by Paul Coelho
As you know throughout the month of June we shall be discussing my new book “The Winner Stands Alone”.
Throughout the week, I will be accessing this page 2-3 times a day in order to answer your questions until June 30th. I want also for you discuss among yourselves – since I’m very curious to see your reactions to the book.
As you know one of the recurrent themes of my books is the importance of paying the price of your dreams. But to what extent can our dreams be manipulated? For the past decades, we lived in a culture that privileged fame, money, power – and most of the people were led to believe that these were the real values that we should pursue.
We all should be a “winner”. Not in the sense of someone who finally wins what is important to his/her life. Not in the sense that happiness is the most valuable gift on Earth – and it can be attained here and now, when your work fulfills your heart. We should be a winner in the sense that the system portraits a successful person: celebrity, influence, photos in glossy magazines, behaving like the masters of the universe.
Yes, you may reach the goal society has fed you – but will you be satisfied? Will you be whole? Will you be in peace? This cycle of possession never ends – because the moment that you think that you have reached your goal another desire creeps in.
Soon after I finished writing “The Winner Stands Alone”, the financial market collapsed. Will this lead us again to the real values? I really don’t know. What I do know is that we cannot continue to allow our dreams to be manipulated like they are as for some of the characters in the book.
So please join me in this monthly workshop into a world that is coming to an end. We will be talking about the characters of the book as well as the main themes that run through it.
I thought of writing a small introduction about each character but prefer to list them below – so that you may comment on them. I’m really eager to see how you feel in regards to each one of them, so leave – under each character – our opinions and questions. As you can see there’s also a section dedicated to the themes that are dealt in the book as well as a section to the writing style.
