Arbitrary rules

Kerak Castle, Kerak, Jordan

In his book Like the Flowing River, Paulo Coelho tells the story of visiting a ruined castle near Olite, Spain. A man at the door tells him, "You can't come in." Coelho's inituition suggests the man is saying this purely for the pleasure of saying "No!" So he offers the man a tip, tries being nice and points out that it is, after all, a ruined castle. "You can't come in," the man insists.

Coelho decides the only alternative is to see if the man will physically prevent him from entering the castle. He walks towards the door and the man looks at him, but does nothing.

As Coelho is leaving, two other tourists walk into the castle. The old man does not try to stop them. Coelho writes that he thinks - thanks to his resistance - the old man decided to stop inventing ridiculous rules. "Sometimes the world asks us to fight for things we do not understand and whose significance we will never discover," Coelho notes.

Comments

[JanePoe (aka Deborah)]

What a wonderful story!

[Tammy]

I've never read him but I think I should start. XXOO

[bella]

Hmm, interesting. Coelho is one of my all time favorite authors. I'll have to pick up this book, it's been a while since I've read him.

[tinker]

What an intriguing story - and lovely photo to accompany it!

[Britt-Arnhild]

Paolo Coehlo is among my favorite writers (....posting from my work computer)

[Vanessa]

Isn't that so very true. Fighting for things for what reason?? And will we ever know why? We do this a lot in America. I was blessed with parents who let me soar and not pay attention to everyone else's doings around me, just fly and be free and happy.

[Aart]

hello!
While surfing in the net I discovered your profile and I love
the work of Paulo Coelho! Do you know that he is launching his new
book, The Witch of Portobello, through his blog
www.paulocoelhoblog.com?
I found it out because i'm inscibed to his newsletter
http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html
it's simply wonderful!
have a nice day!

[rel]

Tara,
;-) I like the music. (Crazy for You)
Sometimes I think we'd all be better off following our instincts. Rules hamper the good guys and are ignored by the villians
rel

[scott nutter]

Headin off to the bookstore today. I need a good read....just like Coehlo provides. This may be the only book of his that I haven't read since Alchemist.

I don't mind following rules. I think that people that break them to break them are no better off than those that arbitrarily set rules...often for no good reason.

"What? I can't go there? Hmmm...may I ask why? ...oh...not convincing...what are the consequences if I do go there?".....that's more like me. Unless, of course, I really want to go there. Then, I just go...I find that people are usually pretty forgiving if the trespass is slight.

[Catherine]

He may have been right on this occasion. But I also think of people who give up saying "no" because they feel powerless. Because they mean "no", but it is always ignored.
Why was the man at the door in the first place? The more I think about it, the more the story intrigues me.

[Di]

Oh, I love this ... thanks for posting.

I've read most of his books but slipped behind recently. I've noted his site as a reference for creating English lessons from ... I do love his writing.

[Nina]

Coelho is one of my favourite writers. I read the "River Flows Through it" but don't remember the scene you described. So thanks for reminding it to me.

Sadly, many people follow rules blindly without ever questioning whether or not it makes any sense.

xox

[annieelf]

I've noted that many people find it easier to say no than to say yes and too many people take them at their word. But to discover that "yes" opens a whole new world of possibilties, well, you don't question the why's of that. You just enjoy the possibilties. Perhaps that is what the man discovered.