Mystery of life

A man runs into an old friend who had somehow never been able to make it in life. "I should give
him some money," he thinks. But instead he learns that his old friend has grown rich and is
actually seeking him out to repay the debts he had run up over the years.
They go to a bar they used to frequent together, and the friend buys drinks for everyone there.
When they ask him how he became so successful, he answers that until only a jew days ago, he
had been living the role of the "Other."
"What is the Other?" they ask.
"The Other is the one who taught me what I should be like, but not what I am. The Other believes
that it is our obligation to spend our entire life thinking about how to get our hands on as much
money as possible so that we will not die of hunger when we are old. So we think so much about
money and our plans for acquiring it that we discover we are alive only when our days on earth
are practically done. And then it's too late."
"And you? Who are you?"
"I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart: a person who is enchanted by the mystery
of life. Who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It's just
that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action."
"But there is suffering in life," one of the listeners said.




By: Paulo Coelho in " By the river Piedra I sat down & wept "