Warrior of the Light: A Manual

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In 1982, Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make a substantial impact. [8] In 1986 he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism, although he later tried to take it off the shelves since he considered it "of bad quality." [8] After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage, published in 1987. Hitler may have lost the war on the battlefield, but he ended up winning something too,' says M. Halter, 'because man in the twentieth century created the concentration camp and revived torture and taught his fellow men that it is possible to close their eyes to the misfortunes of others.' Perhaps he is right: there are abandoned children, massacred civilians, innocent people imprisoned, lonely old people, drunks in the gutter, madmen in power. But perhaps he isn't right at all, for there are also warriors of light. And warriors of light never accept what is unacceptable. The warrior of light studies the two columns on either side of the door he is trying to open. One is called Fear and the other is called Desire. The warrior looks at the column of Fear and on it is written: 'You are entering a dangerous, unfamiliar world where everything you have learned up until now will prove useless.' The warrior looks at the column of Desire and on it is written: 'You are about to leave a familiar world wherein are stored all the things you ever wanted and for which you struggled long and hard.' The warrior smiles because nothing frightens him and nothing holds him. With the confidence of one who knows what he wants, he opens the door.

Many months passed; the woman did not return and the boy forgot all about her; now he was convinced that he needed to discover the riches and treasures in the submerged temple. If he could hear the bells, he would be able to locate it and salvage the treasure hidden below.When I draw my bow,' says Herrigel to his Zen master, 'there comes a point when I feel as if I will get breathless if I do not let fly at once.' 'If you continue to try and provoke the moment when you must release the arrow, you will never learn the art of the archer,' says his master. 'Sometimes, it is the archer's own over-active desire that ruins the accuracy of the shot.' A warrior of light sometimes thinks: 'If I do not do something, it will not be done.' It is not quite like that: he must act, but he must allow room for the Universe to act too. There is such a thing as emotional rubbish; it is produced in the factories of the mind. It consists of pain that has long since passed and is no longer useful. It consists of precautions that were important in the past, but serve no purpose in the present. The warrior has memories too, but he learns how to separate the useful from the unnecessary; he disposes of his emotional rubbish. A companion says: 'But that's part of my history. Why should I jettison feelings that marked my very existence?' The warrior smiles, but he does not try to feel things that he no longer feels. He is changing and he wants his feelings to keep pace with him. Adelino Fontoura): Luís Murat ► Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay ► Ivan Monteiro de Barros Lins ► Bernardo Élis ► Evandro Lins e Silva ► Ana Maria Machado

A collection of insightful philosophical thoughts and stories, in which Paulo Coehlo offers inspiring answers to profound questions to delight spiritual seekers everywhere. A collection of inspirational thoughts and stories from bestselling author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho. A warrior knows when a battle is worth fighting. He bases his decisions on inspiration and faith. He nevertheless meets people who ask him to fight battles that are not his own, on battlefields that he does not know or which do not interest him. They want to involve the warrior of light in contests that are important to them, but not to him. Often these are people close to the warrior of light, people who love him and trust in his strength and who want him in some way to ease their anxieties. At such moments, he smiles and makes it clear to them that he loves them, but he does not take up the challenge. A true warrior of light always chooses his own battlefield.

Pages 1-16 Summary

A warrior knows that his best teachers are the people with whom he shares the battlefield. It is dangerous to ask for advice. It is even more dangerous to give advice. When he needs help, he tries to see how his friends resolve - or fail to resolve - their problems. If he is in search of inspiration, he reads on the lips of his neighbour the words that his guardian angel is trying to say to him. When he is tired or lonely, he does not dream about distant men and women; he turns to the person beside him and shares his sorrow or his need for affection with them - with pleasure and without guilt. A warrior knows that the farthest-flung star in the Universe reveals itself in the things around him.

