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Always harbour hope, even in hard times: “Manuscript found in Accra”

In difficult times we always give up hope, but it’s a huge mistake. Difficulties are part of life but they can be overcome with Love and Wisdom. This is the moral of the story told in the bookManuscript found in Accra” (2012) written by Paulo Coelho. A novel told through the words of Coptus, a wise man from Athens, that focus on many different aspects of life and provide a special view on them. Loneliness, sex, defeat, success, beauty, anxiety, love: there’s everything in this book. Every topic is an invitation to reflect and to call into question our beliefs.

Coptus and the hope that his words can travel through time

The book is a real manuscript, more than a novel. It is the transcription of the words spoken by the Coptus in the afternoon of July 14, 1099, before the Crusades attack, in front of an udience gathering together representatives of the three monotheistic religions, namely Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is an hymn to hope and life, but above all an attempt to put onto paper a view of the world that from a small square in Jerusalem opens to humanity. The ultimate aim of the manuscript is to give hope and direction to the future generations to face and overcome  difficulties that may arise along the way. Thanks to knowledge, reflection and Love, which is the real driving force of everything.

Coptus, into the novel, answers to the questions coming from the audience. Some of these answers are real pearls of wisdom. Solitude, for example, “is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and to help us decide what to do with our life“. On solitude the Coptus insists a lot and says that it allows us to get to know ourselves better and to go beyond everyday reality and all our limits. About life’s difficulties he wrote: “At the end, a time will come when difficult times will be only stories to tell  with pride to anyone who wants to hear them“. And the scars “are medals branded on the flesh that scare your enemy, showing him your great experience in combat.”

A book, therefore, that not only tells a real story but allows the reader to embark on a personal journey searching for answers to some fundamental questions about life and other topics. And the words of Coptus, thanks to Coelho, have reached us. With the hope that they can continue to pass down from generation to generation. For a different world.

 

 

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