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

In this Wonderland

I didn’t write anything in the last few days. Nor did I feel any urge to write. I don’t know if this lack of interest to write is what’s called writer’s block. Or is it simple disenchantment with whatever is happening around me? We’re living in a time that offers much, too much, to writers. The whole world looks like a complex plot for a gigantic epic. The line between truth and fiction has disappeared. Mass murders have become no-news. Animals get more compassion than fellow human beings. Even their excreta are venerated! Folk tales are presented as scientific truths while scientific truths are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. When the young generation in Nepal set fire to their Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, they were making an unmistakable statement: that they are sick of their political leaders and their systems. Is there any country whose leaders don’t sicken their citizens? I’m just wondering. Maybe, there are good leaders still left in a few coun...
12 comments
Read more

Death as a Sculptor

Book Discussion An Introductory Note : This is not a book review but a reflection on one of the many themes in The Infatuations , novel by Javier Marias. If you have any intention of reading the novel, please be forewarned that this post contains spoilers. For my review of the book, without spoilers, read an earlier post: The Infatuations (2013). D eath can reshape the reality for the survivors of the departed. For example, a man’s death can entirely alter the lives of his surviving family members: his wife and children, particularly. That sounds like a cliché. Javier Marias’ novel, The Infatuations , shows us that death can alter a lot more; it can reshape meanings, relationships, and even morality of the people affected by the death. Miguel Deverne is killed by an abnormal man right in the beginning of the novel. It seems like an accidental killing. But it isn’t. There are more people than the apparently insane killer involved in the crime and there are motives which are di...
7 comments
Read more

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
47 comments
Read more

When Cricket Becomes War

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...
6 comments
Read more

Whose Rama?

Book Review Title: Whose Rama? [Malayalam] Author: T S Syamkumar Publisher: D C Books, Kerala Pages: 352 Rama may be an incarnation of God Vishnu, but is he as noble a man [ Maryada Purushottam ] as he is projected to be by certain sections of Hindus? This is the theme of Dr Syamkumar’s book, written in Malayalam. There is no English translation available yet. Rama is a creation of the Brahmins, asserts the author of this book. The Ramayana upholds the unjust caste system created by Brahmins for their own wellbeing. Everyone else exists for the sake of the Brahmin wellbeing. If the Kshatriyas are given the role of rulers, it is only because the Brahmins need such men to fight and die for them. Valmiki’s Rama too upheld that unjust system merely because that was his Kshatriya-dharma, allotted by the Brahmins. One of the many evils that Valmiki’s Rama perpetrates heartlessly is the killing of Shambuka, a boy who belonged to a low caste but chose to become an ascetic. The...
8 comments
Read more