Excerpt 19: Love

There are moments when we would very much like to help someone, but there is nothing we can do.  Either the circumstances do not allow us to offer help, or the person is not receptive to any expression of relatedness and support. The master says: “There is always love.  Even at those times when we feel most useless, we can still love — without expectation of reward, change...

Excerpt 18: Perspective

Fifteen years ago, during a period of profound rejection of faith, the wanderer was with his wife and a friend in Rio de Janeiro.  As they were having a drink together, an old buddy with whom the wanderer had shared the craziness of the 60s and 70s came into the bar. “What are you doing now?” the wanderer asked. “I’m a priest.” his friend said. As they...

Excerpt 17: Laws

A group of Jewish wise men met in order to try to create the shortest Constitution in the world.  The rule for the meeting was that if — within the time span that he could balance himself on one foot — one of them could define the laws that should govern man, he would be regarded as the wisest of them. “May God punish the criminals,” said one. The others argued...

Excerpt 16: Individuality

The writer, George Bernard Shaw, noticed a huge block of stone in the living room of a friend, the sculptor, J. Epstein. “What are you going to do with that stone?” Shaw asked. “I don’t know yet.  I’m thinking about it,” Epstein answered. Shaw was surprised: “You mean you plan your own inspiration?  Don’t you think an artist has to be...

Excerpt 15: Humility

Brother John was thinking: “I need to be like the angels.  They do nothing but contemplate the glory of God.” And that night, he left the monastery at Sceta and went into the desert. A week later he returned to the monastery.  The brother at the gate heard him knock, and asked who it was. “It’s Brother John.  I’m hungry.” “That cannot...

Excerpt 14: Weapons

Of all the powerful arms of destruction that man has been able to invent, the most terrible — and most cowardly — is the word. Fists and firearms at least leave some blood remaining.  Bombs destroy houses and streets.  Poisons can be detected. The master says: “The word can destroy without leaving a clue.  Children are conditioned for years by their parents, men are...