Like the Flowing River

Have you ever wondered whether the number of dead people in this world is greater than the number of people alive right now? Although each one of us has our own river of life we swim through; every rain, storm or question has already been faced by the people who lived before us.

We’re incredibly lucky that the lives of great humans have been chronicled in books. Every moment I find myself stuck in a dilemma, I can just gain insight from one of the bazillion quotes floating around in literary pages (both books and the internet pages): it makes my line of thought a little less blurry.

If life is like a flowing river, then life is meant to be reflected upon. “Like the Flowing River” is a book by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. It’s a collection of the author’s experiences and some unforgettable stories about life. It contains the lessons that he learnt as he swam through his gushing river of life. There are short chapters, each containing a profound experience of the author’s or sometimes simply a story we have all heard, each one being 500 words or less.

It contains stories on myriad topics, on life and death, the choices that we make deliberately and the ones we have no control over, on lost love, fear and the relevance of “now”. And after each short story, you smile joyfully, sigh, have an unanswered question answered or are left pondering. He talks about the mundane things in life and craftily turns them into lessons.

In a chapter, he talks about the Story of the Pencil,

“Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.”

In another, he writes about Genghis Khan and his Falcon. Once, Genghis Khan left for hunting with just his Falcon on his shoulder in the dense woods. Having stayed in the forest for longer than expected, he was tired and thirsty. Luckily, he found water flowing through a rock. Every time he filled his cup to drink, the Falcon dashed it to the ground. Angry, Genghis Khan struck his sword at the Falcon when it tried to dash the cup again. By this time, water had run out. He climbed up to find something to drink and to his surprise, there was a pool of water with a dead poisonous snake in the middle. He then realized, the Falcon was only trying to save him.

In yet another one, he talks about his near-death experience, after which he came to appreciate life even more and live life more deliberately. He also talks about what it means to be a writer in a rather chuckle-some manner,

“A writer always wears glasses and never combs his hair. Half the time he feels angry about everything and the other half depressed. He spends most of his life in bars, arguing with other dishevelled, bespectacled writers. He says very ‘deep’ things. He always has amazing ideas for the plot of his next novel, and hates the one he has just published.”

If there’s one thing that no one can actually define is this chemical thing called love. In one of the chapters, he writes about how love can transform and cure but also questions its ability to destroy us completely. He concludes, love is in the simple things, the things that seem so insignificant but when all is said and done, they’re the ones that matter.

“Love creates bridges where it would seem they were impossible.”

On imagining the impossible, he quotes a dialogue between Alice and the White Queen from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass,

‘I can’t believe that!’ said Alice. ‘Can’t you?’ the Queen said in a pitying tone. ‘Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.’ Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’

There’s no harm in imagining the things we want, even if they seem impossible. Everything that’s ever existed was just a fragment of imagination. Maybe that’s why John Lennon’s Imagine was such a huge hit because deep down we all want the things that seem impossible to grasp.

“Like the Flowing River” is a classic Paulo Coelho: it makes you question and ponder, along with beautifully woven stories. Leafing through the pages of the book randomly never fails to bring a sense of calm to my senses and more often than not, gives me the perspective I might need. More importantly, these stories stress upon following our dreams before its too late because ‘Death is always by your side so that, when you need to do something important, it will give you the strength and the courage that you need’. And remember, sometimes Murphy’s Law takes a break making the bread land buttered side up!