By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times
About Changing
A holy man gathered his friends. “I am old,” he said.
“And wise,” answered one of his friends. “We have always seen you pray through all these years. What do you talk about with God?”
“In the beginning I had the enthusiasm of youth. I used to ask God to give [...]

By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times
On a cold January morning, a man placed himself at the entrance of a subway station in Washington and began to play the violin. For 45 minutes passersby listened to six compositions of J.S. Bach. As it was rush hour – it is estimated that thousands of people pass there [...]

By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times
Robert Fisk, maybe most famous war correspondent today, told me one day that as he returned from the Iran-Iraq front by train, one of the soldiers had asked him: “Did you like the war? It’s great, isn’t it?”
Journalists who risk their lives to cover armed conflicts around the world have [...]

By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times

The ceremonial of tea
In Japan, I took part in the “tea ceremony.”
We entered a small room. We admired the teapot. The tea was served, and that was it. However, everything was done in a unique ceremonial fashion, in which a quotidian practice became a moment of communion with the Universe.
Okakusa [...]

By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times
I have told Sufi stories in many of these columns and some of them featured their main character, Nasrudin – the fool that is always able to be more intelligent than the wise men, surprising readers with his actions.
Today I would like to set these stories aside for a bit [...]