Paulo Coelho Introduces 'Warrior of the Light.'
Read along book group - Week 1
‘A warrior of light knows he has much to be grateful for.’
This month we are reading Paulo’s Warrior of the Light, (first published in 1997) and in place of my weekly commentary, I will be selecting daily a quote from the book with a commentary written by Paulo as BONUS MATERIAL.
Order ‘Warrior and the Light’ here.
This book is not a novel, it’s a series of 132 inspirational thoughts and is the first of only two books of this kind he has published; the second being The Archer in 2020.
Paulo explains in the interview below, the concept of this work and why he felt the need to write it. (Excerpt from Confessions of a Pilgrim, with Juan Arias.)
‘I wrote a book called Warrior of the Light. It’s about normal people who still believe in the unknown. They are masters without being masters. The truth is we are all disciples and masters many times a day.
‘Warriors of the light, the new spiritual adventurers, recognize each other because they have the same defects, vanities, and feelings of guilt all mortals have, but at the same time they also have something else which is the fire in their eyes. They experience things and life with enthusiasm, although without feeling themselves to be different or privileged.
- It’s an antidote against the defeatism and solitude that generally invades us when we think there is no longer any space for new, out-of-the-ordinary adventures.
‘Yes, because they know they’re not alone. I think one of the reasons for my books’ success, which many find hard to understand, lies in that they help these spiritual adventurers recognize themselves as such. Because my books are full of omens. I don’t write about omens, only in one paragraph in The Alchemist, but everyone understands exactly what I’m talking about.'
‘My book speaks of struggle and combat, of enthusiasm for fighting a battle you believe in. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but it doesn’t matter, what counts is the struggle to bring something about.
‘That is the pleasure of life. So let us say pleasure is everything you do with enthusiasm in life, which can include suffering and pain, but that doesn’t annul the deep pleasure of knowing you’re struggling for something you love.
‘On a personal plane, being a Warrior of the Light is accepting oneself as a person who cannot be polarized by fears, who struggles against them, and carries on in search of the Personal Legend. On a collective plane, by avoiding all forms of cultural, political or religious fundamentalism, avoiding everything that could be taken as the exclusion of others, of those who are different, and opening oneself enthusiastically to all new experiences and love.’
Follow our daily inspirational quotes this month and read Paulo Coelho’s life changing insights.