You can give a fool a thousand intellects, but the only one he will want is yours,' says an Arabic proverb. When the warrior of light starts planting his garden, he notices that his neighbour is there, spying. He likes to give advice on when to sow actions, when to fertilise thoughts and water conquests. If he listens to what his neighbour is saying, he will end up creating something that is not his; the garden he is tending will be his neighbour's idea. But a true warrior of light knows that every garden has its own mysteries, which only the patient hand of the gardener can unravel. That is why he prefers to concentrate on the sun, the rain and the seasons. He knows that the fool who gives advice about someone else's garden is not tending his own plants. According to a poet: 'The warrior of light chooses his enemies.' He knows what he is capable of; he does not have to go about the world boasting of his qualities and virtues. Nevertheless, there is always someone who wants to prove himself better than he is. For the warrior, there is no 'better' or 'worse': everyone has the necessary gifts for his particular path. But certain people insist. They provoke and offend and do everything they can to irritate him. At that point, his heart says: 'Do not respond to these insults, they will not increase your abilities. You will tire yourself needlessly.' A warrior of light does not waste his time listening to provocations; he has a destiny to fulfil. Gonçalves Dias): Olavo Bilac ► Amadeu Amaral ► Guilherme de Almeida ► Odilo Costa Filho ► Marcos Barbosa ► Fernando Bastos de Ávila ► Marco Lucchesi Ah. It would have been so much easier for those in Auschwitz if they knew this. Then they could have, like, totes chilled about the whole thing. Great little guide for the spiritually-minded, this is simply written yet profound. Taken literally it will seem bizarre and possibly boring, but take the time to reflect on the meaning of these passages and you will be rewarded with some important life lessons.The warrior of light is terrified when it comes to making important decisions. 'This is too much for you,' says a friend. 'Go on, be brave,' says another. And so his doubts grow. After some days of anxiety, he withdraws to the corner of his tent where he usually sits to meditate and pray. He sees himself in the future. He sees the people who will benefit or be harmed by his attitude. He does not want to cause pointless suffering, but nor does he want to abandon the path. The warrior allows the decision to reveal itself. If he has to say 'yes', he will say it bravely. If he has to say 'no', he will say it without a trace of cowardice. The warrior of light knows that everyone is afraid of everyone else. This fear generally manifests itself in two ways: through aggression or through submission. They are two facets of the same problem. That is why, whenever he finds himself before someone who fills him with fear, the warrior reminds himself that the other person has the same insecurities as he has. He has surmounted similar obstacles and experienced the same problems. But he knows how to deal with the situation better. Why? Because he uses fear as an engine, not as a brake. The warrior learns from his opponent and acts in a like manner. The warrior rarely knows the result of a battle when the battle is over. The activity of fighting will have generated an enormous amount of energy around him and there is always a moment when victory and defeat are both equally possible. Time will tell who won and who lost, but he knows that, from that moment on, he can do nothing more: the fate of that battle lies in God's hands. At such moments, the warrior of light is not concerned with results. He examines his heart and asks: Did I fight the Good Fight?' If the answer is 'yes', he can rest. If the answer is 'no', he takes up his sword and begins training all over again. The warrior of light must always remember the five rules of combat, set down by Chuan Tzu three thousand years ago: Faith Before going into battle, you must believe in the reasons for the fight. Companions Choose your allies and learn to fight in company, for no one ever won a war single-handed. Time A battle in winter is different from a battle in summer; a good warrior is careful to select the right moment to begin a fight. Space One does not fight in the same way in a mountain pass as one would on a plain. Think about your surroundings and how best to move around in them. Strategy The best warrior is the one who plans his fight. The warrior of light always manages to balance Rigour and Mercy. To attain his dream, he needs a strong will and an enormous capacity for acceptance; although he may have an objective, the path that leads to that objective is not always as he imagined it would be. That is why the warrior uses a mixture of discipline and compassion. God never abandons His children, but His purposes are unfathomable, and He builds the road with our own steps. The warrior uses that combination of discipline and acceptance to fuel his enthusiasm. Routine was never at the head of any important new movement.

In the intervals between battles, the warrior rests. Often he spends whole days doing nothing, because that is what his heart demands; but his intuition remains alert. He does not commit the capital sin of Sloth, because he knows where that can lead - to the warm monotony of Sunday afternoons when time simply passes. The warrior calls this 'the peace of the cemetery'. He remembers a passage from Revelation: 'I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot... So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.' A warrior rests and laughs. But he is always alert. The warrior hears someone say: 'I need to understand everything before I can make a decision. I want to have the freedom to change my mind.' The warrior regards these words suspiciously. He too can enjoy that freedom, but this does not prevent him from taking on a commitment, even if he does not know quite why he does so. A warrior of light makes decisions. His soul is as free as the clouds in the sky, but he is committed to his dream. On his freely chosen path, he often has to get up earlier than he would like, speak to people from whom he learns nothing, make certain sacrifices. His friends say: 'You're not free.' The warrior is free. But he knows that an open oven bakes no bread. Junqueira Freire): Franklin Dória ► Artur Orlando da Silva ► Ataulfo de Paiva ► José Lins do Rego ► Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco ► Alberto Venancio Filho Manuel Antônio de Almeida): Inglês de Sousa ► Xavier Marques ► Menotti Del Picchia ► Oscar Dias Correia ► Domício Proença FilhoThe Washington Post (29 March 2019). "I was tortured by Brazil's dictatorship. Is that what Bolsonaro wants to celebrate?". The Washington Post . Retrieved 30 March 2019. Adam Mars-Jones finds Paulo Coelho hurtling towards stupidity as he reaches for wisdom in The Zahir", The Observer, 19 June 2005