A Room Of My Own

"From where I am," the sun said, "I can see the Soul of the World. It communicates with my soul, and together we cause the plants to grow and the sheep to seek out shade. From where I am – and I’m a long way from the earth- I learned how to love. I know that if I came even a little bit closer to the earth, everything there would die, and the Soul of the World would no longer exist. So we contemplate each other, and we want each other, and I give it life and warmth, and it gives me my reason for living.” “So you know about love,” the boy said. Photo courtesy of Claire McNeilly Lovingly, Janet

Excerpt from the introduction; Oscar Wilde said: “ Each man kills the thing he loves .” And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all of the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far… …But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here. Paulo Coelho Rio de Janeiro November 2002 Translated by Margaret Jull Costa …”and you understand why you are here.” Yes. Janet