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"Maktub" means "It is written" The Arabs feel that "It is written" is not really a good translation, because, although everything is already written, God is compassionate, and wrote it all down just to help us
The wanderer is in New YorkHe has overslept an appointment, and when he leaves his hotel, he finds that his car has been towed by the police He arrives late for his appointer than necessary, and he is thinking about the fine he will have to pay It will cost a fortune Suddenly, he remembers the dollar bill he found in the street the day before He sees some kind of weird relationship between the dollar bill and what happened to hi "Who knows, perhaps I found that money before the person as supposed to find it had the chance? Maybe I removed that dollar bill from the path of someone who really needed it Who knows but what I interfered as written?" He feels the need to rid hiar sitting on the sidewalk He quickly hands him the bill, and feels that he has restored a kind of equilibrius
"Just afor a handout I'm a poet, and I want to read you a poem in return" "Well, make it a short one, because I'ar says, "If you are still living, it's because you have not yet arrived at the place you should be"
Think of the lizard It spends nant at its fate and its shape "I aly, repulsive, and condeh, Mother Nature asks the lizard to make a cocoon The lizard is startled -it has neverhis toh unhappy with the life he has led up until then, he complains to God: "Just when I finally becas, Lord, you take ahat little I have" In desperation, he locks himself into the cocoon and awaits the end Some days later, he finds that he has been transformed into a beautiful butterfly He is able to fly to the sky, and he is greatly ad of life and at God's designs
A stranger sought out the Father Superior at the monastery of Sceta "I want to make my life better," he said "But I cannot keep hts" The father noticed that the as blowing briskly outside, and said to the stranger: "It's quite hot in here I wonder if you could seize a bit of that wind outside and bring it here to cool the rooer said "It is also is that offend God," answered the monk "But, if you kno to say no to temptation, they will cause you no harm"
The master says: "If a decision needs to be made, it is better to make it and deal with the consequences You cannot know beforehand what those consequences will be The arts of divination were developed in order to counsel people, never to predict the future They provide good advice, but poor prophecy "In one of the prayers that Jesus taught us, it says, 'God's will be done ' When His will causes a problem, it also presents a solution If the arts of divination were able to predict the future, every soothsayer would be wealthy, married and content"
The disciple approached hisillu it I need to knohat the next step is" "How do you support yourself?" the master asked "I haven't yet learned how to support myself; my parents help me out But that is only a detail" "Your next step is to look directly at the sun for half a minute," said the master And the disciple obeyed When the half-minute was over, the master asked him to describe the field that surrounded them "I can't see it The sun has affected ht, while shirking his responsibilities, will never find illumination And one who keep his eyes fixed upon the sun ends up blind," was the master's comment
A h a valley in thePyrenees , when he met an old shepherd He shared his food with hi about life The man said that, if one believed in God, he would also have to adovern every step In response, the shepherd led him to a ravine where one could hear -with absolute clarity -the echo to any sound
"Life is these walls, and fate is the shout that each of us makes," said the shepherd "What we do will be raised to His heart, and will be returned to us in the same form "God acts as the echo of our own deeds"
The e, we begin -unconsciously -to run the tape again, to view every defeat we have experienced until then "And, of course, as we grow older, our nuer But, at the same ti those defeats, and of finding the path that allows us to go forward We have to play that second tape on our mental VCR, too "If we only watch the tape of our defeats, we become paralyzed If we only watch the tape of our successes, ind up thinking we are wiser than we really are "We need both of those tapes"
The disciple said to his s I should not be thinking about, desiring things I should not desire and " The h the forest behind his house Along the way, he pointed to a plant, and asked the disciple if he knew its name "Belladonna," said the disciple "It can kill anyone who eats its leaves" "But it cannot kill anyone who simply observes it," said the master
"Likewise, negative desires can cause no evil if you do not allow yourself to be seduced by them"
BetweenFrance andSpain is a range of e na to the valley Every afternoon, an old man clieles for the first time, he was not aware of this On his second visit, he noticed that he crossed paths with the sae, he perceived the , his beret, his cane, his glasses Nowadays, whenever he thinks about that village, he thinks of the old h he is not aware that this is true
Only once did the wanderer ever speak to thefashion, he asked the man, "Do you think that God lives in these beautifulus?" "God lives," said the old man, "in those places where they allow Him to enter"