A pilgrim arrived at the village where Abu Yazid al-Bistrami lived.
- Teach me the quickest way to reach God.
Al-Bistrami answered:
- Love Him with all your strength.
- That I already do.
- Then you need to be loved by the others.
- But why?
- Because God looks at the hearts of all men. When He visits yours He will surely see the love you have for Him and He will be happy. However, if He also finds your name written with affection in the hearts of others, He will certainly pay far more attention to you.

by Paulo Coelho

The Crazy Magician and signing

A man asked al-Husayn:
- What do I have to do to be closer to God?
- Tell Him a secret. And don’t let anyone in the world know what the secret is. In that way a bond of trust will be established with the Divine.
But the man went on:
- Only that will help me get closer?
- Establish a firm relation at the start of your spiritual journey. Pray. It’s also important to have will power. And if it’s possible to enjoy a little solitude, all the better.
- But how do I reach the ideal stage of communicating with Him?
- I have already explained all that you need - said al-Husayn. - But you want to reach the end before you even begin, and that is just not possible.

by Paulo Coelho

On the 29th of May 2002, hours before writing the last sentence of my new book, I went to the Grotto at Lourdes in France to fill up a few bottles of holy water from the fountain there. When I entered the cathedral grounds, a man of about 70 years old came up to me and said: “You know you look like Paulo Coelho?” I answered him that that was who I really was.
The man gave me a hug and introduced his wife and grand-daughter. He told me how important my books were in his life, ending with the phrase: “They make me dream.”
I had already heard that said several times, and it has always made me glad. At that moment, however, it scared me a bit, because I knew that “Eleven minutes” touches on a delicate, strong, shocking question: the journey of a Brazilian prostitute in search of her soul. I walked over to the fountain, filled the bottles, returned, asked the man where he lived (in the north of France, near Belgium) and wrote down his name.
Right there and then I decided to dedicate the book to that man, Maurice Gravelines. I hold an obligation towards him, his wife, grand-daughter, and myself: to talk about what bothers me, not about what everyone would like to hear.
Some books make us dream, others show us reality, but none can elude what is most important for an author: honesty to what he writes. Writing about sex was for me a challenge I had faced since my youth, when the hippie revolution devised a whole lot of new modes of behavior in this respect, sometimes stretching the limits of common sense. After those crazy years we went through a conservative period because of the advent of mortal diseases, and marked by that persistent question: “but is sex really all that important?”
We live in a world of standard behavior: standards of beauty, quality, intelligence, efficiency. We believe there is a model for everything and we also think that we will be safe if we follow that model.
And for that very reason we set a “sex standard,” which in fact consists of a series of lies: vaginal orgasm, virility above all else, better to pretend than to leave the partner disappointed, and so on. A direct consequence of this type of attitude is that millions of people are left frustrated, unhappy and guilty. And this has caused all sorts of aberrations such as pedophilia, incest or rape. Why we behave like this with something that’s so important?
In the same way that an author never knows the course that his books are going to take - and that is why he lets the text take off in unexpected directions - we too have to live our contradictions, above all in areas as sensitive as sex and love. The man who wants to follow a standard the whole time will be obliged to think today what he thought yesterday and always wear a tie to match his socks. Can you think of anything more boring?
The society that today approaches sexual behavior with a “standard,” without respecting individual differences, should try to remember one of the most beautiful poems on the human condition, the hymn to Isis discovered by Nag Hammadi, which scholars claim was written between the 3rd and 4th centuries of our age:

Because I am the first and the last
I am the venerated and the scorned
I am the whore and the saint
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the arms of my mother
I am the sterile one, and my children are many
I am the well-wed and the spinster
I am the one who gave the light and the one who never gave birth
I am the wife and the husband
And it was my man who bore me in his belly
I am the mother of my father
I am the sister of my husband
And he is my rejected son
Respect me always
Because I am the scandalous and the discreet.

by Paulo Coelho

Many centuries ago, in the days of the samurais, a text was written in Japan on the spiritual art of wielding the sword: “Impassive comprehension”, also known as “The Treatise of Tahlan”, the name of the author (a fencing master and Zen monk). Below are some extracts that I have adapted:

Keeping calm
Whoever understands the meaning of life knows that nothing has a beginning and an end, and so he does not become anguished. He fights for what he believes in without trying to prove anything to anyone, keeping the quiet calm of one who has had the courage to choose his destiny.

This holds true for both love and war.

