Legend of the Appointment in Samarrah

A servant overheard in the marketplace that Death was looking for him. He decided to take no chances. He fled home, told his Master he had to depart, then left for his home town of Samarrah, hoping that Death would not follow him.

After supper, there was a knock at the door. The Master of the house opened the door to find Death standing there in his long black robes. Death inquired of the servant.

The Master lied and said his servant was ill in bed, too sick to be disturbed.

That is strange responded Death, for surely his is in the wrong place, for I have an appointment with him at midnight tonight in Samarrah.

Told in The Eight.

This is a very old story. Paulo Coelho tells a similar story Appointment in Bokhara.

Satan sells used objects

Needing to adapt to the new times, Satan decided to get rid of a whole lot of his stock of temptations. He placed an ad in the newspaper and attended his customers all day in his workshop.

It was a fantastic stock: stones for the virtuous to stumble over, mirrors for increasing one’s self-importance, and spectacles that reduced the importance of others. Some objects hanging on the wall drew a lot of attention: a dagger with a curved blade to be used on someone’s back, and tape-recorders that registered only gossip and lies.

- Don’t worry about the price! – shouted old Satan to the potential customers. – Take it home today and pay for it whenever you can!

One of the visitors noticed three tools lying in a corner that seemed to be quite worn and attracted little attention. But they were very expensive. Curious, he wanted to know the reason for that apparent discrepancy.

- They are worn because they are the ones that I use most of all – answered Satan with a laugh. – If they drew a lot of attention, people would know how to protect themselves.

- However, they are both worth the price I am asking for them: one is Doubt, the other is the Inferiority Complex, the third is Bitterness. All the other temptations can sometimes fail, but these three always work.

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

A Kangaroo’s Tale

kangaroo - Ken Crane

This is a simple story with a very powerful lesson. Always remember the affect your words have on others. Your encouraging words have the potential to lift someone up and help them in achieving great things. Whilst, your negative words can cause deep hurt. Don’t let your words be the reason that someone is discouraged to continue trying to achieve their dream.

This is a very old traditional tale that my grandmother would tell my sisters and I and I have adapted it –

– Love Priya

Two young kangaroos were playing in the forest when they fell into a very deep pit. They tried to jump out but couldn’t jump high enough to get out of the hole.

Meanwhile, a big group of kangaroos started gathering above the pit – the pit was very deep and the gathered onlookers shouted to the two young kangaroos that it was impossible for them to get out. The older one of the two kangaroos heard the disheartening words of the spectators and after a while gave up and fell asleep, whilst the younger kept jumping and trying harder.

It started getting dark in the forest and the group started shouting louder to the younger kangaroo to give up and stop as they believed there was no hope, but the young kangaroo was determined and he continued jumping even harder.

Finally, he managed to jump out of the hole – the spectators were shocked and asked the kangaroo, “When we had told you so many times that it was impossible to get out, what was the reason that you tried even harder?”

The kangaroo was shocked because he had not heard their discouraging shouts from the hole as he was partially deaf. As he couldn’t hear anything in the pit he thought they were all gathered there to cheer him on, encouraging him to jump out. He told them, “looking at all of you standing there cheering me gave me the strength to succeed in my mission of getting out of the pit.”

Posted by Priya Sher on here blog. Reposted by Paulo Coelho.

How many remember the WWII poster, Careless Talk Costs Lives? Or in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy a few words leak through to another universe and start an inter-galactic war?

Krishna will hear your prayer

A widow from a poor village in Bengal did not have enough money to pay for her son’s bus fare, and so when the boy started going to school, he would have to walk through the forest all on his own. In order to reassure him, she said:

‘Don’t be afraid of the forest, my son. Ask your God Krishna to go with you. He will hear your prayer.’

The boy followed his mother’s suggestion, and Krishna duly appeared and from then on accompanied him to school every day.

When it was his teacher’s birthday, the boy asked his mother for some money in order to buy him a present.

