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:
"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!