Letting the heart be present
Whoever trusts in his power of seduction, capacity to say things at the right time, and proper use of the body, is deaf to “the voice of the heart.” This can only be heard when we are in perfect tune with the world around us, never when we feel we are the centre of the universe.

This holds true for both love and war.

Learning to be the other
We are so centred on what we feel is the best attitude that we forget something of great importance: in order to reach our objectives, we need other people. So it is necessary not only to observe the world but also to imagine ourselves in the skin of others and to know how to follow their thoughts.

This holds true for both love and war.

Finding the right master
Our path will always cross that of many others who for love or pride wish to teach us something. How can we tell the friend apart from the manipulator? The answer is simple: the true master is not the one who teaches an ideal path but rather he who shows his pupil the many ways that lead to the road that must be travelled to reach the destination. As of the moment that you find this road, the master can no longer help you, because your challenges are unique.

This holds true neither for love nor war - but if we fail to understand this item, we will never get anywhere.

Escaping from threats
We often think that the ideal attitude is to give life for a dream, but there is nothing more mistaken than this. In order to make a dream come true, we need to conserve our life, and so we have to know how to avoid whatever is threatening us. The more we premeditate on our steps, the more we stand to be wrong, because we are not taking others into consideration, or life’s teachings, or passion and calm. The more we feel we are in control, the farther we are from controlling anything at all. A threat gives no warning, and a quick reaction cannot be programmed like a walk on Sunday afternoon.

So if you want to be in harmony with your love or with your fight, learn to react fast. Using polite observation, do not let your supposed experience of life turn you into a machine, but rather use this experience always to listen to “the voice of the heart.” Even if you disagree with what this voice is saying, respect it and follow its advice, for it knows the best moment to act and the right moment to avoid action.

This also holds true for both love and war.

by Paulo Coelho

Dearest Jane,

Yes, I KNOW I already sent you a message today, but??? Well- I just HAD to have you be viewing this chair that’s in the library in CYRES Cafe’s Library. I couldn’t remember if I had sent this to you, or.. maybe I just dreamed it? *LOL* I figured it would be making your day even MORE awesome than it already is being! By the way, I also included the latest view of “Happy Sparkle Thoughts” place, with my dancing tree. It’s constantly changing and growing, as I learn how to create “more stuff”.

LOTS of love (with an extra sprinkling of gratitude for ALL that you do, and SO darn well, too!!),
Sue

Oh Jane- I am SO totally overwhelmed with all that is going on in this spectacular AND incredible place that I find myself curiously at a loss for the “right words” to convey my thoughts and feelings. Even the pictures that I attached are NOT enough to capture the sounds (YES, the winds blow through the trees, and the streams burble with joy!); textures, light- and other essences of life found here. Nor can they capture those elusive feelings of paradoxical and simultaneous excitement- and tranquility. There is just so MUCH here to experience- and?? It j-u-s-t keeps getting better and better with each passing day!!

I frequently find the concept of “time passing” to be rather mysterious and confusing- and wish there was a way to sometimes “hang on to” those “moments-in-space-and-time” that just bring my very heart and soul true joy and happiness. Well, for those who also want to simply “capture” the essence of this?? I’d quite enthusiastically suggest visiting here (in CYRES World), as it really IS “THE Place” where one CAN actually experience all of these emotions. Right here, in the “World of Wow”! : ) W*O*W indeed!!

As I fly through the fountain of “Hope Springs Eternal”- I cannot help but notice that it contains not only the flowing and endless waters of compassion, but also the flame of passion. Kinda neat, huh? As the hope flows here, so does the endless creativity and inspiration.

By the way, some of these pictures that I send to you are merely “moments-in-time”, and as with all aspects of life, things change. Change is GOOD, as it keeps one engaged, interested- and.. hopefully curious. : ) I am ALWAYS excited to be peeking in, to discover what has changed, what MORE could possibly BE in this quite magnificent place. Happily, with each new day, there IS always “something new” for me to be noticing and experiencing. Hmmm.. the parallels of this world and “reality” are amasingly similar, I do believe. : )

I am knowing that YOUR day is BEing one of quite interesting and positively incredible happenings, this I really can “feel”. AWESOME!!! By the way?? I just wanted to thank you.. just for BEing you.

Love,
Sue

If you might be interested in joining CAnn and the crew co-creating in CYRES World, write to jane@cyrescafe.com

More photos from CYRES World Master Builder, CAnn:

‘Werner Erhard, pioneer of the multi-billion dollar personal growth industry, breaks a long silence about his ideas, his life and the controversial program est that made him a cultural icon of the 1970’s and 80’s.’