Tuesday, 5 January 2010

Resensi: By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept

Judul buku: BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT
Pengarang: Paulo Coelho

Dalam buku ini unsur Katholik sangat kental. Alur ceritanya tidak istimewa, namun pemilihan dan kedalaman kata-kata Paulo Coelho cukup istimewa. Adalah seorang wanita bernama Pilar yang mencintai teman masa kecilnya yang kini telah menjadi Santo (semacam orang suci). Sang pria dihadapkan dua pilihan apakah memilih sisi religiusnya ataukah memilih hidup dengan Pilar. The heart decides, and what it decides is all that really matters.

Prelude
A woman named Pilar met her childhood friend (he is a seminarian right now). This man –whose childhood dream is to travel the world- think that God has the feminine side. He believe in MAGIC MOMENT and MIRACLE. He also believe that God give us that magic moment everyday. Magic moment enables us to perform miracles. No single day is the same because each morning brings its own special miracle.

When magic moment come, we have to take a risk, to do crazy things. We will only understand the miracle of life when we allow the unexpected to happen. It's better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you're fighting for. Unfortunately we often ignore that magic moment, afraid of disappointment, kept us from taking action, and THEN MIRACLE DON’T HAPPEN.

Pilar’s journey
Pilar once decided to accompany the man to the Bilbao and France. The journey made Pilar realised many things. People work so hard to build small temple in a remote spot such in mountains because of FAITH. The Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews were right when they have faith. God is the same, even though He has a thousand names; it is up to us to select a name for Him. With faith, they are able to unite with God and to perform miracles.

In her life, Pilar don’t pray a lot because she has suffered, and God didn't listen to her prayers. Many times she have tried to love with all her heart, and her love has wound up being trampled or betrayed. Along the journey, this man restore Pilar’s faith. In order to have a spiritual life, you need not enter a seminary or fast. All you have to do is HAVE FAITH AND ACCEPT GOD. From then on, each of us becomes a part of His path and become a vehicle for His miracles.

This man told her that he love her since they’ve been child. Pilar actually also in love with him since she was a a girl, but she was fearful of loving and losing, because the man was the type who would someday go off in search of wealth, adventure, and dreams. After knowing that Pilar is happy with him, he looks happier. Happiness is something that multiplies when it is divided. Only a man who is happy can create happiness in others. Knowing that the man love her in return, joy flooded her heart. A joy that overpowered her fears (of losing) and was stronger than her attempts to control every second of her life.

Pilar lesson about love
Never try to judge future loves by the past suffering. Love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.

In real life, love has to be possible, even if it is not returned right away. Love can only survive when the hope exists that you will be able to win over the person you desire.

At some point, we all suffering for a love that's not worth it. We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. But ultimately there is no good reason for our suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we come to spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and preconceptions of their era.

The man leave Pilar
The man couldn't choose between the religious life and marriage. The man contemplated and conversed with the Goddess whether he should leave Pilar and continue his path as a Santo or live with Pilar. If Goddess were to ask him, he would give up on what he want the most in the world: Pilar.

A padre had come to convince Pilar to leave him, because, this man Pilar in loved with, had a more important mission to accomplish. A Padre finally said to Pilar to follow her dreams, TRANSFORM HER LIFE, TAKE THE PATH THAT LEADS TO GOD, PERFORM YOUR OWN MIRACLES, AND TAKE RISKS.

The man choose Pilar
The man doesn't want to talk about God, virginity, and the spiritual world, because he want to talk about the other kind of love. The love that a man and a woman share, and in which there are also miracles.

The universe always conspires to help the dreamer. The universe always helps us fight for our dreams, no matter how foolish they may be. Our dreams are our own, and only we can know the effort required to keep them alive. But before a person can follow his dream, others have to make sacrifices.

The man think that Goddess has given him a second chance in life. And The Goddes giving him that with Pilar. She will help him to find Goddess path again. This time is not only HIS PATH, but THEIR PATH (both The Man and Pilar’s path).

Quotes
  • Each day is different from every other day.
  • Believe in what your instinct say.
  • Roads are made to be traveled. Let's just enjoy the morning, the sun, and the countryside. We have a long trip ahead of us.
  • Anyone who can conquer her heart can conquer the world.
  • Life existed before we were born and will continue to exist after we leave this world. It's the same with love. It existed before and will go on forever.
  • Wine makes relaxes, that what friends are for, to make relax.
  • I didn't pray anymore, but the silence of churches always attracted me.
  • In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life, the princesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs.
  • There are some things in life that are worth fighting for to the end.
  • Why sing of the nights of Buenos Aires, when we were in Bilbao?
  • This was a silence that spoke for itself. A silence that said we no longer needed to explain things to each other.
  • Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.
  • You can move the city, but not the well.
  • We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.
  • Every person on earth has a gift, in some people, the gift manifests itself spontaneously, others have to work to discover what it is (Coelho).

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