Paulo is traveling as a pilgrim on the Road to Santiago in Spain. One day, his guide, Petrus (who is a wise and wonderful Italian man with a name remarkably similar to my own), leads him off of the path onto a desert-like road. Paulo thinks he is hallucinating because all the while, he thinks he hears the sound of rushing water. Suddenly, they come upon a great basin five stories deep, and they see a roaring waterfall cascading down the cliff into a beautiful oasis filled with all kinds of flora and vegetation. Paulo follows Petrus down the treacherous cliff–”The way was steep and difficult to navigate, and so as not to fall, we were forced to grasp at thorny branches and sharp rocks. When I reached the bottom, my arms and legs were lacerated.” Despite his wounds from the journey down, Paulo began to be drawn into the comfortable beauty of the scene and wanted to rest there, but Petrus said, “Let’s climb the falls…through the water!” The oasis immediately changed from a place of peace and respite into a terrifying obstacle in Paulo’s eyes, an impossible task that would undoubtedly lead to a deadly fall.

Petrus then challenged him, saying that if he were able to successfully climb to the top of the falls, Paulo would have to as well, offering his victory as a sacrifice to God. “I will climb without your being able to see where I place my hands and feet. In the same way, a disciple such as you can never imitate his guide’s steps. You have your own way of living your life, of dealing with problems, and of winning. Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.” He said nothing else as he disappeared through the veil of the cascade and began to climb. Paulo could see only his outline, as if perceived through a frosted glass, but he could see that he was climbing, constantly moving forward. Sure enough, Petrus burst through the crest of the falls, and standing on the bank glistening in the sun, yelled, “Let’s go. It’s your turn.”

Terrified, Paulo dived into the water, but strangely felt a rather pleasant sensation—“a sensation of being really alive.” But the weight of the water on his head brought him back to a sense of reality, “the sense that weakens us when we most need to have faith in our powers.” He was certain that the force of the water beating down on him would surely defeat him. But once he swam behind the curtain of water, he found that there were hand and footholds that he had not seen through the mist, and he was able to climb, slowly upward, step by step.

When the most difficult part of the climb came, the top, he grew fearful, but he knew he was close to the end of his journey. He could see the sun shining on the plateau through the water and began to reach with one arm, searching for a hold, while gripping tightly for safety with his other limbs. “I began to feel great pain, because now I knew that I was only one step from success; this is the moment when one’s strength begins to flag, and one loses confidence in oneself.” But finally, just as he was sure his body would weaken and fall, he found a small hand hold and mightily threw his body upward through the water, victorious. “Come here, “ Petrus said. Paulo went to the edge of the cliff. At his feet, the water rushed by.

“Looking at it from here, it looks a lot easier than it did from down there,“ Paulo said.

“Exactly. And if I had shown it to you from here before, you would have been misled. You would have made a poor analysis of your chances.”

[the pilgrimage by paolo cohelo - chapter entitled "conquest"]