Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

Maktub Paulo Coelho “Maktub” means “It is written.” The Arabs feel that “It is written” is not really a good translation, because, although everything is already written, God is compassionate, and wrote it all down just to help us. The wanderer is in New York. He has overslept an appointment, and when he leaves his hotel, he finds that his car has been towed by the police. He arrives late for his appointment, the luncheon lasts longer than necessary, and he is thinking about the fine he will have to pay. It will cost a fortune. Suddenly, he remembers the dollar bill he found in the street the day before. He sees some kind of weird relationship between the dollar bill and what happened to him that morning. “Who knows, perhaps I found that money before the person who was supposed to find it had the chance? Maybe I removed that dollar bill from the path of someone who really needed it. Who knows but what I interfered with what was written?” He feels the need to rid himself of the dollar bill, and at that moment sees a beggar sitting on the sidewalk. He quickly hands him the bill, and feels that he has restored a kind of equilibrium to things. “Just a minute,” says the beggar. “I'm not looking for a handout. I'm a poet, and I want to read you a poem in return.” “Well, make it a short one, because I'm in a hurry,” says the wanderer. The beggar says, “If you are still living, it's because you have not yet arrived at the place you should be.” Think of the lizard. It spends most of its life on the ground, envying the birds and indignant at its fate and its shape. “I am the most disliked of all the creatures,” it thinks. “Ugly, repulsive, and condemned to crawl along the ground.” One day, though, Mother Nature asks the lizard to make a cocoon. The lizard is startled -it has never made a cocoon before. He thinks that he is building his tomb, and prepares to die. Although unhappy with the life he has led up until then, he complains to God: “Just when I finally became accustomed to things, Lord, you take away what little I have.” In desperation, he locks himself into the cocoon and awaits the end. Some days later, he finds that he has been transformed into a beautiful butterfly. He is able to fly to the sky, and he is greatly admired. He is surprised at the meaning of life and at God's designs. A stranger sought out the Father Superior at the monastery of Sceta. “I want to make my life better,” he said. “But I cannot keep myself from having sinful thoughts.” The father noticed that the wind was blowing briskly outside, and said to the stranger: “It's quite hot in here. I wonder if you could seize a bit of that wind outside and bring it here to cool the room.” “That's impossible,” the stranger said. “It is also impossible to keep yourself from thinking of things that offend God,” answered the monk. “But, if you know how to say no to temptation, they will cause you no harm.” The master says: “If a decision needs to be made, it is better to make it and deal with the consequences. You cannot know beforehand what those consequences will be. The arts of divination were developed in order to counsel people, never to predict the future. They provide good advice, but poor prophecy. “In one of the prayers that Jesus taught us, it says, 'God's will be done. ' When His will causes a problem, it also presents a solution. If the arts of divination were able to predict the future, every soothsayer would be wealthy, married and content.” The disciple approached his master: “For years I have been seeking illumination,” he said. “I feel that I am close to achieving it. I need to know what the next step is.” “How do you support yourself?” the master asked. “I haven't yet learned how to support myself; my parents help me out. But that is only a detail.” “Your next step is to look directly at the sun for half a minute,” said the master. And the disciple obeyed. When the half-minute was over, the master asked him to describe the field that surrounded them. “I can't see it. The sun has affected my vision,” the disciple said. “A man who seeks only the light, while shirking his responsibilities, will never find illumination. And one who keep his eyes fixed upon the sun ends up blind,” was the master's comment. A man was hiking through a valley in thePyrenees , when he met an old shepherd. He shared his food with him, and they sat together for a long time, talking about life. The man said that, if one believed in God, he would also have to admit that he was not free, since God would govern every step. In response, the shepherd led him to a ravine where one could hear -with absolute clarity -the echo to any sound. “Life is these walls, and fate is the shout that each of us makes,” said the shepherd. “What we do will be raised to His heart, and will be returned to us in the same form. “God acts as the echo of our own deeds.” The master said: “When we sense that the time has come for a change, we begin -unconsciously -to run the tape again, to view every defeat we have experienced until then. “And, of course, as we grow older, our number of difficult moments grows larger. But, at the same time, experience provides us with better means of overcoming those defeats, and of finding the path that allows us to go forward. We have to play that second tape on our mental VCR, too. “If we only watch the tape of our defeats, we become paralyzed. If we only watch the tape of our successes, we wind up thinking we are wiser than we really are. “We need both of those tapes.” The disciple said to his master: “I have spent most of the day thinking about things I should not be thinking about, desiring things I should not desire and making plans I should not be making.” The master invited the disciple to take a walk with him through the forest behind his house. Along the way, he pointed to a plant, and asked the disciple if he knew its name. “Belladonna,” said the disciple. “It can kill anyone who eats its leaves.” “But it cannot kill anyone who simply observes it,” said the master. “Likewise, negative desires can cause no evil if you do not allow yourself to be seduced by them.” BetweenFrance andSpain is a range of mountains. In one of those mountains, there is a village named Argeles, and in the village is a hill leading to the valley. Every afternoon, an old man climbs and descends the hill. When the wanderer went to Argeles for the first time, he was not aware of this. On his second visit, he noticed that he crossed paths with the same man. And every time he went to the village, he perceived the man in greater detail -his clothing, his beret, his cane, his glasses. Nowadays, whenever he thinks about that village, he thinks of the old man, as well -even though he is not aware that this is true. Only once did the wanderer ever speak to the man. In a joking fashion, he asked the man, “Do you think that God lives in these beautiful mountains surrounding us?” “God lives,” said the old man, “in those places where they allow Him to enter.” The master met one night with his disciples, and asked them to build a campfire so they could sit and talk. “The spiritual path is like a fire that burns before us,” he said. “A man who wants to light the fire has to bear with the disagreeable smoke that makes it difficult for him to breathe, and brings tears to his eyes. That is how his faith is rediscovered. However, once the fire is rekindled, the smoke disappears, and the flames illuminate everything around him -providing heat and tranquility.” “But what if someone else lights the fire for him?” asked one of the disciples. “And if someone helps us to avoid the smoke?” “If someone does that, he is a false master. A master capable of taking the fire to wherever he desires, or of extinguishing it whenever he wants to do so. And, since he has taught no one how to light the fire, he is likely to leave everyone in the darkness.” A man searching for wisdom decided to go up into the mountains, since he had been told that every two years God appeared there. During his first year there, he ate everything that the land had to offer. Eventually, the supply was exhausted, and he had to return to the city. “God is unfair!” he exclaimed. “Didn't he know that I waited for a year to hear his voice. I was hungry and had to come back to town.” At that moment, an angel appeared. “God would like very much to talk with you,” the angel said. “For an entire year he fed you. He was hoping that you would produce your own food after that. But what did you plant? If a man is unable to grow fruit where he lives, he is not ready to talk with God.”