The Story of the Other

This story is from a book by Paulo Coelho. Amazing and very inspirational author.

Man runs into an old friend who had somehow never been able to make it in life. “I should give him some money,” he thinks. But instead he learns that his old friend has grown quite rich and is actually seeking him out to repay the debt he had run up over the years.

They go to a bar they used to frequent together and the friend buys drinks for everyone there. When they ask him how he became so successful, he answers that until only a few days ago he had been living the role of the “Other”.

“What is the Other?” they ask.

“The Other is the one who taught me what I should be like, but not what I am. The Other believes that it is our obligation to spend our entire life thinking about how to get our hands on as much money as possible so that we will not die of hunger when we are old. So we think so much about money and our plans for acquiring it that we discover we are alive only when our days on earth are practically done. And then it is too late.”

“And you? Who are you?”

“I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart: a person who is enchanted by the mystery of life, who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It’s just that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action.

“But there is suffering in life,” one of the listeners said.

“And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it is better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.”

“That’s it?” another listener asked.

“Yes, that’s it. When I learned this, I resolved to become the person I had always wanted to be. The Other stood there in the corner of my room, watching me, but I never let the Other into myself again – even though it has already tried to frighten me, warning me that it’s risky not to think about the future.

“From the moment that I ousted the Other from my life, the Divine Energy began to perform it’s miracles.”