Never mistake an explanation for the thing it explains.
Paulo Coelho | October/November Issue
Warriors of the Light are not afraid of having others think they are crazy. They talk to themselves loudly when they are alone. Someone once passed down the wisdom that this is the best way to communicate with the angels, and it is an attractive idea.
In the beginning, think how hard it must be. They feel as though they have nothing to say, that they will keep repeating the same nonsense. Even so, these Warriors persist. Every day they speak to their hearts, debating what they don’t agree with, talking nonsense. One day they notice their voices have changed, and they realize they have become mediums to a higher power.
These Warriors look crazy, but this is a façade. They have asked to hear information from the angels, and in this way, they are able to receive it. More important than the conversations themselves is remembering that for millennia, humans have always spoken only to that which they can see. All of a sudden, in a short time, “see” and “speak” have become separate entities.
This is the result of one simple thing: the telephone.
We think we are used to this, but we don’t realize the immense impact of the telephone on our reflexes. Our bodies and our sensations simply still aren’t used to it. The practical explanation is that when we speak to someone on the telephone, we are able to enter a state much like we would if we were performing certain magic tricks. Our minds enter another frequency, become more receptive to the invisible world. I know many people who are stuck on certain traditions and always have paper and a pencil next to the phone. They’re always mindlessly scribbling things down while they talk to someone. When they hang up, the scribbles are generally symbols of the Tradition of the Moon, the most classic of them all, which uses the traditional paths to achieve knowledge.
When we begin the path, we always have an idea of where we are supposed to meet. The women usually bring the Other Part, the love that they should find among the Earth, while the men look for the Power. Neither of them wants to learn. They want to get to that which accomplishes their goal.
But the path of magic, as the path of life, is the path of mystery. To learn something means to enter into contact with the world, about which we have no idea. It is necessary to be humble to learn. Pay attention to the eyes of the people who talk on the telephone. These eyes are always interesting.
And since we are already talking about learning things that come from a place within us with which we are not familiar, it’s always good to remember this story; otherwise, we risk terminating the exaggeration of understanding that comes to us.
A great wise man spent years meditating about life. He drew something on a sheet of paper and gave it to his disciples to share.
The followers of the wise man became so impressed by the beauty of his work that they had the drawing embossed on a bronze plaque. The news spread quickly, and people from all around the world began coming to the town to study each line of the drawing. In a few years, the people began to love the bronze plaque, almost as though it were sacred.
“The drawing is merely an explanation. It is not a cult object!” said the wise man, clearly disappointed.
He immediately had the plaque melted down into a cauldron. “At least this way, the bronze continues to be beautiful and doesn’t lose its significance.”
Paulo Coelho is the Brazilian author of international bestsellers, including The Alchemist. paulocoelhoblog.com