beauty

from Paulo Coelho's Manuscript Found in Accra...

Beauty is present in all creation, but the dangerous fact is that, because we human beings are often cut off from the Divine Energy, we allow ourselves to be influenced by what other people think.  We deny our own beauty because others can't or won't recognize it.  Instead of accepting ourselves as we are, we try to imitate what we see around us.  We try to be what other people think of as "pretty," and little by little, our soul fades, our will weakens, and all the potential we had to make the world a more beautiful place withers away.
We forget that the world is what we imagine it to be.  We stop being the moonlight and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it.  Tomorrow, the water will evaporate with the sun.

Selah.