The Warrior Who Trusts His Path Doesn’t Need to Prove the Other is Wrong

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“The warrior who trusts his path doesn’t need to prove the other is wrong.” – Paulo Coehlo

The quote came from the book “Warrior of the Light: A Manual,” the companion volume of Paulo Coelho‘s earlier work, “The Alchemist.” It was only published in 1997 while “The Alchemist” was published in 1988. Before its publication, the passages in the book were published in various Brazilian newspapers from 1993 to 1996. Brimming with potential, the passages were compiled, was given a prologue and epilogue, and then published under its current title.

“Warrior of the Light” contains teachings extracted from various major spiritual texts, such as the Bible, Tao Te Ching, the book of Chuang Tzu, and the Talmud. With a fictional overtone, Coelho created a handbook that although based on old sacred texts, is a relevant spiritual guide for the modern times.

The book touches on different aspects of life and humanity. For instance, the passage above speaks about religious tolerance. As defined by the Wikipedia, tolerance is “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry.”

Up to this day, religious discrimination still exists and is even showing a worrying rise, says the Pew Research Centre. Described as a “rising tide,” the report found evidence of “crimes, malicious acts and violence motivated by religious hatred or bias, as well as increased government interference with worship or other religious practices.”

Intolerance, in many aspects, doesn’t strengthen the validity of your belief but rather manifests the fragility of your faith.