Manuscript Found in Accra (5 page)

Nature is
telling us: “Change!”

And those who do not fear the Angel of Good Fortune understand that they must go forward despite their fear. Despite their doubts. Despite recriminations. Despite threats.

They confront their values and prejudices. They hear the advice of their loved ones, who say: “Why do that? You have everything you need: the love of your parents, wife, and children; the job it took you so long to get. Don’t run the risk of becoming a stranger in a strange land.”

Nevertheless, they risk taking a first step—sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of ambition, but generally because they feel an uncontrollable longing for adventure.

At each bend in the road, they feel more and more afraid, and yet, at the same time, they surprise themselves; they are stronger and happier.

Joy. That is one of the main blessings of the All Powerful. If we are happy, we are on the right road.

Fear gradually ebbs away, because it wasn’t given what it felt was its due importance.

One question persists as we take our first steps along the path: “Will my decision to change make other people suffer?”

But if you love someone, then you want your beloved to be happy. You might feel frightened for him initially, but that feeling soon gives way to pride at seeing him doing what he wants to do, and going where he always dreamed of going.

Later, we might begin to experience a sense of abandonment and helplessness.

But travelers meet other people on the road who are feeling just the same. As they talk, they realize that they are not alone; they become traveling companions and share their solutions to various obstacles. And they all feel wiser and more alive than they thought they were.

When they are lying in their tents, unable to sleep and overwhelmed by sadness and regret, they say to
themselves: “Tomorrow, and only tomorrow, will I take another step. Besides, I can always turn back because I know the road. But one more step won’t make much difference.”

Until one
day, without warning, the road stops testing the traveler and begins to treat him generously. The traveler’s troubled spirit takes pleasure in the beauties and the challenges of the new landscape.

And each step, which had until then been merely automatic, becomes instead a conscious step.

Rather than speaking to him of the solace of security, it teaches him the joy of facing new challenges.

The traveler continues his journey. He doesn’t complain of boredom now; he complains, rather, that he is tired. But at that point he rests, enjoys the landscape, and then carries on.

Instead of spending his whole life destroying the roads he was afraid of following, he begins to love the road he is on.

Even if his final destination remains a mystery, even if, at some point, he makes a wrong decision, God sees
his courage and sends him the necessary inspiration to put matters right.

What continues to trouble him is not what happens, but a fear that he won’t know how to deal with it. Once he has decided to follow his path and has no alternative, he discovers that he has great willpower and that events bend to his decisions.

“Difficulty” is the name of an ancient tool that was created purely to help us define who we are.

Religions teach that faith and transformation are the only ways of drawing near to God.

Faith shows us that we are never alone.

Transformation helps us to love the mystery.

And when everything seems dark, and we feel alone and helpless, we won’t look back, for fear of seeing the changes that have taken place in our soul. We will look ahead.

We will not fear what happens tomorrow, because yesterday we had someone watching over us.

And that same Presence will remain at our side.

That Presence will shelter us from suffering.

Or It will give us the strength to face it with dignity.

We will go farther than we think. We will seek out
the place where the morning star is born. And we will be surprised when we get there how much easier it was than we had imagined.

The Unwanted
Visitor visits those who don’t change and those who do. But those who did change can say: “My life was an interesting one. I didn’t squander my blessing.”

And to those who believe that adventures are dangerous, I say, try routine; that kills you far more quickly.

And someone said:

“When everything looks black, we need to raise our spirits. So, talk to us about beauty.”

And he answered:

People always say: “It’s inner beauty that matters, not outer beauty.”

Well, that’s not true.

If it were, why would flowers put so much energy into attracting bees? And why would raindrops transform themselves into a rainbow when they encounter the sun? Because nature longs for beauty, and is satisfied only when beauty can be exalted. Outer beauty is inner beauty made visible, and it manifests itself in the light that flows from our eyes. It doesn’t matter if a person is badly dressed or doesn’t conform to our idea of elegance, or even if he isn’t concerned about impressing other people. The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and, like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them. So if the person
looking into someone’s eyes has a dark soul, he will see only his own ugliness.

Beauty is
present in all creation, but the dangerous fact is that, because we human beings are often cut off from the Divine Energy, we allow ourselves to be influenced by what other people think. We deny our own beauty because others can’t or won’t recognize it. Instead of accepting ourselves as we are, we try to imitate what we see around us. We try to be what other people think of as “pretty,” and, little by little, our soul fades, our will weakens, and all the potential we had to make the world a more beautiful place withers away.

We forget that the world is what we imagine it to be.

We stop being the moonlight and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it. Tomorrow, the water will evaporate in the sun. And all because, one day, someone said: “You are ugly.” Or: “She is pretty.” With those three simple words, they stole away all our self-confidence.

And we become ugly and embittered.

At that
moment, we can draw comfort from so-called wisdom, an accumulation of ideas put together by people wishing to define the world instead of respecting the mystery of life. This “wisdom” consists of all the unnecessary rules, regulations, and measurements intended to establish a standard of behavior.

According to that false wisdom, we should not be concerned about beauty because it is superficial and ephemeral.

That isn’t true. All the beings created under the sun, from birds to mountains, from flowers to rivers, reflect the miracle of creation.

If we resist the temptation to allow other people to define who we are, then we will gradually be able to let the sun inside our own soul shine forth.

Love passes by and says: “I never noticed you before.”

And our soul responds: “Well, pay more attention, because here I am. It took a breeze to blow the dust from your eyes, but now that you have recognized me, don’t leave me again, because all of us desire beauty.”

Beauty exists not in sameness but in difference. Who could imagine a giraffe without its long neck or a cactus without its spines? The irregularity of the mountain
peaks that surround us is what makes them so imposing. If we tried to make them all the same, they would no longer command our respect.

It is the imperfect that astonishes and attracts us.

When we look at a cedar tree, we don’t think: “The branches should be all the same length.” We think: “How strong it is.”

When we see a snake, we never say: “He is crawling along the ground, while I am walking with head erect.” We think: “He might be small, but his skin is colorful, his movements elegant, and he is more powerful than I.”

When the camel crosses the desert and takes us to the place we want to reach, we never say: “He’s humpbacked and has ugly teeth.” We think: “He deserves my love for his loyalty and help. Without him, I would never be able to explore the world.”