Paulo Coelho's Brida
Do you believe? Do you believe in the one, the only, that special someone? Is there such a thing as a soulmate for each of us? If so, is it possible to go a life time without ever finding your soulmate? Or, is it possible to meet your soulmate and not realize it, passing by as two ships in the dark night?
In Paulo Coelho’s Brida, an exceptional novel about finding one’s soulmate, Coelho describes finding one’s soulmate by taking risks, by making mistakes and by being with the wrong people until you find your soulmate. The other way he describes of finding one’s soulmate is by entering a state of trance in which one can see a bright spot of light over the shoulder of one’s soulmate.
Paulo Coelho is known for taking complex ideas and putting his insightfully thoughtful twists on them. He wrote The Alchemist after all. (Spoiler) And if you have read The Alchemist, you know where the riches were all along – right where the story began. Life is like that, if we slow down and listen to our inner desires closely enough, we can find our answers. The problem comes with the calming down and removing our personal inner critical rational analyzer (whew!).
Brida was an intense read for me because the real twist, at least for me, was that Brida had the desire to become a witch and find her soulmate through spirituality. As with any Paulo Coelho book, you may be contemplating a long time after you are finished reading. I love books that do that, which has made me a huge Coelho fan!
In life we make a lot of mistakes through trial and error, we bang our heads against the proverbial wall time and time again, repeating our mistakes as if our inner record is broken. And we continuously ask the same questions over and over again. Why did I do that? Why me? Why can’t I get it right?
Nobody likes me! I am not worth loving! These statements come afterwards, because, what other answer could there possibly be?
Desperation leads to friction, friction leads to confusion, confusion leads to further desperation and this leads to feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.
It’s the tricks of the mind we create and put ourselves through, never realizing that we are doing this by allowing too many outside influences to have control of what we think we are looking for – i.e. possessions, style, looks, education, job, etc… none of which, in the grand scheme of things, has anything to do with finding one’s soulmate.
On Paulo Coelho’s personal blog he asks a very good question: Would you try to find your soulmate through magic or by taking risks, making mistakes?
Some may jump to the conclusion, due to the way society hits you with hard knocks and you must claw your way back up again and again, that taking risks and making mistakes is the obvious answer.
Finding one’s soulmate, to me, is about finding our self – understanding our self to the point that we are comfortable with who we are and love our self from within without the need for external assurance. How can one truly be loved by someone else, or give the same love in return, if we are not comfortable with and love our self first?
~Bryan
