"The Cost Of Knowing It..." *

On  coyoteprime's  blog, Running 'Cause I Can't Fly , over to your left in Favorites List is a post titled "The Cost Of Knowing It..." , lines from Shantaram by author Gregory D. Roberts. 

I have the book in hand, having just finished reading it.  There has never been a better novel (it is based on his diary entries over many years)  that I've read in 65 years of daily reading.  I feel it will become a classic in its time and firmly hope an authentic movie will soon follow.  Never has such a story affected my soul.  This is Roberts first book.  He is an amazing writer.  I highly recommend his book if you want an highly enjoyable experience.  The main action takes place in Bombay.  I learned so much about this society.  That is the only clue I'll give you. I will not spoil it by telling you more. Here is the section posted by coyoteprime:

   "The Cost Of Knowing It..." 

"There's a truth deeper than experience. It's beyond what we see, or even what we feel. It's an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from the perception. We're helpless, usually, in the face of it; and the cost of knowing it, like the cost of knowing love, is sometimes greater than any heart would willingly pay. It doesn't always help us to love the world, but it does prevent us from hating the world. And the only way to know that truth is to share it, from heart to heart, just as Prabhakar told it to me, just as I'm telling it to you now."

“The cloak of the past is cut from patches of feeling, and sewn with rebus threads. Most of the time, the best we can do is  wrap it around ourselves for comfort or drag it behind us as we struggle to go on. But everything has its cause and its meaning. Every life, every love, every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning, and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see. Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it. Nothing in any life, no matter how well or poorly lived, is wiser than failure or clearer than sorrow. And in the tiny, precious wisdom that they give to us, even those dread and hated enemies, suffering and failure, have their reason and their right to be.”

"It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would’ve annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive."

“My heart broke on its shame and sorrow. I suddenly knew how much crying there was in me, and how little love. I knew, at last, how lonely I was. But I couldn’t respond. My culture had taught me all the wrong things well. So I lay completely still, and gave no reaction at all. But the soul has no culture. The soul has no nations. The soul has no color or accent or way of life. The soul is forever. The soul is one. And when the heart has its moment of truth and sorrow, the soul can’t be stilled.

I clenched my teeth against the stars. I closed my eyes. I surrendered to sleep. One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.”

“Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that’s all we have- to hold on tight until dawn.”

- Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram"

There are several videos on YouTube.com all about Gregory Roberts.  Check them out!