In almost every chapter there was something that I found to be profound and thought provoking. I went on a journey with this man that related very much to my own journey of awakening and self-discovery of sorts.
The book Aleph the author Paulo Coelho. I had also read The Alchemist by him and it was very much about fulfilling your dream/destiny even if it sounds absurd or everyone is saying that it cannot happen or it may take awhile. Follow the signs and follow your heart.
Aleph was about a spiritual awakening that the author actually went on. He traveled across the Trans-Siberian Railway, across 8 time zones, in search of forgiveness from his past.
Here are some of those profound tidbits that made me go hummmm.
pg-12- "Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station. Ans what you're doing now isn't traveling, it's just changing countries, which is completely different."
pg.-15- "Whenever I refused to follow my fate, something very hard to bear would happen in my life. And that is my great fear at the moment, that some tragedy will occur. Tragedy always brings about radical change in our lives, a change that is associated with the same principle: loss. When faced by any loss, there's no point in trying to recover what has been; it's best to take advantage of the large space that opens up before us and fill it with something new. In theory, every loss is for our own good; in practice, though, that is when we question the existence of God and ask ourselves: What did I do to deserve this?"
pg. -21- "They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real season for our existence, and out of that moment, Heaven or Hell is born. Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life. Paradise is being able to say at that moment: "I made some mistakes, but I wasn't a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do."
pg.-41- "You're traveling, but, at the same time, you haven't left home. As long as we're together, that will continue to be the case, because you have someone by your side who knows you, and this gives you a false sense of familiarity. It's time you continue on alone. You may find solitude oppressive, too much to bear; but that feeling will gradually disappear as you come more into contact with other people."
pg-46- "...my roots are ready, my soul has been slowly dying from something very hard to detect and even harder to cure. Routine. Routine has nothing to do with repetition. To become really good at anything, you have to practice and repeat, practice and repeat, until the technique becomes intuitive."
pg-62- "To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life."
pg-65- "There's no point explaining that all we achieve by exacting revenge is to make ourselves the equals of our enemies, whereas by forgiving we show wisdom and intelligence. Apart from monks in the Himalayas and saints in the deserts, I think we all have these vengeful feelings because they're an essential part of the human condition. We shouldn't judge ourselves too harshly."
pg-83- "No one can learn to love by following a manual, and no one can learn to write by following a course. I'm not telling you to seek out other writers but to find people with different skills from yourself, because writing is not different form any other activity done with joy and enthusiasm."
Just some words of wisdom. I found this interesting and good for my current journey.
Just thoughts.