Suggested Read

Suggested Reading of Today:

One Day After Saturday (1984)

(A short story by Gabriel García Márquez)

On Love (Paulo Coelho writes)

Light through rain drops
Originally uploaded by echiner1

A Spanish missionary was visiting an island when he came across three Aztec priests.
"How do you pray?" The missionary asked.
"We have only one prayer," answered one of the Aztecs. "We say, 'God, you are three, we are three. Have pity on us.' "
"A beautiful prayer," said the missionary. "But it is not exactly the one that God heeds. I'm going to teach you one that's much better."
"The padre taught them a Catholic prayer and then continued on his path of evangelism. Year later, when he was returning to Spain, his ship stopped again at the island. From the deck, the missionary saw the three priests on the shore and waved to them.
Just then, the three men began to walk accross the water toward him.
"Padre! Padre!" one of them called, approaching the ship. "Teach us again that prayer that God heeds. We've forgotten how it goes."
"It doesn't matter," responded the missionary, witnessing the miracle. And he promptly asked God's forgiveness for failing to recognize that He speaks all languages.

(Text: Source:
Paulo Coelho writes in Author's Note of the story "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept")



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Traditional religious practices are important: they allow us to share with others the communal experience of adoration and prayer. But we must never forget that spiritual experience is above all a practical experience of love. And with love, there are no rules. Some may try to control their emotions and develop strategies for their behavior; others may turn to reading books of advice from "experts" on relationships---but this ia all folly. The heart decides, and what it decides is all that really matters.

All of us have had this experience. At some point, we have each said through our tears, "I'm suffering for a love that's not worth it." We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we recieve. We suffer because our loe is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules.

But ultimately there is no good reason for our suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we come tto spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and preconceptions of ther era. They have been able to sing, to laugh, and to pray out loud; they have danced and shared what Saint Paul called "the madness of santliness." They have been joyful---because those who love conquer the world and have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender.

(Text: Source:
Paulo Coelho writes in Author's Note of the story "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept")

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THE HEART

Pirates Alley, originally uploaded by apwill44.

THE HEART

Someone went up to a mad man who was weeping in the bitterest possible way.
He said:
‘Why do you cry?’
The mad man answered:
‘I am crying to attract the pity of His heart.’
The other told him:
‘Your words are nonsense, for He has no physical heart.’
The madman answered:
‘It is you who are wrong, for He is the owner of all the hearts which exist. Through the heart you can make your connection with God.’

Source:
Idries Shah’s THE WAY OF THE SUFI, Chapter ‘ATTAR OF NISHAPUR’ , Page 69 Reprinted in 1990 Penguin Arkana

Appearance

Rain.jpg, originally uploaded by MamaShea.

Hariri the Good Man

HARIRI always tried to behave in as exemplary a manner as possible. He acquired such a reputation for correct conduct that a certain merchant who had to go on a journey chose him as the obvious person with whom to entrust the welfare of his beautiful slave-girl.

But Hariri developed a passion for the girl. He went to Haddad, his Sufi preceptor, and asked for his advice.

Haddad said:
“Go to Yusuf, son of Hussain.’
When Hariri approached the place where Yusuf was to be found, people said:
‘Do not go near the son of Hussain, the pious man, for he has a bad reputation, is a heretic and a wine-drinker.’
Not believing this, Hariri arrived at Yusuf’s door, where he saw, sure enough, Yusuf was sitting with a young boy and a flask of wine.
Hariri at once said to Yusuf:
What is the meaning of this behaviour?’
Yusuf said, reading his thoughts:
‘I behave like this in appearance, because it prevents people entrusting their beautiful slaves to my keeping.’

Text: Source:
Reference Book: Idries Shah’s ‘Thinkers of the East’ reprinted in 1977. Penguin Books, page 94