‘We haven’t any money, son. Ask your brother Krishna to get you a present.’

The following day, the boy explained his problem to Krishna, who gave him a jug of milk.

The boy proudly handed the milk to the teacher, but the other boys’ presents were far superior and the teacher didn’t even notice his.

‘Where did you get that jug?’

‘Krishna, the God of the forest, gave it to me.’

The teacher, the students and the assistant all burst out laughing.

‘There are no gods in the forest, that’s pure superstition,’ said the teacher. ‘If he exists, let’s all go and see him.’

The whole group set off. The boy started calling for Krishna, but he did not appear.

The boy made one last desperate appeal.

‘Brother Krishna, my teacher wants to see you. Please show yourself!’

At that moment, a voice emerged from the forest and echoed through the city and was heard by everyone.

‘I can’t! He doesn’t even believe I exist!’

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

The law and the fruits

fruits of the earth - Ken Crane

In the desert, fruit was scarce. God called one of his prophets and said:

- Each person may only eat one fruit a day.

The custom was obeyed for many generations, and the ecology of the place was preserved. Since the remaining fruit supplied seeds, other trees appeared. Soon, the entire region was turned into fertile soil, which was the envy of other towns.

But the people continued to eat one fruit a day – they remained faithful to what the ancient prophet of their forefathers had told them. However they never allowed the inhabitants of other villages to take advantage of the abundant harvest with which they were rewarded each year.

The result was that fruit rotted on the ground.

God called a new prophet and said:

- Let them eat as much fruit as they like. And ask them to share the abundance with their neighbors.

The prophet came to the town with the new message. But he was stoned – for by now the custom was ingrained in the hearts and minds of each of the inhabitants.

With time, the younger villagers began to question the barbaric old custom. But, since the tradition of the elders was unbending, they decided to abandon the religion. Thus, they could eat as much fruit as they wished, and give the rest to those in need of food.

The only people who remained faithful to the local church, were those who considered themselves saints. But in truth they were unable to see how the world changes, and recognize how one must change with it.

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

Illustration by Ken Crane.

Sadly there are too many churches like this.

Top story in Bird♫is♪the♫Word (Wednesday 18 January 2012).

Today we have the problem of too many fruits of the earth being eaten, sufficient for everyone’s needs, insufficient for everyone’s greed.

Why do we shout in anger?

shouting in anger

A master asked his disciples:

‘Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’

The disciples thought for a while, and one of them said

‘Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.’

‘But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you? ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’

The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.

Finally he explained:

‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.’

Then the master asked:

‘What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…’

And he concluded:

‘When they love each other even more, what happens?

‘They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.

‘Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

Paying three times for the same thing

farmland in the Punjab - Ken Crane

There is a legend in the region of Punjab, about a thief who broke into a farm and stole two hundred onions. But before he could make his escape, he was caught by the farmer and led before the judge.

The magistrate passed sentence: the payment of ten gold pieces.

But the man alleged that the fine was too high, so the judge offered him two alternatives: to be whipped twenty times, or eat the two hundred onions.

The thief chose to eat the two hundred onions.

When he had eaten twenty-five, his eyes were already filled with tears, and his stomach was burning up like the fires of hell.

Since there were still 175 to go, and he knew he would never bear this punishment, he begged to be thrashed twenty times.

The judge agreed. But when the whip tore into his back for the tenth time, he implored for the punishment to be stopped, for he could not stand the pain.

His wish was granted, but the thief still had to pay the ten pieces of gold.

- If you had accepted the fine, you would have avoided eating the onions and wouldn’t have suffered with whip – said the judge.

- But you preferred the more difficult path, not understanding that, when you have done wrong, it is better to pay up quickly and forget the matter.

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

“I’d rather be in hell”

heaven or hell - Ken Crane

As soon as he died, Juan found himself in a gorgeous place, surrounded by all the comfort and beauty he had dreamed of.

A fellow dressed in white approached him and said, “You have the right to have whatever you want; any food, pleasure or amusement.”

