Manuscript Found in Accra

Author: Paulo Coelho

Publisher: Knopf

Published year: 2013

Pages: 190

What is success? It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.

In his latests work, Paulo Coelho, doesn't deliver his usual novel instead he comes out with a kind of manual, a wisdom literature. The manual is a collection of wisdom sayings and advice around various life topics.

The setting is Jerusalem on July 14, 1099 on the eve of the Crusades, where a wise man known as the Copt dispenses philosophical guidelines for living to audiences of Christian, Jews and Muslim gathered to ask questions and listen. The topics asked are varied such as the difference between defeat and failure, victims, beauty and elegance, death and many more. The Copt answers all questions in detail and enlightened them all with a timeless and powerful exploration of personal growth, wisdom and joy.  Read one of the excerpt here:

And a woman who was getting on in years and had never found a husband said: "Love has always passed me by."

And the Copt answered:

In order to hear Love's words, you must allow Love to approach.

However, when it does draw near, we fear what it might say to us, because Love is free and it's not ruled by our will or by what we do.

All lovers know this but refuse to accept it. They think they can seduce Love through submission, power, beauty, wealth, tears, and smiles.

True Love, however, is the love that seduces and will never allow itself to be seduced.

Tears speak for themselves.

Because we managed to keep our heart open, despite the pain.

Because we realized that the person who left us did not take the sun with them or leave darkness in their place. They simply left, and with every farewell comes a hidden hope.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

What a beautiful said, isn't it?  

Now centuries later, the manuscript containing the Copt's extraordinary insights on the courage, solitude, loyalty and loss has been unearthed from a cave in Cairo. According to Coelho, "You still have the same problems right now that you had back then." Coelho further said that his writing is not related to a religious system since he thinks that every religion is heading toward the same light and that light is God. 

This enlightening book speaks of the main human values, of life, of love, of sorrow, of death, in other words, he tells ourselves to us. The book is the kind of book that you can read many times. You can take it down from your bookshelf, flip into a topic you need, contemplate for a moment and ...voila the answer is there. A must read.

"Don't try to be useful. Try to be yourself; that is enough, and that makes all the difference."