Buddha was gathered together with his disciples one morning, when a man came up to him:
‘Does God exist?’ he asked.
‘He does,’ replied Buddha.
After lunch, another man came up to him.
Does God exist?’ he asked.
‘No, he doesn’t,’ said Buddha.
Later that afternoon, a third man asked the same question: ‘Does God exist?’
‘That’s for you to decide,’ replied Buddha.
As soon as the man had gone, one of his disciples remarked angrily:
‘But that’s absurd, Master! How can you possibly give such different answers to the same question?’
‘Because they are all different people, and each one of them will reach God by his own path.
“The first man will believe what I say.
“The second will do everything he can to prove me wrong.
“The third will only believe in what he is allowed to choose for himself.’
Taken from Paulo Coelho’s blog
Ghana in less than three weeks!
Budva, Montengro
Stari Grad (Old City)
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
St. Stephen’s Basilica. Pest, Hungary
Ego Sum Via Veritas et Vita
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Paris, France
Cordoba, Spain
Sevilla, Spain
I’m in a I want tinto de verano or white wine lots of wine really any kind of wine and a beautiful spanish male kinda mood.
For some, it takes a lot of strength and courage to be solely in your own company.
Solitude is not the Absence of Love, by Paulo Coelho
Without solitude, Love will not stay long by your side.
Because Love needs to rest as well, so that it can journey through the heavens and reveal itself in other forms.
Without solitude, no plant or animal can survive, no soil can remain productive for any length of time, no child can learn about life, no artist can create, no work can grow and be transformed.
Solitude is not the absence of Love, but its complement.
Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life.
Therefore, blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge.
If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself.
And if you do not know yourself, you will begin to fear the void.
But the void does not exist. A vast world lies hidden in our soul, waiting to be discovered. There it is, with all its strength intact, but it is so new and so powerful that we are afraid to acknowledge its existence.
Just as Love is the divine condition, so solitude is the human condition. And for those who understand the miracle of life, those two states peacefully coexist.
Taken from Paulo Coelho’s blog, posted today
Beirut, Lebanon
Stari Grad. Dubrovnik, Croatia
A museum
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Beirut, Lebanon
Belgrade, Serbia
do not accept mediocrity