Charmed, Juan did everything he dreamed of doing during his life. After many years of pleasures, he sought the fellow in white and asked, “I have already experienced everything I wanted. Now I need to work in order to feel useful.”

“I am sorry,” said the fellow in white, “but that is the only thing I am unable to give you. There is no work here.”

“How terrible,” Juan said annoyed, “I will spend eternity dying of boredom! I’d much rather be in hell!”

The man in white approached him and said in a low voice:

“And where do you think you are?”

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

Rob Bell describes something similar in his excellent book Love Wins, a world of boredom for all eternity, for many that would be hell.

Heaven is not some otherworldly place. Is that all life has to offer, we hang around waiting to go some place else?

Heaven is here on earth, it is what we choose of our life here and now. Or we turn it into hell.

We are the ones who have the choice, to turn swords into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, new wine will drip from the mountains, all nations, that is all colours, all races, all creeds.

But we prefer to create hell on earth.

Fundamentalists tell us that if we do not believe what they believe we will go to hell not heaven. They are of course the self-appointed chosen ones who will go to heaven.

Hell is not a mythical place. It is here on earth, we create it.

It is Rwanda. It is the nine-year-old girl raped by her mother’s boyfriend or the parish priest. It is Iraq as it descends into hell.

- The Truth as Iraq descends into Hell

And yet even in Iraq, as it descends into hell, the people find joy, love wins.

They’ve lost God!

Two naughty boys went to Church every Sunday.

They were always badly behaved, they would run around, shout, up-skittle chairs and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

One day one of the boys was too ill to go to church so one of the naughty boys went on his own.

As he was on his own, he decided he would have to be twice as naughty to make up for the absence of his friend. He wrought havoc in the church that Sunday.

The Rector had had enough. He grabbed the boy by the scruff and roared at him: Where is God!?

He let go of him, then told him to go home and give serious thought to where was God. He said he expected answers the following Sunday.

The boy got home and called his friend: They’ve lost God and they are trying to pin it on us.

As told by the Rector of St John’s in Washingborough at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

- Midnight Mass at St John’s

My wife and the burnt light

On Christmas Eve, my wife and I were reflecting on the year that was nearly ending whilst dining at a restaurant.

I started to complain about something that didn’t happen the way I wanted it to.

My wife focused her attention in a Christmas tree that embellished the place.

I thought that she wasn’t interested in the conversation, so I changed the subject:

“This tree has a beautiful illumination”, I said.

“Yes, but if you look carefully you can see one burnt light among dozens.

” It seems to me that instead of thinking this year as dozens of enlightened blessings, you chose to look at the one light that did not glow.”

Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.

2011 was the year of protest.

All the little lights twinkling are the Occupy camps across the world.

All the little lights twinkling are the brave people who take to the streets in Syria and Egypt, even though they do so at risk to their lives.

The one dead light is the corrupt who must be removed from power.

- Protest the dominant theme of 2011

Synchronicity: I was reading Faith Under Fire by Canon Andrew White:

In Arabic: Yom asal, yom basal which means one day honey, one day onions. Canon Andrew White would designate days as honey or onion, as often a good day would be followed by a bad day, then one day decided to change his perspective, every day would be a good day. Not just a philosophical shift, but a spiritual shift.

Surrounded by death and destruction, Canon Andrew White and the people he loves and serves still see the joy of life.

Psalms 30:5

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

It is often those who face the greatest adversity who share the greatest love. Canon Andrew White in Iraq is a good example of this.

St Paul pleaded with God to remove the thorn from his side, God responded …

1 Corinthians 12:19

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Love drives out fear.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

2 Timothy 1:17

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Canon Andrew White

As I have said many times, the congregation of St George’s are the most joyful people I have ever served. … There cannot be any such word as can’t here in Iraq. We have to persevere, and we do. And in everything we see the Glory of God.

Angels appear in St George’s and as seen by Ezekiel wheels within wheels.

- Wheels within wheels