Whatever you do, Go all the Way

Going after a dream has a price. It may mean abandoning our habits, it may make us go through hardships, or it may lead us to disappointment, et cetera. But however costly it may be, it is never as high as the price paid by people who didn't live.

(Paulo Coelho, Adultery)

"Adultery" is about a successful and attractive Swiss woman who objectively has everything but who one fine day realizes that despite all that, she is still not happy. She rediscovers what it means to be alive by having an affair and a few steamy sexual encounters with an ex-boyfriend. The heroine wasn't spiritual when her journey started but had a few spiritual wake-up calls along the way. When she looks for help from a Cuban shaman he told her to go all the way in whatever she does.

I read Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" before and found it really enlightening. In "Adultery" he comes a step closer to earth, but as it so often happens with spirituality, he perhaps takes a step closer to God. No, having an affair is not spiritual but neither is to be lifeless. The heroine discovers in the the end that she has everything and then some by being with her husband and her children but she probably never could have discovered it without her little soul searching episode. Whatever you do, go all the way; life is not here to tempt you, it is designed to help you find your Self.