Very likely many of you have read Paulo Coelho’s first book, The Alchemist, published in1988. I am now enthralled with his latest, Aleph, which is equally compelling. In fact, it could easily provide me with a year’s worth of quotes of the day about soul searching, truth telling, going deeper.
In this day and age most of us think we need silence, solitude and simplicity to become centered, and to a large extent that is undoubtedly true. But then, when we get away by ourselves for an extended period of time, we become aware of our need for companionship, and so we seek it out. Back and forth our seesaw goes.
Aleph is about a man’s search for his soul, not through silence, solitude and simplicity, but through connecting with others. The protagonist has done his fair share of independent living, and now realizes that it is time for him to search through companionship. Coelho isn’t implying that this is the natural order of soul work--rather that it is the path for this one man at this particular time in his life.
We all have to figure out how to ride our own seesaw. Not simple. Life keeps presenting me with questions and then I have to figure out what I should do to get the next answers. Of course the ride never ends.
In this day and age most of us think we need silence, solitude and simplicity to become centered, and to a large extent that is undoubtedly true. But then, when we get away by ourselves for an extended period of time, we become aware of our need for companionship, and so we seek it out. Back and forth our seesaw goes.
Aleph is about a man’s search for his soul, not through silence, solitude and simplicity, but through connecting with others. The protagonist has done his fair share of independent living, and now realizes that it is time for him to search through companionship. Coelho isn’t implying that this is the natural order of soul work--rather that it is the path for this one man at this particular time in his life.
We all have to figure out how to ride our own seesaw. Not simple. Life keeps presenting me with questions and then I have to figure out what I should do to get the next answers. Of course the ride never ends.