On my way to Ithaca...

As you set out to Ithaca
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery,
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaca always on your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithacas mean.

-Constantine P. Cavafy

.......

Am now onto The Zahir... and on another dose of Paulo Coelho after devouring Veronika Decides To Die. My sister, Paula, bequeathed (ok more like made me hold it for her while she lived abroad) unto me her plastic storage box full of books... from The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) to A Light In The Attic (Shel Silverstein) to GG Marquez, Ayn Rand, and that Tuesdays with Morrie guy... what's his name... *googles*... Mitch Albom (which I already read back in college though I think I have to read it again like I have to do with The Little Prince because I think it's only now that it could have some actual relevance... now that I'm older... and perhaps, wiser. =)

Pao made me stop reading the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (which I began reading about a year ago) because he thought it was a bad influence on me, hahahahahaha!!!

I guess sometimes those self-help books tend to make you feel more self-important instead. =P

..........

So it's onto The Zahir... In Arabic "zahir" means "visible", "present", "incapable of going unnoticed". It can refer to an object or a person, and that object or person gradually takes over our every thought, until we are unable to think of anything else. This could be considered a state of holiness or a state of madness.

As for Ithaca... it's still always on my mind. The destination.

But for now... as a detour (or perhaps, as another more scenic route towards Ithaca)... it's off to Bali, Indonesia with Mr. Paolo Toledo... already booked for Halloween. =)