O Aleph

by Paulo Coelho

As always happens when we’re focused on what we want, things begin to slot perfectly into place.

I understand that suffering, when it cannot be avoided, is here to help me on my way to glory.

In real life, we tend to see ourselves as separate beings, but the Universe is only one thing, one soul.

to invoke the Aleph, something very powerful has to happen: a huge orgasm, a terrible loss, the climax of a great conflict, a moment of ecstasy when confronted by something of rare beauty.’

Let us concentrate all our efforts on achieving Perfection through the imperfect gestures of everyday life.

True wisdom consists in respecting the simple things we do, for they can take us where we need to go.’

as we travel on, we are constantly destroying and rebuilding ourselves and who we are.

words kill, and only through direct experience will you understand everything,

‘All I need at the moment is for you to embrace me, a gesture as old as humanity itself, and which means far more than the meeting of two bodies. An embrace means I don’t feel threatened by you, I’m not afraid to be this close, I can relax, feel at home, feel protected and in the presence of someone who understands me.

‘Everything happens here in the present. We condemn or save ourselves here and now, all the time. We’re constantly changing sides, jumping from one carriage to the next, from one parallel world into another. You have to believe that.’

‘We think that a computer is full of photos and images, a real window on the world, but the fact is that behind what we see on the screen there is nothing but a succession of zeros and ones, what programmers call binary language.

All the people with whom we’ve had problems in the “past” keep reappearing in our lives, in what mystics call the Wheel of Time. We become more aware of this with each new incarnation, and those conflicts are gradually resolved. When everyone’s conflicts everywhere cease to exist, then the human race will enter a new phase.’

Conflict was essential to evolution.’ She lights another cigarette. ‘But why do we need to resolve those conflicts now?’ ‘Because the Universe, God’s heart, contracts and expands. The motto of the alchemists was Solve et coagula, which means “separate and bring together”.

Spiritual growth doesn’t always arrive hand-in-hand with wisdom.

everything that happened in the past or will happen in the future is also happening in the present.

Only someone who can say “I love you” is capable of saying “I forgive you”.’

I feel great respect for the old shaman’s wisdom, but he won’t show me anything new, because I have already walked many paths and know that they all lead to the same place.

The first shamans were women, the source of life. Since they did not have to go hunting or fishing, they could devote themselves to contemplation and immerse themselves in the sacred mysteries.

I AM ALIVE. I am alive in every pore and every cell of my body. I am alive. I was never born and never died.

Is it possible to avoid pain? Yes, but you’ll never learn anything. Is it possible to know something without ever having experienced it? Yes, but it will never truly be part of you.’

sometimes you have to travel a long way in order to find what is near.

Only two things can reveal life’s great secrets: suffering and love.