regardless of who we are or where we come from we are all united with music.” Playing for change

Ok, I know this is longish, but relevant. It spoke to me, actually directly to me, giving me goosebumps. This is the introduction to “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

“We all need to be aware of our personal calling.Whenever we do that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream. Why?

There are four obstacles:

First obstacle: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice,fear and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.

Second obstacle: We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.

Third obstacle: Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: “oh well I didn’t really want it anyway” We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how. Are defeats necessary? Necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life  is to fall down seven times and get up eight.

So why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people? Because once we overcome the defeats…. and we always do…… we are filled we a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Intense unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the later goes on for years and without our noticing eats away our soul, until one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day.

Forth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal… when it was only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe you are worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, you become an instrument of god and help the soul of the world, and mostly you understand why you are here. Paulo Coelho, Rio de Janerio, November 2002.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist ……….. follow the omens.