Skip to main content

Warrior of Light


Book Review 


Title: Manual of the Warrior of Light

Author: Paulo Coelho

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

Pages: 268 [Content only one side, however]

 

You can work miracles if you wish. Miracle is a change of attitude. Miracle is a matter of changing your way of looking at reality.

Paulo Coelho’s book, Manual of the Warrior of Light, is a kind of handbook for those who wish to perform miracles. But if you are looking for some shortcuts to miracles, or even some practical psychological tips for self-improvement, this book will disappoint you.

How do you transform your attitudes? How to change your perspectives? Sit down and do some serious meditation. Probe within. Probe deep. Question yourself, your thoughts and feelings, your beliefs and convictions. This book can help you do that by giving some starting points.

Each page of the book carries a particular thought meant to stimulate your contemplation. Many of these thoughts may not be new to anyone who has read a lot of similar work. Some of them may even sound like platitudes. A few examples:

A warrior of light always keeps his heart free of any feelings of hatred. [86]

The warrior knows that no man is an island. [102]

Yesterday’s pain is the warrior of light’s strength. [158]

A few of the ideas are borrowed directly from other writers and gurus like John Bunyan and Jesus. Examples:

The consequences of our actions are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men. T. H. Huxley [45]

A warrior is as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. Adapted from Jesus [162]

If you are the kind of person who sits in meditation for a while every day and would like to have a triggering point for the meditation, you will find this book helpful. At any rate, this is not a book for ordinary reading. There is nothing much to read in it. This is a book that helps you to reflect. Read a page and let the idea play in your mind. Probe the idea as far as you can go with it. The exercise will change the way you look at yourself and the world. That is the miracle that this book can work on us.

 

 

Labels:

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanMay 29, 2023 at 10:11 PM

    Hari OM
    I read The Alchemist and also The Pilgramage many years back... I never got back to Coelho's works, but they are accessible and truly inspirational. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 30, 2023 at 6:18 AM

      I too read the same two plus Eleven Minutes, the latter of which is rather uncharacteristic of Coelho.

      Delete
  2. DawnanddewMay 30, 2023 at 6:03 PM

    Exactly...Eleven minutes is not characteric of Coelho. His is a book of pondering and contemplation. He has given his ideas in a new bowl of motivation, it seems. But his writing is mesmerizing and miraculous indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WaterMay 31, 2023 at 7:40 PM

    He is one of my favourite writer. I love his writing. I read his alchemist and that is full of encouragement to keep moving you'll never miss your goal. Your review reminded me that my shelf has a few of his works which I have to read. I am going to open them now. Thank you Sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 31, 2023 at 10:19 PM

      My pleasure. It's always better to read what's left unread on your shelf.

      Delete
  4. peppylady (Dora)June 1, 2023 at 7:24 AM

    I haven't read a Brazilian author.
    Coffee is on, and stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AmbicaJune 2, 2023 at 1:57 PM

    I find his books very significant, as they make you think.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anupama JoshyJune 26, 2023 at 6:29 PM

    "A warrior is as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. Adapted from Jesus [162]" I recall this from your classes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

Coming-of-Age Poems

Lubna Shibu Book Review Title: Into the Wandering Multiverse Author: Lubna Shibu Publisher: Book Leaf , 2024 Pages: 23 Poetry serves as a profound medium for self-reflection. It offers a canvas where emotions, thoughts, and experiences are distilled into words. Writing poetry is a dive into the depths of one’s consciousness, exploring facets of the poet’s identity and feelings that are often left unspoken. Poets are introverts by nature, I think. Poetry is their way of encountering other people. I was reading Lubna Shibu’s debut anthology of poems while I had a substitution period in a section of grade eleven today at school. One student asked me if she could have a look at the book as I was moving around ensuring discipline while the students were engaged in their regular academic tasks. I gave her the book telling her that the author was a former student in this very classroom just a few years back. I watched the student reading a few poems with some amusement. Then I ask...
8 comments
Read more

How to preach nonviolence

Like most government institutions in India, the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] has also become a gigantic joke. The national surveyors of India’s famed antiquity go around finding all sorts of Hindu relics in Muslim mosques. Like a Shiv Ling [Lord Shiva’s penis] which may in reality be a rotting piece of a Mughal fountain. One of the recent discoveries of Modi’s national surveyors is that Sambhal in UP is the birthplace of Kalki, the tenth incarnation of God Vishnu. I haven’t understood yet whether Kalki was born in Sambhal at some time in India’s great antique history or Kalki is going to be born in Sambhal at some time in the imminent future. What I know is that Kalki is the final incarnation of Vishnu that is going to put an end to the present wicked Kali Yuga led by people like Modi Inc. Kalki will begin the next era, Satya Yuga, the Era of Truth. So he is yet to be born. But a year back, in Feb to be precise, Modi laid the foundation stone of a temple dedicated to Kalk...
12 comments
Read more

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
15 comments
Read more

The Triumph of Godse

Book Discussion Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in order to save Hindus from emasculation. Gandhi was making Hindu men effeminate, incapable of retaliation. Revenge and violence are required of brave men, according to Godse. Gandhi stripped the Hindu men of their bravery and transmuted them into “sheep and goats,” Godse wrote in an article titled ‘Non-resisting tendency accomplished easily by animals.’ Gandhi had to die in order to salvage the manliness of the Hindu men. This argument that formed the foundation of Godse’s self-defence after Gandhi’s assassination was later modified by Narendra Modi et al as: “ Hindu khatre mein hai ,” Hindus are in danger. So Godse has reincarnated now.   Godse’s hatred of non-Hindus has now become the driving force of Hindutva in India. It arose primarily because of the hurt that Godse’s love for his religious community was hurt. His Hindu sentiments were hurt, in other words. Gandhi, Godse, and the minority question is the theme of the...
5 comments
Read more