Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Eleven Minutes

I have always enjoyed reading Paulo Coelho... And with enthusiasm, I have been quenched by The Alchemist; provoked by Veronika decides to Die, and intrigued by The Devil and Ms Prym. The most enjoyable of late, was The Witch of Portobello; a delightful biography of a woman by the name of Athena. I have read some others, too, and recently picked up the copy I have of Eleven Minutes. I buy books pretty much everywhere I go, and the script beneath the scrawl that represents my name said: London 2005. I cannot remember why, but I couldnt read the book with appreciation at the time. I think there was a 3 for 2 sale or something at the time...

And so, I am reading through Eleven Minutes at the moment... and I find myself at some profound revelatory points here and there. Here is an extract that appealed to me today, some of it for the content, but also the sharing of it is in appreciation for my own process of keeping a journal (beyond the blogosphere:P)

"From Maria's diary, two days after everything had returned to normal:

Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears, it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path.
No one wants their life thrown into chaos. That is why a lot of people keep that threat under control, and are somehow capable of sustaining a house or a structure that is already rotten. They are the engineers of the superceded.
Other people think exactly the opposite: they surrender themselves without a second thought, hoping to find in passion the solution to all their problems. They make the other person responsible for their happiness and blame them for their possible unhappiness. They are either euphoric because something marvelous has happened or depressed because something unexpected has just ruined everything.
Keeping passion at bay or surrendering blindly to it - which of these two attitudes is the least destructive?
I don't know.
"

8 comments:

Crimson Shimmer said...

that was just bloody brilliant! ;)

Anonymous said...

"They make the other person responsible for their happiness and blame them for their possible unhappiness."
could not have been said more perfectly!

we define our own space and our beliefs. and to a great extent the quantum of solace our own self. A lot depends on how we used our brains and our heart. It is deliberate planning and feeding that makes it perform the way it does.

11 minutes is a marvellous read.
one more heart throbbing line is
“At every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss.”
Sigh!
and the next one which i have to share
“When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.”

may you find bliss while reading it over and over Shafz :)

Anonymous said...

Would you believe I started reading Paulo Coelho's work with the beginning of Eleven Minutes.
The insightfulness of his writing inspired me and I didn't even know of The Alchemist or of his other books.
Yeah, I went upon it the wrong way around, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Devil and Ms Prym and The Alchemist. Veronika decides to Die and The Zahir are currently gathering dust on my bookshelf while I read Bridget McNulty's, "Strange Nervous Laughter". I'm a big fan of SA writers. They usually take preference over those of an international flavour.

Btw, I bought Daughters are Diamonds the other day :) FINALLY!
It's my holiday read along with The Zahir while I'm off to Nelspruit for the last week of December :)

Az said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Az said...

I love biographies...theres something so intriguing about reading someone elses thoughts, feelings, experiences, ideas and beliefs. I'm a true voyeur btw :)

To me Passion = Chaos + Emotion.
We are responsible for our own happiness which will only be attained if we can learn to love, appreciate and accept ourselves for who we are and not have any expectations from the world or those around us.

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

hey luq... :) lol.. glad u liked 'em.. thanks.

seher! how deliberate can we be...
oooh... theres so many more quotes that were so immediately profound... thanks! will also paste a few more in time...

thank u lady! :)

@ fatima... oh my gosh. (golly?) :P please dont make my book your holiday read!!! lol... im chuffed that u finally managed to get a copy...

azra einstein,i love the equation... passion is chaos and emotion. sounds stormy that way! passion shouldnt be any less than stormy..reminds me of a poem by allama iqbal:

'may God bring a storm in your life;
the sea of your life is placid, its waves devoid of tumult.'

Anonymous said...

I think the ingredient of Passion is FIRE AND WATER.... it just wont mix and it would still have t hat pull... LOL
LOVE IT WHEN IT COMES TOGETHER [and i know i sound like a retard] but i know no one is looking :P

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

aw, seher... two things to say to you:

1. im mesmerized by fire and water; and equally afraid of their power!

2. you never sound like-a-retard or anything of that sort; and yea...everyones watching, so i have tons of evidence of your realness :P