Paulo Coelho - By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept

'Book of forgiveness' - this is what the book was referred. But I didn’t really find the feel of forgiveness in it. I found it more of realising one's goal and understanding what exactly he expects from life, and how Love makes the life meaningful.

I like reading Coelho, because he is the one who always tells me being crazy is not a bad thing :) It is perfectly normal thing to be. He definitely is crazy - his thoughts are not inhibited by wisdom! In this book there are a lot of incidents which seems silly. Which normal people may not do and I always dream about doing ! Like getting drunk in open on a cold night, with my Loved one... 

There are a lot of biblical references in the book. I think that's the only way a book deals with Love can be told, in a language of God, spirituality. Which everyone can understand and it is the easy way to talk about Love. Easily  conveyed too.

His observation about human nature is wonderful. It is not something that I don't know, but when he says that I understand that I am not the only one feeling that. And he gives an explanation for it. Good. Like he writes - some people always have to be doing battle with someone, sometimes even with themselves, battling with their own lives. So they begin to create a kind of play in their head, and they write the script based on their frustration. How often we might end up fighting the fight which was not at all necessary ?? This theory explains that. The other wanted a fight, with anybody for any reason. When we approach them, they get into the fight for the first reason they can think of. Hhmm...

We are our own greatest surprise - sometimes when I'm talking with someone and get excited about what I'm saying, I find myself saying things I've never said before. It seems almost as if I'm channeling' an intelligence that isn't mine - one that understands life much better than me ::: do I need to tell more about this observation... Now I know that it was always there inside me, which I just failed to notice. I have surprised myself. But sometimes if you think you know something, you do wind up understanding it. I will not stop understanding more and wide Coelho...

He has an interesting observation, not about individuals, but as a society - When a certain number of people have enough faith to change the scenario, all of the other - everywhere on the planet - will benefit. The people movements around the world in recent times could be the best example. It started off as a spark. Then many joined the thought, and the entire community got the benefit. When the news spread to different part of world they got inspired... Wow...

Altogether though it was a slow read like his other books ( I tend to stop reading and think about what he really wanted to say ), I was happy finishing it. Happy because the time was not wasted and I found something which I wanted to know. Read the quotes from the book to know more...

The lines I read again...

The wise are wise only because they Love. And the foolish are foolish only because they think they can understand Love.
Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.
The moment we begin to seek Love, Love begins to seek us.
We are our own greatest surprise.
I have surprised myself. But sometimes if you think you know something, you do wind up understanding it.