Brida : An Act Of Faith

"Never be ashamed, accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle. You can only know a good wine if you have first tasted a bad one.”
-- Paulo Coelho in Brida

Brazilian born publishing phenomenon, Paulo Coelho is always known for his simple but lyrical stories, bursting with positive energy. His stories reaffirm our faith in the struggles of life. They show us path in dark and ask us to plunge in straight whenever we want to know about something. He tells what we love to hear; the story of a man in the street, his struggles, and his dilemma, his defeat and lessons learnt by the defeat, and his fearless continuance of the path and finally the win which was predestined. They also touch perception of love, passion, betrayal and other related issues. Off course there are lots of other philosophical messages intertwined in his stories. Coelho’s stories prepare us for another battle of life irrespective of win or lose in the previous one. It’s always easy for us to correlate the situation faced by his characters with our own life. And perhaps that’s the reason his books win accolades across the globe and become international bestsellers.

Brida, Paulo’s third novel written just after The Alchemist, reestablishes Paulo Coelho as an author of distinguished genre and philosophy of life. In this book, Paulo uses mysticism and different traditions of sorcery as a theme. He uses mundane affairs to explain greatest mysteries of life and helps a voyager to find his way. And it’s done in a very simple but poetic manner; flow is steady and continuous like the flow of a river.

Brida is a story of a young Irish girl and her quest for knowledge. She wants to understand about the greatest mysteries of life. On her journey, she meets Magus, a great teacher of occult practices and tries to learn the language that will help her to make a bridge “from visible world to invisible world and to learn lessons from both the worlds”. She also meets a witch Wicca, who teaches her how to dance to the hidden music of the world. Both the teachers see in her a gift, but they want her to make her own voyage of discovery.

Initially she has certain doubts about her ability to learn, about the ability of her teachers, about the path she has chosen and about her fate. But she never hesitates to plunge in whenever she needs to find about something.

On her path, she faces disappointment, pain, loss, separation, joy, win, love and passion. She tries to learn from all and continues to walk on the path which leads her to attain her goal; a goal to find out Truth.

Dream and Courage are the central motives in Brida also as they were in almost all of his earlier works. Paulo’s main message is again same: “follow your dreams”. He says that at any time, we may have different options. But to chose a right path we need to eliminate wrong ones and this can be done only by exploring all the paths till we come to know the right one. And for that, we should never be afraid to try any path, even if it is wrong because “life is about making mistakes”.

"Once we've got over that initial fear, however, we gradually become accustomed to the only possible solution: to follow our dreams. Having the courage to take the steps we always wanted to take is the only way of showing that we trust in God.”

Paulo also tries to explore different perceptions of love and passion. According to him, love is the only bridge between the visible and the invisible known to everyone. It is the only effective knowledge for translating the lessons that Universe taught to human beings everyday. But love doesn’t mean possessing the lovable; “Love is liberty”. He also accepts the ability of sex to channelise five senses towards absolute cognizance.

Coelho uses the concept of pagan religions, Great Mother, different traditions of sorcery, Soul of the World, tarot cards and other occult practices to create a mystic atmosphere, sometimes to an extent of being gloomy. Interestingly, names of the teachers of two different traditions of sorcery Magus and Wicca represents two different traditions of occult practices in real world. While searching about the symbols used in Brida, I found interesting explanations of Magus and Wicca.

Magi (singular Magus) were a tribe from ancient Media, who were responsible for religious and funerary practices of the ancient Iranian peoples. In English, the term may refer to a shaman, sorcerer or wizard; it is the origin of the words magic and magician. Wicca is a pagan religion with distinctive ritual forms, seasonal observances and religious, magical and ethical precepts. Wiccans practice a form of witchcraft.

Although in his blog Coelho accepts that in Brida, he has tried many themes that are dear to him, such as The Great Mother and pagan religions, I feel he used these mystic symbols and practices to emphasize the importance of faith and ignore the medium to find the Truth. In all his previous works this was clearly reflected. All of his protagonists learnt wisdom on their path irrespective of the extent of the correctness of the path.

Moreover, Coelho has used the path of magic to underline its similarities with the path of life; both are full of mystery. He says:
“The path of magic – like the path of life – is and always will be the path of Mystery. Learning something means coming into contact with a world of which you know nothing. In order to learn, you must be humble.”

The language that Coelho has used in Brida is very simple. And almost all the descriptions are with great detail and this is the detail where beauty lies. The depiction of the forest and fear of Brida, the description of Cathars and the delineation of the jungle viewed from the top of a tree is really wonderful.

Although I liked Brida very much, I felt the messages are repetitive. He uses the same motives and tries to deliver same messages in all his works. Perhaps that’s the reason, his works have been accused of too simple and similar to self help guides. A reader who is not a hardcore fan of Paulo may find Brida a little dull because of these repetitions. One may not even like necromancy as a theme. The first time reader of Coelho may avoid this book. But this is certainly a novel for his fans who love his works despite all unfavorable criticism.

Some memorable quotes from Brida:

"Life is about making mistakes. Never be afraid of making a mistake." pp 252

"No desire is vain and no request is futile." pp 103

"Nothing in this world is ever completely wrong, even a stopped clock is right twice a day." pp 99

"Whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in." pp 96

"I must take risks." pp 107-109

"We are responsible for the Universe, because we are the Universe." pp119

"Only the present has power over our lives." pp 122

"Live every thing as intensely as you can and keep whatever you felt as a gift from God." pp 87

“You had to take risks, follow some paths and abandon others. ….. No one could make choice without feeling afraid.” pp98

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.” pp17

"We surrender ourselves fully to each moment , knowing that there is always a hand to guide us, and whether we accept it or not is entirely up to us." pp 173

“We are all masters of our own destiny. We can so easily make the same mistakes over and over. We can so easily flee from everything that we desire and which life so generously places before us.” pp188

"Love don’t require kind of renunciation. True love allowed each person to follow their own path, knowing that they would never lose touch with their Soulmate.”

“I will always remember now that love is liberty. I will always remember you and you will remember me, just as we will remember the evening, the rain on the windows, and all the things we will always have because we cannot possess them."

“What is outside is harder to change than what is inside."

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers India
Cover Price: Rs. 295.00
Format: Paperback
Extent: 304 pages